ProQ Excel... ready to rock!

BBQ weather... Huh???
Gale force winds and rain, looks like summer is here early

Starting the charcoal... no firelighters, just plan ol newspaper.


The charcoal basket holds 5Kg's (11lbs) of charcoal


Water pan on, I tossed in some herbs, just because they were there.


9.00 am Smokin! This unit totally dwarfs the other cookers.

3 Hours In...

Mack wrote:

Roxy wrote:I would say that your sewing skills look more like stitches than what ya would use on a dress there Ian..

Good luck with lil piggy. As for time I would be thinking as long as it takes till its done... Just be sure to have plenty of beer on hand and stick a probe in the shoulder and the ham.

Can't wait to see the final results.

Now listen here Roxanne I did say no comments on the sewing

Can't use the beer scale for timing on this one, as I'm actually running a business here, or trying to.

The weather has turned nasty, not ideal for cooking, but at least we have a warehouse, so we can do it indoors

More pics to follow soon...

I was thinking that you being a bushman from Africa that you would have some experience sticking up cuts and the like..

Roxy wrote:
I was thinking that you being a bushman from Africa that you would have some experience sticking up cuts and the like..

Well I do admit to having sewed up a couple of dogs injured by wild pigs before

Anyways, here's the rest of the cook...

Internal temp of 160 F reached, so it's time to come off.


The pig and I were tired, at least it got to lie down



Looks a bit pink, but I can assure you, that's from the smoke.



The veg. The potatoes were not cooked, but I was full of pork, so that didn't bother me too much.


The cook took 7 hours in all, last hour was done at 300, but the majority was at 220 F.
It was a learning curve, as it was the 1st time I used this cooker and also the 1st time doing a suckling pig... but hey, that's what it's all about. The cooker worked like a dream and next time I'll do better.

Oh man that looks good Ian..

I could go for one of those roasted apples and some belly meat. Now that would be some awesome eats..

Well, except for the rosemary.

Did you by chance check the temperature at the lower level? I assume the 22o was lid temp. Did it seem to be pretty even, was wondering of the difference from top to bottom?

bowhnter wrote:Did you by chance check the temperature at the lower level? I assume the 22o was lid temp. Did it seem to be pretty even, was wondering of the difference from top to bottom?

I just measured the temp in the middle (the probe was held on by the string around the piglets belly), but I assume it runs pretty even, as previous tests on the Frontier have shown (10 F diff between top and bottom with 3 stackers).

As soon as I do a cook with the grates in, I'll do some measuring... only problem is, I need to have a party every time I cook on it as the capacity is huge, I recon I'll fit 6 chickens on each level

Awesome result Ian, next time you pull up somezhing like that i swear i´ll come swimming over the f&$"% channel

Cheers,

DM

Marco my friend, you're welcome to come over any time you like... I still have some of that German poison you sent me

Ian,

The piglet looked awesome! If it's okay with you, I'd like to post some of the pictures you've taken on the Illinois BBQ Society website...would like to help build the anticipation for the 'Battle for Bullet Smoker Supremacy' that we're working on between the Excel and the WSM.

Carpe 'Que,
Jim

ILBBQS.com wrote:Ian,

The piglet looked awesome! If it's okay with you, I'd like to post some of the pictures you've taken on the Illinois BBQ Society website...would like to help build the anticipation for the 'Battle for Bullet Smoker Supremacy' that we're working on between the Excel and the WSM.

Carpe 'Que,
Jim

Now that sounds like fun.

ILBBQS.com wrote:Ian,

The piglet looked awesome! If it's okay with you, I'd like to post some of the pictures you've taken on the Illinois BBQ Society website...would like to help build the anticipation for the 'Battle for Bullet Smoker Supremacy' that we're working on between the Excel and the WSM.

Carpe 'Que,
Jim

That's fine with me Jim, I'm still playing around with the cooker, next test is to see how many chickens I can fit on a level

As of 5:26am, the pictures are posted! Thanks!

http://www.ILBBQS.com

Carpe 'Que,
Jim

Thanks Jim, looks good