- Oct 13, 2015
- 8
- 11
I've been cooking on my UDS for well over a year now. It's been a great cooking experience in general, but like any cook, I always think that I might be able to do just a little bit better.
One "downfall" of the UDS design as compared to an offset cooker, is that the meat is sitting directly above the heat source. Doing that with even a well controlled fire will cause some drying of the meat. Of course on the upside you get additional browning of the outside and a lovely bark, which I do like. I think I'd like to try and hit something in the middle.
I've tried using a water pan on a rack between the fire and the meat, but I didn't care for all the steaming. The meat was moist enough, but the outside wasn't very well browned at all. I've also experimented with using cheap disposable turkey roasting pans dropped right on top of the charcoal basket as a deflector (no water in it) and that seemed to work better, but the pan got so hot the drippings were burning in it and I fear that wouldn't give the best smoke flavor.
I've read that Kamodo cookers have some sort of a tile or clay platter that is used as a deflector. And I'm thinking about buying a cast iron pizza pan to be used the same way,. maybe suspended a few inches above the charcoal basket.
So , what are other folks using that seems to work for you? Or are you just not worrying about the direct heat?
One "downfall" of the UDS design as compared to an offset cooker, is that the meat is sitting directly above the heat source. Doing that with even a well controlled fire will cause some drying of the meat. Of course on the upside you get additional browning of the outside and a lovely bark, which I do like. I think I'd like to try and hit something in the middle.
I've tried using a water pan on a rack between the fire and the meat, but I didn't care for all the steaming. The meat was moist enough, but the outside wasn't very well browned at all. I've also experimented with using cheap disposable turkey roasting pans dropped right on top of the charcoal basket as a deflector (no water in it) and that seemed to work better, but the pan got so hot the drippings were burning in it and I fear that wouldn't give the best smoke flavor.
I've read that Kamodo cookers have some sort of a tile or clay platter that is used as a deflector. And I'm thinking about buying a cast iron pizza pan to be used the same way,. maybe suspended a few inches above the charcoal basket.
So , what are other folks using that seems to work for you? Or are you just not worrying about the direct heat?