I finally got a chance to take my new Maple Leaf charcoal briquettes
for a spin around the WSM. I cooked spare ribs. You can see photos
at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~thc/MapleLeafCharcoal/.

On a raw, drizzly day, it took the coals 30 minutes from lighting to
ready in a Weber chimney. I had to add more coals about 4 hours into
the cooking. I started with Maple Leaf briquettes, dumped on top of
some leftover, burned lump that was already in the WSM. When I added
coals at the 4-hour mark, I also added a chunk of cherry, and I added
another cherry chunk at the 4 1/2-hour mark.

Verdict: Very good. The ribs had a lot of smoke flavor, and most of
it must have come from the Maple Leaf. No question that it adds much
more flavor than plain lump.

Also, you cannot see it from the photos, but the ribs had quite a deep
smoke ring.

My apologies for not posting on a.b.f, but it's easier for me to make
a simple web page. I'll leave this one up for a couple of weeks.

--THC

------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tom Cormen Voice: (603) 646-2417
Professor of Computer Science Fax: (603) 646-1672
Director, Writing Program Email:
Dartmouth College URL: http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~thc/
6211 Sudikoff Laboratory
Hanover, NH 03755-3510
------------------------------------------------------------------------

Nice Tom,
I have to get one of those WSM's would fit my budget and a lot less fooling
around with the fire than I currently have to do.
The Maple Leaf Charcoal you used is it made from maple only or other
hardwoods too?
Can you use wood in the WSM as well? Like wrist size hunks on top of coals?
or is loading the wood an issue through the door?
I don't know if you ever see Madrone over there but if you do give it a try,
it's quite nice.

--
Bruce-n-Gold Beach

On Sun, 31 Oct 2004 03:32:36 -0800, "Ol' Hippie"
> wrote:

>Nice Tom,
>I have to get one of those WSM's would fit my budget and a lot less fooling
>around with the fire than I currently have to do.
>The Maple Leaf Charcoal you used is it made from maple only or other
>hardwoods too?
>Can you use wood in the WSM as well? Like wrist size hunks on top of coals?
>or is loading the wood an issue through the door?
>I don't know if you ever see Madrone over there but if you do give it a try,
>it's quite nice.

Maple Leaf is made primarily from birch, beech, and maple.

TNW

"Ol' Hippie" > writes:

> Nice Tom,
> I have to get one of those WSM's would fit my budget and a lot less fooling
> around with the fire than I currently have to do.

I find that my WSM is not quite set-it-and-forget-it, but it does
require less futzing than an offset.

> The Maple Leaf Charcoal you used is it made from maple only or other
> hardwoods too?

According to http://www.nakedwhiz.com/lumpdatabase/lumpbag3.htm:
"Maple Leaf Charcoal is made up of a combination of three woods:
Beech, Maple and Yellow Birch. The briquettes are the by-product of
the lump, and only a wheat paste is used as the binder."

> Can you use wood in the WSM as well? Like wrist size hunks on top of
> coals? or is loading the wood an issue through the door?

I use fist-sized chunks of cherry or maple, and they fit through the
door no problem. Because of limited airflow, they don't burn quite as
clean as I'd like, so I tend to limit how many wood chunks I'll use.
I have, on occasion, added only wood chunks after the initial charcoal
bed, but it has to be a cool, breezy day in which I'm letting the
vents run wide open.

> I don't know if you ever see Madrone over there but if you do give
> it a try, it's quite nice.

The nearest madrone to New England is...umm...I have no idea where.
There's plenty of maple and cherry here, though, so the wood situation
is under control. I have more cherry than I know what to do with.

I replaced a BGE with my WSM a couple of years ago, and I'm glad I
did. I like the WSM better in every way, except that the BGE looked
cooler.

--THC

------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tom Cormen Voice: (603) 646-2417
Professor of Computer Science Fax: (603) 646-1672
Director, Writing Program Email:
Dartmouth College URL: http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~thc/
6211 Sudikoff Laboratory
Hanover, NH 03755-3510
------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ol' Hippie wrote:
> Nice Tom,
> I have to get one of those WSM's would fit my budget and a lot less fooling
> around with the fire than I currently have to do.
> The Maple Leaf Charcoal you used is it made from maple only or other
> hardwoods too?
> Can you use wood in the WSM as well? Like wrist size hunks on top of coals?
> or is loading the wood an issue through the door?
> I don't know if you ever see Madrone over there but if you do give it a try,
> it's quite nice.
>

Sure you can use wood chunks on top of the coals. I get a chimney of
lump started, empty it on top of a bunch of unlit lump(if I want a long
cook) and put about 3 chunks of wood on top for the smoke.

The WSM is a great cooker that allows you to cook and go hunting for
mushrooms too!!!!!!

BBQ

Hee-Haw working in parallel I like that. G'ganna & I went out yesterday and
took some friends with us to show them the where & how about Chanterelles.
Wholey Moley we came home with about 40 lbs worth. Good thing too because I
got a weather warning about freezing temps up there, that may have been the
last foray for the year. Bummer

--
Bruce-n-Gold Beach