For my second attempt with the new smoker, I decided to do a sirloin tip roast and some onions. I used the Whiskey Oak bisquettes this time for the smoker. They have bits of old whiskey barrels in them, so that’s gotta be a good thing! For the rub I used a home made mixture of salt, pepper, thyme, rosemary, garlic powder, onion powder, and a touch of paprika (just a touch for us because our paprika is really spicy). I used the same rub on the onions after brushing them with olive oil. I also jabbed in a few cloves of garlic all around the roast.
The roast was in the smoker for about 4.5 hours. The onions were in there for maybe 2.5 hours. Once the roast hit temperature, I wrapped it in foil and then a towel and then I threw it in a cooler. It stayed there for about 30 minutes, but it could have stayed there longer if we had more time. Next time I will start everything a few hours sooner I think. Due to a smoker malfunction we had to finish everything in the oven. More about the malfunction later, but first lets talk about about the food!
The meal came out in a most satisfactory way. The smoke definitely left an impression on the overall flavour. It was moist and downright delicious. Possibly the best roast I’ve ever prepared. Meat smoking is definitely a new friend. The meat was medium-rare near the ends of the roast and the middle had an awesome silky texture. The onions were not quite as cooked as I hoped they would get from the smoker alone. They did get some of the smoky flavour though, so that was good. Next time I think I won’t leave the onions whole and I might revisit them every little while for a brushing of olive oil. I think half onion will work better, though I suppose it depends how much smoke you want. Thinner slices might make fairly incredible onions to put on hamburgers – something to try.
Now when I say that the smoker malfunctioned, I really mean it self-destructed. It was behaving oddly throughout the cook and in the end it flat out caught on fire. Not a big fire, but hot enough to peel the paint off in areas and melt a plastic part that holds the puck feeder in place. Needless to say I’m a little unimpressed and I don’t think I should hold on to this particular unit. It’s a new model for the manufacturer and it would seem they haven’t ironed out the kinks To be honest, it makes me little nervous being a live tester for this new model because had this been a really long smoke, it might have been overnight and who knows what would have happened if I wasn’t so closely monitoring it. So tomorrow I will be calling in about getting a replacement or a refund or something. I’m pretty sure these things are not supposed to burst into flames on only the second use.
Still though, malfunction aside, that thing can cook great food!
Looks REALLY good!