What's in your smoker?

[Steve]

Looks great! I bet it tastes even better!

[tuxpuff]

That's a hella bark there brother! Let us know how it turned out. I've never used mustard before...would love to hear what you think.

[T.G]

Originally Posted by steve

Looks great! I bet it tastes even better!

Thanks. Tastes pretty damn good.

[T.G]

Originally Posted by tuxpuff

That's a hella bark there brother! Let us know how it turned out. I've never used mustard before...would love to hear what you think.

It came out really well.

Here's what I did - mind you, this was a first time for me, so I just kind of made it up as I went along.

Last night, I coated the shoulder cut with rub (basically equal parts seasoned salt, granulated garlic and black pepper, and a half-part chili powder) then wrapped it up tightly in saran wrap and put it in the refrigerator.

Right before cooking, I brushed a generous coat of French's yellow mustard over the shoulder right over the top of the rub that I applied last night (all but the fat cap - no reason to coat that), then just loaded the shoulder up with more rub, this time adding an additional half part of coriander, mustard powder (I read that yellow mustard loses it's flavor during a long cook, so that's why I added the mustard powder) and cumin to the rub above. When I say loaded it up, I mean it; I coated that thing, probably used 6 TBS of rub. Not sure if it was the right thing to do or not, but I was aiming for a solid garlic/salt/black pepper crust when this came out of the smoker.

The mustard / rub combo was like clay, which promptly turned to a plaster-like bark in the smoker. No BS, it was over an 1/8 of an inch thick, probably closer to 1/4" in some spots. It really trapped the juices, but it also kept the smoke from penetrating. I smoked with two 1-1/2""x2" chunks of each of the following: hickory, cherry and apple - and they only moderately penetrated the coating. That much smoke wood would have seriously oversmoked that little cut of pork without the mustard coat.

In retrospect, next time I'm going to cut back on the salts in the rub, don't get me wrong, the bark is delicious, but getting a big chunk of it with a forkful of pork is like licking a block of salt. I'm also thinking about using something like a pecan or oak for smoke.

[T.G]

Originally Posted by T.G

Right before cooking, I brushed a generous coat of French's yellow mustard over the shoulder right over the top of the rub that I applied last night (all but the fat cap - no reason to coat that), then just loaded the shoulder up with more rub, this time adding an additional half part of coriander, mustard powder (I read that yellow mustard loses it's flavor during a long cook, so that's why I added the mustard powder) and cumin to the rub above. When I say loaded it up, I mean it; I coated that thing, probably used 6 TBS of rub. Not sure if it was the right thing to do or not, but I was aiming for a solid garlic/salt/black pepper crust when this came out of the smoker.

Sorry, that's not really clear - what I mean is that I mixed up more of the rub I described earlier, and this time added the additional ingredients listed to it.

[tuxpuff]

Looks tasty! That's good info about the smoke penetration in regards to the mustard. I'm personally a big fan of heavy smoke flavor. I can't wait to get the next butt on the smoker...especially since Smokin Gator gifted me with some amazing rubs.

[tuxpuff]

Oh and not sure if you've seen it Adam...but here was my first attempt at smoked butt...

http://www.cigarasylum.com/vb/showthread.php?t=19926

[T.G]

Originally Posted by tuxpuff

Looks tasty! That's good info about the smoke penetration in regards to the mustard. I'm personally a big fan of heavy smoke flavor. I can't wait to get the next butt on the smoker...especially since Smokin Gator gifted me with some amazing rubs.

I once used the same smoking wood combo - six chunks, two each hickory, cherry and apple before on a shoulder that was about the same size as this one, but no mustard coat, and it was over-smoked, it had that tarry, make your mouth feel like you just sucked on a cotton ball type taste & profile.

This time, with a generous mustard coat and heavy rub coat, that same amount of smoking wood yielded a nice smoked flavor, prominent, but not overbearing.

[mosesbotbol]

Made this yesterday as a birthday gift to a friend. I started it at 9:00 PM, refilled the charcoal at 5:00 AM and finished the 8 LB Butt around 10:30. The Boston baked beans finished around 11:30 AM with overnight soaked Navy beans. This is my first time cooking beans under the butt and it worked well. There's enough juice and fat to cook the beans uncovered! I trimmed a little off the butt and put in the beans at start. Quite happy with the results with both.

I used Kingsford Competition with about 10 cinamon sticks and about 5 chunks of local applewood.

[Steve]

I really like to do my beans under the butt like that. One thing that I didn't mention is that I cut way back on the salt that I use in the beans. I have enough salt in my run that drips off the butt that it makes the beans way too salty if I don't. But I really like the flavor my "butt drippins'" give my beans

Originally Posted by mosesbotbol

Made this yesterday as a birthday gift to a friend. I started it at 9:00 PM, refilled the charcoal at 5:00 AM and finished the 8 LB Butt around 10:30. The Boston baked beans finished around 11:30 AM with overnight soaked Navy beans. This is my first time cooking beans under the butt and it worked well. There's enough juice and fat to cook the beans uncovered! I trimmed a little off the butt and put in the beans at start. Quite happy with the results with both.

I used Kingsford Competition with about 10 cinamon sticks and about 5 chunks of local applewood.

[tuxpuff]

Originally Posted by mosesbotbol

Made this yesterday as a birthday gift to a friend. I started it at 9:00 PM, refilled the charcoal at 5:00 AM and finished the 8 LB Butt around 10:30. The Boston baked beans finished around 11:30 AM with overnight soaked Navy beans. This is my first time cooking beans under the butt and it worked well. There's enough juice and fat to cook the beans uncovered! I trimmed a little off the butt and put in the beans at start. Quite happy with the results with both.

I used Kingsford Competition with about 10 cinamon sticks and about 5 chunks of local applewood.

Looks amazing!

[mosesbotbol]

Originally Posted by steve

I really like to do my beans under the butt like that. One thing that I didn't mention is that I cut way back on the salt that I use in the beans. I have enough salt in my run that drips off the butt that it makes the beans way too salty if I don't. But I really like the flavor my "butt drippins'" give my beans

That's what I thought would happen and I did not add any salt to the beans.

[Steve]

Originally Posted by mosesbotbol

That's what I thought would happen and I did not add any salt to the beans.

[mosesbotbol]

I measure out the salt per pound of food and then add spices and herbs before mulling them together. That way, I make sure the food is well seasoned (salt being the most important) and there's no left over's. Generally, I'll do slightly less than half tablespoon of salt per pound, and then about 50% the total salt as the other seasoning.

I started off with pat dry skinned butt with Worcestershire sauce, then dry rub, followed by a mixture of maple syrup, molasses, and distilled vinegar rubbed on last. I'll let the butt air dry either outside on in fridge. Since it was in the 40's, I left the butt in the WSM for 4 hours before starting it up.

I'd like to get a meat injector. I keep breaking them, but never bought a high end one. I'd love to inject a spice/garlic puree around the bone.

[T.G]

Decided to experiment.

Sweet pie pumpkin, rubbed with brown sugar, nutmeg, cinnamon, a dash of cumin and a dash of chili powder. About half a chimney of fully lit k-briqs + 2 small chunks of mesquite and 3 cinnamon sticks per Moses's recommendation earlier in the thread.



I'm guessing it'll take about an hour and a half before I know if this was a good idea or an express lane to culinary hell.

[T.G]

Well, not exactly culinary hell, more like culinary purgatory...

Not horrible, but not that good either.

Very smokey flavor, a tad dry (not bad though), not sweet enough. Cumin might have been a mistake too, not sure. Maybe more sugar would have balanced it out.

Need to figure out how to get more sugar to stick to them next time and also I need to use a water pan in the smoker.

Could have also just been a crappy pumpkin - I'm not sure and it's hard to tell.


I'll drizzle some B-Grade maple syrup on one later and see how that tastes.

Not really a smoker, but it works for me, well, until I get a Weber Smokey Mountain.











-Mark.

[jquirit]

It's what I do and it works well enough. Might require more maintenace than using a WSM but with a bit of care and effort, very good 'que can come outta it.

http://picasaweb.google.com/jquirit/August2007BBQ#

[mosesbotbol]

Originally Posted by T.G

Decided to experiment.

Sweet pie pumpkin, rubbed with brown sugar, nutmeg, cinnamon, a dash of cumin and a dash of chili powder. About half a chimney of fully lit k-briqs + 2 small chunks of mesquite and 3 cinnamon sticks per Moses's recommendation earlier in the thread.

What did you think of the cinamon smoke?

Maybe you could've wrapped the pumpkin in foil? Sounded like a good idea. Maybe direct grilling would've been better? I have no experience in cooking pumpkin.

[T.G]

Originally Posted by Roland of Gilead

Not really a smoker, but it works for me, well, until I get a Weber Smokey Mountain.

-Mark.

Originally Posted by jquirit

It's what I do and it works well enough. Might require more maintenace than using a WSM but with a bit of care and effort, very good 'que can come outta it.

http://picasaweb.google.com/jquirit/August2007BBQ#

Yup, same thing I'm doing.

LGT about half a dozen photos of the brick arrangement in my 22-1/2 OT spread across the page:
http://www.cigarasylum.com/vb/showth...t=21946&page=2

There's a few things it's limited on, but for the most part, does a very good job.