# TR: Orion Cooker/Smoker



## RootDKJ (Sep 21, 2008)

I thought I'd share with my fellow AZr's my Orion experience. I loved smoked & BBQ foods, and this thing gives me the flavor I'm looking for in about half the time and effort.  Since May, I've done ribs about 8 times, pork shoulder for pulled pork twice, chicken twice, a brisket and pork tenderloin.  I originally got this for the ribs, but chicken and brisket are pretty amazing (and probabily somewhat healthier).  

Here's a slideshow I put together of some ribs, the brisket and the pork tenderloin (with some wings as an appetizer). 




There's no direct contact between the charcoal and your food.  The wood chips smolder, but don't burn, and don't need to be pre-soaked.  The sealed cooking chamber, and top and bottom hear create a convection cooking process, yet keeps  all of the smoke flavor trapped inside.    

The website for this is is http://orionoutdoors.com/products/cooker/  They also have a pretty interesting message board which has taught me a lot .

Enjoy,
Root


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## GrilledSteezeSandwich (Sep 21, 2008)

Hell yeah..I freaking love food TRs...That is a serious piece of meat!!!...when Dr. Jeff gets back from the Patriots game..I want to hear how his ribs turned out as well....


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## RootDKJ (Sep 21, 2008)

His descriptions of his process helped inspire this post.


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## drjeff (Sep 21, 2008)

GrilledSteezeSandwich said:


> Hell yeah..I freaking love food TRs...That is a serious piece of meat!!!...when Dr. Jeff gets back from the Patriots game..I want to hear how his ribs turned out as well....



Ribs were mighty fine today. We ended up consuming just over 15 lbs of them!  Nice, crispy, spice crust from the pre-cooking of them I did in the oven yesterday, and then I finished them in a smoker box with some hickory wood and the wet sauce.  I had multiple people asking me for my BBQ sauce recipe - most definately NOT store bought!

Since we forgot bowls for the steak chili I made,  I made the executive chef's descision to combine the Red Beans and Rice I was also making with the chili to thicken things up and make it plate friendly - sometimes you just gotta wing it a bit when you're cooking for a dozen in a parking lot! 

Just about have everything cleaned up,  I still need to tackle the smoker box which has a THICK layer charred BBQ sauce and dry rub remnants caked on the grill plate


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## RootDKJ (Sep 21, 2008)

For ribs, I prefer a combo of either apple/hickory or cherry/hickory


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## Hawkshot99 (Sep 22, 2008)

Never had anything smoked, but would like to try sometime.


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## drjeff (Sep 22, 2008)

The only problem I had with the smoker box yesterday is that the wind(or what there was of it) was variable.  So one time when I took the cover off to re-baste those glorious pork ribs with more sauce, the smoke would blow away from me and the next basting I'd take the cover off and get the full smoke blast.  A steady breeze definately helps with the chefs comfort when using a smoker!


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## RootDKJ (Sep 22, 2008)

That's the beauty of the Orion.  You only take the top off once and no moping to keep your meat moist.

Hawk, you have to try it.  Out of this world flavors.  My wife never had "real bbq" before I started to smoke my own.  She thought I was nuts because she equated smoked with burnt.  Now she knows the real deal.


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