Up in Smoke

Got surprised the other day by an early Christmas gift from my boss - Original Bradley Smoker - 4 Rack model. Complete with a variety wood puck-pack and a weather cover! Actually, the gift was really for my 10 year anniversary with the company. What an awesome gift! Two other guys I work with got one too. Just yesterday morning set it up next to my Weber Q grill on the back porch, and put it through its "seasoning" dry run.

Seasoned the OBS (Original Bradley Smoker) yesterday and today doing my first smoke. The menu for today is: baby back ribs, turkey drumsticks, jalapeno poppers, and homemade coleslaw.
Initial prep last night involved making the slaw, brine the turkey legs in a salt/sugar/thyme solution and dry rub on the ribs after removing the membrane. Pre-fridge pic:

Woke up this morning patted the turkey legs dry:

Everything sitting out to get up to room temp. Mixed up a little more dry rub (can't see the brown sugar in the pic):

Made those legs a little happier:

Had to split the ribs into two slabs to fit on the racks:

Cored the jalapeños:

Here's what is going in them: cream cheese, shredded cheddar, cilantro, and green onion:

After stuffing the peppers I recapped them and help with a toothpick:

So far so good:

Into the Bradley:

I'm using mostly maple pucks but threw a couple of cherries in there too. It is taking a long time to get the OBS up to temp, but I expected that with the cold weather here in NY. Boiled the water before putting in the bowl which seemed to help. But I think it was taking the pic with the door open that did the most damage. Well, I'm glad I started early...
...Pulled out the ribs, here's what they looked like before splashing with apple juice, wrapping in foil, and returning to the smoker.

The turkey legs I just moved to the bottom rack, here's what they looked like. (I'm a little concerned about them drying out.)

The jalapenos... well they tasted good. But I think having them on the bottom rack was a mistake, they seem overcooked to me. But the cheese did not leak out and the flavor was there. Maybe a bit too hot even after removing all the seeds and ribs. Must have got a hot batch...

... Well everything is done and was delicious. Turkey legs came out moist and flavorful.

I pulled them apart to use for sandwiches tomorrow. Sorry I didn't wipe the bowl before taking the pic.

Ribs came out great. Not fall off the bone, I actually got lucky, they had a little pull to them and the meat came off nice and clean.


Homemade BBQ sauce, coleslaw, and some Jiffy cornbread.

Can't wait until the next smoke.