Re: What's in your smoker?
 

I'll ditto Pete on the Chargriller. That's a picture of one in my avatar and I've been using it for almost 10 years. I can maintain 180-200 by using wood or charcoal in the side box but it does require watching. I did burn the paint off the top of the smoke box after a few years and had to spraypaint with high temp paint. Also had to replace the thermometer last year. The only thing I've ever been displeased with is the custom fit cover. I bought two which each only lasted 1 year before falling apart. Now I just cover it with a tarp.
Also as a grill it's top notch. Tall enough for beer can chicken and big enough to cook for a crowd. You can also use the side box for additional grilling space.
Amazing value IMO.

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

Thanks for the Avatar love. ya gotta miss Farley.

I'll be doing some Pork ribs over the weekend, then I'll be back to the Chuckie again. Its nice going back & forth between the Beef & Pork. Try the Lamb sometime too.

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

I am still trying to find a butcher around here that will cut me lamb breasts like Luke (tuxpuff) posted.

None of them even knew what it is. I had to get Luke to send me a link to a good meat cutting chart so I can take it in and show these knuckleheads what a lamb breast is. :td

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

It would probably be wickedly expensive...but I'll throw it out there. If anyone wants to pay for packaging and shipping I can easily get frozen lamb breast.

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

You SUCK!




















spoken out of pure jealousy......

:r being paid to smoke food.... NICE!

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

Been thinkin for doin that one myself. One of these days.

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

Yeah, it was rough having to sit and watch it while I smoked a cigar. It pays to be activity director.

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

If you are putting lamb on the smoker. Lamb shoulder is the best pick, followed by rear legs. Just buy the front half of a whole lamb. Any butcher can do that.

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

I have two words for you :fl

and they're not Merry Christmas......







You REALLY suck!







(and the two words... more jealous!) :D

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

I have a 3-pack of cryovak Baby Backs, to try the BRITU recipe (my first Ribs!) this weekend.

Two birds to beer-butt, and I'm picking up a couple of Pork Butts to smoke this weekend for the picnic at The House of 'Phat.

And grillin' Steak Tips for tonight.


It's going to be a good weekend!

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

Score!

Finally managed to talk to one of the knowledgeable butchers in town today, asked him if he could get lamb breasts, and his answer was something like 'Denver ribs? Yeah, I've got three or four cases in the freezer. No one around here knows what they are and never buys them, so I don't put them out. How much do you want?" I bought a 4.5lb sealed cryopack (4 racks, half-racks? cant' see though the vacuum seal membrane well enough to count ribs) - he even knocked the price down from $5.99 to $3.99/lb.

It's not quite the same cut as what you get Luke, these are trimmed much tighter, more like a pork sparerib trimming job and no breastbones. But for the price and for as many apprentice butchers I've had to talk to who had no idea what I was talking about? Hellz yea!

Thawing in the refrigerator now. Tomorrow one or two of them go in the smoker.

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

niiiiiiice

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

Well, did the Ribs today, semi BRITU run...


But I only managed to get a 'going on smoker' shot... picture tomorrow.






Wife says I have to do these more often. Our friends who came up agreed.

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

Smoked one section of the Denver Ribs yesterday. Coated with a fresh garlic, rosemary, thyme, oregano, pepper, salt, oinion & paprika wet rub. After 2 hours, I added a piece of chicken slathered down with the same wet rub to the smoker. Total cook time was about 4 hours. Smoked with oak. Probably could have pulled the lamb about 30-45 minutes earlier than I did, but it had so much fat in it that it didn't really matter. Also, removing the membrane on the back of the denver ribs is a motherfracker, way, way harder to pull than the ones found on pork ribs (extreme meat shrinkage due to the membrane being removed, so there was nothing to hold it in place and prevent it from contracting/shrinking)

http://www.cigarasylum.com/vb/pictur...pictureid=4340
http://www.cigarasylum.com/vb/pictur...pictureid=4341
http://www.cigarasylum.com/vb/pictur...pictureid=4342


Also, just smoked 1/2lb of cheddar slices and 1/2lb of jalepeno pepper jack slices over almond wood this morning. (no photos, sorry).

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

Wholly cr-p!!!! That looks amazing! :dr

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

I made two racks of babyback ribs with my usual "special" dryrub and glaze.
Then along with them, I made a bacon cheeseburger fattie that Mr B helped me with the process.
The fatties turned out pretty good! I had grilled it a little too hot and the bacon got a little scorched. Problem was, I used a grill to grill and them moved it to my smoker. I used my nieghbor's grill for the first part and the heat was way too hot for it. Next time, I will use my smoker/grill for the whole process since I know how to control the heat on it better. Next time I will put more cheese in it too. I was affraid of having too much cheese, and ended up with not enough!

Thanks Mr B for your help on the fattie!!

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

:tpd:

DayUM!!!!!

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

No pics... yet again, but I wanted to let you all know I am loving the whole Hot and Fast method. Maybe Myron Mixon is right.... :D

I have been doing a good deal of Chicken lately and I love how I can get a nice smokey flavor, juicy meat and great color in just 2 hours. For a long time I was intimidated by Chicken because of it's tendency to dry out, but lately I have been having great results.

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

Right on Brother :tu Glad it turned out well for ya. I said the same thing about mine too "more filling next time" :xxx

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

Adam, the lamb looks real good. Very nice color. That rub sounds perfect for lamb. good job. :tu

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

Thanks guys.

Brent, you're right, the wet rub / slather was great for the lamb. It was a bit much for the chicken, not enough "meat flavor" in the chicken breast to stand up to all that garlic. Probably be fine for thighs though.

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

How did it taste Adam?

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

Well, this weekend is supposed to bring a "cool front" to the midsouth, so I guess I need to tip my
hat to Mother Nature and roast up some of her creatures as an homage to her kindness. It remains
to be seen what a mid July cold front has to offer, but if you believe the 7 day, low 90's and mid 70's
overnights. It's that second part I don't care for.

3 racks of ribs, and two nice ribeyes a food guest brought me two weeks ago, shall die on the pit.
I am going to make up some king of potato deallie with cream cheese and sharp cheddar to
round out the feast. Plus whatever I find at the Piggly Wiggly Sto in the reduced rack might
find it's way on as well.

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

Lambelicious.

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

I want a smoker so bad right now!

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

Dude, do you have a charcoal burning grill?

If yes, then you have almost everything you need right there to have a smoker.

You can do it with a couple of firebricks ($3/each), some heavy duty aluminum foil or layers of foil (pennies) and any old foil pan or pie tin as a drip catcher ($3 tops) and you have an instant smoker.


http://img53.imageshack.us/img53/6800/firebricks1.jpg
http://img39.imageshack.us/img39/6930/firebricks2.jpg
http://img33.imageshack.us/img33/8077/firebricks3.jpg



You could even just mound the coals in one corner of the grill and set a loaf pan full of water on the grate above the fire to work as a heatsink while you put food on the other corner of the grill.

I think Brad (OLS) has a larger grill and he just mounds coals on one side of his grill for smoking, no heatsink.

Just depends how big your grill is and how the air control is, what you can get away with.

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

Wow. I forgot how clean my rig once looked. LOL.

Everything in there is jet black and completely coated now. I think the layer on the bottom of the drip pan is about an inch thick now (and I do dump out the liquified grease, I just don't bother to wipe the crud up).

I really ought to go get a new pan before I have a pit fire from the crap in the bottom of the pan.

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

You are right, but I tell you, I would NOT be opposed to the installation of
a few bricks. :) The advantage I have is that my Char-griller has a little
bit of extra length that allows me to get away with it without wasting a lot
of cooking room. Oh, man I am already salivating.

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

My char griller has a firebox on the side so I don't need the firebricks for that but I still think I'm going to get some. Looking at the pictures it occurred to me they would be great for when I only want to grill a few things for the wife and me. The char griller is so huge that I feel like I don't get the full heat out of my charcoal when I'm using a small fire. The bricks would stop the coals from wasting their heat on the whole grill right? Especially if I wrapped foil around them.

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

No.

The firebricks simply work as a small heatsink and buffer for the heat. Unless you are going to build a wall of them inside your grill that stretches from the bottom, through the grate and to the top of the lid, they won't do anything along the lines of what you are looking for.

Also, wrapping a firebrick in aluminum is not only unnecessary, but it is also defeating the purpose of the material.

I would recommend that you swtich to a hotter burning fuel for your situation, like some of the natural lump hardwoods that burn 150+F hotter than KF. Or pick up a smaller grill for those times when you want high heat and don't have much to cook on it.

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

I put 2 Shoulders on last night, 14 pounds of happiness. :dr

Forgot the Camera at home, so I tried with the Phone. It doesn't work well in low light. :td

12 hours later, and they've been hovering at 147 for a couple of hours!
Photo shortly. :tu

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

What temp are you cooking them at?

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

Haven't bothered to check that today... LOL.

Guess I should.

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

Still chugging along at 212 degrees.




I 3/4 filled and lit another chimney, then I realized that I still had 1 vent closed, 1 wide open, and 1 about half way....

Could have just cracked the vent a little instead. :bh


Only had 1 wide for the overnight.
Cracked 1 half way this morning. Since then I've been busy, sleeping and watching movies... :r



I really need to find some fold-away handles for it, to make stoking easier.........
I think I need to felt-gasket the lid too. :(

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

Do you have a picture of where you need these?

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

Opposing sides of the middle chamber of a WSM.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Last weekend, was my first shot at ribs...

Cleaned, sprinkled, and rolled for space. I foil wrapped middle grate and tried a pan of Sand for the first time. I need to use less sand.
http://img338.imageshack.us/img338/5525/1010542.jpg

They were 'toasted off' on the grill as my lady wasn't sure.
I sliced them right on the grill, and delivered the bowl to the table for dinner. This is what survived the first night, as I was too hungry to bother with photos after the cook.
http://img338.imageshack.us/img338/2361/0705001748.jpg

Cut anf split, too show the meat. These beat everything I've ever bought.
http://img84.imageshack.us/img84/4593/0705001749.jpg

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

So this weekend, was pulled pork for Massphat's CBQ.
Forgot the Camera entirely. Tried to get a night shot when I put them on, but the camera-phone doesn't do well in dark situations.

BUT...

This is the morning, with 10 hours on them, with the probe just being added in:
http://img84.imageshack.us/img84/9638/0709001400a.jpg

I finally pulled them this evening, and didn't stop for photos. They're wrapped in foil, and they're going to rest overnight.

They should still be warm enough to easily pull, all morning long.......
I'll grab some photos then.

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

That's sort of why I cannot imagine working with a WSM.
Those rolled up ribs would drive me crazy. I know they make
vertical racks and you can take out the top grate, but I couldn't
deal with it. Now...off to take pics of my morning's festivities.
I cooked two racks and two steaks.
COMPLETELY forgot the salt, buit that added nice on the back end.
This is the most tender mellow meat I have made yet on the Char-griller.

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

D'oh. For some reason I was thinking you had an SFB rig, thinking to myself "WTF? For an SFB?"

How about just a pair of low profile gate handles?

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

Great looking Q guys.

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

I didn't have to roll them, it was just easier that way.
It's the first time I've done Ribs, so I haven't invested in a rack yet.


I've seen the Garage Door handles done, but want mine to fold away so that I can put the cover on it. Kinda digging the cover, now that I dug it out and used it.

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

Corn.

Yeah, corn.

Had three ears of mediocre corn in the fridge. Not sweet at all, not real corn-y tasting, just kind of starchy. Ripped the husks and silk completely off of them, lit a small chimney of lump poured that in the smoker, tossed on some apple wood and a little bit of plum, let it run with all the vents at 100% open for 30-40 minutes or so. Really wasn't paying attention to the time, I just kind of wandered out and checked the corn for doneness a few times.

Pulled it off, let it cool, cut it off the cob, mixed it with some chopped cilantro & sweet basil, chopped home grown cayenne peppers and some other variety of peppers I'm growing that isn't what it was supposed to be so I have no idea what the name is, some home grown cherry tomatoes and diced cucumber, minced red onion, a scan of drained black beans, and some leftover brown rice. Juiced three or four key limes, a few shakes of tapatio, a bit of EVOO, some powdered cumin and granulated garlic.

Came out quite good.

Didn't think to shoot a photo. Maybe I'll take a picture of the leftovers later.

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

Brad said to tell you that, without photos - it didn't happen. :r :r

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

:r:r:r I should have known that was coming...

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

How about the 90-degree folding handles on these pages:


http://www.unicorpinc.com/handles.htm
http://www.a1parts.com/boxes/Accesso...ng_handles.htm
http://www.handlesunlimited.com/folding.html

http://www.unicorpinc.com/images/fol...thread2aaa.jpg
http://www.unicorpinc.com/images/Han...l%20thread.jpg

If you don't want the bolt ends sticking through to the inside of the chamber, UniCorp also makes ones with internal thread so you can use something like a SS panhead screw and washer and keep the inside of the cooker fairly smooth/flush.

-------------ADDENDUM---------

Grainger has them, about $25/pair.

Few different options scattered on that results page.

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

Dude!

Sweet!

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

Does anyone have a wood chip combo mix they prefer. I use apple wood and pecan tree mix and it turns out very well.

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

Smoked a few lbs of wings and drums the other night. Used applewood chips and marinated the meat in bbq sauce along with some scotch bonnet hot sauce that I picked up in Jamaica. Pulling the skin off the chicken before smoking it sure helps the flavor. They turned out great!

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

Does anyone have a good recipe for pastrami? I know it's smoked corned beef, but that's about all I know. :D

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

They are very similiar, it's mainly just some differences in the curing spices and preperation.

These are both good places to start:
http://www.virtualweberbullet.com/pastrami.html
http://www.virtualweberbullet.com/cornedbeef.html

I've done both and if you go the prepackaged corned beef method, I will say that to me, it really didn't make that much of a noticeable difference in flavor if I used the one with the spices in the brine or the spices in the packet, but what did make a big difference was getting one that is USDA Choice versus USDA Select. Wash it for at least 4 times longer than what they recommend (I would soak/wash overnight - otherwise it ends up tasting like a nitrate salt lick).

Oh, and some mustard seed and ground juniper berries in the rub will really turn things up a notch.


PS: TenderQuick is damned near impossible to find out here, only place you might find it is a restaurant supply. You can just salt cure the brisket, but that takes weeks. Packed in a vacuum sealer bag with the brine though that might not be that big of a problem - having a semi-open container of brine and meat in a home refrigerator for weeks is a PITA.