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One of the problems for those of us with empty nests is smoking small portions of meat in an economical way.  Cranking up the big pit to cook for two isn’t very cost-effective.  Well, Bob from The Hog Blog has come up with a great little smoker made from a 40 quart stainless steel stockpot.  So check out this great smoker for two and then hop over and check out Bob’s blog.

A few slices were taken off the brisket and the rest is in the freezer.  I’m done…

5:12pm, Saturday, September 6th:

4:18pm, Saturday, September 6th:

Chicken is pulled and in the freezer.

2:25pm, Saturday, September 6th:

ABTs are done!  I’m just going to eat a couple and freeze the rest.  Half also went to a neighbor.

1:58pm, Saturday, September 6th:

Chickens done!

I’m just going to pull the chicken so it’s resting on the counter.

Since it was important to quality control the chicken also I glazed two pieces with Cherry BBQ Sauce (more on that later).  They tasted amazing.

Oops!  This would be why the dog follows me around when I’m cooking.

1:22pm, Saturday, September 6th:

ABTs are on.

1:18pm, Saturday, September 6th:

Pulled the fatties.  The close up shot is Wolf’s Bold Rub.

1:10pm, Saturday, September 6th:

Brisket is done.  Looks really good.  It’s now foiled and resting in the cooler with the butts.

11:38pm, Saturday, September 6th:

Remember the little corner I cut off the brisket.  It’s off the smoker and has now gone through quality control.  It passed…

11:30am, Saturday, September 6th:

The chicken is now on the WSM.  Half rubbed with “Simply Marvelous Poultry Rub” and the other half with the every popular “Plowboy’s Yardbird Rub.”

11:10am, Saturday, September 6th:

Five fatties just went on the UDS.  The toothpicks just help me keep track of which rubs are which fatties.  No fillings on these.  Pretty much going to be for breakfasts.  One each fatty rubbed with:

Wolf Original Rub, Wolf Bold, Cajun Foreplay, Todd’s Crabby Dirt and DDogs Apple Rub.

10:04am, Saturday, September 6th:

Second pork butt is off the smoker, foiled and resting in the cooler.

8:15am, Saturday, September 6th:

The brisket is rubbed down with Spicewine Hefer Dust and is on the smoker.  I trimmed a little corner off that was thinner than the rest of the flat.  This will be used for quality control down the road a little.

I’m also using my new super fast RED Thermapen today…

The remaining butt on the smoker is at 182 degrees.

7:45am, Saturday, September 6th:

Gotta love the smell of smoke first thing in the morning.

7:05 am, Saturday, September 6th:

The “Dirty Butt” is at 195 degrees and ready for the cooler.

4:50am, Saturday, September 6th:

Temp is up a little, adjusted the air intake.  Butts are at 166 degrees.  No foil today.

12:30am, Saturday, September 6th:

Temp is stable at 225 degrees.  I’m going to bed for a few hours of sleep.  Brisket, fatties and ABTs go on in the morning.

10:50pm, Friday, September 5th:

I have a big cook this weekend.  Pretty much just to restock the refrigerator.  Just put two butts on the UDS.  One has been rubbed with Simply Marvelous Sweet and Spicy and the other with Todd’s Dirt.

I did a little cooking for the wedding of some friends daughter and the WSM came in handy. Here’s a few pictures of everything. It was a great time. Exhausting, but fun.

Here’s a couple of my smokers hard at work. The ever faithful UDS (Ugly Drum Smoker) and the new WSM.

I came up with an new appetizer for the wedding. Pre-made and cooked beef meatballs wrapped in a little bacon, sprinkled with a good dose of Plowboy’s Yardbird Rub and smoked until the bacon was crispy. I call them MOINK BALLS (Beef = Moo, Pork = Oink. Put them together and you have MOINK.)

Here they are smoking away on the WSM:

The Moink Balls were then glazed with a Raspberry Chipotle Balsamic sauce:

Here’s a few pictures of the rest of the spread. Hoisin Pork and Teriyaki Chicken rounded out the little menu.

The problem was so bad that after three smokes I put the darn thing in the corner and went back to my old reliable smokers. After reading some newer threads on temp control I made some changes and what an improvement.

I LOVE my new and improved UDS. The problem was that I just got to fancy. Simplicity is the key to the UDS. On the first build I had two “stacks” on the lid. It looked great but it wouldn’t draw right. All I had to do was buy a new lid with a 2 inch bung hole and it worked like a charm.

Yesterday I cooked two racks of ribs, a five pound chuckie and four fatties all with about 8 pounds of charcoal. Once it got to temp it maintained it without two much problem. I’ll be using the UDS more often now.

Here she is:

I’ve got Brisket Chili on the stove and Pastrami in the smoker. More to follow tonight.

How many smokers does a guy need? A question posed to me often by friends and especially by dear wife. The answer is simple. It’s not about need.

I am getting ready to build a UDS (Ugly Drum Smoker) soon. (I’ve been planning this for a month now and soon never gets here) And even though I have not started the UDS yet I think I have already found my next project.

I came across plans, if you can call them that, on ebay in the form of a magazine article from 1957. As you can see from the pictures it’s an offset UDS. This will be a nice addition to the BBQ World in my backyard.

The New Braunfels Silver Smoker and New Braunfels Bandera I owned have been modified (mods) with other people’s designs. The Great Outdoors Smoking Mountain I have is out of the box with no mods. It’s someone else’s design on the UDS. This new offset UDS will be all mine. Yes, I will start with a picture, but I’m going see what I can come up with on my own.

It will be a challenge. I’ve never worked with metal before and I don’t have welding equipment but I’m sure I can come up with the resources from friends to help me accomplish this mission. More on the “off-set UDS” in the months to come. Since it’s probably going to be summer before I get to this.

Real BBQ is about cooking cuts of meat at lower temperatures for long periods of time. This isn’t about throwing a hamburger or ballpark frank on the gas grill.

I first learned about real BBQ while spending time in Texas during the 1970′s at the garden spot of central Texas…Fort Hood. I’ve been interested in great BBQ ever since.

Bigmista, a fellow BBQ Brethren, demonstrates how to cook a brisket at: http://blip.tv/file/502634.

Check out Bigmista’s blog at Survival Gourmet.

This is BBQ!

Thanks Big!