Anyone watch Good Eats last night?

jason716 · Posted: Jun 01 2007 Post subject: Anyone watch Good Eats last night?

Did any of you guys/gals watch Good Eats last night on the Food Network? He smoked a pork shoulder, The cool thing was he used a terracota pot, The ones you use to put plants in. Supposley ceramic materials will insulate better than the best of steels. He put 3 small peices of 2x4 under it to get air movement, Put a small electric burner in the bottom, a 8" cake pan and a few chunks of wood. Cost him $47.00. I have never heard of this before. He did point out that you are not actually"BBQing" when you use a gas grill. And that nothing will insulate as well as "earth" materials. Probally busted alot of peoples bubbles with that. Just wondering if anyone caught else it.
-Jason
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Ranucci's Big Butt · Posted: Jun 01 2007 Post subject:

I saw it. He also mentioned at the end about putting it in the over after smoking for 2-3 hours. I think that episode has aired before in the past. Alton has a lot of good iteas.
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DawgPhan · BBQ Super Pro Joined: 12 May 2005 Posts: 3444

yeah i watched and I have seen it before...funny thing was that at the end when he was "pulling" his pork, he was struggling a little bit with it...certainly not the most tender pork I have ever seen....he probably could have gone for a little while longer...

jason716 · Posted: Jun 01 2007 Post subject:

Yeah I noticed that too. Didnt see alot of juices in the meat either. I just never heard of anyone using terracota pots for that before. I am new to smoking, Is that something alot of people use?

I caught that at the end about putting it in the oven.......Thats cheating Laughing

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DawgPhan · BBQ Super Pro Joined: 12 May 2005 Posts: 3444

JimH · Posted: Jun 01 2007 Post subject:

I've seen it before, the unanswered question is what happens to the rendered fat? When I smoke a butt I usually have about a quart of fat in my collection can.

DawgPhan · BBQ Super Pro Joined: 12 May 2005 Posts: 3444

c crane · BBQ Fan Joined: 20 Mar 2007 Posts: 156

Problably wasn't really cooked in the pot. I saw no smoke and when he checked it the first time, he removed the lid withhis bare hands and didn't say anything abouat it being hot. Just my 2cents.

mikekilian1947 · Posted: Jun 02 2007 Post subject:

I did see it and it does seem like an interesting idea. I think you could actually scale it up with a larger terra cota pot. Some modifications may be needed if you want to do charcoal, but again, it's an interesting thought. I would be concerned that the terra cota is a bit fragile. Heck, for the money it would be worth a try!

Mike
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rprata · Posted: Jun 02 2007 Post subject:

Saw it. That's not the first time Alton has smoked using that type of contraption. I seem to remember him doing either salmon or tuna or some other type of fish in a similar type of "smoker". Definitely interesting. The butt didn't look that bad when he pulled it, but definitely not as good as what comes off my WSM Shocked

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brewbum · Joined: 13 Apr 2007 Posts: 11

I saw it as well, it definitley looked pretty cool. I can't imagine the temp getting to terrible high in that but you never know. It definitely would work for slow and low I imagine.

Might be worth a try for the hell of it. The funny thing was that it came on after Throwdown where Bobby Flay took on a guy in ribs. Bobby didn't even smoke his, just cooked them in the oven, for shame. Wink

98 Red Kettle · BBQ Fan Joined: 01 Sep 2006 Posts: 220

One of Alton's selling points was that the heat level of the electric burner could be adjusted. IMO, having to take the whole set-up apart to get to the burner negates the heat is adjustable advantage.
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jib · Posted: Jun 02 2007 Post subject:

Sax · Posted: Jun 02 2007 Post subject:

Here's a link

http://homepage.mac.com/dubmann/PhotoAlbum1.html

Heck, I priced it and it was cheaper to buy a ECB.
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SoEzzy · Posted: Jun 02 2007 Post subject:

I was facinated to discover that charcoal was invented by Henry Ford...

Not that the Charcoal Briquette was invented by HF, but Charcoal it self was!

I wonder what they used to call charcoal before HF invented it?
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PigHusker · BBQ Fan Joined: 14 Apr 2007 Posts: 364 Location: Omaha

I have acutally bought this setup and tried it, a year ago. It didn't work. The heating element didn't get hot enough to even get chips to smolder. Not sure maybe it was my burner but it didn't work for me. I couldn't even get the temp over 150. It was funny watching him try to pull it at the end. At that point he brought up chopping it. Funny stuff.

Harry Nutczak · Posted: Jun 02 2007 Post subject:

ceedubya · Posted: Jun 02 2007 Post subject:

Marky C · BBQ Pro Joined: 29 Nov 2006 Posts: 501 Location: Delaware

Here is a little info on smoking pot Cool

http://twothirds.org/2005/09/26/smoking-pot-a-cheap-terracotta-flower-pot-smoker-ala-alton-brown/
http://saldetraglia.blogspot.com/2005/08/smokin-pot-on-sunday-morning.html#comments
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Boomer · Posted: Jun 02 2007 Post subject:

It was a different way of doing things but I'm with DawgPhan he struggled to pull it apart then chopped it when he seen it was a little tough.
I also watched the BBQ cookoff with Roy Yamaguchi in Hawaii where three or four chefs competed and each did a different protein Kahlua
style whole fish, short ribs, and pork and they all got done at the same time. Funny when I was in the kitchens cooking I don't remember it happening that way.

BOOMER
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