Hasty-Bake Ranger Mini Review and 1st Cook

I have finely got around to setting up my new Hasty Bake Ranger 380SS to suit me and then doing my first cook on it.

I have it sitting on one of my service carts to make it much easier to use.

Built a Stainless Steel second cooking grate for the cooker. 

I also found a nice cover to fit this setup.

Next step was to cut a firebrick in half and then adding one whole firebrick to make my divider in the firebox for my fuse burns which is the method I use for my longer cooks in my Hasty-Bake cookers. 

I figured my first cook could probably take up to 5-6 hours so I loaded the charcoal pan about 80% full of the Stubb’s charcoal and added a few hickory chunks for smoke.

My first cook was to be a Slab of Ribs cooked over a half pan of BBQ  Pit Beans so the drippings would go into the pan to give the beans some additional flavor, and a pan of Au Gratin Potatoes. Wife made up a Wilted Baby Spinach Salad to go with this meal. 

Made up the pan of Au Gratin potatoes the evening before the cook and then did the same for my BBQ Pit Beans and put both into the fridge. 

Started my fuse burn the next morning just before daylight and it took about 45 minutes to get the cooker warmed up and on temperature for my cook.

While the cooker was coming up to temp, I prepped the ribs and then cut the slab into two pieces so they would fit over my pan of beans. At this time, I also added my brown sugar to the top of my bean pan. When the ribs reached the sweat stage, I started my cook. 

The fire in the charcoal pan just before I loaded the cooker...cooker temp was at 180 degrees and climbing slowly. 

This is about an hour into the cook and after I got the cooker vents adjusted for a nice steady burn.

The first item done were the potatoes.

Ribs were wrapped with some goodies about 2-3/4 hour into the cook.

The beans were the next item to get done and I hadn’t stirred in all the drippings and smoke skum when this picture was taken. 

The ribs were unwrapped and then glazed and this is my results for this treat. 

Ribs cut for serving. 

Wife’s Wilted Baby Spinach Salad to be served with this meal. 

Everything came out great and it sure was a wonderful lunch.

And for the Hasty-Bakers that are following my progress with this new Ranger and my method with the fuse burn to operate it, here is some additional information.

This cook took about 4-1/2 hours which is quicker than I expected and only used the first row or half of the loaded charcoal. This would calculate out to about 8-9 hours total cooking time with my 80% full load of charcoal if I would have needed it. And I think with a full load of charcoal, a fellow could get up to 10-11 hours total cooking time with this method. 

Cooker control was about what I expected and about the same as it is with my larger Hasty-Bakes. My planned cooking range for this cook was about 220-275 degrees measured on the surface of the cooking grid and I had both the intake and exhaust vents all the way open at the start of the cook. I shut the intake vent down to about half open about 1-1/2 hours into the cook. After the 2-1/2 hour mark, I closed the intake vent all the way. The last vent setting I had to make was to close the exhaust vent down to about half open and this just locked in the temperature to where I wanted it and I think it would have run for several more hours if I would have needed it. It’s almost a “set and forget” method of cooking on this smaller Hasty Bake Ranger (tailgater size) cooker. 

The food was great, the cooker operation was great, and I am very satisfied with my new cooker. 

Update: There is not as much room between the firebox and the ash pan so I had to cut down my normal 4" clearance to 2" between the firebox and the ash pan for this fuse burn. Worked fine at this distance. 

Corned and Pastramied Beef Brisket

We like to keep this meat on hand and did use up the last of what we had frozen a few week ago so it was time to do up another few pounds. 



I started with 3 choice brisket flats that weighed slightly over 21 pounds total. I also made up my first round of spices and seasonings. I also got about 150 cloves of garlic ready for my treat. I made up the curing brine that will be injected into the meat.





I trimmed up each brisket flat and then cut each one in half.



I injected the brine into each piece of meat.



I put the garlic thru my Suzy and packed a generous amount on each piece of meat. 





I packed on the spices and herbs and placed each piece of meat into a Zip-Lock bag. The meat went into the fridge for 4 days and was turned over about two times a day during this curing period. 





I took the meat out of the fridge and washed all the spices and seasonings off under running water at the sink and placed the meat into a pan of water for about an hour.  I then toweled the meat off and let it air dry for about 30 minutes.



Made up the second round of spices for the smoking process and packed them onto the brisket pieces and they were ready for the smoker.

Decided to use the Hasty-Bake for this smoke and rolled it around to my cooking patio.



I figured I would need about an seven hour smoke time so I setup a fuse burn for about an eight hour cook to be sure I had enough to finish my treat. I placed a couple of firebricks in the charcoal pan and then added 13 pounds of Wicked Good charcoal  briquettes. I then added some hickory chunks for my smoke. 



I fired the cooker up and brought it up to temp and loaded my 6 pieces of meat. 



A beautiful morning but a little chilly at 41 degrees and windy.



The meat got done a little quicker than I expected and I got the first piece off at about 4 hours and the last piece off at about 5-1/2 hours into the smoke. The meat was smoked to an internal of about 185 degrees.





Put the meat thru the slicer and it sure looked great. It will be packed into one pound vacuum bags and frozen for future use or....







A fellow might take about 1/2 pound of this meat and put it on some big slices rye bread and then slop on a few dollops of horsey sauce. He might add 3-4 slices of Swiss cheese and fold this sandwich up and serve it with a dill pickle. OH MY!!  It just don’t get any better than this.

Pastramied Beef from Scratch and...

This is a nice treat that takes a few days to prepare but is oh so good and well worth the wait. In my opinion, it is much better than any method I have seen or tried. I have used this recipe and method for several years and love the results.

I start with a couple of choice brisket flats that weigh over 7 pounds each. In this case, these flats total 14-3/4 pounds. 



I start by trimming most of the fat off of the meat. I then cut the meat into 3-4 pound chunks for my process.



Next step is to prepare my corning cure or brine, my first rub, and get a ton of garlic ready for the meat. In this case, I cleaned about 6 total garlic bulbs and then put them thru the Suzi.



I inject the meat on the edges and also into the top and bottom. I try to get as much cure into the meat as possible. 



I then pack the garlic on the meat and again, you can’t use toooo much!



Next step is to pack a heavy dose of my first rub on the meat.



The corning prep is now finished and the pieces of meat go into large zip-lock bags and then into the fridge for about 4 days to cure. I try to turn the bags over a couple times a day when I am in the fridge.



After the corning period, the meat comes out of the fridge, and then out of the bags. I then wash each piece under running sink water to get all the first rub and garlic off of the meat. Each piece then goes into a pan of water to soak for about one hour. 



I then take the meat out of the water and paper towel off and then place on a drying rack for about 30 minutes. What we now have is uncooked corned beef. 



Since my plan is to pastrami the beef, I then pack on my second rub which consists of cracked black peppercorns, cracked coriander seed, and some brown sugar. The meat is now ready for the smoker.



While I was at it, I also prepped a couple of chuck roasts which weighed about 5-1/2 pounds for my pulled beef. Since we use pulled beef in many different treats including Philly cheesesteaks, Chicago Italian beefs, beef Manhattans, barbecued beef sandwiches and several Mexican dishes, I just rubbed them with garlic salt and fresh cracked black peppercorns. 



I decided to smoke the meat in my Hasty Bake Gourmet cooker and rolled it around to my cooking patio. 



I then pulled the charcoal pan and set it up for about a 7 hour fuse burn. I used that great Stubb’s all hardwood no fillers brickettes and then placed some hickory chunks on top to create my wood smoke. The charcoal pan then went back into the cooker and I lit it off with a Weber fire cube.



After the cooker warmed up a little, I placed 4 corned beef briskets and the 2 chuck roasts into the smoker.



The next step was to wrap the chuck roasts when I got the right color and bark and place them back into the cooker. At this time the brisket pieces looked good. I took the chuck roasts to about 210 internal so they would pull just like a pork butt. They sure looked good coming out of the foil.



The chuck roasts pulled and shredded nicely and I sure would be proud to serve this dish to anyone. Wouldn’t you agree?



When the pastramied beef came off the smoker, I tented them for about an hour and got my slicer ready.



I put the pastramied beef thru the slicer and cut it thin for sandwiches. Sure made a nice platter of meat.



We kept about 2 pound of the meat out and I vacuumed packed the balance for the freezer.



Now, for the results of this cook....I toasted 2 pieces of fresh rye bread and then placed 4 pieces of Swiss cheese on one slice. On the other slice, I piled about 3/4 pound of that wonderful pastramied beef and then added about 3 dollops of my homemade horsey sauce to the top of the meat. 



I cut the sandwich into two pieces and finished up this treat with a few slices of tomato and a dill pickle spear. 





Was one great meal!

Note:  The recipes for my Corned and Pastramied Beef can be found here..
http://olddavespo-farm.blogspot.com/search/label/Corned%20and%20Pastramied%20Beef