SECB-cooks

Here we are somewhere during the middle of the cook (again, still LOTS of white in the background, hard to help in Iowa at that time of year!) This picture was taken out the patio door... right next to where I can look out and read the thermometer readout mounted to the handle of the SECB. You can also see the half sheet of 1/4" plywood that I used on occasion as a wind break. Most of the white cloud you see in this picture is steam.

I was dissappointed in THIS result to say the least. Prior to this cook, I didn't ever plan on having chickens done in the ECB (unmodified) in less than 5 1/2 hours. These birds had been in for 4 1/2 and they were well done to say the least. The flavor was still VERY good, the meat was just a bit on the dry side. I have cut the cooking time to 3 1/2 hours and the chickens come out perfect! I did a chicken cook for a Super Bowl party (1/01) my family was attending, 3 chicks, 2 injected with Cajun butter, the other with Teriaki marinade. I don't think I injected enough marinade but the chickens were still fantastic! I didn't put these on "thrones" I simply layed the first on the bottom rack and the other 2 on the top rack. I've since puchased chicken racks and did 6 plain (very little seasoning at all) chickens for my Boy Scout Troop, they were a big hit with the boys!

Ready to go for the maiden cook on the SECB!! The coal basket is about 80% full of briquets and also has 2 nice pieces of Maple for flavor. I will be dumping about a dozen hot briquets on and assembling the cooker with a pan of HOT water, then when the grate temp hits about 250 in go 4 BB-chickens. (I apologize for the washed out look of the picture(s) there was 10 " of snow on my back porch the day I did this cook and I think all the surrounding snow threw off the light meter in the camera just a bit!)

Here is the main course for our Christmas dinner (12/25/00) going onto the SECB. This was a 7-ish lb ribeye roast (a choice rib perhaps?) that had been schmeared with a paste of horseradish, garlic, cumin and olive oil (main components.) I lined the water pan with several layers of foil and left it dry. The picture below shows the finished product. Please note that there was a significant color shift in the picture, the rib roast was what I would call medium while the picture really shows it a rare-ish med-rare. It was quite tasty but I will keep a closer eye on the internal temperature next time as the internal temperature jumped past my target temp.

Notice the handy-dandy grill temp probe holder in the lower right corner of the first picture.

(Can you say "White Christmas?")