Can any recommend a good book for a beginner?
I got one for Christmas which had some good recipes but wasn't very helpful with the art of barbecuing itself
I don't know of any books per say, but there are a ton of them out there. What I found was the most helpful for learning was websites and youtube. Amazingribs.com is a really good resource, though personally I don't agree with everything he says, there's still alot to learn from there.
I've had a Weber grill for a while now, and I've finally decided to make the plunge and do something other than just burgers, dogs, and the occasional steak on it. My summer project will be to start making some awesome (or at least passable) ribs and pulled pork. Been reading amazingribs.com a lot, but I have a couple questions. What are good types of wood for pork and for chicken?
For me, I really like Apple, Hickory, and Maple for Pork, and Apple, Maple, and other fruit woods for chicken.
Also with the setup pictured here:
If there isn't any room for the water pan on top, I assume having one below will suffice?
Personally I think that image leaves a lot of info out. If you're going to smoke on a Weber grill I personally recommend the snake method. I find it's a lot easier to maintain a temp and control your burn speed than the minion method, with just banking the coals to the side. Here's a picture of one of my snake set ups/
It's basically just making rows of briquettes along the side of the grill, and then you like about 10 - 15 briquettes and put them so they are all on one side just overlapping the start of your snake. The briquettes will slowly burn down the line like a really slow moving fuse. Not in the picture but I also put a big water pan down in the middle.
Just to note, how long of a snake you make will depend on cooking time, temp you're looking for, and the weather. The one in the picture works great for me to hold 225 for 6 hours in the summer here in NJ. During the winter, when it's super windy and cold I need to almost double the amount shown.
Should I just put the wood chunks/chips on top of the coals, because the guy on amazing ribs says in one article to put the in a bag of aluminum foil with holes, yet in that picture the wood is naked on top of the coals.
I don't put the wood chunks in anything, I just leave them right ontop of the coals, I also don't soak my wood chunks. I've noticed that for me if I soak them I get more of the white bad smoke. If I don't soak them, then I get the nice thin barely visible blue smoke that we all want.
One small Issue that I have with my Weber kettle is that the lid doesn't seem to be forming a complete seal, as I often see smoke escaping from under the lid (and not through the exhaust only like it should be). When I push down on the lid the smoke stops escaping. Any good tips for sealing a Weber better? I should mention there is quite a buildup of soot underneath the lid, so that might be causing it, what are some good ways to clean out the insides?
Once you start bbqing on it, and building up a layer of stuff from that it'll start to seal itself better. When I first got my Weber, it poured a lot of smoke from under the lid, a few months later, and much BBQing later, and now it really only comes out the top vent. I've heard of some people getting like Nomex gaskets to put around the edge of the bowl, and while I've considered it myself I haven't actually done it.
Now I just need to buy myself a good leave-in thermometer (been eyeing the Maverick, either the 732 or 733), and to find a nearby butcher since the grocery stores in Sweden don't sell cuts of meat bigger than 0.5-1kg.
Just wanted to add that I love my Maverick 732, it works great.
