What's in your smoker?

[Mr B]

Originally Posted by MarkinCA

Nice...

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.

[T.G]

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.

[mahtofire14]

Man TG, those shoulders look fantastic!

[jjirons69]

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

[MarkinAZ]

Originally Posted by T.G

From last Thursday...
18 lbs of pork shoulder for the brewery release party of chinook wet-hopped XPL "Resinator" on Friday.

Originally Posted by jjirons69

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

That is some great looking BBQ Adam and Jamie

[357]

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:


Side/Back:


Top Rack:


Bottom Rack:


Charcoal basket with tabletop grill for an ash pan:

[357]

My "handle" design:


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.



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.




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.

[357]

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.

[Steve]

Nice!

[forgop]

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.

[stearns]

nice Mike! what time is dinner?

[forgop]

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

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

[T.G]

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.

[T.G]

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.

[T.G]

Originally Posted by T.G

Nicely done, Steve.

Mike.

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

[OLS]

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.

[357]

Originally Posted by T.G

Mike.

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

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.



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".

[T.G]

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.

[kydsid]

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.


IMG_20130922_181059 by kydsid, on Flickr

[357]

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).


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.


And the smaller, post rest.


Larger one pulled with "Au Jus" bottom right in the bowl


Closer look