Happy Humpeth day Nor Cal FTE and friends. Have a wonderful day, and stay cool.

jim

 

Cooled off a lot today. We had a high of about 68*. I fly out a week from today for Cancun... Not as excited as one would expect. I'm the best man in a wedding, but I have 2 exams I have to take early now...

 

Good luck on the Exams Rick, you will do just fine, How long are you in Cancun for? If you get a chance take a Vw Taxi ride over to Pircos good times going on their

 

Evening Hank, Jim and Rick

-The Great

 

For some of you lucky ducks, your 3 day weekend has already started.... for the rest of us... we have another day to go...

-The Great

 

My BBQ grill is a Brinkmann model # 810-3821-S, with an accessory firebox (model # 810-3826-SB) that hangs off the right side. You might need to adapt these instructions somewhat, in order to accommodate your smoker.

Start off the process by filling a bucket with about 3 gallons of water, then dumping your hickory chunks in to soak -- the wetter, the better, because your want them to smoke, not burn.

Then fire up a chimney full of briquettes.

The main oven gets an aluminum pie plate full of water in the bottom, near where the heat enters the oven. I bend the pie plate a little to help it fit the curve of the bottom of the oven. The water helps keep the meat moist while it cooks.

Once the coals are burning thoroughly, spread them evenly on the grill in the firebox. Place half the soaked hickory chunks on top of the coals.

I do not use a rub or any sauce. I might trim off excess fat, if there's an obvious slab of it.

The tri-tip goes on the grill closest to the firebox.

I smoke the tri-tip for 40 minutes on a side. It's worthwhile to set an alarm (I use the one on my cell phone).

I check the smoker every once in a while. If the temperature's up and the smoke is down, I'll throw handfuls of water from the soaking bucket onto the coals/chunks until the flames go out.

When the meat gets flipped, I add the other half of the hickory chunks to the coals.

Once the meat comes off the grill, I let it sit for about 15 minutes.

Slice it thin, is seems to taste better that way.

For an extra treat, you can place a pie pan or ceramic pan on the grill and fill it with rock salt. While the meat is smoking, the salt will be too. After it cools, throw the smoked salt into a salt grinder and grind it to serve. The salt acts as a carrier for the smoke flavor.

 

Thanks Thipdar now I`m going to be thinking about a tri-tip all day. I`m off to Chico this fine day for my nephews wedding,,woohoo!! I`ll swing by Sierra Nevada brewery today if I can but regardless it looks like I have to find a place that serves tri tip for lunch
Catch ya`ll later

 

G'day mates! Happy Good Friday! Hope everyone has a great day and awesome weekend!

Jim

 

Right on, I have the same type of side box smoker...but it is a char-griller (1 of 4 cookers I have...I may have a problem buying cookers and ice chests) I have never heard the the salt trick before and will definitely try that. One thing I did to this cooker was run a flexible pipe/tubing (kinda like dryer vent pipe but smaller diameter) from the inside of the vent stack to the grill level-this forces the smoke to stay in the smoker and must go down to grill level to escape-if that makes sense. thanks for posting recipe-will try

I just busted out the Orion and cooked a whole chicken-not a smoker-but a convection cooker of sorts...cooks a whole turkey in 2 1/2 hours, six racks of ribs in 1 hour 10 minutes.

Turkey Cooker, BBQ Smoker, Convection Cooker | Stainless Steel Charcoal Grill

happy cooking! tis the season!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

You can skip the rubs, marinades and sauces, but don't forget the pan full of water.

I tend to put the pan full of rock salt onto a "cool spot" on the grill... the "hot spots" are for the meat. I've let rock salt sit through the process twice, stirring the crystals between sessions.

If I cook one or two tri-tips, I usually slice by hand. If I smoke three or four, I break out the electric food slicer (which has about an 8" wheel on it). Sliced smoked tri-tip can go into the freezer to be stored for lunches.

My Brinkmann is a sweet rig. I got tired of living on hand-me-down grills, so about three years ago I finally went and bought what I wanted. Gas, charcoal & smoker, all in one. I even convinced the folks at Home Depot that I'm a vet, so I got the Vet's discount (I didn't have my ID or DD-214 with me at the time). Got it home, only to realize there was "some assembly required". Oops! "Honey, Dinner's gonna be a little later than I thought." Then I realized that you're supposed to fire it up before you cook with it, to burn off the chemicals that remain after manufacturing. Oopsoops! "Honey, dinner's gonna be a LOT later than I thought!" We finally ate about midnight. I've used it a lot since then, and I'm trying to wear it out.

I like the idea of being able to cook six racks of ribs in an hour and ten... when I load the Brinkmann up with ribs, I have to deal with grease flares.

 

Made it back last night and avg mpg was 21.6. Not bad for setting cruise at 80. Wedding was set in a theatre and it was the best wedding I`ve been to. Anyhoo I`m getting redy to fire up my little Weber Q and Q up some linguisa for breakfast. The Q is perfect for taking when I go off-roading with quads etc
Never did find a tri tip but I did find a Red Lobster and they were happy to seperate me from some C-notes

Happy Easter

 

Happy Easter FTE Friends and Family, We have a lot of Rabbits around lately so I'm Guessing the Egg hunt will be good, you guys have a great relaxing day

 

Happy Easter Nor Cal FTE and friends! Have a blessed day!

Jim

 

Which rig was that accomplished in?

 

Hope your Easter festivities were enjoyable...friends and family, good food and good times.