I've given up having nice things I have no control over. Everything goes in the dishwasher. I get it but there are just some things you can't.
Beer and MY cars, I can control....
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I'm on a mission to produce a respectable Texas-style brisket, in the middle of a Chicago winter, using only sous vide and the oven.
Step one. Rock-solid frozen center cut brisket, brushed with curing salt and mesquite liquid smoke. Let marinate overnight then rinse well before sous vide cook, this should lock in a smoke ring. Three 99 second rounds of vacuum marinating @ 30" mercury, then sealed for its overnight consummation, then tomorrow morning a thorough rinse before sous vide cooking begins.
Until now I've always worked with Prague powder, fingers crossed the tender quick works out.
Next, 36 hours in the sous vide @155f, then an overnight rest in the fridge, then a slather and spice rub before a low-and-slow afternoon in the convection oven to build a bark.
Wish me luck.
Step one. Rock-solid frozen center cut brisket, brushed with curing salt and mesquite liquid smoke. Let marinate overnight then rinse well before sous vide cook, this should lock in a smoke ring. Three 99 second rounds of vacuum marinating @ 30" mercury, then sealed for its overnight consummation, then tomorrow morning a thorough rinse before sous vide cooking begins.
Until now I've always worked with Prague powder, fingers crossed the tender quick works out.
Next, 36 hours in the sous vide @155f, then an overnight rest in the fridge, then a slather and spice rub before a low-and-slow afternoon in the convection oven to build a bark.
Wish me luck.
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Oldskewl
Well-Known Member
I use tender quick in my kielbasa. Always works fine. Not sure how it will work dry brining a big old hunk of brisket. Best of luck 
Nice lookin' knife!
My wife knows that knives don't go in the dishwasher. We have two absolute trash knives I bought when after I got divorced and needed SOMETHING from Target to actually have in the kitchen before I could buy and fill a knife block. Chicago Cutlery. I think it was something like $27 for a 3-knife combo of a chef's knife, paring, and serrated. Those can go in the dishwasher. No others.
She's pretty good about treating the knives well, but we have this 6" utility knife that I've seen her cut things on the granite countertop when she can't be bothered to grab a cutting board... Ugh... No wonder I have to sharpen that thing so often!
Just did some research and ZDP-189 looks really interesting. Tough to tell whether it's actually considered stainless or not, but it looks like it's insanely hard.
Do you sharpen your own?
Yes I do sharpen them. I've used all sorts of things to do that (worksharp, wet stones, etc). It's hard to keep do that ±15° bevel by hand, especially with stones. So I got one of these and love it. Used it this morning on a knife (that one that I told you was VG-10 is actually VG-1).
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0018RSEMU/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_N9NPP6ZYJZE8YRB7NPW7?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1
When you sharpen that fancy knife, you might consider putting blue tape on both sides (use another sharp knife and cut the tape flush with the blade edge). That keeps the aesthetics of the damascus from being damaged. The pros on Youtube do this too.
GrogNerd
mean old man
First Q of the year, Grog's Tasty Butt™
Golddiggie
Well-Known Member
Just pulled another whole turkey breast section off the BGE. Started it smoking at about 8am (250F).
GrogNerd
mean old man
first time without any hickory, it was 2:1 apple:cherry & it turned out PERFECT
I don't know... hickory just adds a unpleasant, bitter twang to it. maybe I used too much, but I really don't think it needs it
western Carolina sauce. equal parts apple juice, ketchup, ACV. Plus rub (McC's Applewood, brown sugar), red pepper & hot sauce (Frank's)
I don't know... hickory just adds a unpleasant, bitter twang to it. maybe I used too much, but I really don't think it needs it
western Carolina sauce. equal parts apple juice, ketchup, ACV. Plus rub (McC's Applewood, brown sugar), red pepper & hot sauce (Frank's)
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Recipe?
GrogNerd
mean old man
butt is just dry rubbed. McCormick's Grill Mates applewood rub, plus brown sugar. 3 hours on the smoker, another 6 in the oven at 250°
sauce is 1 cup ketchup, 1 cup apple juice, 1 cup apple cider vinegar. rest of the ingredients are eyeballed & to taste. the aforementioned applewood brown sugar rub, some red pepper/cayenne & some hot sauce (we use Frank's original)
sauce is 1 cup ketchup, 1 cup apple juice, 1 cup apple cider vinegar. rest of the ingredients are eyeballed & to taste. the aforementioned applewood brown sugar rub, some red pepper/cayenne & some hot sauce (we use Frank's original)
Started this Saturday night around 8, and pulled it at Sunday morning at 8. It is a 17.5 pound Turkey. White meat is a touch dry, but we smoked it on the premise of making turkey salad, so it will actually be just fine, but the dark meat is nice and juicy! The flavor is the combination of cherry, pecan, and apple wood, along with standard hardwood charcoal. Liberally applied some seasoning salt and poultry seasoning on the skin. Used my water pan on bottom grill, put the bird on top rack. It has a wonderful flavor.
Bacon-wrapped filet seared on the Little Joe and then finished at 225 on the Traeger. With sous vide beets and baked potato.
Nothing wrong about a little pork porn on a Saturday afternoon! Smothered with prepared mustard, then topped with my own mix of brown sugar, paprika, red pepper, black pepper, garlic, sweet paprika, and some adobo. Slow smoked for 16 hours to an internal temp of 203 degrees. Now all wrapped and resting.
Reporting back on my smoker-less smoked brisket. It turned out really good though next time I would cut the sous vide time in half, it was a bit too tender to drape a slice over a finger without it coming apart. 24 hours @155 would probably have been enough. Taste however was much more authentic than I expected.
After the sous vide I let it rest in the pouch in the bottom of the fridge for a few days before finishing it in a toaster oven @225f for ~3 hours, until internal temp reached 185f.
After the sous vide I let it rest in the pouch in the bottom of the fridge for a few days before finishing it in a toaster oven @225f for ~3 hours, until internal temp reached 185f.
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Just pulled the trigger on a Weber Smokefire, the 24" model. It'll be here on Monday, now I'm looking for a non-logo weatherproof cover to avoid the landscapers ogling it. Is there a common method to chain this thing to my patio just in case? The joys of townhouse living 
Like you pulled the trigger!!!
Hate that you have to worry about others wanting it more than you.
Hate even more the folks low enough to want to take it!!
Hate that you have to worry about others wanting it more than you.
Hate even more the folks low enough to want to take it!!
I started having second thoughts about ordering the smaller EX4, so I changed my order to the bigger 36" model; my plan is to use the well-aged cover from my char broil 4-burner to hide the fact that it's a new grill. Then I did some googling on securing grills and I'm planning to anchor a d-ring to the concrete patio and thread a steel cable through the body of the grill. Should be enough of a deterrent to keep all but the most determined thieves away, plus we have a pretty obvious security camera back there, hope that is enough.
Ugh did not take pics but smoked a 6# brisket flat and some pig candy for dinner with friends today. Came Out great. Rubbed the flat with a little worsteshire then thin cover of Oak Ridge Santa Maria rub and then liberal rub of McCormicks Montreal Steak Seasoning. On pellet pit for about 7 hours till a nice deep mohogany color. About 6.5 hours at 225 until internal was 167. Wrapped in tin foil until probed tender at 203 internal. Took about 4.5 hours from there. Rested FTC for a few hours till we ate. Sliced beautiful, sorry no pics. Pig candy was uncured regular sliced bacon with a light rub of brown sugar and all purpose rub. On the pit at 225 for about 30 minutes. Chopped the bacon to top iceberg wedges with blue cheese dressing and the chopped pig candy. All was awesome. Sorry did not takes pics. Will take them next time for sure.
New smoker finally arrived!
Spare ribs on the GMG Daniel Boone. This was the other day. So, not a weekend.
I used cherry/hickory pellets and it turned out to be a great combo for pork.
I used cherry/hickory pellets and it turned out to be a great combo for pork.
I haven’t heard much about that grill but ime everything from Weber is good quality.
It's their first pellet grill, first generation had lots of issues but they backed their product and sent out replacement parts. This is gen 2, still the same platform but they've apparently fixed all the problems. Thought I'd take a chance on it with their 100-day money back guarantee. I also like that it's made in USA (to some extent) and I prefer Weber's porcelain enameled finish vs. powder coated steel. Another big advantage IMO is the pellet chute that drops them into the burn cup which virtually eliminates the chances of fire crawling back into the hopper, a configuration you only find on commercial style ($$$$) pellet smokers. Last but not least it's just pretty to look at, a gleaming black BBQ limousine. Can't wait to fire it up.
I have a Rec Tec Pellet cooker and love it. You will love your Smokefire JJ. I always say go bigger than smaller. You can always not use the space you have, but can never add space you don’t. Enjoy your new toy,
That’s exciting!
I’ll go ahead give some advice since you didn’t ask.
If you follow a recipe, YouTube clip etc, make sure they are using similar devices. For ex- a 12 hr smoke at 225 yields totally different results from stick burners to pellet grills.
BBQ Made Right and the Traeger YouTube channels have great recipes/methods for pellet grills.
It's 34f here in the west Chicago burbs and I'm standing out here clutching a Samuel Smith, freezing my toes off to try out my new pellet pooper. All I had on hand I'm embarrassed to say was 9 frozen jumbo shrimp. Marinated in Tony Chachere's creole butter injection and sprinkled with Old Bay, let's see how these turn out.
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First cook must be a pork butt. Cmon JJ!!! I'm ready to sell my Traeger and get on the Weber train. I was looking to stay with Weber but man there were some bad vids of their first pellet smoker and flame-ups.
I'm surprised there isn't a bulkhead gasket to feed that temp probe into the barrel.
Also surprised that many of these smokers don't have any gasket material around the lid. Probably doesn't matter, but for enthusiasts it's hard to watch smoke and heat escaping from around the lid.
From what I've read a gasket on these SmokeFire units can be counter-productive but I'll keep assessing as I gain experience... In my mind a tight-sealing lid is paramount. But then there are those gill-shaped louvers at the rear, IDK.
It's important to note that pellet grills have a variable-speed fan that stokes the fire constantly during use as a method to moderate temperature, I dunno if sealing it all up would interfere with that mechanism but I can say with absolute certainty that this thing imparts plenty of smoke flavor. From the beginning I read that smoking shrimp was a very quick affair, ~20 minutes tops, and imparting sufficient smoke flavor is a challenge. I brought these up to about 112f before realizing I should have used the smoke boost so I did it then. It cooled down to ~165f and made some smoke for about 20 minutes then returned to the 200f set point. The resulting shrimp were on for maybe 45 minutes total and had about as much smoke character as I would prefer. In all honesty I had the wind at my back what with near freezing temps and breezy for such a delicate cook like this so my expectations for smoking shrimp on July 4th weekend will be somewhat lower.
Just want to add that my recent pellet grill acquisition has completed my lusty list of meatitude; I have now in my possession a sausage grinder, a sausage stuffer, a deli meat slicer, and finally a smoking pit. If I can make hay with fresh sausage I might next try my hand at dry-aging/fermented sausages. For this summer homemade hotdogs and kielbasa will have to suffice!!!
My wife was like WTF this thing is ENORMOUS... I'm like yeah baby its like our first date. She was not impressed. Nearly ripped our patio door off its track wheeling it throught our place from the front door to the patio, did not want to think about carting it all the way around the end of our row of townhouses. Seriously made it by 1/4". Still couldn't be happier with my purchase but she's looking at Vuitton purses now to get even with me....
They should put bigger casters on the bottom of these things. Pizzes me off when they put those wee ones on there. I've got pavers behind my house - I need to put larger ones on mine.
Some SF users upgrade to 5" rubber casters, I really want those on mine but then again they would make it that much easier to roll away if someone wanted to steal it. What to do!?
Fellow Chicagoan so I feel your anxiety, but how is someone stealing it going to get it out of your place any easier than it was getting it in?
Well hopefully whomever might steal it won't be dragging it through my living room past the cartoons and cat tree and out through the front entrance...
You know if they did the state's attorney would give them extra credit.
Never skip rib day.
At least I think that's what my trainer said ..
At least I think that's what my trainer said ..
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