First Smoke

[crizmo]

Hi Guys,
I did my first smoke over the week. It was quite windy where I was and it was a bit of a nightmare getting anything lit under the chimney starter. Even when I did it didn't seem to want to light the coals (Heat bead briquettes). Eventually I got a few at the bottom of 30 strong pile in the starter. It had started out as about 10 but i was worried that the heat from the burning paper was just going through the gaps inbetween the coals in the starter.

At the point of getting a few at the bottom burning I was panicing and threw the contents of the starter onto the other coals. I forgot to plae any wood in the coals so i culd leave them burning and i'd have steady smoke. I just had to manually throw some chips on every now and again. The coals were brilliant as they burnt for about 10 hours. I had to move them around once as I'd rushed and not done a proper minion placement.

I cooked a chicken which I probably left on about an hour too long (3.5) and a brisket which I felt needed a few more hours (i did it 7) as not all of the fat had rendered. I also noticed the meat (from costco) didn't really have enough marbling so I'll be nipping to the farm shop next time to get a cut of brisket with better marbling in to render down.

All in all i was happy for a first go.

Thanks for the advice so far guys.


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Cheers

Chris