Re: What's in your smoker?
 

A couple of picnic's and a fatty.

http://i867.photobucket.com/albums/a...psa00a9a66.jpg

http://i867.photobucket.com/albums/a...ps4d2e7eb8.jpg

I also did a turkey but I can't find the finished pics I know I took. :confused:

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

Bacon! :dr

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

Okay bbq gods of CA I need some advice. I'm wanting to smoke two maybe three turkey breasts for dinner and sliced into lunch meat. Gimme some ideas on wood, brining, injecting etc.

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

fyi... costo has the vision smoker on sale at some locations for $399.... damn good price....

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

I'd skip the brine it just leads to rubbery skin. I'd inject them with the juice from a can of jalepenos in escabeche, throw some spicy rub on and cook indirect at medium temp with mesquite and oak.:2

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

Oh, and for a finishing sauce, mix fresh lime juice, brown sugar, apple cider vinegar, rasberry or apricot jam, sriracha sauce, some of the rub in a saucepan, bring to boil, reduce to simmer for 5 min or so. Paint that on the turkey in the last 5-10 of cooking. Don't turn your back on it though this stuff will burn fast.

That's today's turkey breast thoughts.

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

SMOKING BIRDS leads to rubbery skin, my bro-hamster, lol. Might as well brine it.....By the way, that recipe of
liquids you throw together got me salivating, and I didn't even read what you put it on.

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

5HI+ DOM, you gave a foner.....I do love me a good bacon weave.

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

You're right, I should have been more clear about when I wrote "indirect" what I meant was "grilled, indirect".

Thanks for the thoughts on the sauce, yeah, it works on many things.

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

Rubbery skin is the one and only thing I hate about smoked chicken. I think the skin is
important, it protects the meat and also keeps the total smoked flavor from ever being
overwhelming, it creates such a delicate flavor that it is almost ethereal. But I have
finally just stopped the half measures...now if I can't char/crisp the skin before I pull
the meat, I just don't do it. But when you take the time to do both, wow, what a great
result. As for strictly turkey breasts, man, I don't know, can you even GET IT with skin
on it? Maybe you can wrap it in cheesecloth. I bet turkey breast on the smoker is great.
I am not a fan of wings or those giant, tendonny, spikey legs, either.

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

My butcher always has whole bone in turkey breasts, with skin. They run about $3 a pound and average 3-5lbs.

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

Well I spoke too soon. My butcher ran out of turkey breast during 4th of July. :(

So pork and beef ribs going on instead.

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

man I am considering thawing SOMETHING tonight. I got a lot done over the past few days, and I am
thinking I need some kind of food for work next week anyway. All I have is BBRs and Chicken.

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

I went for it....rack of spares on for a NIGHT smoke. Went on a lil after 7 pm. Gonna wait for halfway,
then go out with a beer and a smoke to 'watch it'. And now, back to the Wendy's Pretzel Bacon Cheeseburger thread
to stare at the photo.

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

Dom, I need a pic of that bacon weave roast cut.

This is probably my favorite thread.

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

Since the Government insisted I take the day off Friday (and every other Friday through Sep, thanks Congress...) I fired up my smoker for the first time in a year to make some ribs. The first, and only, time I tried ribs they weren't all that great. I think my temp was too high and they cooked too fast. This weekend I nailed it, one guest said she's been dreaming about my ribs - two days later! Now I'm hooked, but I like variety and need ideas.

Anyone have a favorite cookbook for smokers?

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

The gubmint had every opprtunity to fix the issues that led to that sequester, they
just lacked the balls that a leader needs...well, unless he is a leader of THIS country,
in which case, who needs balls, just a finger to point.

I cooked some unfurloughed ribs Saturday night, got a LATE start rather than my usual
crack of dawn smoke. Smoked from 6:45 pm to about 9:00....perfect job I thought.
I used some of the rubs that I got from being a well-known smoker at work. Our major
chemical supplier gives us one of thir tote bags full of famous Memphis sauces and rubs.
Luckily, me bringing ribs to work all the time developed for me a reputation that led to
them just dumping all that stuff on me. This week I used the World-Famous Rendezvous
rub. Almost as good as the stuff I mix myself.

Ready to go to the pit

http://i1294.photobucket.com/albums/...ps1d30abd4.jpg

Ready to EAT.

http://i1294.photobucket.com/albums/...psbc9a839e.jpg

Just left em dry, which is the way I have always preferred. Since I found Sweeet baby Ray's, I have tended to
serve em wet. But after nuclear scalding myself on 300 degree sauce one day, I add it as a dipping sauce cold, now.

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

I had to retest the seal on my SFB so hoping to try it out next week. Having some brisket delivered from MI on Saturday!

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

ouch!

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

Posting just cause I can't stands to see Joes bacon weave every time I open this thread and hoping for a new page. That damn bacon makes me hungry and drooly every time I see it.

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

Brine's are great for birds, It's just the amount of salt and the amount of time they tell you. I always use half the salt of any recipe and 3 hours or so, but using a good brine helps from the meat oxziding and drying out.

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

Jeff, I find the actual seal on something sealed as well the job you did on
YOUR unit to be OVER-rated. A perfect seal sure won't HURT, but I think
you will be fine with what you have now. GET SMOKING! My long form
grill/smoker leaks like a sieve and still cranks out great Q.

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

My first turkey. A 20 pounder I smoked on vacation. I let it brine for 24 hours in 1/2 cup salt per gallon of water brine. Ended up needing 4 gallons of water to cover it. Let it brine in a cooler with ice. I rubbed it down with my bird rub then smoked her at 250-275F for about 5 hours until the breast read 180F and the joints were all loose. It was so juicy and tasted great! The leg was a meal in itself. My wife made a large bowl of turkey salad with a breast and a thigh. It was awesome, too. I'll definitely do it again when I've got a crowd big enough to handle it.

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t...psfef6e31b.jpg

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t...ps476f8c12.jpg

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

MAN, I need to go to Kroeeger to get some ribs.....baby backs and beef backs are on sale
this week, by the time you scan you card, they are half price. I was paying about 5-6 bucks a rack
for beef back ribs and about 6-7 for BBRs. I have 8 racks in the freezer and think, now that they all FIT,
I should go back and get some to cook up fresh tomorrow night. What a great idea, although I may go
to Hot Springs and see my favorite girl band play and shoot some more pics. I'd like to slather THEM with sauce.

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

Said and done.........

http://i1294.photobucket.com/albums/...ps0744781a.jpg

http://i1294.photobucket.com/albums/...psab2fd879.jpg

I have room for three more racks of these in the freezer, and I am tempted to get em, at an average of
$6.50 a rack, but sometimes I think you can get too ahead of yourself and end up with a freezer full of meat
and then somehow your freezer blows up. But I guess I will do it anyway. I have 5 racks of beef ribs and
two more BBRs for now. Man, I am thinking hard about stocking up. These were SOoooo good.

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

5 Pounds of pork belly about to hit the smoker.

http://i867.photobucket.com/albums/a...ps42467ab4.jpg

http://i867.photobucket.com/albums/a...ps29a29674.jpg

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

So you are gonna smoke it without any kind of pre-cure? That's what I always wanted to try,
since when I cure it, it is too salty to eat after....granted I never tried the slab, can't find em.
I use the butter stick sized pieces they sell in the oriental grocery, they use it to make a REALLY
fatty looking dish where it looks basically boiled. I know its MUCH more complicated than that.
Maybe that belly was cured then washed, who knows.....Dom knows.

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

Not cured.
I salted the rind overnight, seasoned it early this am, and put onto the smoker.
All my other attempts at pork belly have been done in an Asian style.
Typically cubed and served with some sort of hoisin or soy based dipping sauce.
I always cooked it at a higher temp too.
This time I'm trying to prepare them more like I would my ribs.
Smoking at 200* for 1.5 hours per pound is the plan, though I'll start checking for doneness around the 6 hour mark.

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

Mmmmm Pork belly...tasty but dangerous

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

THAT MUST BE WHERE i......where I got my idea to look more into that online, asian style.
'they' say its freaking delicious, but it looks like just plain old fat.....I like it rendered out in a fryng pan, lol.
Good luck, I will be waiting for the results.....I found a bunch of chicken parts at kroeger today,
3 chickens cut up, minus the breasts....its a bonanza of good eats, especially if the breast is not your
cut. I like a fried breast and that's about it. When it comes to smoking, gimme legs, thighs and wings.
Froze the thighs and bought another reduced pack of a dozen wings, plus a pork butt. The chicken turned
out to be not even CLOSE to smelling off, so I got it half off for basically a date code. This is gonna make for
some excellent photos!

OH, the issue WAS, I went to the Kroeger in my home area, and the sale pork and beef ribs were NOT
onsale. I was very confused. So maybe tomorrow after I hit the zoo for a photo safari, I will go to
the store close to my work and grab a few more racks of each. Half price is too good to pass up, period.

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

Just tossed on a rack of St. Louis ribs.
Rubbed down with Sweet Rub.

Marinated chicken breasts going on later.

Time for a beer.

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

I am almost done. The big Butt is on the smoker, needs to be foiled. But MAN, what
Chicken!
Not MUCH worried about the chicken juice dripping onto the pork, hell, its bad either way, lol.
The butt has SO MANY more hours to cook, those chiken juice gremlins are gonna be long dead.

Spent the later bits of time smoking a great cigar, I THINK courtesy of NEENS. Illusione 888.

http://i1294.photobucket.com/albums/...psaf202175.jpg

http://i1294.photobucket.com/albums/...ps592eed5b.jpg

Finishing the chicken...MUST crisp the skin for maximum deliciousity. We already discussed rubber skin
on this forum last week, lol

http://i1294.photobucket.com/albums/...ps79385832.jpg

http://i1294.photobucket.com/albums/...ps3b111d48.jpg

http://i1294.photobucket.com/albums/...ps8236724f.jpg

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

this is porm

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

you guys know how to make a man hate his diet... :dr

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

I forgot to take finished pics, but based on the feedback from Bigash and Blak Smyth, and the fact that there were zero leftovers, the pork belly was a hit.
Salting the rind was a bad idea.
Or maybe covering the salted rind with seasoning was the bad idea?
Either way, the rind didn't crisp up the way I intended, and was way too salty for my taste.
Once removed though, the excess salt went with it, and the rest was good eatin'!

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

My mistake, I thought your experiment was for bacon. That was why I thought it needed a cure.
If you were just smoking it to eat, ehh, I could see why you cooked it rather than smoked it really low.
Finished my butt finally, pulled it and froze it for my trip to the NC mountains this month.
All in all it was a super-smoker, buster-a55er weekend. Ton of yard work, even tore a playhouse down,
without Graham Parker's help.

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

The butt after foiling and crisping for another hour

http://i1294.photobucket.com/albums/...ps6d021e03.jpg

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

Got a 15# packer brisket
http://i89.photobucket.com/albums/k2...psbaba88ce.jpg

And a rack of St Louie ribs....
http://i89.photobucket.com/albums/k2...psffa0386e.jpg

All trimmed up and rubbed down with some black and white ready to go. Figure a 2:30am start time for the brisket and 12:00pm start time for the ribs. All should be rested and ready to slice around 4 or 5pm Tuesday. Will try and take some smoker pix but its gonna be awful dark lmao. Been awhile since I sparked up the smoker but after my Franklin's BBQ trip I feel obligated to show myself I can still kick ass and take names on my smokemaster smoker! 30$ for the brisket and another 10$ for the ribs....no lines...and 10 kegs on tap = I win lol.

Probably throw some fresh gulf shrimp and beef fajitas on the firebox coals for dinner tonight since the post oak will already be burning :)

Happy meatgasam Monday!

Mikes

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

I hope people line up to grab that last bite....

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

That butt looks like it is ready amigo! Yum

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

Yep. :dr

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

beef ribs to test out the new 50mm f/2

http://i1294.photobucket.com/albums/...ps866f5a74.jpg

AND THEN WITH SAUCE

http://i1294.photobucket.com/albums/...psa8ad1585.jpg

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

Nice shot, Brad. the sauced pic is drool worthy.

I can NEVER find beef ribs around here with any damn MEAT on them. Except the little short ribs, but those are always cut so damn small.

I was watching a program on food network the other day, and saw a restaurant that served that served MASSIVE short ribs. The Flinstones came to mind. I may have to find a source for those.

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

Ah, looks like the cut i am seeking is english cut short ribs. Looks like i'll be calling the local butcher shop soon.

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

Yeah, they tend to cut off a massive slab of meat off the top to create little planks of
beef rib meat, then sell the ribs to suckers like me. These were very meaty, but only
between the bones, you can see the rack is shiner city. But that intercostal meat was
shonuff good.

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

From the herf at Ratter's house on Saturday.

Sorry for the shitty photos.

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

Brisket!

http://i163.photobucket.com/albums/t...t/IMG_3444.jpg

http://i163.photobucket.com/albums/t...t/IMG_3446.jpg

http://i163.photobucket.com/albums/t...t/IMG_3449.jpg

http://i163.photobucket.com/albums/t...t/IMG_3450.jpg

http://i163.photobucket.com/albums/t...t/IMG_3451.jpg

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

Looking awesome Jeff!

:dr:dr

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

Had smoked brisket the other day a friend made. Once smoked he took it to a butcher and had it sliced super thin then he grilled it. Slight char on the edges with that smoke flavor made it taste what I imagine beef bacon would taste like.

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

Killer smoke ring!