allisonandrews
Senior Cook
I had talked about this in an earlier thread, probably in the mods forum. I had asked about people who used their firebox as an additional cooking surface and if they thought I could do beans on it.
Well, I tried it out this past week while we were camped out for a Texas music festival. This was my first time cooking beans... period. So, I just kind of made it up as I went using what I had read online as a starting place.
The beans turned out wonderful. I used saltpork at first and then for my seasoning, I used salt, garlic powder, and cayenne pepper. (Yes, that's right - no black pepper. I detest the stuff and when I am the one cooking, I get to make the rules. )
The fire box worked great. It was large enough so that I could move the pot of beans around on it to keep the temperature right. I could put it right over the fire and bring it to a boil, I could keep it off center and keep a nice simmer going or I could move it to the front and keep it right under a simmer, to keep it warm. Some of the time I cooked it in the smoker with the lid ajar. I think I ended up cooking them 4-5 hours total. My husband was so impressed with them that he took a serving over to some camping neighbors of ours that we have camped near at this festival for a few years. They used to cater professionally. Anyway, I think they were probably just being nice, but they told him that we needed to enter the beans in the jackpot beans contest at the festival (it is a music fest and chili cook-off). They also told me to add just a bit of sugar and it would help them keep their flavor longer.
We also did a brisket that turned out much better than the last one. We finally got all the kinks out of our reverse flow design and we can really control the temperature easily now.
I don't have any pictures of the food, but I do have a few of our setup before it got crowded. If you are interested in seeing any of the other pics from the festival, they are on my webshots page.
http://community.webshots.com/user/allison_andrews
Well, I tried it out this past week while we were camped out for a Texas music festival. This was my first time cooking beans... period. So, I just kind of made it up as I went using what I had read online as a starting place.
The beans turned out wonderful. I used saltpork at first and then for my seasoning, I used salt, garlic powder, and cayenne pepper. (Yes, that's right - no black pepper. I detest the stuff and when I am the one cooking, I get to make the rules. )
The fire box worked great. It was large enough so that I could move the pot of beans around on it to keep the temperature right. I could put it right over the fire and bring it to a boil, I could keep it off center and keep a nice simmer going or I could move it to the front and keep it right under a simmer, to keep it warm. Some of the time I cooked it in the smoker with the lid ajar. I think I ended up cooking them 4-5 hours total. My husband was so impressed with them that he took a serving over to some camping neighbors of ours that we have camped near at this festival for a few years. They used to cater professionally. Anyway, I think they were probably just being nice, but they told him that we needed to enter the beans in the jackpot beans contest at the festival (it is a music fest and chili cook-off). They also told me to add just a bit of sugar and it would help them keep their flavor longer.
We also did a brisket that turned out much better than the last one. We finally got all the kinks out of our reverse flow design and we can really control the temperature easily now.
I don't have any pictures of the food, but I do have a few of our setup before it got crowded. If you are interested in seeing any of the other pics from the festival, they are on my webshots page.
http://community.webshots.com/user/allison_andrews