Beer Can Chicken & Ribs

[heliman]

Interesting videos on making beer can chicken and ribs...

John Kass makes Beer Can Chicken

and Ribs...

John Kass' perfect ribs for summer

Can be adapted for WFO.

[fxpose]

I regularly do ribs, both beef and pork, in the wfo and they come out great, using either retained heat or from a cold start. But I definitely get better smoked flavoring using my Weber kettle due to the convection of heat and smoke.

[gmokrzycki]

I was contemplating using my pizza oven as a smoker. I had the idea to buy a smoker heating element used in conventional smoker and just set it inside the pizza oven with the door closed. I think the heating element would keep the heat relatively low for the long period I need to smoke. I would use the residual heat of a real fire, but I like the versatility and speediness of the electric idea. Anyone have thoughts about this or experimented with the concept?

[fxpose]

Originally Posted by gmokrzycki

I was contemplating using my pizza oven as a smoker. I had the idea to buy a smoker heating element used in conventional smoker and just set it inside the pizza oven with the door closed. I think the heating element would keep the heat relatively low for the long period I need to smoke. I would use the residual heat of a real fire, but I like the versatility and speediness of the electric idea. Anyone have thoughts about this or experimented with the concept?

I often don't use residual heat and I can bring the oven up to smoking temps using just a large basket full of charcoal briquettes with chunks of wood thrown on top for smoke. Allow only a very small amount of air into the chamber, just enough to keep the coals burning and the wood to smoke, but not flame. This particular set up keeps my oven temp hovering just below 300F for several hours.

[GianniFocaccia]

George,

What a great idea! I have always made my pulled pork the classic eastern North Carolina (go figure) style: low-and-slow (212F-228F) over oak and hickory in my smoker. After the internal temp reaches 170F I wrap in aluminum foil and have always put it in the house oven until it plateaus at 190F and the collagen breaks down in 2 hours. Now I'll (soon) be able to just wrap and slide into a coasting WFO. Yum...

[fxpose]

That's a great looking PP sandwich, John! Man, that sure looks good.
In fact, I was thinking about doing an overnight pulled pork in the wfo one of these days.
Hmm...come to think of it, I did pizza Sunday night, and just this morning when I glanced at the temp gauge on the oven door before heading for work it read 325F. Perhaps on the way home this evening I just might pick up a thing of pork shoulder....

[GianniFocaccia]

Thanks George... go for it! Once the oven is finished I want to try your method, especially with oak lump and hickory chips. Do you think it would be practical to start with, say, a 250F oven and light a top-down pile of charcoal and simply maintain that temperature for 6-7 hours? My pulled pork burns in the smoker usually go at least this long and I always do 2-3 pieces (shoulders/brisket). I'm thinking with that much volume in the WFO I will need to replenish the charcoal basket at least once...

BTW - If you're an 'SC fan, sorry about the Oregon game...
John

[pduany]

Originally Posted by heliman

Interesting videos on making beer can chicken and ribs...

John Kass makes Beer Can Chicken

and Ribs...

John Kass' perfect ribs for summer

Can be adapted for WFO.

Just sent the wife for the ingredients to his "grilled pepper treats" another recipe that looks like it would be great in the WFO, to bad mine is still a long way from completion.

[fxpose]

Originally Posted by GianniFocaccia

Thanks George... go for it! Once the oven is finished I want to try your method, especially with oak lump and hickory chips. Do you think it would be practical to start with, say, a 250F oven and light a top-down pile of charcoal and simply maintain that temperature for 6-7 hours? My pulled pork burns in the smoker usually go at least this long and I always do 2-3 pieces (shoulders/brisket). I'm thinking with that much volume in the WFO I will need to replenish the charcoal basket at least once...

BTW - If you're an 'SC fan, sorry about the Oregon game...
John

They didn't have any pork butt at the market last night so I settled for whatever looked decent for roasting, so I ended up doing this late last night:
http://www.fornobravo.com/forum/f25/...tml#post101770 (Beef Round Roast)

You'll probably need to replenish your charcoal basket in your case.
Also starting with a warmish oven would be ideal as the oven has been saturated at higher temps and you won't be burning charcoal as much.
I'm thinking of fabricating a larger charcoal basket for longer burn times when using the top down method.

[GianniFocaccia]

Sure, maybe it wasn't perfect, but it looks like it made pretty good sandwiches! I'll bet if the oven was 235-250F when you started you'd a got a perfect 135F med-rare.

About 4 or 5 years back I had my step-dad weld me up a charcoal basket out of expanded metal for my smoker. It works really well, should last forever and I've already earmarked it for the WFO when it's done. I'll shoot you a pic when I get home.

Did you cook the roast in the pic with the uncooked/rubbed meat in the WFO on that rack? It looks killer.

John