Sunday morning arrived and with the sunshine cracking the flags I sparked up the new Brinkman smoker. Its only small but for the amount of meat I intended to cook I figured it would do the job. I had previously marinaded some ribs in “Kansas City Sloppy Rib dry rub”. I had also marinaded a pork shoulder in some “Jakes Boss Barbecue Rub”. To compliment the dry rubs I took some of the rib rub and placed it in a pan alonside come cider, bourbon and liquid smoke and boiled it til it was runny, I did the same with the pork rub but ommitted the Bourbon.
At 11am I lit the smoker and filled the water tray and placed some wood chips in it and waited for the smoker to come up to temperature. This took nearly an hour and it was noon before any meat entered the compartments in the smoker. One of the design flaws with the Brinkman is that there is only one door into the cooking compartment and this only allows you access to top up the fuel grate. To baste any of the meat you need to remove the lid and take out whatever food is in the top cooking rack and then remove the rack to get at any food on the lower rack. While this does not require any huge physical effort it does mean that a lot of heat is lost while the lid is off. The meat took some five hours to cook and then it was quite rare, safe to eat but too rare for some of the people who had called around for a demonstration and a taste test. Another side effect of a smoker is you have to have understanding neighbours. It does what it says on the tin, it produces smoke, lots of it.
Bearing this in mind a larger smoker is required with easier access to the food and one that doe not lose as much jeat when you open the cooking compartment for testing and basting. I have decided that this particular smoker will only be used occasionally as it is too slow and small for large gatherings. I have also noticed I have not seen any of my neighbours on either side since I lit it on Sunday morning. It looks like while I have been smoking they have been smouldering. I will have to ask them around to the next one.