Real cooking times versus cookbook times

Only use the "cookbook" as a guide. Get your real life information from this forum. I've found the "cookbook" to be pretty far off from real life cooking on a CS. Many others on this forum will attest to the same fact.

I think CS ought to re-publish their accompanying literature with a more realistic cook time. Guess they're sitting on a warehouse load of the "cookbooks" and really don't want to throw them away. It's a typical complaint here on the forums.

Just my .02

C'Nooga

quote:

Originally posted by Bon:
I've had my AQ for a week now and just getting to know it. So far we've smoked a pork butt and a couple of chickens. My family is just loving this; moist, tender, flavorful; what more could you ask for?!

Well thre is one thing; both the butt and the chickens have taken from 12-14 hours to cook. No complaints with this, as we are slow cooking, however the CS "Cooking at home" cookbook suggests much shorter cooking times that what I'm seeing. I'm cooking at 225 and using the probe to reach appropriate internal temperatures.

I really don't think anything is wrong but when a port butt is expected to take about 10 hours and it takes 14 and when a chicken is expected to take 3-5 hours and takes 12 the clan gets a little restless and begins gnawing on the furniture!

Are all the cooking times in the CS cookbook this optimistic? How long will a 2-3 pound flat brisket really take to get it to 180 when cooked at 225?

Can I get away with serving slow-cooked smoked meats at every meal??

Your chicken takes 12 hours?

Yep, two 4.5# chickens directly from the fridge and with the oven set to 225 and the chicken cooked to 180 degrees on the middle rack with the probe in the breast meat.

Bon -- Have you checked the temp inside the smoker? Are you using an extension cord? An extention cord can reek havoc with cook times/temps.

There's no way a bird should cook for 12 hrs at 225˚. Before checking the temp of your smoker, check to make sure your probe is accurate -- 32˚ in ice and 212˚ in boiling water.

Granted the times in the cookbook are notoriously off but no way should a chicken take 12 hrs.

Another thing that has become a pat answer around her, thanks to our resident guru of smoke is "It's done when it's done!"

Hope this helps a tad.

All good advice above.

I'd suggest you read Smokin's 101 s on the appropriate subject and look through the archives,as well.

BTW Smokin',how do they link to the 101 s?

One thought is ,that chicken isn't tough and you are not trying to render fat or break down collagen.

IMO you are better off to cook it as hot your cooker will run.

If you can get it to 165º-170º in the deep part of the thigh,you may be done.

You can then nick it with a knife and see if the juices run clear.

Typically 180º in the breast is way overdone.

How long will a 2-3 pound brisket flat really take to get it to 180º when cooked at 225?

In reading the archives you may discover that there is not a direct timeline between brisket weight and cooking time.

i.e,you could put a 1/2 thick slice of flat in a hot skillet and achieve 200º internal in a minute.

You would probably have to run it through a grinder to eat it.

Unless you have a deli type slicer to shave a flat very thin,you might find it is not chewable at 180º internal.

Just a couple of thoughts.

Bon,

I think that I would get an oven therm and check and see if the oven temps are correct. I've got a much larger unit, but I can only set mine to 240. And at that, I cooked 5 half chickens in 2 1/2 hours to a temp of 170.

I have seen similar times in my 55. I have cooked 4 oven stuffer roasters in one smoke and 2 in the second smoke. They each weigh approx 7 1/2 lbs and both smokes took close to 15 hours at 225. When I smoke ribs it takes 5 1/2 hours for 20lbs at 225. It's always worth the weight.

I can see 30 pounds of whole roasting birds take 8 hours. 15???!!!

You might also have a problem.

The max temp my Smokette makes is 235. I cook 4 whole birds in 5 hours, done.

I agree birds should be cooked as high as the unit will go.

Well, the data is in. I used a handheld electronic thermometer along and ran the oven up to 225. I watched the oven temperature as well as the meat probe temperature in my AQ. All the probes were within a few inches of one another. Throughout the range of temps all probes agreed reasonably well, that is, within a few degrees of one another. I sure don't see any problem with the oven.

That being said, I'm left questioning the wisdom of cooking chicken at 225. For my next chicken I think I'll cook at 235-240 and cook until the thigh temperature reaches 170. If it's better than my first chickens I'll be in heaven! After that I think I'll try cooking at the max temp of the AQ and let my family be the jury.

As for my brisket I'll leave it at 225 for now.

Doesn't the AmeriQue go to 300*? Whether 250 or 300, you should be cooking whole chickens all the way up. Not sure why you did not test the oven with it turned all the way up without using the included temp probe. It might be the problem. You need to test how hot the oven will get using a remote probe not included or connected to the oven.

Does that make sense? Something is definitely wrong if chickens take as long as you initially posted. You aren't opening the door are you?

Well, for what it's worth, my 2.5# brisket cooked to 190 deg in 6 hours with the oven set at 230.

Yes, GLH, the AQ does max out at 300. I cranked mine up this evening to 300 and compared the temperature control with my electronic thermometer. It was spot on. I'm suprised how cool the outside of the oven stays with the oven at 300; very efficient. And yes, my chickens really did take that long. They started out refrigerator cold - they were 4.5#, never frozen, not stuffed - and they took 12 hours @225 for the breast meat to reach 180. I never did open the door, not once. I probably did overcook the birds a bit at 180.

I'll try your suggestion of cooking them at 300 the next time and call them done when the breast meat hits 170.

At this point I'm 100% convinced that the AQ electronics are performing perfectly for both the oven and the probe.

Bon -- If you are going to do whole chickens, forget the 170˚ in the breast and go for 175˚ in the inner thigh. The dark meat takes a bit longer to cook. Rather be safe and get rid of the nasties! JMO...

Bon,
I'm sure you know, but just in case, make sure the tip of your temp probe is not touching bone or a fat pocket, no matter what you're cooking. And like Tom sez 180 deg in the breast meat is way too done.

The last whole chicken I did was 4.25 lb. and it took 3.5 hours. 165 deg in the breast and the juices ran clear. That said, no two pieces of meat are the same.

Thanks so very much everyone. All of your tips are so much appreciated. We're cooking 8 chickens for our church this weekend and I really want them to turn out right. My plan is to cook at 300˚ until until the inner thigh meat reaches 175˚. I'll carefully position the probe and double check the breasts to make sure the juices run clear. Anything else to check when I'm cooking eight birds at a time? Should I rotate them or just check them one at a time for doneness? (Many years ago I attended a wedding reception for 400 and most all, including the bride and groom, got food poisoning. Needless to say I want these chickens to be properly cooked!)

Is there a reason you need to cook whole chickens,versus halves?

You could also make you up a batch of Smokin's yardbird brine,toss the chickens in doubled plastic trash bag with the brine and place in a cooler.

Pour a large bag of ice over it and brine overnight.

Rinse well and dry,before cooking.

The brine will give you some cushion,so you can cook the breasts to higher temps,without drying them out.

Be much better chickens and give you peace of mind.

Just a couple of thoughts.

Again, thanks for all the kind help. Now for a follow up on my 10(!) chickens this weekend; I read up on brining but didn't have time this week to try it - perhaps next time I will. Based upon the timing of finishing my birds I finally selected 250˚. I've never loaded my oven this heavily and didn't know what to expect. What I got was not what I expected.

I kept waiting for the oven temp to reach 250˚ - wasn't happening. I had lots of smoke and steam though. I had the temperature probe in and eventually noticed that the birds were cooking a lot faster than I thought they would. The oven temp never climbed above 185˚ but the bird temps hit 170-175˚ and the juices ran clear within 5 1/2 hours. Huh?

As I removed the birds it finally dawned on me what I had done to deserve this. I had loaded the racks in the kitchen and then slid them into the oven. One of the birds on the next-to-bottom rack had been pressed against, or into, the oven temperature sensor on the back of the oven wall. Of course, this really messed up the oven controller. I'm sure that the oven was full-on during the entire cooking session and that is why it only read 185˚ during cooking. I was probably cooking at something above 300˚ but I'll never know how much above. The meat probe kept me from frying my birds - whew! However, the birds didn't turn out very good. My first two birds in the AQ, slow-cooked at a real 225, were way superior to these.

Needless to say, I'll be extremely cautious with my oven loading in the future. I'm wondering how often this happens to the unsuspecting since the temperature probe is only slightly protected. I think it could be raised about 2" to place it just below the bottom of a rack and it would be far less likely to contact the food. Or even a larger shroud to keep food a safe distance away would help.

Very interesting Bon. Thanks.

quote:

Originally posted by Bon:

As I removed the birds it finally dawned on me what I had done to deserve this. I had loaded the racks in the kitchen and then slid them into the oven. One of the birds on the next-to-bottom rack had been pressed against, or into, the oven temperature sensor on the back of the oven wall. Of course, this really messed up the oven controller.

You hate those problems, but at least you figured it out. Good lesson learned, please add it to our list:
Lessons Learned