Hasty Bake Fuse Burn for Dummies

After seeing and hearing about some attempts at using a fuze burn, a maze burn, a snake burn on the Hasty Bake, and it NOT working, I think I can help folks to get this simple task right. 

If it is not working and the temps are getting too high or running away with you, the problem is that you don’t have a fuse burn as all the coals are either getting lit at once or you are using way too many coals to start with. 



There are several problems that can cause this method to fail and can be easily fixed with some simple steps and when it is right, it is just super simple to load the cooker up with something like pork butts or briskets and then do a low and slow smoke at temps around 250 degrees for hours without touching the cooker.

Fuel is the first problem I see on the forums......lump is a fine product and I use it a lot but NEVER for a fuse burn. It pops and cracks and blows chunks of fire all over the firebox and will end up lighting the whole maze every time. I like to use a good charcoal brickette that is made with only hardwood and a binder like wheat paste to hold it together. There are several brands out there that will cook as good as lump charcoal and don’t have a 10 ingredient content. 

Next is the maze and it must be tall enough and is better if not constructed out of metal. Metal is a wonderful heat conductor and kinda difficult to make work in this type of cooker. I think it is much better to use a couple of inexpensive fire bricks for this task. 



Fire bricks measure about 9” long, 4-1/2” wide, and 1-1/4” thick and can be found at most hardware stores of it not, they will order them for you. They come six bricks to a case and work great for the fuse burn. 

Ok, lets cook some butts.....



I figure I need about 8-9 hours for my two large butts so I start by using two fire bricks to make a maze in my charcoal pan like you see in the picture. Notice that I have loaded the charcoal to about level and not over in the pan. This is all that is required for this length of cook.



Another view of the charcoal pan and I think you can see how high up the fire bricks protect in the pan. The fire will usually not jump over the taller bricks and light the other side of the maze.



To light up the fuse burn, I place a Weber fire cube on the one side that I want to start as seen in the picture. 



I then place my smoke wood in the charcoal pan....notice that on the side I light, I keep all the chunks away from the fire bricks as I don’t want to light the other side if they would flame up when they ignite. 



You need at least 4” of space between the charcoal pan and the ash pan so crank it up some to prevent hot coal chunks from falling thru the bottom of the pan and rolling under the unlit side of the pan and starting the whole maze up. 

The last important step in my process is to be sure that the area on the cooking grid that is not protected from the fire by the heat deflector must be protected so that no hot grease will fall on the hot coals which may flame up and ignite all the coals. I usually use a drip pan on this side.

Now, isn’t this simple?? And you know, it will work every time you use it if you can follow the directions. 

Let’s finish this cook.



The butts were injected with Chris Lilly’s pork injection recipe and then covered with some Slabs Pork rub.

I then lit off the Weber fire cube and left the door opened until the flame went out and then closed it up. I let the cooker burn for about 30 more minutes and then loaded my meat.



This setup will allow me to run about 250-270 degrees with just using the intake air and exhaust vents on the cooker with my fuse burn. Once it is set, it will run for hours without attention. 

Be sure to use a thermometer on the cooking grid to be sure your temps are safe and correct for the cook.



I cooked the butts a little over four hours or until I had the color I wanted and the bark looked about right and then I foiled each butt with a half bottle of that great Stubb’s pork marinade. 



The butts went back on the cooker for about 2-1/2 more hours and they were pulled when done.



Just as soon as I got the butts off the cooker I opened up the foil to reset the bark and then let them rest for about an hour before I pulled them. 



They made a nice pan of meat.



Look at that great color and smoke ring....A fellow would be proud to serve up this meat. 



This is the charcoal pan after the cook and is mostly just ash remaining. The cook ran about 8-1/2 hours with very little attention.

This type of burn can turn a standard charcoal grill into a very easy to control low and slow smoker. Along with my Hasty Bake's, I also use it in my Char-Broil CB 940X and in my Weber kettles. I get up to about 10 hours total non-interupted cooking time with this method.

Old Dave's not yet famous Steak Hoagies

This steak cook was done last week on the classic Char-Broil 940X along with some burgers, brats, dogs, pork steaks, and strip steaks. 

Philly has it’s Cheese Steaks, Chicago has it’s Italian Beefs, and Old Dave has his not yet famous Coatesville Steak Hoagies. 



This is a rib-eye roast that I cut off the end of a whole loin and will make some good steak hoagies. It was prepped with some garlic salt and some fresh ground black pepper and was quickly seared and taken off the grill at an internal temp of about 125 degrees.



Rib-eye roast just off the cooker and looking good.



With this smaller amount of meat, I just sliced it by hand with a knife to save some time with cleanup.

Ok, now to make up my not so famous hoagies...



I start by slicing up some onions and bell peppers and placing in a black iron skillet along with some peanut oil and slowly cooking for a while until they are starting to brown up pretty good. 



While my onion mix is cooking, I like to place my hoagie buns under the broiler to toast them up a little. Just before my onion mix is done, I add some mushrooms and let the mixture cook for an additional few minutes and it is ready.

My cut up steak goes into another black iron skillet along with some of “Rick’s Sinful Marinade” to be just warmed but not cooked again as I like to keep the meat on the medium rare side if possible. 



I add a generous portion of the marinated sliced steak to the hoagie rolls.



On top of the steak, I pile on some onion, pepper, and mushroom mix.



I then add some slices of mozzarella cheese and place the sandwiches into the oven to finish for a few minutes. I like the buns crisped up a little so they are crunchy when eaten. 



And there it is....Old Daves not so famous Coatesville Steak Hoagie.

And remember, this cook was done on that no longer available classic Char-Broil 940X that made helped make Char-Broil famous. 

Rolled Ribs and More in the CB 500X

This cook on the charcoal fired CB 500X is a slab of St. Louis cut spare ribs which I will cook whole, a pork tenderloin, and twelve 1/3 pound fat burgers. 



Kroger had some “bronto” spare ribs on sale again for $1.77 a pound and although they are injected with mucho salt water, I purchased one slab for kicks. I cut this 6.45 pound slab down to about 2-3/4 pound St. Louis cut and will have the balance for sausage or rib tips on another cook. 



I sprinkled on a heavy coat of Cimmeron Doc rib rub and then rolled the ribs so they would fit on the cooker. I pinned them with some wooden skewers. I also added a light coat of Smokin” Guns hot rub to the pork tenderloin and it was ready for the smoker.



The ribs and tenderloin ready to go on the cooker.



Kroger had a “Managers Special” on some 28% fat burger in the 5 pound rolls. Can you believe $5.99 for 5 pounds?  Wow, that is just $1.20 a pound. Anyway, I bought 20 pounds of that good stuff. Jan made me up twelve 1/3 pound burgers for this cook.



Kinda hard for this old fellow to fool around with these 100 degrees days so I started this cook about daybreak when it was a little cooler. I set the CB 500X up with 1/2 the cooker direct and the other half indirect. Just the same as I would it’s big brother the CB 940X for this type of cook. 



I placed both the pork tenderloin and the spare ribs on the indirect side of this fine little cooker.



Then I started my fat burgers on the direct side of the cooker for their short sear and cook. 



My slab of spares starting to get some nice color.



Kept working the burgers until I had all 12 done and on a plate.



At about the same time, my pork tenderloin was at about 138 degrees internal and ready to come off the cooker so I took it off as well.



I did turn the ribs over for a while during the cook.



Cut that pork tenderloin up and Jan must have skarfed about half of the meat before I could get it put up!



Ribs about ready to come off the cooker.



I cut them into individual pieces for serving. 



Another great cook on one slick little charcoal cooker.

Spinnin' Chicken and Bronto Spares

This cook was done on my Hasty-Bake # 257 Gourmet grill. The grill was setup with my rotisserie and I used a fuse type of burn with the all hardwood natural charcoal brickettes from Wicked Good. 



This is the fuse or snake setup with the fuel and I also used some hickory chunks on top of the charcoal for my smoke wood.



I used my battery operated rotisserie motor for this cook.

The whole chicken came from my sil farm and weighed about 4 pounds and I used the Roadside Chicken recipe for the marinade and baste. 

The bronto spare ribs came from a Kroger sale and they weighed in at about 6 pounds a slab. These lousy ribs are injected with salt water and are way overweight. I still buy them for this one treat (Pulled Rib Meat) and usually when they are on sale for less than $1.89 a pound. The slab I cooked yesterday cost $1.57 a pound and came from a group I purchased about 5 months ago. 



Was another beautiful morning in Indiana with the temp at about 46 degrees and the sun a shinning and just a great day to cook. I got the chicken a spinnin’ and the large slab of spares on the cooker.



About 3 hours into the cook and just before I took the chicken off, I wrapped the ribs with some juice and sweet stuff.



The chicken looked good coming off of the cooker. Just hard to beat a rotisserie chicken!



Here is that big slab of the bronto ribs fresh off the cooker.



After removing the bones and cartilage, this was my bowl of pulled rib meat. This meat prepared as above is in my opinion the best you can get out of a hog.....even better than the tenderloin or a good chop. 



Now that’s some good stuff!!



Add a side or two and then load that bun up with the pulled meat and you got yourself a real meal. You’ll never need sauce on this sandwich.



Nuff Said...