Lost Allman Brother and a Found Smoker
Good day, kind reader; how is your world going? I find myself unable to sleep and back looking at a notebook with a random thought train that we should not fully bother
exploring. Net/net, it involved the Allman Brothers song Ramblin’ Man, meeting a guy at a Dead show in ‘94 claiming to be Mark Allman, the lost brother, and denying the picture
of the Traeger with the Grateful Dead Stealie as my own.
My last post got a bit lost and jumbled, lacking cohesion about 2/3 through, only to stumble together toward the end. Editing is an important, yet elusive, exercise at
3 a.m. My BS meter was well tuned at 17, and Mark may have been a cousin, but no
brother. Oddly, he has been a presence whenever I think of ABB, despite owning the
Dreams Box Set before our meeting. My former neighbor (and mayor of my forever
street) Chad owns that hippie Traeger dusted off during a dart session in his b’yard years
ago. I may be a wayward hippie, but not to the level that I am dropping a Stealie on my
grill or growing a beard like his!
Speaking of grills, someone left a box smoker on the curb a few Sundays ago when my
wife was out of town. I do not pass up many opportunities of value, and this was
screaming at me as I returned from my short drop off (anyone have teenagers – do they
bike anymore?). I did miss it on first pass, but it was in my mind enough to reverse 800
feet mid street, give it a lift to be sure it wasn’t too burly, and toss it in the back of the
van. Brought it back to the house, gave it a good clean (there were probably 30 spider
eggs on the bottom outside of the box and grates that needed a few once overs), and
left it to dry in the summer sun.
About 24 hours upon returning home my better half asked what my plan was in terms of storage. Lucky for her (probably more me), this had already been considered as I had earlier purchased an oversized cover for my Weber that would be able to cover both. It does, and that’s where it lives, though it has done a first round of work in my possession. The premise of this device is super simple. There is a firebox at the bottom third, with a cooking box occupying the top two-thirds. Two grates slide into the top box, and a grate with a rounded “fire pit” sits in the bottom. Four Weber-styled circular vents control the air – two per side, two per chamber. I got white hot coals in the chimney while resting in the Weber, poured them into the bottom, and tossed a piece of soaked wood on top (adding another mid-smoke as the fire began to wane). Chips absolutely must soak, or they will be pure fire, whole chunks less necessary, but I still do. Wings were the obvious move for this first go – easy to bail if it doesn’t work, short cook time, and a big fav around the house. We had these ready in about 2 hours.
I love the dry rub, but a tossed-in sauce with a grill finish is perfect to add flavor,
caramelize sugars, and make everything less messy at the table while delivering an
extra layer of flavor. Plus, I had to cook some veggies from the farmer’s market to
round it all out. The Traeger took this task, and the rest is history. Please don’t waste
these fall days by not cooking up something tasty on the grill! The season never
actually ends with enough wherewithal.
Todd Ellington, Indianapolis