Re: What's in your smoker?
 

x2, freezer bags and pulled pork are fine and dandy. Sometimes it's even better after some time in the freezer,
cause you get to iintroduce more crispy element into it on the reheat if you wish.

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

Please LMK how that compares, I have mixed feelings on those extra water-only soaks, I wonder if some of the flavors that I want to preserve are also being diluted or pulled out, but I can't eliminate enough variables with my method to get a handle on that issue, so all other things being equal, I'd be curious to hear how it affects the final product.

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

I'll do that.

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

Not for the pulled pork, but for when I buy whole tenderloins, strips, ribeye's, etc at Costco and cut them up into steaks to freeze for future use.

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

:tpd:
I have saved many times the cost of my Foodsaver by buying full primals at Costco and Sams and vac'ing portions, not to mention multitudes of other items.

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

The true vacuum seal is great to keep frost from forming inside the package, but even that can't REALLY be stopped
100%. So Freezer bags are fine and realatively cheap. But a really good Vac Sealer is a nice luxury, too.

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

hey pnoon.. did you brine your salmon before smoking?

found a link for a bradley and cold smoking salmon... http://forum.bradleysmoker.com/index.php?topic=55.0

No.
I did a dry cure for 36 hours. I will post the recipe this weekend.
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Re: What's in your smoker?
 

Just got done putting the rub on tomorrow's pork butt. 7 pounder. Used:

1/8 cup pepper
1/4 cup paprika
1/4 cup salt
1/4 cup brown sugar
2T cayenne pepper
2T onion powder
2T garlic powder
1T basil
1t ground mustard
Unmeasured amounts of cumin, coriander, and sage.

Hopefully it's good. Just checked and I'm down to not much lump charcoal (under 2 pounds) and only a few chunks of applewood. Get to make a run into town early tomorrow morning with the kids. Probably going to serve homemade Mac and cheese with the pork.
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Re: What's in your smoker?
 

Rub sounds good to me, Peter. Let us know how it turns out.

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

First time using this rub, Peter. Thanks for the confidence. The gf decided to throw a Halloween party tomorrow, so I'm cooking for a few guests as well. I'm pretty new to the smoker, but it's been a fun experience so far.
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Re: What's in your smoker?
 

Sounds delicious.

I was given this book by a very kind and generous inmate.
http://www.amazon.com/Paul-Kirks-Cha...9868041&sr=1-2

Worth its weight in gold.

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

And thanks for the link. Going to order it now :D
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Re: What's in your smoker?
 

Remember the cardinal rule of smoking, since you are going for the guest-feeding routine....THIN, BLUE smoke,
no billowing white or gray smoke. Glad to see you are enjoying the cave-man's art...I know I never smoked
anything until about three years ago, and now I am addicted. it's such a great thing to have delicious
meat that tastes better than you can get in a lot of "barbecue" places and to have it last so long in the fridge
if you can't get to it fast enough. The magical smoke rocks.

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

Family coming over today.
Two racks of pork ribs the fridge I rubbed with Magic Dust last night.
Also planning to debone two whole chickens and stuff them with ham, provolone, spinach, mushrooms, onion and a little apple and top with bacon.
Rest of the bacon will be used for ABTs. :)

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

I know some have had bad luck with FoodSaver, I haven't and this is a great deal.

Foodsaver starter pack for $48, once you add it to your cart.

http://www.foodsaver.com/product.asp...urce=MainImage

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

Just ordered! :tu

Thanks for the heads up, Jason!

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

As promised:

http://www.cigarasylum.com/vb/showthread.php?t=50507

This turned out really good.

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

Shoulder rubbed with kosher salt, pepper, brown sugar and smoked paprika, wrapped and back in the fridge to rest tonight and into the smoker tomorrow morning. I think I may stuff some jalapenos with Italian sausage, panko, and grana padano and toss those on the empty racks for kicks and giggles. Maybe some wings too.

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

wow great and inexpensive way to cold smoke. I have been dreaming of getting a MAK 2star but this will keep those dreams away for awhile.

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

Getting ready to head out and buy supplies for this weekends showdown.

LSU Alabama. Everyone wants Baby backs, i wanted brisket but they are paying so ribs it is. I have a local butcher that gets some great BB's the size of spares. Cost a little more but the pork has a clean taste that you cant get at the stores around here. Going with to rubs, one is my custom brown sugar based rub that everyone loves ( too sweet for me). Second is my favorite rib tickler. All smoked on my WSM with Hickory and cherry. Might have to get some pics up.

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

http://img839.imageshack.us/img839/3688/smokeru.jpg

Seasoned with salt, pepper, mashed garlic, sour orange, and Mojo.

Placed in an oven bag for two days. smoked for 5 hours.

I should have let it smoked for more time, i need a two chamber smoker in order to control heat .

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

brisket?

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

Hey all question on Pork Shoulder?

To date I have only made pulled pork from pork butt's I got at the grocery store. Having a house warming with a few people so got the Costco Pork Shoulder double pack.

Do ya'll trim down the shoulder and just smoke the butt for pulled pork or just throw it all on the smoker and go hog wild?

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

You're welcome Dom. I have the quite older version of that same sealer. Had it for years. Only seal stuff maybe once a month. Hasn't let me down yet *Knock on wood*

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

:tu

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

Go for broke brother, throw it all on!

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

How can I not follow the advice of the BBQ MacGyver and a guy with one of the biggest BBQ Pits I know! :tu

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

On another note the old lady has been jonesing for Carolina pulled pork so I looked up a sauce at the BBQ Bretheren.

What do ya'll think and/or use yourself?

1 C Cider vinegar 1 T Brown sugar 1 t salt, or to taste ½ t Ground cayenne ½ t Ground black pepper

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

I prefer a mustard or a lexington style sauce myself. For something simple like a spiced vinegar sauce similar to what you posted, I just use Suka Pinakurat brand Philippine spicy coconut vinegar that Benedic turned me on to.


Here's two good sauces that I have found:

Miss Piggy Mustard Sauce

1 cup Mustard
1/2 cup Sugar
1/2 cup Cider vinegar
1/4 cup Brown sugar, light
2 tablespoons Chili powder
1 teaspoon Pepper
1 teaspoon White pepper
1 teaspoon Cayenne pepper
1 tablespoon Hot sauce
1 teaspoon Soy sauce, dark
2 tablespoons Butter

Combine all ingredients except soy sauce and butter. Add the vinegar last. Add to your desired thickness.
Simmer for 10 minutes.
Remove from heat and add butter and soy sauce.


Lexington sauce
(I know, not a Carolina sauce)

1 c cider vinegar
1/4 c water
1/4 c ketchup
2 t Worcestershire sauce
1 T dark brown sugar
1/2 t cayenne pepper
1 t fresh ground black pepper
1 t salt
1/2 t chipotle pepper

Simmer 10 minutes.

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

4 butts on the Traeger now. Just got the digital controller and auger motor replaced last night.

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

This is almost exactly what I use for my Carolina style sauce. The only difference is I use a heavy 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes instead of cayenne. Heat it up in a saucepan and put it in a squirt bottle. It keeps forever and seems to get better as it sits.

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

I likes me some spices floating around in that vinegar, experiment a little.

Man I remember in NC one year we had a shop party pig pickin' and I was responsible for the sauce. I had tasted
a ton of NC style sauce from my many meals at Wilber's in Goldsboro, but when it came time to shop, I was lost.
I knew it had vineagar, and I knew that it had better be some kind of good vinegar, as I was not cleaning a floor
with it. By the time I finished adding stuff, it turned out to be a masterpiece. I can't say I PREFER a vinegar
slosh like those Carolinians, but I don't HATE it either. Good luck, make sure you float some good solids in there...
Make a couple of small jars and write down the contents of each. One will rise to the top!

It's GOT DANG SHOWTIME, BOYS....LSULSULSULSULSULSULSULSULSU....Whew I am worked up!
I am not usually a fan of fans chanting LSU, or USA for that matter. But in this case, it illustrates
my worked-upedness.

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

:tu:tu

:dr:dr Dat's the truth!

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

That's what I did (regarding smoke). BUT, I had a huge problem with temp off the bat. It was where it was supposed to be. Actually getting down to 225 by the time I was ready to put the butt on the grill. So I threw a few more pieces of lump coal on there, closed the intake almost completely, and opened the exhaust wide. I checked on it about 35 minutes later, and the temp was approaching 400 :eek: I ended up opening it up, removing some coals, and keeping an eye on it. It worked really well, but the damage had been done. It almost cooked the ouside of the butt too fast, so the smoke did not penetrate as far.

Only one person commented on it being "not as good as last time." But that particular person judges quality of the cook by intensity of the smoke flavor. I like to taste the meat, rub, AND smoke. But it was even too mellow for me to call it any amount of a success.

Oh well, it's all a learning process anyways.

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

Stoked about finally getting the side firebox for my CharGriller. It's a $69 unit but it would cost another $170 to ship here. Thankfully, a generous BOTL is visiting friends in MI this month, so I'm shipping to their place and he's bringing it back. Free shipping within the U.S.
Gonna have to learn to smoke all over again (been using the water pan method so far) but it's so worth it.

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

Hammered out a lil meat to celebrate the pounding Bama is going to suffer tonight. As I type this though, Jarrett lee is giving the ball away again, so he might be done tonight.
There was a barred owl in the pecan tree above my smoker who was not too happy about all the wood
smoke I was pouring into his napping spot. That's a good spot, too, lots of rats and squirrels in this
part of town. Came out late to take the meat off, and he was drinking from my pond waterfall and I scared
him back up into another tree where I got to take a good many more photos of him with another camera.

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

Very nice!!!

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

Well was up at midnight last night to start the pork shoulders.


http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6230/...1cc85f7f6c.jpg
IMAG0081 by kydsid, on Flickr


Took them off at 10am this morning and into the cooler. Pulled and added the Carolina sauce. Thanks Brent for the tips. I made a mess of it but used a 1/4 Cayenne/Chili Flake/Adobo/Chili Powder to make the sauce. Turned out great.

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6118/...27a1c33eb5.jpg
IMAG0082 by kydsid, on Flickr


Also did some ribs and ABT's. Had the crew over for a herf and had great eats and great football. Was a good day, smoked a lot of meat and great cigars!

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

Looks pretty good to me...:dr

:tu:tu

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

Great lookin' yard runner Brad and killer lookin' butts Jason. I made the hot smoked wings and some ABTs yesterday. One of my favorite meals!!!

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

Smoked Chicken was the course of the night. Spent about 4hrs on the grill, came out tender, juicy and smoke-a-riffic!

I wish I had a full fledged smoker though. I use my 21" weber and obviously that has a few disadvantages. Mostly you have to babysit it quite a bit more often.

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

Indy, there is no need to worry too much about a proper smoker. I am handicapped a bit, too
in that I do not have anything but a grill. I just pile the heat and smoke on one third of my space
and meat on the other 2/3 and I do fine. It's also a little less trouble than a real smoker with a
separate firebox. The output is a little less consistent but in the end the meat it creates is downright
amazing. The point is to commit to practicing enough to work out any kinks the circular grill forces onto you.
There are a coupla smokers here who kick-a55 on a circular weber!

Sorry about my pic, it was taken right after I painted the ribs with SBR sauce, so it is not carmelized.
But man was that chicken purty. Plus when the ribs were finally black-purple, I was already demolishing them.

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

Ohhh worry not, I make do with my grill as a smoker! A Smokey Mountain is just on my wish list.

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

Mine takes a good lot of babysitting as well. TO ME, though babysitting is what grilling and smoking are about.
To be outside with the beer and nature while the family is dealing with each other, say at Thanksgiving
or Easter or whatever get together there is. Sometimes it's a PITA, too, though, but in the end,
we buy gear so we can enjoy cooking outdoors. I admire the set and forget crowd, but I have no burning
desire to be there with em. When you do all night smokes for large groups for money, or competitions,
sure, automation and consistent performance over time are where it's at. I like my little Char-Griller fine.

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

I have a 21" Weber OTG that has a pair of firebricks and part of the lower grate sealed off and once it hits the temp I want to cook at, it doesn't seem to require any more baby sitting than really any other comparable sized non-power draft controlled smoker that I've used, in some cases, even less actually. It doesn't have the run time of a WSM without reloading though - 6-7 hours is about max on one load of fuel, but it holds considerably less fuel than a WSM...

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

Got a long time friend and his GF coming over Saturday night from out of town. Since its so close to thanksgiving, I'm going to smoke a couple turkey breath (bone in), thighs, and drumsticks. Whip up some cornbread stuffing and homemade Mac and cheese for the sides. Never smoked turkey parts before, do if anyone has any tips...
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Re: What's in your smoker?
 

"...going to smoke a couple turkey breath (bone in), thighs, and drumsticks...."

Well, that's basically the whole turkey...

Try this... Alton Brown's recpie but cooked over mesquite.

But rather than an oven, load mesquite charcoal into your smoker and use it. No need to make smoke, if you are using mesquite lump, just mimic the oven temps that Alton calls for.

Typically, I wouldn't use mesquite in a smoker, but charcoal is a bit different... I've used Lazzari Mesquite Charcoal and it rocks. Never had a complaint yet.

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

Much thanks for the tips. I'll be checking it out now.
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Re: What's in your smoker?
 

Have I got a setup for you...22.5" Weber Smokey Mountain and an iQue 110 controller. I'm in Indy and the smoker itself was new in April. Worked great, but I got sold on the idea of a Traeger and found a used one not too far from me.

LMK if you're interested. http://pitmasteriq.com/ for more info on the controller

New I have about $475 in it and then have a few bags of charcoal left over.