Re: What's in your smoker?
 

heck, let's have a lil WANG contest...I have a 24 pack thawing out now. I enjoyed my boudin so much
this week, I might find some more of them in there somewhere. Gonna thaw some meatses tonight.

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

Did a pork tenderloin last night, came out AMAZING, except I ran into a problem. I burnt/melted my gaskets on my Big Green Egg last night. I'm pretty pissed. Now I have to figure out how to clean this mess up and find a good replacement gasket that isn't a nightmare to put on and will handle higher temps because the stock one just didn't cut it. Big Green Egg is out of commission until I can figure this out. Anyone have any clean up tips on getting the residue and remainder of the gasket off the egg cleanly and what to use to replace it?

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

ian check out the big green egg foum . they may be able to answer your question.

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

Looking around, looks like this is the way to go for now:

http://www.high-que.com/Nomex-Gasket...source=froogle

I went ahead and ordered it. We'll see how this goes, lol

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

Nice wings today...had a little extra rub in a tupper, decided to add some sea salt, since my rubs have no salt,
some ground black pepper, white pepper, a little mustard powder and a LOT of brown sugar. As a result of the
sugar, I got a little blacker than I usually have em in the crisping stage. Smoked for an hour, then grilled em on
high heat to render the skin crisp. Came out nice.

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

Tonight I'm re-christening the egg after my gasket debacle, lol. Marinating some chicken today, then when I get home for the day I'm going to fire up the egg and put em on. First time going chicken on the egg, we'll see how it goes!

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

But which came first???
Bada-tsh.

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

The rooster ;s

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

Well a little over a year after selling my grill smoker I finally have the space and got another grill smoker. I like having an all in one barrell type last time that could do propane, charcoal/drum smoker that is what I got this time. This one is smaller but I think that is for the best. The last one I always ended up loading it up with way too much meat and it went in the freezer for a long time.

This weekend I am going to do the first smoke on the new one. Probably throw a cheap brisket on there to season it up right. :tu

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

Spare ribs for dinner and chicken for lunch.

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6152/...b304e53a_z.jpg
IMAG0065 by kydsid, on Flickr

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

MY GOSH that's a lot of meat per square inch!

My day started at 7 am, unpacked all the ribs for the day, cleaned em up, two racks of beef ribs and
a rack of loin baby back pork ribs. Built a fire of pecan limbs and then covered the coals with charcoal.
Once that was lit, I sprinkled rub on my ribs and smoked em with more pecan for about 1.5 hours, then painted
em up with Sweet Baby Ray's and let em sit at 250 for another 45 minutes. And they are AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

That's how we do, waste not want not. :D


I hope my ribs come out as good. Did three hours under smoke and foiled them, now at about 5 hours. Going long and slow at about 175 for these babies. Taking advice from a friend so we will see.


Chicken was done in time for lunch.

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6105/...c51c71007b.jpg
IMAG0067 by kydsid, on Flickr

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

Have 2 pork butts on right now. I'm still a total novice to this, so still working on rubs. This one I used a few tablespoons of pepper, a couple tablespoons of garlic powder. A tablespoon of onion powder, a tablespoon or 2 of kosher salt, a couple tablespoons of lawry's seasoned salt, some ground mustard, some sage, and like a half cup of brown sugar. Oh, and some cayenne pepper for a little heat.
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Re: What's in your smoker?
 

Ding, ribs are done!@

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6120/...a44a761d_z.jpg
IMAG0072 by kydsid, on Flickr

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

My smoker talks to me and this is what it's saying...

http://i425.photobucket.com/albums/p...2/IMG_3122.jpg

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

Smoked a rack of BBs and a rack of spares yesterday. Then I threw on some wings after. Forgot to take pics of them plated.

http://i425.photobucket.com/albums/p...2/IMG_3124.jpg

http://i425.photobucket.com/albums/p...2/IMG_3126.jpg

http://i425.photobucket.com/albums/p...2/IMG_3127.jpg

http://i425.photobucket.com/albums/p...2/IMG_3129.jpg

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

The pulled pork turned out awesome last night. So good, that it was lunch today too. I took the kaiser rolls, buttered and garlic salted, and broiled them first. It was my best cook so far:

http://i161.photobucket.com/albums/t...l/5b53f533.jpg
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Re: What's in your smoker?
 

Some spectacular Q comes out of machines this early fall seaason. YUM!

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

Nothing is the smoker right now....I've been away from home for work for the past 6 weeks. On the upside, there are two very good Texas BBQ places in the town where I'm working.

When I get home, I'll probably do up some corned beef. I start with a plain-jane cryo-vac'd grocery store corned beef (or three). I generally rinse them really well, and soak them for 48 hours (changing the water every 12 hours) to reduce the amount of salt. Then I give them a quick rub with brown sugar, garlic powder, paprika, and anything else that's around the kitchen. Into the smoker at 225 until they get up to 180, and the foil/towel/cooler for a couple more hours....and away we go. Smoked corned beef.

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

I smoked a spicy rubbed shoulder in the cabinet for a few hours yesterday, finished it by braising in the oven for a few more. It doesn't appear to suck. It was too late for the queen to sample before she went to bed last night, but I will do a batch of Carolina sauce tonight and get the verdict.

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

Finally started to get some cool mornings again here, so it's time to make some smoked cheese. :noon

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

mmmmmmmmm cheese

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

2 bellies worth of bacon done yesterday. Time to slice and vac pac them tonight. A mixture of alder, apple and cherry for the smoke.

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

All done and vacuum sealed. Three or four more mornings like today and I'll be set with holiday giveaways.

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

What cheeses do you smoke and what do you use for wood? Sounds like something I'd like to try.

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

I typically use sharp cheddar and alder. Of all the cheeses and smoke wood combos that I tired, it yielded the best and most popular results.

It's pretty easy to do. All you need is a tin can, a weller soldering iron (other brands seem to burn up under this misuse) and some wood chips. Clean the grates on the grill or use pastry cooling racks to hold the cheese above the grate and load the can, stuff the iron in it, put it down at the bottom, let it run for 1-3 hours depending on how much smoke it's making, how thick the cheese is and smoky you like things. After you pull the cheese off, cool it down, then vacuum seal it and leave it alone for at least a week or so.

If you have any questions, feel free to shoot me a pm.

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

That sounds awesome, Adam.

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

I've done cheddar and jack with mesquite. I bought a cheap charcoal grill and some dryer vent hose with duct tape. I tape the vent hose chimney to chimney from my Traeger to the grill and it works like a charm. Next experiment is cold smoked salmon. You can PM me as well with any questions.

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

Peter is MacGyver.

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

No sh!t. Wait till you see the pictures.

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

I love you, man.

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

I just checked the freshly smoked bacon supply. About 15 pounds.
That should do for a bit. It is time to break out the sharp thingies and the vac sealer.

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

Teach me how to smoke pork belly. I really want to do up a bunch before winter.
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Re: What's in your smoker?
 

I go with a pretty basic recipe from the Polcyn/Ruhlman book "Charcuterie," but a little google fu can provide you with a wealth of info.
http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/f/134/smoking-bacon

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

I googled it. There were so many results, I didn't know which to trust. Thanks for the link! Going to check it out now.
Posted via Mobile Device

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

Picked up a 10lb pork butt tonight. Injected it and rubbed it. Throwing it on the egg tomorrow late night for a 5pm dinner on Saturday. Going to pull it and do BBQ pulled pork sandwiches. Then were also going to do carnitas with a habanero jelly glaze tacos with jalapeño cilantro lime sauce . Should be a great dinner with the family on Saturday.

On another note, I need a vacuum sealer in a bad way. Can any of you recommend a good one that isn't too expensive?

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

The way I do bacon is very simple.

-Cut the skin off if it is still on
-Wash the belly well and then pat dry with paper towels
-Spinkle both sides of the belly with about 1/4 cup of Kosher salt total (not 1/4 cup per side)
-Add any other seasonings you want - I have been using some turbinado sugar
-Put belly in a non-metalic container preferably one where the liquid can collect without the belly in the liquid. I have bought a plastic "bus tub" and it works great.
-Put it in the refrigerator
-After 24 hours pour the liquid off, flip and put on about 1/2 teaspoon more salt
-Repeat the above step for a total of 5 days but only put the additional salt on once
-After the fifth day wash the belly and let it soak in water while you get the smoke fired up.
-Put the belly on the smoker at 200 (I like to use cherry or hickory for smoke)
-Pull it once the internal temp is 150 (about 3 hours)
-Refrigerate it to cool
-Slice (a slicer makes this an easy job)
-I make stacks of 8 slices on wax paper, flip it, and stack 8 more. Then I wrap the wax paper around both. I will put 3 of those into a vacuum seal bag and then freeze.

Ian, the Foodsavers are really nice, but they are relatively expensive. I bought a Seal-A-Meal years ago. After a year or so it went bad but they sent me a new one. After another year or so that one went bad... they replaced that too. I think they finally ended up replacing 4-5. The last time they told me they weren't replacing it any more!!! This one has lasted 3-4 years!!!

It is a simple, inexpensive, easy to keep clean unit. No matter what you buy I think you will find the bulk bag rolls to be the best. At Sam's etc you can buy a box with several rolls each of two different width bags. That way you can make the bags whatever length you want.

Also, it is a good idea to always precool meat before you bag it. That way you don't get the moisture pulling up on the seam as it is sealing.

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

One key for adding spices/herbs to your pork belly while it cures is to use a lot more than you think. I tried garlic once, adding about 6 smashed cloves to each piece (3-4lb) and cured for 7-9 days. Smoked, sliced, etc. No garlic taste what so ever. Next time I try, it'll at least double that amount.

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

I love reading smokingmeatforums.com. I've been a member there for a while and I'm still learning stuff.

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

I quit smoking bacon at home because I couldn't get the bellies easily (just cut up chunks) and because I
need another source of saturated fat like a hole in the head. I COULD search our many good butchers for the meat,
but I have to put my foot down over my all new fun-size body. It ain't FUN. I have given up sugary drinks at work
and mostly at home, but I nibble too much at work, and my 40 mins of walking doesn't burn enough calories. I LOVE
bacon, but I sure don't make my own anymore. Too easy to justify eating it. If I want bacon now I have to
go to the store and buy it. ;)

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

I guess I am lucky... we kill 1-2 pigs a year and so does my cousin. His wife won't eat homemade bacon so I get his pork bellies too. That usually is enough for the year. The only time I buy bacon is when I do ABTs. I like the thin sliced bacon from Winn Dixie for those so I buy it.

I'm simple minded too... I have convinced myself that without the nitrates and such that my homemade bacon is healthy!!!:tu

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

I had a foodsaver, after a year of use and about 100' to 150' feet worth of bags, it died.

I just picked up a Vacmaster 130 from Costco's website (web only, not in stores), about $140 delivered. For a home use machine, it's pretty heavily built. A few things really attracted me to their design over some of the other companies:
1) Heavy duty pump that does not require cool down between runs.
2) The seal strip (what melts the bag together) is two to three times wider than most other brands. I see this as greatly reducing the chance of seal failure and allowing for a good seal even in the event of slight debris or oil in the seal area on the bag.
3) Besides automatic mode with a manual seal button, it also has a timer mode, where I can punch in how long I want the unit to evacuate the bag for. I ran into problems in the past (on the foodsaver) with certain foods trapping air bubbles between the food and wall of the bag and with the machine having no mode other than automatic sensor, me not having enough time to push the air bubble out to the side where it could be evacuated before the pressure switch tripped and sealed the bag.
4) I find bags to be more convenient than rolls and with pre-made bags I only have one seal that is at risk for failure, rather than two when cutting from a roll and making my own. After working out the costs on bags versus rolls for the Vacmaster and Wilson bags/rolls, I found that, for the items I'm sealing, the price of a bag was actually less than rolls when I purchase 100 bags at a time from Amazon for $21 to $39 depending on the size*. Versus other brands, bags/film for the Vacmaster is about 1/2 to 1/4 the cost of the foodsaver brand bags and film.


I've only had the machine about a week, so I can't give you any comments on long term use, but so far, it's done fine sealing up whatever I've thrown at it.


*: I have an Amazon prime account, so shipping is covered. For rolls, the better price was actually on costco's website, where shipping is included. So I'm calling the cost of membership at both vendors a wash. If you have to pay shipping at Amazon, your pricing per bag might be different.

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

Smoked some moinks and wings on the kettle yesterday. I was too lazy to deal with the WSM.

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

This is for you, Pete. :)

http://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i2...e/IMG_0256.jpg

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

Neato, I like it. What kind of temps do you get in the CB unit with the Traeger on "smoke"?

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

No clue. I should measure it but it is below 90. VERY dependent on the outside temp to be sure. It was a cool evening. I think that helped.

I cured the salmon for 36 hours, rinsed, and patted dry. Air dry, uncovered in the fridge for another 10 hours. Then ~4 hours on the smoker.

Delicious but a bit on the salty side. Time for some experimentation.

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

As you already know, I'm looking at possibly getting a Traeger next year, so I'm curious to know, but it certainly isn't anything you need to rush out and do on my behalf. And, no doubt on the outside temps and if sunlight is hitting the unit, I have to dodge that all the time here when I want to smoke cheeses, hence all my 5-6am starts for them.

Smoked salmon, that's next on my list now that I've finished smoking the 16 lbs of cheese that I picked up last week.

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

I'm pretty happy with my first attempt at cold smoking salmon. Just need to refine the cure and prep. I saw one site that recommended soaking the fillet in water for an hour before air drying in the fridge prior to smoking. I may give that a try.

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

Did you do the recipe I suggested to you regarding the injection/rub? It's by far the best flavored pulled pork I've ever made.

Regarding a vacuum sealer, I thought I needed one myself. For my last cook, I had 4 freezer 1 gallon bags full of pulled pork. 3 of them went in the freezer and I couldn't tell a difference. I'd just get out all the air you can and you should be good to go. Just my $0.02 as I think you can find a better use for $150 in the world of smoking. Think of how many butts/racks of ribs/etc you can make for that.