story with questions

Unknown

First a story: I'm a BGE neophyte. I just got my egg a few weeks ago but have been moving during this period. All of my cooking has been of the quick and easy type--no multi-page recipes yet. Last Thurs. a bought a six pound pork shoulder (on sale for $.79/lb.!!), injected it with Wicker's sauce, and marinated it overnight. Fri. I slow cooked it at @ 225 until it got to 200 internal. Oh, I also put a sauce (made from the Wicker's, some molasses, brown sugar and Ketchup-then reduce to thicken) on it for the last couple of hours. I served it to family and friends and they all raved. It really was good.[p]Now my question: It seems from my non-systematic reading of this site that drip pans are typically used for the type of cooking described above. Is that correct? If so, why? What are some pro’s and con's of drip pans?[p]Thanks in advance for the help. I love my BGE and this community forum.

WessB

Joel Johnson,
One good reason would be the amount of fat that is going to render out during the cook is going to "drip" down and burn possibly leaving an unwanted flavor..hence the name "DRIP" pan....I also typically put apple juice in mine as opposed to water, wether it adds any flavor or not I cant exactly say, just kinda the way I got used to doin it..you can snoop around my webpage for some tips and cooks if you`d like..[p]Wess
[ul][li]WessB`s[/ul]

Fairalbion

Joel Johnson,
The flavor taken on by the meat from burnt fat is not too pleasant; a drip pan get round this problem.