London Calling

[Hman666]

Hello from England. I've just been surprised by my missis with a metal bomb shaped thing called a frontier Pro Q and she's expecting some smokey miracles!
I'm an average outdoor cook suffering from the UK's notoriously short bbq season so would appreciate any tips for the begginner. I'm going to start with a chicken because I know what one looks like. HELP! And yes, I have a metal thing to stick up the chickens arse so it can sit up straight. Do I need to coat the inside of the smoker with cooking oil??

Cheers H

[Richtee]

Hahaha.. welcome to Smoked-Meat...

kinda a Weber WSM copy... I'd not recommend a beer butt chicken, unless ya use it in grill mode. I WOULD recommend a brine however for a "yardbird" (chicken) smoke. Keep yer temps up...300+

And a good heat up to burn off any nasties and a spray in the late stages of some cooking oil would be a good idea.

[sweet_magnolia]

from Kentucky! You came to the right place to learn...lots of knowledgeable and nice folks here!

[Mark R]

Welcome from Florida!
Rich steered you right.

[SmokinOutBack]

from New Jersey.

[Conumdrum]

Ya, a good 300f+ burn for an hour with nothing cooking, let cool down then a spray of vegetable oil. Then another hour. Then good to go!

Don't trust the temp gauge, it can be off at least 20c since it's a knockoff.

Gonna be good when you figger it out, Smoked meat no matter it a chicken or pork or ribs is a magic thing!

[SMOKE FREAK]

from Kansas

[IrishChef]

[THUMPERRRR]

welcome...

[Doug S.]

from Utah

[barkonbutts]

Welcome from Dayton!! Now go smoke some meat!!

[curious aardvark]

beer can chicken is great.
But use a beer can filled with apple juice and garlic, rather than a metal thing you can't fill with anything :-)

The apple juice keeps the chicken moist as it evaporates and gives a great flavour as well.

The bbq season isn't that short - mine starts around april and extends to september. That said I have bbq'd both in the snow before now and at the end of november for my birthday :-)
:-)

No idea what bbq you've got. is it gas/electric/charcoal ?


***

Ah ha - charcoal - kind of like asmall uds type thing.


Make sure you get some decent briquettes. not sure if you have Home Bargains shops in the Barbarian Lands (everywhere south of Birmingham)
But hands down the best briquettes I've ever used are their cotton tree charcoal briquettes. Long burn, not too much heat, zero binder smell and they give off a real pleaant smoke odour. Which most briquettes don't do.

this stuff: http://www.homebargains.co.uk/produc...s-5kg-bag.aspx


failing that the morrisons own brand aren't too bad and they do pretty decent lumpwood charcoal. Which lights easier and burns hotter - just doesn't burn for very long.

For the longer slower smoking type bbq you want decent briquettes.

under no circumstances whatsoever should you use lighter fluid or gel !!!
No never ever ever !
Probably a good idea to invest in a charcol chimney if you don't already have one. I use a looft lighter - but I like gadgets :-)
Mind you the original; looft lighters have got really hard to come by. This chinese (presumably) knock off looks pretty good.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Spares2go-El...=looft+lighter
I think i only paid £40 for my looft lighter. Brilliant bit of kit - review round here somewhere: http://www.smoked-meat.com/forum/sho...t=looft&page=2

damn looks like I've had mine over 3 years now. But wouldn't be without one now, that's for sure

[Bbqgoddess]

From across the pond in Central California!

[Abelman]

Welcome aboard!

Another trick I learned long in extending the BBQ season with those type of smokers is all about the water pan.

When it gets cold, forget the water. Line the water pan with HD foil (just makes clean up easier) and fill with play ground sand. You can also put a layer of foil on top of the sand for any drips/clean up. That way, you can use the sand indefinitely.

The water pan is just a buffer for indirect heat. Using sand is like using a ceramic smoker in other words. You can keep higher temps in cold weather and even in the summer, never a need to refill the pan and use less fuel.

This is the smoker I use the sand in, so it's very similar:

[Fishawn]