Re: What's in your smoker?
 

Yes, I'm well aware that everyone could have given me the same obligatory "mmmm". But darnit they WERE good.

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

One of my long time best friends (since sixth grade, iirc) is coming to town next weekend to stay at his parents place for his birthday. His dad has been bugging me for quite some time to cook something for them (he sees a lot of my food pictures on Facebook).

Might just do a standard pork butt the day before. Bring it over the next day.

Or do a pork loin day of on their weber kettle. Jamaican jerk marinade i think.

I'm always scared when its not my grill/smoker though. Haven't used a kettle in a good while.

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

Did a hot and fast brisket on my old side burner this past weekend. It's my friends now, out at his cottage. I didn't bring my digital thermometer, which would've really helped. The original temp gauge is pretty well shot. We did end up getting a meat thermo at least to know when it was done. The burnt ends were fantastic, the flat was a bit dry. Still all in all, not a bad effort.

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

Bob, I was just explaining hot and fast to a friend. He thought I was crazy. I think I might try it this weekend. Any tips?

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

Restaurant Depot had Yellowfin Tuna on sale for $5.60 a pound for a 6+lbs log. I had to do it. Crusted it with sesame seeds and did it proper.

Also bagged me a 17lb boston butt and am currently slow cooking with my dry rub. I'll load the pic tomorrow!

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

The one crucial step I missed was wrapping the brisket in foil when the IT hit 160F. We did it around 182, but then we didn't have the thermometer until about 5 mins before we took the temp.

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

Got a couple of Tri Tips on the Weber at this time. They'll be taking a Mesquite bath shortly:dr
http://i250.photobucket.com/albums/g...ps9ffad690.jpg

http://i250.photobucket.com/albums/g...psfaf75412.jpg

Hope everyone is enjoying their Saturday:noon

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

...and the results:

http://i250.photobucket.com/albums/g...psfac6dee9.jpg

http://i250.photobucket.com/albums/g...psebed724c.jpg

And its time to dig into some smoked Tri Tip and steamed broccoli:dr
http://i250.photobucket.com/albums/g...ps3124f981.jpg

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

Damn Mark that looks great. Gotta try some of that. I don't find tri-tip too much around these parts.

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

I like your idea for separating the charcoal for offset smoking. Readers take notice for an inexpensive smoker idea for their Weber.

I put on two St. Louis racks and a 3.5 lb brisket this morning at 6:30 AM. Hopefully it'll be ready for kick off of the Pats game at 1:00

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

Thanks Steve. In checking Google for meat markets back in your neck of the woods, there appear to be at least 10 that I observed there. You may just have to walk in to one of the more reputable shops to ask the butcher for a good Tri Tip cut. 3 or 4 lbs is a good size.

You might want to check out the meat dept in a local Costco, Sams Club, or Krogers too. If you don't see what you're looking for, ask the butcher:tu

Thanks for the comment Moses, but "full credit" goes to a good brother here on the forum named Adam (T.G). You can check out the photo's of his grill here, posts 21 through 40 (more or less):

http://www.cigarasylum.com/vb/showthread.php?t=21946&page=2

I really enjoyed seeing how he had his grill set-up and it really made a whole lot of sense. I simply tightened things up a bit to seal off heat from coming around from the sides.

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

Thank you Mark, but, I can't take credit for originating the idea, it was suggested to me by a friend who had seen it done elsewhere. All I did was pass it along by using it.

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

At only 2 tri-tip per animal, most tri-tip in the US does end up out on the West coast because we love it out here, as you can see, Mark just ate an entire cow yesterday... :D.

It sometimes goes by other names in different parts of the country. You can try "bottom sirloin butt" or "triangle roast". It's possible that there are even more names so you could even try taking this document in which explains the cut
http://www.virtualweberbullet.com/me...tos/tritip.pdf

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

:r...and such an effing pig I am too:D

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

Just did a little 2 1/2 pound brisket that I smoked hot and fast. At 165 I wrapped in foil with some Founders Breakfast stout layered inside. Brought it to a perfect 200 and now it's sleeping for a while in the cooler.

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

Let us know how it turned out.

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

Love the Tri-Tips Mark. I did one over the weekend too.

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

The brisket turned out great. I'm having an issues uploading the pic from my phone.

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

That's cool. Next time I'll make sure to have my thermometer with me so we don't overcook the flat end.

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

I'm gonna have to start doing (2) like you did. With a family of 5, there are no left overs any more when I do a single Tip.
Nothing better than a Tri-Tip and Cheddar sandwich the next day. :dr

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

From last Thursday...
18 lbs of pork shoulder for the brewery release party of chinook wet-hopped XPL "Resinator" on Friday. Plus 3 quarts of bbq sauce and 6 lbs of Primanti Bros inspired coleslaw.

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

Man TG, those shoulders look fantastic!

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

6 lb shoulder rubbed down. 5 hours at 275F. Get in my belly!

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t...ps3a2f79d1.jpg

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t...ps0e200894.jpg

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

I FINALLY finished my UDS build. I worked off of these plans: http://mancavemeals.net/the-uds/ but I made a few changes as I went.

After watching this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EUQbGTSXhdk I liked the gloss paint and exchanged the flat for gloss. Both sources provided good insight into the build process.

Front:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...0914132258.jpg

Side/Back:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...914132258a.jpg

Top Rack:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...0914132259.jpg

Bottom Rack:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...914132259a.jpg

Charcoal basket with tabletop grill for an ash pan:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...0914132300.jpg

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

My "handle" design:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...914132300a.jpg

Here's the thermometer I mounted between the two racks. It's adjustable so I boil tested and adjusted it slightly. I know I need to rely on internal temps when smoking meat but I wanted something that would at least give me a ballpark.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...0914132304.jpg

What I read for setting up a dual rack was that the bottom rack needs to be 24" above the bottom of the charcoal basket. I think this is close enough.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...0914132303.jpg


I did about a 10 lb basket of charcoal with a few chunks of hickory mixed in for my seasoning burn. I left both valves all the way open. After about 30 minutes temps stabilized just above 300 degrees. I checked on it a few times over the next 2-3 hours before I went to bed and it stayed at the same temp. When I woke up in the morning (7 hours later, 10 hours total) there was no more smoke flowing out of the vent but the temp was still 175. Not bad given the air temp on my deck was around 45 degrees.

Now I can't wait to buy some meat. I'm thinking a pork shoulder will by my first attempt. This is my first smoker and will by my first attempt. Any/all advice welcome. Plus, I'll need a rub recipie or two.

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

I cannibalized the lid, bottom rack, all three wood handles/spacers, and top ring from an old 22.5" Weber kettle grill knock-off I received as a wedding gift, in 2001. It served me well but has been replaced. So it was fair game. The top ring allows the lid to fit without having to stretch out the lid, which would undoubtedly chip more of the enamel off. You can't really see the inner ring in the pics but it's there. You CAN tell in the top pics that the lid doesn't fit over the barrel. BTW, pics were taken before the seasoning burn.

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

Nice!

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

I'm going to take my first stab at bacon-2 pork bellies and 2 jowls in the brine today. Can't wait to see the finished product, so it's going to be a hard 3 weeks.

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

nice Mike! what time is dinner? :dr

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

And I just bought 2 of these 18" cold smokers:

http://www.amazenproducts.com/Produc...ductCode=AMNTS

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

Nicely done, Steve.

How did that coal based blasting abrasive work out?

Steven Raichlen has a great rub formula that is excellent on it's own and is easy to tweak to your liking.

Raichlen's Rub - An All-Purpose Barbecue Rub (Especially Good On Pork)
printer-ready version
Makes 1 cup

• 1/4 cup coarse salt (sea or kosher)
• 1/4 cup dark brown sugar
• 1/4 cup sweet paprika
• 3 tablespoons black pepper
• 1 tablespoon garlic flakes
• 1 tablespoon onion flakes
• 1/2 to1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon celery seeds

From: http://www.bbqu.net/season1/108_4.html


A few comments/notes from me:
- I recommend kosher salt (Diamond Crystal), as it's "less salty" per volume versus sea salt. You can always add salt at service time, you can never take it away.
- I use granulated (the stuff with the texture of sand not the fine powder) rather than flakes for the garlic and onion, seems to form a better, albeit 2-dimensional, bark.
- To prevent clumping, dry the brown sugar by spreading it out on a sheet pan (cookie sheet) and put it in the oven at the lowest temp setting with the door cracked. Takes about 20 minutes, stir it once or twice. Let it cool, break up any lumps and add to rub.
- You can easily customize the flavor of this base rub by going up or down on the garlic, cayenne, onion, salt or adding things like ground cumin, thyme, rosemary, mace, oregano, marjoram, ground bay leaf, dry worcestershire powder, etc. With the exception of cumin, go easy though (like 1/8 to 1/4 tsp per cup of rub) as they really come through. I grind the leaf spices in either a whirly blade coffee grinder or a mortar, depends on how much I'm adding.
- If you're not afraid of it and have it around, a 1/2TBS of MSG (Accent) or 1TBS of dry soy sauce powder per cup of rub will boost it up quite a bit.

Buy a big shoulder and coat the heck out of it, you're going to shred it, so having a thick layer of rub on a piece of meat that's 8" thick isn't a big deal. Save a little bit of rub too, sprinkle it in when you shred and toss the pork.

And, don't worry, pork shoulders / boston butts are very forgiving. About 1.5 hours per lb at 225-250F, look for an internal temp of 180-185, pull it off, wrap in foil let it sit for an hour or two wrapped in towels or in a empty ice chest. Throw it in a bowl and shred it. If it's too dry, toss a stick of butter in along with some water.

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

Here's a few good sauces to start with. I've made all of them and all are excellent.

-------------
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.

http://tvwbb.com/archive/index.php/t-20030.html
-------------

-------------
Lexington Dip, The Classic Hill Country North Carolina Barbecue Sauce

1 cup distilled vinegar (do not use cider vinegar)
1/4 cup ketchup
1/4 cup apple juice
1 teaspoon hot sauce
3 tablespoons light brown sugar
1/2 tablespoon salt
1 teaspoon crushed red pepper
1 teaspoon finely ground black pepper

Method
1) Whisk together all the ingredients and let them sit for at least three hours to allow the flavors to meld. Overnight is better. A week is best. The locals mop it on the meat with a basting brush once every hour while cooking. If you do mop, a good silicon brush is best. It holds lots of fluid and is easy to clean. A lot of places still string mops, but I think these are to hard to clean and potential sources of food poisoning. 2) Before serving, take the remaining mop and boil it to sterilize it. With a clean brush, to prevent contamination by a brush used on uncooked meat, mop the meat one last time. Serve the sauce in a cruet on the side so your guests can drizzle on more if they wish. Leftovers will keep for months in the refrigerator.

http://www.amazingribs.com/recipes/B...ngton_dip.html
------------------

------------------
KC / DR. Pepper Sauce
Originally by Steven Raichlen (BBQ-University, BBQ Bible, etc)
modified by Steve Petrone.

6 oz Dr. Pepper
2 c Ketchup
1/4 c worchestershire sauce
1/2 c vinegar
1/4 c brown sugar
2 T molasses
2 T yellow mustard
1 T Hot sauce
1 T Rub
1 t liquid smoke (reduced from the orig.)
1 t fresh black pepper
1 T lemon juice
1 clove garlic minced
1/3 c chopped onion
1 optional chopped jalapeno

Simmer 30 minutes. Run thru the blender so the sauce will not clog in squirt bottles.


http://tvwbb.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/...2/m/7280069313
--------------



Couple of comments:
-On the Mrs. Piggy sauce, don't go running out to buy dark soy sauce, just use whatever you have, it'll be fine. I have no idea if it was written for yellow (French's, Plochmans, etc) I've always used "deli mustard" and it's worked out great. Dijon would probably be blech.

-Lexington dip/sauce - you can use beer, soda, even bourbon in place of the apple juice to fit your tastes. I don't recommend a really hoppy beer though, they just get bitter.

-Obviously, jalapenos can be replaced with habenero if you like the flavor and heat.

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

Mike.

Accidentally moved the screen down to the next post when reading the name.

;s

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

Argh, too busy to smoke. Will try Sunday. I did catch smoked sausage on sale today, pfft, $4 a pack ain't no sale.
But in being distracted by meat, I went and found a bunch of reduced flatiron steaks half off, so I put half a dozen
of those in the freezer with the sausage. Scared to thaw any ribs with so much to do. maybe I can run a few
racks FRIDAY night? Hmm.....weather coming through, though.

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

The coal slag worked well. The shortcoming was the blaster and my lack of a proper hood. I ended up with slag in my eyes when doing the bottom 1/3 of the inside of the barrel. But, it worked in the end and I got the job done. Thanks for the recipies, I will put them to use.

My sister donated two chuck roasts for me to break in my smoker. Her in-laws raise beef cattle in northern Wisconsin. Everything I've eaten from there has been fantastic quality. They have large bones in each one. I originally wanted to do a pork shoulder but cash is tight and these were free. I'm working off recommendations I found here http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/1...-amnps-pellets as there isn't a ton of info on "chuckies". I washed each in cold water, paper towel dried, rubbed in worchestire sauce, and seasoned with some stuff I had on hand. I read to stay away from sugary rubs with beef. So, I just sprinkled on a store bought BBQ rub, a little pepper, and another store bought seasoning containing roasted garlic & bell pepper flakes. I also read most store bought seasonings are high in salt, both listed it high, so I didn't add any more on my own.

Here they are, one wrapped in celo the other about to be. They're in the fridge now and will be put in the smoker at 240. I loaded my UDS basket up with normal Kingsford blue with chunks of apple (trimmed & cut from my own trees) and a little hickory.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...0921132235.jpg

The OP of the thread I linked foiled both when IT reached 165 or so, then added:
4 ounces of Apple Juice.
1 ounce of Ken's Teriyaki Marinade.
2 ounces of BBQ sauce.

I'll be doing something similar and draining this at the end for an Au Jus. I plan on removing them when IT reaches around 205-210, resting, then pulling.

Any idea which of the many chuck roasts I have? Since they are not store bought, I don't know. They weren't labeled other than chuck roast. The only one I've read about with bones is called the "7 bone roast". :sh

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

Thanks for the info on the coal slag abrasive.

I can't tell which specific cut of chuck you have, but in my experience they all cook about the same. I cook them exactly like I would a pork butt or shoulder, as it's the same muscle group.

I've never had a problem with sugar in the rubs on chuck or any beef cut for that matter. When I've been in a pinch and had to use store bought, I'll cut about 1:1 with granulated garlic & paprika to keep the salt in check.

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

Not smoked but in the smoker, so to speak. Home made pizza. Sad thing is that I figured we didn't need a pizza peel because a friend said and edge less cookie sheet works too. Well that's all and good, unless you are a clutz. So this is the last picture of my first home pizza, right before it went into the grass. Thankfully there was dough for two pizzas and the second one tasted great.

http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2880/9...11422aeb_z.jpg
IMG_20130922_181059 by kydsid, on Flickr

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

I put them in at 8:35 AM then left for church. Took this picture right before I wrapped them in foil (about 12:30 PM).
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...0922131221.jpg

Here's the larger of the two after a long rest in the cooler. Took them off around 4:00 PM. Rested until after 7:00 PM.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...0922131932.jpg

And the smaller, post rest.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...0922131943.jpg

Larger one pulled with "Au Jus" bottom right in the bowl
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...0922132005.jpg

Closer look
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...922132005a.jpg

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

Smaller one pulled, closeup.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...0922131959.jpg

Overall I am very happy with my first try. Great smoke flavor, both were tender and juicy. The Au Jus was good but I had problems with my bottom foil ripping and letting a lot of it get away. Might need some aluminum bread pans for the next chuck roast attempt. The rub wasn't as good as I hoped. Given I was improvising with storebought stuff due to lack of basics needed to make my own, I guess it could have been much worse. I rubbed them with Worshteshire then used these two along with some pepper:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...0921132215.jpg

Thanks for your help guys. I'll post more info/pics when I get another chance to put the UDS to work.

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

Nicely done Mike. Would have been ecstatic had my first attempt come out that well.

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

Killer looking chuckies Mike. They are a staple on my smoker and I use the meat for all kind of secondary dishes. Congrats on the UDS build as well. I don't use mine too much any more, but there is something unique and wonderful about that fat dripping down on those coals!!

One suggestions... and this is one of those that can start a war... Drop the Kingsford and find an "All Natural" charcoal. There are a lot of good ones out there, but they can be a pain to acquire. I have been using Stubbs for the last 4-5 years and like it. Lowes carries it down here. Not sure about other areas.

You will find you have way less ash (fact), the aroma while cooking is much more pleasing (opinion), and the finished product tastes better (opinion).

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

If you go with Gator's advice on the charcoal and find yourself looking at lump charcoal, here's a reasonable reference:
http://www.nakedwhiz.com/lump.htm

While some of the stuff on the site is a bit dated, the bad charcoals haven't gotten any better.

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

Great looking meat:dr

In regards to the hardwoods, I've recently been using Trader Joe's 100% Natural Hardwood Briquettes with no issues. I can say the briquettes provide a consistent and long burn time:2

Thanks for the lump charcoal website Adam. Handy reference!

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

I'm probably going to switch over to the TJ hardwood briquettes since I've been kind of disappointed with KF blue of late. I bought a pallet of the "new" stuff at the last sale and after going through about half of it (roughly 240 lbs so far), I've pretty much confirmed that my burn rates are way up, so something changed again. Not sure if they changed the formula or not, but the new smaller briquette size means you're getting more briquettes per volume and that means more burning surface area, and being smaller, they don't last as long. Royal PITA having to reload and clear ash more often now. One of the things that kept me with KF Blue was the lower burn temps, but now, since I'm ending up with more surface area burning, my temps are higher, back in the ranges I saw with Rancher years ago, since I'm going to be stuck with higher temps one way or the other I see no point in continuing to use something that has to be replenished more often.

Anyone want a good deal on 280# of KF Blue? Local pickup only... free apple wood ('cuz I hate it) with every purchase... lol

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

I was *this* close to getting a new Traeger at Costco this weekend. They had a slamming deal on the full size Texas. $799 got you the smoker, a free cover, 2 free racks, 2 free cookbooks, and 2 free bags of pellets. I almost pulled the trigger. They are there until next Sunday so I have a few days to decide. I probably shouldn't look in this thread too often :D

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

That IS a smokin' (;)) deal.

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

I see what you did there Peter :tu

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

Great looking smoker, Mike! Fun, ain't it!?!?