BBQ-Pitz
New member
Tonight was my first cook on the new 590. Really felt well prepared to make the transition from the Weber Smokey Mountain thanks to this terrific forum.
First, the good: This thing is awesome as you all know already. Miss Pitz heated up like a absolute champ. Was following some advice from a fellow forum poster here by setting her at 400 and dropping the thighs on at 250. Temp from 250 to 400 was much quicker than I anticipated so I bumped the temp down a bit so it wouldn't go too high. (Last night during burn in I had it set at 400 and she went up to 460 at one point) That was my bad honestly, I just didn't trust the system yet. The rubs were awesome. Used Asian Persuasion on half and competition blend on the other half.
The Bad: I didn't trust the system yet...see a pattern emerging?
I was absolutely paranoid about the probes not reading correctly so I didn't trust them. I inserted my iGrill probes which showed about a 15-20 degree swing in temp from the RecTeq probes. Carried on through the cook watching both, simmering a little bit about the variance. Stay focused, stay focused.
Tried to crisp up the skin towards the end by placing the thighs onto the grill grates. Didn't leave them on long enough for everythign to crisp up to my liking. Again, not trusting the system or myself for that matter. Pulled at 170 and let rest.
The Ugly: The thighs weren't my best work and to be honest, they ranked very low in my book. BUT, this was not Miss Pitz's fault, the blame was entirely on the chef. After we ate, I happened to think that I didn't care for the fist food I cooked on my smoker all those years ago. It took time, patience, grill seasoning and so much more to make the food I love and am convinced this cooker is going to do the same. There is a bit of a learning curve and I learned a lot on the first cook.
Another part of ugly...catching the drip pan foil on fire, that was a fun thing.
The final product was just ok. Some of the skin was crispy and other parts were chewy, not good. It wasn't the cooker!
All in all, I love Miss Pitz and am looking forward to my next cook. Note to self for next time: Use more seasoning. When you think you have enough, you don't. Also to self....Use the smoke tube dummy.
Final note about probe temps. I'll say it first. I was wrong.
After clean up, I tested each probe with the iGrill, an instant read thermo and finally the RecTeq probes. All we're spot on the money, maybe varied by 1 degree but that's it.
Moving on to the next round.
First, the good: This thing is awesome as you all know already. Miss Pitz heated up like a absolute champ. Was following some advice from a fellow forum poster here by setting her at 400 and dropping the thighs on at 250. Temp from 250 to 400 was much quicker than I anticipated so I bumped the temp down a bit so it wouldn't go too high. (Last night during burn in I had it set at 400 and she went up to 460 at one point) That was my bad honestly, I just didn't trust the system yet. The rubs were awesome. Used Asian Persuasion on half and competition blend on the other half.
The Bad: I didn't trust the system yet...see a pattern emerging?
I was absolutely paranoid about the probes not reading correctly so I didn't trust them. I inserted my iGrill probes which showed about a 15-20 degree swing in temp from the RecTeq probes. Carried on through the cook watching both, simmering a little bit about the variance. Stay focused, stay focused. Tried to crisp up the skin towards the end by placing the thighs onto the grill grates. Didn't leave them on long enough for everythign to crisp up to my liking. Again, not trusting the system or myself for that matter. Pulled at 170 and let rest.
The Ugly: The thighs weren't my best work and to be honest, they ranked very low in my book. BUT, this was not Miss Pitz's fault, the blame was entirely on the chef. After we ate, I happened to think that I didn't care for the fist food I cooked on my smoker all those years ago. It took time, patience, grill seasoning and so much more to make the food I love and am convinced this cooker is going to do the same. There is a bit of a learning curve and I learned a lot on the first cook.
Another part of ugly...catching the drip pan foil on fire, that was a fun thing.
The final product was just ok. Some of the skin was crispy and other parts were chewy, not good. It wasn't the cooker!
All in all, I love Miss Pitz and am looking forward to my next cook. Note to self for next time: Use more seasoning. When you think you have enough, you don't. Also to self....Use the smoke tube dummy.
Final note about probe temps. I'll say it first. I was wrong.
After clean up, I tested each probe with the iGrill, an instant read thermo and finally the RecTeq probes. All we're spot on the money, maybe varied by 1 degree but that's it.
Moving on to the next round.
