I'm in Bristol and love cooking and eating (mainly eating) and decided I needed a new hobby a couple of months ago. after a bit of research online I got myself a ProQ Frontier and have been using it most weekends. It seems to just do the job
I started off with ribs, wings and whole chicken - fourth smoke was a 1.5kg featherblade - did ten hours at 115c with oak and a bit of Hickory - came out amazing - pulled off the smoker at 95c -the nerve in the middle turned into a delicious jelly - looked pretty sliced too. (Pitt Cue Beef rub, no messing with marinades or injecting, just as nature intended!) - pic not great as FA cup had just kicked off and I'd just heard the first goal!
for Bristol folks, the meat was from Jenkins on Stapleton Road - great butcher.
after the Featherblade I did a Pork shoulder (Jenkins again) and learned about the stall the hard way - 12 hours in and the 2.5kg shoulder stuck at 75c so all the guests got sliced smoked shoulder. very tasty, but not quite what I was after. no photo of that one
sixth smoke did a 2.5kg point end or 'nugget' as the butcher (yes- Jenkins!
) called it - all point in fact with no flat at all. 11hrs,@115c pit cue beef rub and injected with 8oz of beef stock, hickory and 1/6 Mesquite - came out a treat - had everything - great bark, moistness and tasted pretty amazing too. was a bit daunted by it because everyone seems to say you won't get it right the first few times, but I think just with a bit of planning, care and attention it worked out - maybe a testament to the proQ that it holds it's temperature so well. Took it off at 87c. pic here -
next up pulled pork a couple of weekends ago neck end shoulder this time - beat the stall, pulled off at 85c and wrapped in foil and a towel for an hour and a half (did this with the brisket too) - it pulled this time, but still not quite as soft as I'd want - good bark though - maybe I'll inject with apple juice next time and give it a little longer to 90c maybe - pic here
Last weekend was another brisket - 3.8kg point end this time with a big piece of flat. Aged Hereford Cross beef from Powell's of Olveston this time was a bit scared using a big expensive piece of meat, but figured the worst that could happen is that I end up with a massive pile of burnt ends. injected with 8 oz stock and Pitt Cue beef rub again anyway, this came out sweeter than the first - took a bit less time even though it was a lot bigger. just less than 10 hrs. could really taste the meat on this one - I added the smoke a bit late on this (went out for four hours and left it unattended
) so the smoke ring wasn't as deep as the last one, but think it worked better for this piece of meat. looked a lot posher than the last one too! took it off at 90c and wrapped as before 
If it just gets better than this, I'm sure looking forward to it...
anyway - I'll stop boring you with my smoking stories, but hope that this helps to demonstrate to other n00bs on here that with a bit of prep and research you can make amazing things happen.
looking forward to picking all your brains along the way as well as picking up local shopping tips for Bristol!
next up rabbit? can it be done?......
