The turkey breast turned out GREAT!!

David · December 2001

Man, for my very first cook, it sure came out good. I had two split turkey breasts on a V-rack inside a drip pan, cooking indirect at 350* on a setter. Took them off when the Polder read 160* and let it set about a half hour before I sliced it up with an electric knife.
At first sight when I sliced it, the white meat looked a little pink, which led me to believe it wasn't done. But then I realized it was the 'smoke ring' from the block of cherry wood that I drop in. But the meat was done, and it was moist as hell. My wife loved it, which was the final test.[p]With the egg still hot, she and I decided to run down and grab an 8 pound Boston butt. Being that she's a pulled pork freak, we decided that we're going for the home run on just our second cook. It's gonna be Elder Ward's North Carolina style pulled pork, which is about a 20 hour 200* job.[p]Then on Sunday will be the hardest task of all. Hamburgers [p]BTW, can anyone give me a tip on the vent settings for 200 degrees. It's at 220 and holding steady, but I swear if I close the bottom vent any further, I'll kill the fire. Right now, it's about 1/16th of an inch, with the slide daisy fully closed. Any suggestions? [p][p]

Puj · December 2001

David,[p]Congrats on the maiden cook. Nothing like a little "stretching" before doing a lo and slo.[p]As for the vent settings, 220°F and holding steady is ok and you truly don't want to let it go lower. 1/16th of inch at the bottom is reasonable but your daisy wheel may need an adjustment of just a crack.[p]Let us know when dinner's ready.[p]Puj

Tim M · December 2001

<p />David ,[p]Don't worry about 200. Holding it is too hard, to apt to have the fire die, and not worth the huge effort to keep it from going up or down. [p]Here is a picture I took of my vent once to show what a tiny crack it needs to maintain 225 deg. Closing the daisy top more should tweek it lower if you feel you must.[p]Tim

Nature Boy · December 2001

David,
Tim and Puj have given you excellent info. Not really beneficial to cook at 200 with a butt. As you found, 220 is much easier to maintain, and that temp is still plenty low to give you a mighty slow cook. Unless I am trying to purposely drag a cook out, I use 250. That 8 pounder would probably take about 16-18 hours at 250. So it is still plenty slow to get the job done...but not painfully slow.[p]As far as the vent settings, every cook is different, depending on weather conditions, the character of your fire, your indirect setup, whether the ceramics are heated through or not...etc. But a bottom vent setting of 1/16,inch is not uncommon...even when cooking at 250. Personally I like to leave my dasiy wheel open most or all the way, and control with the bottom vent. Just a personal thing....I feel like it keeps things breathing cleaner.[p]HTH!
Have a great weekend.
NB

David · December 2001

Nature Boy,[p]That's a good point about the leaving the daisy's vents open, and tweaking the bottom vent. It's about how I have it now. (Read my story on Wireless thermometers above)[p]Thanks for the info.[p]

Ksdaddio · December 2001

David ,
These were probably the best eating my family has experienced, or so I am told. This was so easy on the BGE that it would seem practically fool proof. Brined the birds for 24 hours, per one of the many recipes, and there are no leftovers!

The turkey breast turned out GREAT!!

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