What's in your smoker?

[Chainsaw13]

Originally Posted by T.G

Not intentionally.

Accidentally burned the nub of a cigar once. Didn't really do anything noticeable, but it was a rather small quantity of tobacco, maybe not enough to be noticed. Honestly never felt the need to try it again with a larger cigar and see.

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.

[T.G]

Originally Posted by Chainsaw13

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.

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.

[Chainsaw13]

Ahh, good to note.

[OLS]

Originally Posted by BigCat

The other three had good flavor, but were not as tender and some of the larger pieces of meat actually were a little dried out. I don't know how to explain them being not as tender (which I think means they needed to cook longer) and also drier except for maybe the placement within the WSM

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.

[Mr B]

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)?

[OLS]

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.

[mosesbotbol]

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.

[Steve]

Originally Posted by mosesbotbol

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.

And baked beans...

[BigCat]

Originally Posted by OLS

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.

[/url]

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.

[OLS]

Originally Posted by BigCat

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.

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!

[fxpose]

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...

[Steve]

[Mr B]

Perfectly cooked. Curse that microwave!

[kydsid]

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.

[BigCat]

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.

[ucla695]

The boneless rib looks great George!

[BigCat]

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.

[OLS]

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

[Goldie]

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.

[chippewastud79]

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.

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