Re: What's in your smoker?
 

I'll give it a test run in a couple weeks when I'm back from my work trip. I figure with my Bradley, I'll make up some foil packs with the tobacco in it and do half/half with either apple or cherry wood.

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

I don't know how hard the Bradley's are to clean, so be careful. That was one thing I noticed, my Weber still stunk a few days later - but cleaning a Weber is easy.

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

Ahh, good to note.

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

When you cook back ribs, you have to watch out for the large pieces of loin that sometimes come
attached to the rack. I don't know if you have ever cooked pork loin, the ones they package in a round
pack that come as two tenderloins butted against each other. They dry out superfast, and have to be
cooked just right to even stand a chance of them being moist. Sometimes the meat from that area can be
tough and dry on a rack of BBRs.

You also get a similar deal with the meat flap (lol) on a rack of spares, where the rack thins down to about
1/4 inch thick and there are no bones there, one of two parts that often gets trimmed away in a St. Louis cut,
it can dry out while waiting for the rest of the rack to cook. That's why I trim it all away and cook it down with pintos.

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

Brad, do you also trim off that loin piece form the back ribs or do you just leave it on there and deal with that piece being a little (tougher/dryer)?

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

I leave everything on the back ribs. I could care less if it's dry or tough, lol.
If I find a piece like that after the cook, I cut it off, cube it up, and put sauce on it
and eat it with some marsh taters. I only pointed it out since it looked like he thought
maybe it was something he had done to the racks that made it that way. Once I got
some racks from El Supermercado, they were HUUuuuge, in fact I think I talked about it
early on in this thread. But huge ain't everything I found out. All that extra meat was
tough and dry. I was a BBR virgin, basically, and I did not see it coming. It was the diff.
between the way the major players trim and the way the mexican butcher trimmed.
I thought it was gonna be great, 30% more meat, same basic price....not so.

Now if there is a HUGE chunk of loin meat that is clearly not part of the traditional cut,
I might trim it off first and cook it on the side and then feed it to the dogs who gimme
the sad eyes all day til the food is ready. I always give em spares meatflap or the cartilage
section you trim off of St. Louis. I eat all the meat out of the crannies and let the dog
devour that crunchy cartilage. He is not knowlegable about the cut and eats it like it
was ribs. Cause he is a dog.

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

I trim them down so they look like NC style. I'll also cut off the smallest ribs so everything is square. There's plenty of uses for the extra meat. Great in Paella.

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

And baked beans...

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

The drier racks definitely had those larger loin pieces on them - that could have been the issue. I'm going to do my first butt this weekend. I might experiment with trimming vs. not trimming a couple of racks as long as I'm at it and see if I notice a difference.

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

That is good to know. I am known for being a man of too many words and too many theories
around here, but now and again when I hit on one, it makes me feel good to know I was in
the ballpark, lol. Butts take a lot of patience, and are also much more custom made for people
with good cookers. I have a versatile cooker, in that it is really just a long grill with a lid, and I build
a fire on one end and put the meat at the other. I end up with about two feet of space to cook on in
both directions. But with Butts, there is a lot of maintenance of fire with my setup, so I do them
infrequently. I also love the flavor of the smoke to penetrate a little more than I am able to do with
a butt. I love it, but don't do it very often. But ribs and western style pork riblets, those I can wear out!

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

I did a boneless rib roast on the mini-wsm last night. It was a tiny roast at about 2.5 lbs. Simple S&P and EVOO. The single chunk of hickory I used was a bit much for my taste though, otherwise fine. I ran the cooker at 275°F, and no diffuser. Served with roasted tomatoes, zucchini, and baked potatoes.
My wife destroyed her portion by throwing it into the microwave for a couple of minutes....LOL...

http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...psb4be415d.jpg

http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...ps8aeb7254.jpg

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

:dr:dr

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

Perfectly cooked. Curse that microwave!

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

Nothing because the cheap POS is full of holes. However I wanted to mention that in looking for a new Pit yesterday we stopped at Klose BBQ. I want one so bad. In any case met Dave Klose, owner, and Klose himself is a BOTL. Keep that in mind next time you buy a bbq. :D

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

Threw on a 9 pound pork butt just before 11 this morning. I'm trying the Renowned Mr. Brown recipe. I'll be adding bone-in beef short ribs around 2. Those are for dinner tonight. The pork will be tasted later tonight and probably eaten for dinner tomorrow. It should be interesting, hopefully in a good way.

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

The boneless rib looks great George! :tu

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

I didn't take pictures, but the beef ribs were excellent. I was really happy with them. I prepared them just like the recipe being featured right now on the virtual bullet home page, except I used a rub suggested with the boneless short ribs instead of the 50/50 salt/pepper suggested. I'll definitely be making them again. They did shrink down quite a bit. They were three-bone racks. Definitely one rack per person at least. I could have demolished a second rack, but one was a perfectly reasonable amount of food.

The pork butt turned out decently. Great flavor, maybe a little on the dry side. I put it on just before 11 a.m. and it hit 190 just before midnight. It was 9 pounds with bone in. It stalled for a few hours at 160 and then just gradually climbed to 190. As for being a little dry, I only let it sit for about 25 minutes before pulling it because I had to go to bed. Next time, I'll probably let it sit for a couple of hours in the cooler. I've read that helps. I'll probably re-heat it by steaming it and then add a little sauce for dinner tonight and I'm sure it will be great.

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

I cooked my chicken in the oven....I had so much crap to do, I just couldn't involve the smoker. :(

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

I just inherited 50 pounds of beef brisket, so I think this will be my new favorite thread. I need to get with someone local and figure this smoking business out.

I'm also looking for an electric smoker, as that is what I have heard most people talk about. I guess I just need to do some research.

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

First foray into pork so far this spring and a full meal besides some wings earlier this year. Two racks of spare ribs, one trimmed down to just the meat on the bones, the other full of every piece of attached meat. If I find the camera, I'll take some pictures. :tu

Might have started them a little late, so we might be eating around 9:30. :sh

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

Here, 4 different easy ste-by-step ways to cook awesome brisket on a WSM:
http://virtualweberbullet.com/cook.html#beef

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

Just pulled a brisket after about 13 hrs of smoke. I knocked a corner off of each side and man this thing was good. It pulls apart so easily. Can't wait to get into it for dinner tomorrow.

Pics to follow.
Posted via Mobile Device

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

Please! :dr

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

Going to slow cook/smoke some homemade bratwurst, Andouille, and chicken w/sundried tomato sausages.
As a side dish, also going on the smoker is this:
http://www.dadgumthatsgood.com/four-...-mac-n-cheese/

Gonna be a good eating (and drinking) day.

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

Here are the pictures as promised. While this is probably the best brisket I have done, I feel like some more time and a few more degrees of internal temp would have made it "pull apart" tender. But without a doubt this is a good one.

https://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphot...93751938_n.jpg

https://fbcdn-sphotos-b-a.akamaihd.n...74314877_n.jpg

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

Pizza done on the smoker is my newest favorite food group.

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

Thanks brother, much appreciated. I'm thinking I'm going to pick up a smoker tomorrow. Can't wait to get started in this new venture.

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

Smoked some Jerky yesterday, but today it's going to be ribs. -(P

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

From Sunday, one of my favorites, Lechón Asado from a boneless picnic shoulder.

From Monday, something even higher up on the favorite list, a Cuban Sandwich (with added pickled sweet jalepenos) from the leftovers.

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

Looks awesome Adam......Andy?

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

Looks super!

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

this thread is evil, and must be stopped

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

Not on MY watch. :D

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

Well I spent the morning preparing the rub and sauce for this.
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/b...ipe/index.html

Gonna rub down some cicken breasts, fire up the smoker, and cook low and slow. :dr

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

REcipe sounds delicious. Only need a 1/2 cup bourbon for the sauce. That leaves a rather large portion for the cook! :al

I just got a couple pork butts thawed out (the twin pack vac sealed) for tomorrow. Just wish I had room to put a pan o'beans in the smoker too.

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

I smoked a couple pork tongues yesterday for taco's. Rather impressed with the results.

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

Never worked with pork tongue, I'm guessing you process it in a manner similar to beef tongue, in other words, boil it, rip the skin off, then cook at really low heat for a long time?

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

Did a tri-tip rubbed with Memphis Dust and some roasted potatoes and carrots.
Yum.

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

Tongue...

Sweet Lord, it'll be a tough day at the compound before we start cooking tongues. You guys are more hard core than I ever will be.

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

Welp, I bit the bullet and bought a smoker. So far 2 pork shoulders and 1 Turkey have fallen victim (besides some pork chops) Plkanning on more shouldders for the Rochester Herf (so you should all come out!!)

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

going to do my first brisket this weekend... any tips?

is it fat side up or down?

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

So I took a vac-seal pack of Pork butt out of the freezer a week ago, went straight into the fridge. 1 week later, and it's still in the fridge. Still good? Or chuck it? Just never had the time to cook it as I had planned. I got it on sale, so I'm only throwing out $20 worth of product. But at the same time, it's 16 pounds of food.

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

Fat side up. There are a multitude of ways to prepare your brisket (dry rubs, marinade, etc). Pick one that sounds easy (I prefer a dry rub).

The trick and hardest thing about doing brisket for me is keeping the temp consistent throughout the entire smoke. 250ish is a good range to shoot for in the pit.

I good digital meat thermometer is your friend. I won't put my meat thermometer into the thickest portion of meat until well into the cooking process. Beef is technically done at 160F, however you will want to keep the cooking process going until that internal meat temp gets up to the 180F mark.

About half way though the cook I will flip the brisket end for end (fat side still up) so that it has a better chance of even cooking. There is also the question of wrapping in foil after several hours, or not. I have done it both ways and am not sure if it makes too much of a difference. This may depend on what wood you are using and how much smoke gets into the meat. I used oak last time without foil wrapping and it worked for me. Mesquite will impart a much heavier taste I believe, and wrapping may benefit the meat.

At 160F it is done, but will be tough. The last one I did was pulled at close to 180F, but it could have used some more time. It was moist and tender, but still didn't pull apart easily.

Brisket is about trial and error, but it cannot be rushed.

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

Why? Just curious. I start with it in. Haven't thought of a reason not to.

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

Foreplay perhaps?

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

Touche!

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

LOL, thanks guys.

I am not sure why I even made a point of it as it doesn't matter either way. I just like to make sure things are all nice and ...ah jeez, this is a family board. :)

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

I havent done a beef brisket yet, but for pork shoulder - it shreds and falls away at 190. I have a pork loin brining now - thinking 2 days in brine - then onto the smokeage!

For my shoulders - I put the thermometer in at the beginning - but I ubderstand if someone wanted to keep as much of the juices in as poss.

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

With Cliff's suggestion, I smoked the 2 butts yesterday. 10 hours at 250F. Brined 14 hours prior to. Turned out perfect!! They're in cold storage until the golf tourney. Should be a big hit!