New user, first cook

Yep,it will cook quicker.

Cook it to about 175� in the deep part of the thigh.

Nick it with a knife tip and see if the juice runs clear.

You can also wiggle the leg and see if it feels loose at the body.

The breast will be a little overdone,but that happens when you cook dark and light together.

The alternative is to cook the breast separate from the dark quarters.

Remove the breast at 160� and leave the quarters in to 180�.

You might want to cook as hot as your Smokette will run.

yeah, if you like crispy skin, cook at 250... that is the borderline low end for getting "good" skin v. rubbery skin. you might want to go on the bottom rack, skin side down... thatr way the heat will hit the skin.

Thanks guys. I will keep an eye on these tonite and check for doneness after 2 hrs. (the Poulder hasnt arrived yet)I have also been reading the rest of the Forum. What a collection!!! Simply amazing. I live in Iowa so every field I drive past is a new Q experience. Lookout critters!

Bob

If you haven't started yet:

Chicken comes out better, most folks seem to agree, when brined. Even if it's only for a couple hours, it's more plump & juicy - unless it's "solution added" already. An opinionated note here: Non-solution added chicken, in addition to being a better value, leads to a better finished product because you can brine in spices and flavorings.

Definitely cook at 250F. Don't expect much from the skin, most likely it'll be dark, rubbery, and not worth eating.

Go light on the wood. For a little bit of chicken, 2 ounces is plenty. If you don't have a scale, that's about a golf ball size hunk.

Well, guys. I cooked that chicken last nite for 3 hours at 225, laid out flat on the middle rack. It was almost done, darnit. The meat between the inner thigh and the ribs were still red. But all the rest was perfectly done. My daughter (who says she hates smoked meats) said it was the juicyiest, most tender chicken breast she ever ate. She & my wife like white meat while I enjoy the dark. The legs & winds were super. Im guessing maybe cooking it at 250 or giving it 3.5 hours would have been better. That and they were bugging me about dinner being late. The phrase "it's done when it's done" didnt seem to cut it with them. lol

Ok. Technically, this will be my second smoke, but I didnt want to make a new topic. lol I went to my local butchershop to pickup my spare ribs and ask him some questions. We looked at the ribs. There was a long, fairly large flap of meat below the ribs he showed me how to remove. Then he was able to "fillet" the end cartiladge from that meaty flap so we had one boneless flap of meat from each rib.. (plus we still had 2 very nice looking racks of spare ribs). Last nite I rubbed both flaps of meat with Cookshack Rib Rub & some fresh ground cayenne pepper, wrapped em up and put back in the frige. They are for tonite. Now I've been looking on this site and searching but I cant find any cooking info for this flap of meat. Or the technical name other flap of meat. First, what do YOU folks call this meat. Second... cooking suggestions?

Technical term would be the "cook's snack".

Throw them in your beans or just cook them along with the slabs.

Here is a site that will discuss the brisket bone and skirt flap.

http://www.ribman.com/abtribs.html

Another site that adds a little to Smokin's Ribs 101 is ChrisA's Virtual Bullet.

http://www.virtualweberbullet.com/ribselect1.html

Thanks Tom. That second link has problems with the pictures. Or maybe I do. Cant see any of them. But I liked the first link.

The link works for me.

Maybe Smokin' can help, when he drops by.

I'm here....

I click and both links work fine. There is a lot of data on the Weber site, did you give it time to load the pictures?

Hi Smokin. I used a different browser (IE) and got the same results. But if I click on a picture, they will show up. I doubt it is speed. I have 2 T1 lines feeding us here. lol But it may be my firewall. Anyway, I am able to view them by clicking and that got me what I needed here. Thanks again guys. You ALL are really making this a fun, fruitful, learning experience.

Hey Cadillac.. congrats...
to view another newbies experience with the Cookshack, check out my notes (yes, a shameless plug) at:
http://www.lamaine.com/bbq/

Friday nite. 8:15pm. I did it. I used my CS to fix food for friends. OMG! I fixed rib skirts, buffalo wings, & bacon wrapped chicken livers on my CS 008 for Friday nite @ da Garage nite. Well, 2 of the guys called their wives to come n taste this food. And ALL left with the taste and the Words CookShack on their minds. Put it all on 225 at 4:00pm using maple chips and Cookshack rubs. At 5:30 I took off the wings n livers. Turned over the skirts, doused em with Fam Daves Original & FD XXX Devil Spit (Can I say that Donna?) Devil Spit Devil Spit. Let em soak for 30 min. Took out the ribs and cut them into 1/2" thick slices. Then... look out! OMG! It's all gone. They ate it all. It was SO good. I am amazed.

And planning next Friday.

Thx Cookshack!!!

I love to see these kinds of posts where you can just see the exuberant excitement of a kid with a new toy!

Congrats Cadillac!

I agree GLH, it's the new members of the forum that really make you want to stay around and help.

Smokin'

Well, it's been a couple more cooks down the road to learning since my last enthusiastic message. Since then I did a couple racks of spareribs and each one gets better. We are to the point where I can throw away the knife and use the fork an my fingers. But the wife and kids say "Keep it coming." so I do.
Last Friday nite I smoked 6 turkey wings and 6 turkey legs. I learned that is too much meat to cook for just 3-4 of us. lol I sprinkled them all with Cookshack chicken rub, put in my 008 at 225 for 2 hrs (170 degrees measured in the large part of the wing). Basted with some Cookies BBQ sauce and cooked another 30 min at 225. They were very tasty but tough on the outside 1/4". Tender and juicy inside that though. They liked them. I wonder.... why the tough?
Saturday at 7:30am I cooked my first pork butt. Rubbed it with Bad Byrons Butt Rub and cooked it at 225 with the fat cap up. Two pieces of hickory. Waited till the Polder said 191 degrees about 12 1/2 hours later. My 86 year old father in law kept saying all day long how he hates smoked meats cause there is ALWAYS too much smoke flavor. Well... he hit this butt 3 times before backing away from the table. He said that pig died proud cause you done him right. I thought that was a pretty good compliment, considering the source.
Kids from the prom stopped by at midnite to change clothes and found the bowl of pulled pork in the fridge. They left a note in the empty bowl that said "Great Butt Bob!! More please. Thx.." Guess they liked it too.
Anybody ever try liver wrapped gizzards? Chicken or turkey? Just a thought.

bob