New smoker, what to smoke?!

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Johnnyhitch1

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Just got my first smoker from the parents for christmas
Its a Brinkmann electric standup from there gourmet series. Cant find the exact model but it says on the box it can be converted a waist high grill.

My step father is a huge griller and hes helping me start up and get all the supplies i need.
My question is what is all of your favorite woods or procedures that make the best meat in you opinion. What cuts of meat should i start of with first. Im a huge carnvour and open to just about anything. Briskets my favorite but with a 12 hour smoke as my first i think i wanna make sure i dial the new system in before making a 5 pound briquet.
 
Start with a ham. Very easy to do and tasty. I smoke them until they reach 145. Then go for a Boston butt. They are kinda hard to screw up.
 
Spare ribs are easy and pretty fast. Use the 3-2-1 method and give them some cherry and apple for smoke. Then as mentioned, do a butt for pulled pork.
 
I would NOT tackle brisket 1st up.

Ribs are easy enough. I would actually say chicken wings. Very forgiving, GREAT smoked. Easy to handle. CHEAP if you smurf them up.
 
Spare ribs are easy and pretty fast. Use the 3-2-1 method and give them some cherry and apple for smoke. Then as mentioned, do a butt for pulled pork.

can you explain this 3-2-1 method?

sounds good guys thx! think ill be doing some chicken wings and ribs
Is a boston butt the cut they make pulled pork from?
 
can you explain this 3-2-1 method?

sounds good guys thx! think ill be doing some chicken wings and ribs
Is a boston butt the cut they make pulled pork from?

3-2-1 means 3 hours in the smoker with smoke, then wrap in foil with a bit of apple juice for 2 hours in the smoker and then out of the foil for the last hour in the smoker. Keep the smoker temp at about 225-250.

Yes, pulled pork is best made with a Boston butt, some places simply call it a pork shoulder.

Chicken can be a little tricky based on how you want your skin, chicken skin tends to get a bit rubbery if smoked low and slow so hot and fast works best if you want crispy skin which limits the amount of smoke it can take on.
 
Well if you're well versed in the internets and forums and whatnot I'd suggest checking out http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/

It doesn't seem to have the activity of this site but I got answer when I first got started. As for what to do I'd do ribs or chicken. Both are easy enough.
 
1) Chicken quarters. Very cheap and pretty easy, and all dark meat which is easier to get perfect than white. The skin will end up rubbery, but what I usually do is smoke 8 of 'em, well seasoned with rub, toss the finished product in a pan, get some gloves on, and pull the chicken. The rubbery, spicy, fatty skin gets in good contact with the meat while pulling.

For bonus points, brine the quarters the night before. I like water, salt, brown sugar, and a bit of apple cider vinegar.

Lessons to learn while smoking quarters: how to hit doneness without going too far, how low vs. high temp changes the outcome, how water in the water pan (or omitting water) changes the outcome, how to make edible skin. Chicken is cheap and somewhat quick, and it really exhibits the temp / moisture changes well- so easy to see the differences.

2) Pork Tenderloin. In my opinion, the easiest cut to smoke. Almost impossible to screw up. Cook to doneness using a thermometer.

3) Chicken Wings. Marinate and smoke until done. Hit with a light coat of your favorite sauce. Arrange on sheet tray, pop in the oven for a few minutes to crisp up a bit. Hit with the main volume of sauce. Enjoy.

4) Bacon. Get real bacon cut from the slab. Smoke. Enjoy. Do this while smoking other things.

4.1) Sausages. Get real sausage from a meat market, not the store-brand stuff. Smoke 'em while other stuff is on there taking forever.

5) Ribs. Not the hardest, not the easiest either. Develop your own method- membrane on, scored, or pulled off? How to cut the side of ribs? Brine 'em? Baste 'em? Dry rub? Mop? "Cooking to tenderness" is the important lesson with ribs. Once you nail that skill, you can call yourself an ace. (This would be the time to develop your own brine, rub, mop sauce, etc and pick a perfect wood to compliment it)

6) Brisket. In my opinion it's the hardest to get perfect. My dad and a buddy are both great, so I don't bother with brisket. The bark is the key!


"Salmon" says .45/70, who is from Washington, and probably snacks on salmon smoked on Alder all the time! Lucky fellow! (A friend says Red Alder charcoal makes great blackpowder, and it sure is good for fish)
 
Awesome info jwitt! ill post back with my first smoke attempt think im going to do the chicken wings and finish them under the broiler to crisp them up.
 
"Salmon" says .45/70, who is from Washington, and probably snacks on salmon smoked on Alder all the time! Lucky fellow! (A friend says Red Alder charcoal makes great blackpowder, and it sure is good for fish)

If you want to go on that...

Sturgeon, Oysters, steamer clams
 
I hate to be the nay sayer but don't smoke anything yet. The 3-2-1 method is for Hawaiian shirted amateurs who have taste buds in their sphincters! You really need to learn only a few simple easy methods to do great BBQ.

Just get this book and learn. http://www.lowslowbbq.com/

Everything else comes easy when you learn the basics. No soaking wood chips, no crutching (3-2-1 ribs, foiling with broth, finishing in the over or broiler, etc), and no over-priced gadgetry. Simple and basic methods for controlling your smoker is what you need to learn first! Everything else will fall into place!

These pork shoulders were done using LUMP hardwood charcoal and fist sized chunks of hickory and apple. They were smoked that way for 9 hours.

20120915_164822.jpg
 
I'd vote for pork butt. It's an inexpensive cut of meat, it's very forgiving if you make noob mistakes, and it's AWESOME when done. Just trim the fat, give it a nice rub, put it in at 275, let it sit unmolested until it gets to 200ish IT, rest, pull and serve with a nice sauce.

EDIT: Oh, and www.bbq-brethren.com is a great forum too.
 
One point about the 3-2-1 method... Everybody's cooker cooks different, so the 3-2-1 is not a hard set timeline. When you do the 3-2-1 for the first time your ribs may be overcooked. Adjust the "2" down to one hour for a 2-1-1 maybe less depending on how you like your ribs. And get spare ribs for the 3-2-1... Baby backs for me cook way too fast to use that method. But don't be afraid to change the timeline.

I too am a member of BBQ-brethren dot com as well, that place is loaded with information, and the folks there are all about helping each other.
 
That picture really makes me miss pork shoulder. While I have been arguing on this site that there is no such things as too cold for brewing in MN there is definitely a time when it is too cold for smoking and that time is now. Especially with a ten dollar piece of junk smoker I got on craigslist.
 
I have smoked turkeys, chickens(whole and parts), pork loins, and boston butt multiple times. The one that has never been bad is the Boston Butt so I would go with that.
 
Broke out my new smoker yesterday.....
IMAG1717.jpg

Bologna, ribs and butt All came out great!
Can't wait to do my chipotle chicken wings!!!!
 
That picture really makes me miss pork shoulder. While I have been arguing on this site that there is no such things as too cold for brewing in MN there is definitely a time when it is too cold for smoking and that time is now. Especially with a ten dollar piece of junk smoker I got on craigslist.

It's 16F in Milwaukee and my Weber Smokey Mountain has been holding a rock steady 275 deg since 5:00 a.m. Totally manageable with a windscreen and a full water pan.
 
Definitely pork butt or shoulder first time out. Maple, apple and hickory, any combination.
 
Get a couple of port butts and make pulled pork. Easy and everyone likes it.

BTW, yours won't look like OldDirty's. Yours will have several dents from where the tongs slipped and took a piece out of that bark there (which then serendipitously landed in your mouth). It's the cook's tax.
 
I just read the discussion of 3-2-1, and although I'm sure it works, I don't see a need to do all that extra wrapping etc. As far as other methods, I will say that 1) I think some of the best smoked meat does come from lump charcoal, but 2) I love the set-n-forget ease of a gas smoker. Simply load up, and if you get busy brewing, send any untrained monkey down to the smoker to re-load chips a few times through the cook time.

This photo was a month ago. I went from bacon wrapped tenderloin to a blanket on top, and finally, this weekend, bacon smoked separately from the loin. It seemed that not quite enough smoke soaked into the meat when wrapped in bacon. This weekend's loin didn't survive long enough for a picture.

Oddly enough, I make another smoked meat concoction that is wrapped in bacon, yet gets a perfect smoke ring. It goes for a couple hours longer than a loin, so maybe the extra exposure does the trick?

pork-57866.jpg
 
Pork shoulder/Boston Butt for the first time. Its pretty hard to screw up and is forgiving to temp going all over the place while you dial in the cooker.
 
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