I posted up last week that I just got my first smoker. This weekend, I got the pleasure of cooking for 17 adults and some kids. Decided to to 3 nice size rack of baby backs, 2 whole chickens (quartered) and a small pork loin. I was a bit stressed when things got started as I had never used this smoker and really never even smoked much at all. The guest all had high expectations.
Put a rub on the BB's the night before and marinated the chicken in a modified Mojo sauce (and other stuff). Fired up the smoker at about 9:30 am and the BB's were on by 10:10. Learned my first lesson shortly there after... I used WAY too much lit charcoal. Quickly, the temp shot to 350 and I was panicking to cool it off. I finally just scooped half the lit coals out of the fire box and that did the trick. From them on, I was able to maintain between 225 and 250 ish.
Used the 2-2-1 method for the baby backs and the chicken took about 2 1/2 ish hours to reach temp. All came out VERY good and lots of compliments came. This was a good learning lesson and I feel I definitely "jumped right in" with the amount of guests and food. Though all turned out very good, I think next time will be much more relaxing and enjoyable. My camera broke when I started the grill so I only have a pic from my wife's phone of the BB's. Forgot to snap one when it was full of Chicken too.
Thanks for all the advice on the other threads.
Put a rub on the BB's the night before and marinated the chicken in a modified Mojo sauce (and other stuff). Fired up the smoker at about 9:30 am and the BB's were on by 10:10. Learned my first lesson shortly there after... I used WAY too much lit charcoal. Quickly, the temp shot to 350 and I was panicking to cool it off. I finally just scooped half the lit coals out of the fire box and that did the trick. From them on, I was able to maintain between 225 and 250 ish.
Used the 2-2-1 method for the baby backs and the chicken took about 2 1/2 ish hours to reach temp. All came out VERY good and lots of compliments came. This was a good learning lesson and I feel I definitely "jumped right in" with the amount of guests and food. Though all turned out very good, I think next time will be much more relaxing and enjoyable. My camera broke when I started the grill so I only have a pic from my wife's phone of the BB's. Forgot to snap one when it was full of Chicken too.
Thanks for all the advice on the other threads.
