Hi all,

just found this newsgroup. very cool.

got a 'ECB' about a month and a half ago. had used one once before.
Have smoked at least just some ribs most weekends since then. Getting the
hang of it. Over all for 30$ I'm pretty happy.

I'm kind of glad I didn't read this til now or I might have got scared
away from trying a brisket my first time ..... It could have probably used
another hour or two ... but it was still pretty darn good. Rub was little too
salty for the ribs the first couple of times too. But I like making my own
rub and last night think I finally converged on something pretty good.

Questions:

Sugar in Rub ? have only done this once. seems like it didn't really add
much flavor but it did burn. Can't think I'd put sugar in my rub anywmore.
Especiall on beef. (might reconsider for pork). Am I wrong about something here?

'Exotic' water pan ingredients. I've tried : worcestire sauce, red wine, chopped up
garlic and grated ginger in the water pan. I really can't tell if this did
anything at all. Any experience or theoretical arguments here?

How hot is 'Ideal' on my 'ECB'?

Chance
--
I used to think government was a necessary evil.
I'm not so sure about the necessary part anymore.

In article ,
wrote:

Hi all,

just found this newsgroup. very cool.

Welcome!

got a 'ECB' about a month and a half ago. had used one once before.
Have smoked at least just some ribs most weekends since then. Getting the
hang of it. Over all for 30$ I'm pretty happy.

I use an ECB exclusively and consider myself to be somewhat of an
"expert" with it. Takes practice, but the good thing is that you get to
eat your "mistakes", which usually turn out pretty good, anyway!

If you haven't made some modifications, as mentioned in the FAQ, drill
some holes in the firepan and get yourself a charcoal grate from Home
Depot. Learn to use the Minion Method for fire and temperature control,
and you will get good results. Also (...and at the risk of starting
another "lump-vs-Kingsford" debate, here , if you haven't already done
so, get yourself a couple bags of lump charcoal (Royal Oak or Real
Flavor from Wal Mart is fine). Using lump and the Minion Method, I can
usually get up to 5 hours of steady 250-degree temps on one pan of
charcoal.

I'm kind of glad I didn't read this til now or I might have got scared
away from trying a brisket my first time ..... It could have probably used
another hour or two ... but it was still pretty darn good.

Like I said, even your "mistakes" will probably turn out pretty good!

The ECB is fine for shorter cooks, like ribs and poultry, but briskets
and butts require more "finagling", which means more practice and
probably some loss of sleep.

Rub was little too salty for the ribs the first couple of times too.
But I like making my own rub and last night think I finally converged
on something pretty good.

Questions:

Sugar in Rub ? have only done this once. seems like it didn't really add
much flavor but it did burn. Can't think I'd put sugar in my rub anywmore.
Especiall on beef. (might reconsider for pork). Am I wrong about something
here?

I use a rub with pork shoulders and spareribs that contains sugar, but I
use turbinado (raw sugar) that I buy from Wal Mart. Unlike refined
sugar, turbinado seems to take prolonged heat without scorching. I like
the spicy-sweet flavor it gives to my meats.

'Exotic' water pan ingredients. I've tried : worcestire sauce, red
wine, chopped up garlic and grated ginger in the water pan. I really
can't tell if this did anything at all. Any experience or theoretical
arguments here?

Unless you have a highly-refined sense of taste, I wouldn't think you
could actually detect any evidence of such additives in your meat. YMMV.

How hot is 'Ideal' on my 'ECB'?

The "heat indicator" on the ECB is neither accurate nor reliable. I got
a $10 themometer from Home Depot (or was it Lowes?) and mounted it in
the dome right beside that heat indicator. Much more accurate!

Stan Marks

wrote in message

Sugar in Rub ? have only done this once. seems like it didn't really add
much flavor but it did burn. Can't think I'd put sugar in my rub anywmore.
Especiall on beef. (might reconsider for pork). Am I wrong about something
here?

Normally, I do't put any sugar in rubs. But, some of the best brisket I've
ever made just had b ronw sugar and black pepper on it. Lots of black
pepper.



'Exotic' water pan ingredients. I've tried : worcestire sauce, red wine,
chopped up
garlic and grated ginger in the water pan. I really can't tell if this did
anything at all. Any experience or theoretical arguments here?

Waste of time. I've tried a few and never tasted any difference, with the
exception of apple juice and it gave a burnt fruit taste to the chicken it
cooked. Try no water and put foil over the pan. It runs a little hotter
that way.



How hot is 'Ideal' on my 'ECB'?


Beats me, but it worked. I'd try to keep the needle up towards the center.

wrote:
Sugar in Rub ? have only done this once. seems like it didn't really
add
much flavor but it did burn. Can't think I'd put sugar in my rub
anywmore. Especiall on beef. (might reconsider for pork). Am I wrong
about something here?

Give a basic rub of salt, pepper and garlic powder a try.

'Exotic' water pan ingredients. I've tried : worcestire sauce, red
wine, chopped up garlic and grated ginger in the water pan. I really
can't tell if this did anything at all. Any experience or
theoretical
arguments here?

IMO, the best thing you can do with the water pan is pitch it. If ya
can't do that, leave it empty and line it with foil to make clean up
easier.
--
-frohe
Life is too short to be in a hurry

frohe wrote:
IMO, the best thing you can do with the water pan is pitch it. If ya
can't do that, leave it empty and line it with foil to make clean up
easier.

I've heard of people using sand or lava rocks etc in the pan instead of
water, but I've never heard of using it empty or not even using it at
all. I thought the main purpose of the pan (or more importantly, its
contents) is to help regulate the temperature by storing heat. As I
understand it, the pan also serves the purpose of being a barrier to
shield the food from the direct heat of the electric element.

I've found that using lava rocks (or whatever they're called... you
know, those things people use in gas grills) instead of water allows
for a bit higher temperatures (as well as much easier cleanup than
water). My theory there is that the water actually absorbs heat which
is lost in the process of evaporating the water, so therefore it acts
as a heat sink. Rocks or sand obviously does not bleed off heat this
way, so I think you can get higher temps using that instead of water.
And the benefit of stored heat is still there (ie, the temp doesn't
fluctuate nearly as much when you take the lid off, because the pan's
contents have heat stored in them).

Can you explain why you suggest using an empty pan, or no pan at all?
You've got me curious now. ;-)

dakota2112 wrote:
Can you explain why you suggest using an empty pan, or no pan at
all?

Besides my 55 gallon drum cooker I also own a WSM. In all the cooks
I've done in it, I never found the pan to add anything to fire/heat
control. Rather, in usin it I found it deflects the heat to the
outside of the cookin chamber thus the outer ends of whatever I'm
cookin get done more than the center. I'd rather have the meat cooked
evenly and work with lower temp fires. Leavin the pan in empty does
catch the drips and cuts down on the flares that may occur, which
haven't been that troublesome for me.

Either way though, it's the cook that ultimately takes the honors for
what comes out of the cooker. If you're better at turnin out kick-ass
Q usin a pan with somethin at it, then you should keep doin it that
way. Me, I get wonderful results usin my "look Ma, no pan" method, so
it took a hike.

Hope this answers ya question. If not, come on back at me.
--
-frohe
Life is too short to be in a hurry

"frohe" wrote in message
...
dakota2112 wrote:
Can you explain why you suggest using an empty pan, or no pan at all?

I'd rather have the meat cooked evenly and work with lower temp fires.
Leavin the pan in empty does catch the drips and cuts down on the flares
that may occur, which haven't been that troublesome for me.

The pan is also a big heat sink. Considering that many water smokers,
especially the ECB are hard to get hot, the pan can be a detriment.
--
Ed
http://pages.cthome.net/edhome/

frohe wrote:
Besides my 55 gallon drum cooker I also own a WSM. In all the cooks
I've done in it, I never found the pan to add anything to fire/heat
control. Rather, in usin it I found it deflects the heat to the
outside of the cookin chamber thus the outer ends of whatever I'm
cookin get done more than the center.

I have noticed this too. The edges seem to get hotter than the center
of the food rack, due to the pan. It's never really been a drawback
for me (yet) but I can definitely see how it could be a problem.

Do you happen to know how it impacts the temperature differential
between the upper and lower cooking racks, when you don't use the pan?
I've found the upper rack is about 10 degrees hotter than the lower
rack, which makes sense because heat rises, but I also wonder if the
pan acts as too much of a heat shield in this case. Maybe without the
pan, are the upper and lower racks closer in temperature?

dakota2112 wrote:
Do you happen to know how it impacts the temperature differential
between the upper and lower cooking racks, when you don't use the
pan?

I've found the upper rack is about 10 degrees hotter than the lower
rack, which makes sense because heat rises, but I also wonder if the
pan acts as too much of a heat shield in this case. Maybe without
the
pan, are the upper and lower racks closer in temperature?

As ya say, there's a temp delta between the 2 racks but not enough to
worry over IMO since both levels are directly over the fire. Now, if
I was cookin offset on my barrel cooker, I might worry a tad over the
temp delta but since I know where the "hot spots" in it are, it's
basically a no brainer.

The key to the WSM is vent control; pan or no pan. It's one of the
best "set it & forget it" cookers there is. Get your vents set so
you're in the 225-250°F range and let it do its thing. In the
meantime, sip some suds. Or better yet, down a couple margaritas
while ya tap ya toes to some blues on ya MP3 player. g
--
-frohe
Life is too short to be in a hurry

"frohe" wrote in message
...
dakota2112 wrote:
Do you happen to know how it impacts the temperature differential
between the upper and lower cooking racks, when you don't use the pan?

I've found the upper rack is about 10 degrees hotter than the lower
rack, which makes sense because heat rises, but I also wonder if the
pan acts as too much of a heat shield in this case. Maybe without the
pan, are the upper and lower racks closer in temperature?

As ya say, there's a temp delta between the 2 racks but not enough to
worry over IMO since both levels are directly over the fire. Now, if I
was cookin offset on my barrel cooker, I might worry a tad over the temp
delta but since I know where the "hot spots" in it are, it's basically a
no brainer.

The key to the WSM is vent control; pan or no pan. It's one of the best
"set it & forget it" cookers there is. Get your vents set so you're in
the 225-250°F range and let it do its thing. In the meantime, sip some
suds. Or better yet, down a couple margaritas while ya tap ya toes to
some blues on ya MP3 player. g

Even better - smoke some buds, play some blues on your old six string and
drink some margaritas....

Edwin Pawlowski wrote:

"frohe" wrote in message
...
dakota2112 wrote:
Can you explain why you suggest using an empty pan, or no pan at all?

I'd rather have the meat cooked evenly and work with lower temp fires.
Leavin the pan in empty does catch the drips and cuts down on the flares
that may occur, which haven't been that troublesome for me.

The pan is also a big heat sink. Considering that many water smokers,
especially the ECB are hard to get hot, the pan can be a detriment.

That is why I always start with hot water in the pan. Helps to stabilize
temps faster. I like to build small fires and use minion but the pan
acts like a fuse 'just in case' things ambient conditions (or fire)
changes. Not only does the pan help to cool down the chamber but it also
help keep it warm in case the fire dies down a little.

And before anyone says it, the water pan is no more a crutch than the
ceramic is on a K style cooker.

-CAL