It’s official, you can use a Smokey Joe Platinum for smoking low and slow. For larger meals I would prefer to use the WSM, but for smaller amounts the Smokey Joe Platinum worked pretty well.
I loaded up half the Smokey Joe as if it were a WSM using the Minion Method and use some small sticks of apple for the smoke wood. About 15-20 briquettes were lit in a chimney and poured over the top of the unlit briquettes and smoke wood. The extra grate you see in the SJ is a piece of expanded metal (like that used for the grills in screen doors) modified to fit and attached to the lower grate to keep the coals in place.
On the menu was pulled chicken, ABTs, and MOINK. The ABTs and the MOINK were standard recipe, sprinkled with a little Sweet Mesquite Grill seasoning and some Bayou Cajun spice mix.
The boneless, skinless chicken thighs got a treatment of Sweet Mesquite Seasoning, Bayou Cajun Seasoning, sea salt, chili powder, and cayenne pepper. I’m spicing up this afternoon’s meal…
It all went on the grill about 12:00, and barely fit without spilling over the coals.
Using both the newly-installed thermometer and my trusty old candy thermometer stuck through a wine cork and shoved in the top vent, I was able to keep the temperature at about 250°F for the entire cook. The newly installed thermometer isn’t going to work as installed, as it sits over the top of the coals and read about 100°F higher than the one in the vent for most of the cook. I will be modifying that some more.
About 14:30 the food was done and ready to eat. You might notice a missing MOINK ball; it didn’t survive the full cooking process as I got hungry and snagged it about 15 minutes before the picture was taken…
The chicken was excellent, and the ABTs set my lips on fire. MOINK was excellent, as always (even though I didn’t glaze them today). I have some leftovers for later tonight, and likely for lunch tomorrow. Not to mention unused coals in the BBQ. I should let them burn out to see how long I can go with one load of charcoal, but I’d rather see how well the Smokey Joe can put them out and preserve them for another day.
All in all, this wasn’t a bad experiment, although it is back to the drawing board for the thermometer mod.
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I’ve been at the beach for 48 hours and just told my wife, I miss my own cooking and I miss my Egg!
It’s over 100 here today, and is supposed to be that way for the next several days. No sympathy for those at the beach…
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