4 Rack Wednesday

dirty_denim86 said:

Looks good...How did you cook them?

Here's the play-by-play for this outing (changes every time . . .):

1.  Rubbed with a mix of Meat Church's finest -- approx. 2:1:1 Honey Hog:Season All:Honey Hog Hot.  

2.  Did a mustard slather (French's -- top side only -- first time for slather bc I didn't want to foil, intended to go long and wanted extra protection against drying out).  More rub on top of the slather.

3.  Layered apple/cherry chunks throughout RO to about 1/2 way up the fire ring; lit with bernzomatic at 12/3/6/9; caught temp on the way up to 250.

3.  Indirect set up -- plate setter legs up; 3 copper plumbers elbows for an air gap; aluminum disposable drip pan (empty); stainless grid (NOT ci for this application); home-brewed raised grid.  Held til temp was stable and smoke was smelling sweeeeet, about 20 mins.

4. Layed 2 racks below, 2 on top; smoked for 2.5 hrs w/o peeking.  Checked for color and to see if rotation from bottom to top was required to quiet any apparent issues with heat spots (not this time, fortunately).

5.  Another "new" method (for me):  in addition to the prob-unnecessary mustard slather, I decided that once I started to get a good crust, I'd spritz -- 1/2 ASV, 1/2 apple juice.  Did at 3.5/4.5 and 5.5.

6.  At the 5 hour mark, started toothpick/bend test.  At 5.5, glazed with sauce mixture ("secret" blend of 1/2 baby ray's; 1/2 bone sucking; ASV, mister mustard sweet/hot and ginger paste)

7.  At 6 hours toothpick test was just about right, so I shut the vents to keep warm for an hour til time to serve -- untried maneuver that I considered a risk but it worked out.