Quit Smoking

My husband is a wonderful man. And when he gets excited about something you'd think he was six years old and waiting for Santa to deliver something to him. Couple that with the fact that after what seemed like endless research, if a new toy is the RIGHT toy, it had better be in stock.

Saturday afternoon, Chris' new Smokenator 1000 was delivered. The Smokenator 1000 is a contraption that turns any standard Weber grill into a smoker and looks like it was invented by some determined ole' chap in his California garage who's wife said "You absolutely MAY NOT spend $400 on a fancy smoker. You have enough grilling toys as it is." Hence the birth of the Smokenator.

My husband is also a stringent rule-follower. Just ask my family about a board game last Christmas where there were subjective guidelines as opposed to rules. Chris almost ended up needing a sedative and a straight jacket!  So for the Smokenator's maiden voyage, Chris obeyed EVERY last rule for smoking the chickens.  Even though I was in the background reminding him of altitude challenges, conversions and recipe alterations that we have learned the hard way in the past.

The instructions said to cook for 4 1/2 hours.  And we did.  Then another 2 1/2 hours.  And at that point, the Weber wasn't even getting to 225 degrees!  We decided to roll the dice and hope that the oven will actually turn on...and it did!!  I preheated to 400 and stuck the thermometer in it.  Although the oven never got over 300, the chickens were finally finished.  2 hours later.

So here's the math on the Smokenator 1000:  4 1/2 planned cooking time + 2 hours more + 2 hours to finish in the oven = chickens so smoky that I could barely tolerate them. 

I'll bet the ole' chap who invented the Smokenator saved up the sales revenue until he had enough to buy the $400 super fancy smoker.