A Smokin’ Independence Day

This post is sponsored by Ferguson Bath, Kitchen & Lighting Gallery in conjunction with the O SAY CAN YOU SEAR giveaway. I received a free sample of the product featured for the purpose of this review. All opinions are my own.


Independence Day. America’s holiday where people get together, likely around a BBQ, to celebrate. Since Mr. Meet Your Beef and I bought a house in town a couple years ago, it has become a great place to host this holiday. We obviously can’t light fireworks anywhere near the ranches for fear of a grass fire. Plus, that would immediately turn you into the black sheep of the family with jail time to serve! But, in town, we had a smokin’ good time!

This year, thanks to the generous people at Ferguson Bath, Kitchen & Lighting and Coyote Outdoor Living, we were able to do something a little different than your typical BBQ.

Insert the Coyote Asado Smoker! Is this thing shiny, or what?!

This 4th of July was the maiden voyage for our Asado smoker. I did what any other millennial looking for a good recipe would do… thank you Pinterest! We decided that a three pound Dot Seven (home grown) beef brisket wasn’t enough for about fifteen people so we threw on a whole chicken as well.

I put the chicken in a brine for about 6 hours (this seemed to be enough time although most recipes call for 24 hours), made a rub for both the chicken and the brisket, and a homemade mustard sauce that was dee-lish. While I was doing the inside prep-work, Mr. Meet Your Beef was prepping the smoker. Both recipes called for a temperature of 225 degrees.

Pro Tip: Mess with the smoker and get comfortable with controlling the temperature before you plan to feed 15 people! That will just cut out some unnecessary stress. It takes some time to adjust the heat and the one thing we didn’t have much of was: time!

Before we continue… can we all take a moment to notice that Mr. Meet Your Beef is NOT wearing a long-sleeve work shirt? In no way am I trying to compete with America’s birthday here, but this is a really, really big deal!

We smoked the brisket for about 5 hours and the chicken for 3.5. The meat safety freak in me insisted that we use our trusty meat thermometer and it was very helpful in judging the time remaining.

The term “low and slow” most certainly applies to smoking. I may be a tad biased, but I think we put our time to great use! A couple of our favorite lawn games include corn hole (boards appropriately painted for the day) and ladder golf. And believe-you-me there is no lack of competition around here.

Sidebar: remember when I mentioned above about the lack of a long-sleeve work shirt? If you look closely you will understand WHY this is such a big deal. The tan line on Mr. Meet Your Beef’s wrist says it all. Makes me laugh so hard just writing this! Nice form though!

Fast forward a few minutes and we were here. Stuffing our faces. I don’t plan to share the recipes just yet because I want to perfect the brisket before I do that but the flavor and tenderness of this meal was impressive. There was a rich smoky flavor but it surely wasn’t overpowering. I can’t wait to try some other wood chip flavors. Mr. Meet Your Beef and I agree that we already have some improvements in mind for our next smoke-out but we had a blast using our Asado Smoker for the first time. Oh and by the way, the Coyote Asado can also be used as a grill as well. Two birds, one stone (insert goofy, happy dance here!).

We concluded the evening with some serious fireworks and leftover wedding sparklers (these sparklers were legit. They lasted so much longer than your average sparkler; perfect amount of time to get in a few more twirls!).

PS- Did you know you have a chance to win one of these fantastic Asado Smokers!? Click on the O Say Can You Sear ad on the top right column in the blog and get to entering! Good luck 🙂

PSS- This summer, Memorial Day (05/30/16) through Labor Day (09/05/16), Ferguson Bath, Kitchen & Lighting Gallery customers purchasing a Coyote Asado Smoker (MSRP $999) will receive a free cart with side shelves, a $200 value.