Who's smoking meat this weekend?

None for me this weekend -- it's time for Oktoberfest!

We've got about 70 people coming to the house, a bunch of smoked and unsmoked bratwurst (unfortunately it's all purchased, I haven't started doing sausage yet), all sorts of other great foods, and 6 kegs of beer on tap (which ARE all mine).

Should be a good time

pickles said:

Apparently in Ohio you get 9 tags and he always meets his quota. He offered to give me a whole deer, but I'm not sure what i'd do with it all.

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Good god man!!! 9 tags!! WTF?? The deer must be like cockroaches in Ohio. We have to sit and wait for the day they allow presales and jump on either 1 or two tags for the given zone of choice assuming youa re not in a Lottery zone. Our zone gives the most tags but also sells out the fastest so I had to be quick as this was my first go. If you don't own land or no someone it gets even harder to get deer here. My friend and his father have been trying for years to get a deer and imagine their faces when I called up and said I got one by walking out into the back of my property with a gun and got one (not to say I hadn't been trying during bow season. We had a massive fire that screwed all that up and now the hunters have nowhere to hunt due to closure so poaching is down right scary right now.). I couldn't imagine bagging 9 deer a year. Oh how sweet that would be.

JeepDiver said:

Best thing to do with backstrap is cut it in medallions and fry it. Serve with biscuits and gravy. Sometimes the simplest dishes are the best

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I just happen to have some of these so called medallions. I think I will be heading to the store to get me some buttermilk tomorrow. Thank you very much good sir for the calorie rich idea that will be known as breakfast on Saturday. I am going to have to fry them in bacon fat though as you have to go all out or you are just cheating yourself. Do you bread, flatten, or do anything aside from a bit of salt and pepper?

bwarbiany said:

None for me this weekend -- it's time for Oktoberfest!

We've got about 70 people coming to the house, a bunch of smoked and unsmoked bratwurst (unfortunately it's all purchased, I haven't started doing sausage yet), all sorts of other great foods, and 6 kegs of beer on tap (which ARE all mine).

Should be a good time

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Damn if only I were closer!

RoughandReadyRanch said:

Good god man!!! 9 tags!! WTF?? The deer must be like cockroaches in Ohio.

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I can confirm that I see 10x the amount of deer than cockroaches every year.

two_hearted said:

I can confirm that I see 10x the amount of deer than cockroaches every year.

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Well.... You haven't been to Chicago.

ColeBeer78 said:

Well.... You haven't been to Chicago.

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yeah, then you'd have coyotes too.

cervid said:

Ok, so.. the following recipes are a few of my favorites for full cuts of venison. They are not mine, they are the famous Dixie Dave's. If you like these, or any other wild game recipes I suggest you buy his book. 180 recipes..
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B001OZ5HZI/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

Here we go, I hope you can read them ok, they seem to close up ok.

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Holy ****, they want $300 for that spiral bound book of yours. I can buy half a new gun for that price!!!!

Save the neck(deer). I put a neck (just sawed off) on my smoker once. I forget the marinade but it was rosemary dominated. Tasted like prime rib.

RoughandReadyRanch said:

I just happen to have some of these so called medallions. I think I will be heading to the store to get me some buttermilk tomorrow. Thank you very much good sir for the calorie rich idea that will be known as breakfast on Saturday. I am going to have to fry them in bacon fat though as you have to go all out or you are just cheating yourself. Do you bread, flatten, or do anything aside from a bit of salt and pepper?

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Cut them thin or flatten with salt, pepper and flour. You can soak in milk overnight to pull out some of the game taste if you perfer (I don't) You dont want a real thick coating of batter or it will cover the taste of the meat. Frying in bacon grease is always a good thing

Frying anything in bacon grease will make it taste good.

Already defrosting the backstrap as we speak. Gonna be tasty I think. Get the buttermilk on the way back from the saw shop.

I am going to pick up a chuck roast and smoke it with mesquite all day tomorrow. I will then slice part of it and shred the rest.

I am so ready for the weekend.

I need to build or purchase a larger smoker. I think a smokehouse build is coming soon. Anyone in Northern California down for a weekend project say about the time Turkey season starts. Birds are thick and we can smoke them when we finish!

RoughandReadyRanch said:

I need to build or purchase a larger smoker. I think a smokehouse build is coming soon. Anyone in Northern California down for a weekend project say about the time Turkey season starts. Birds are thick and we can smoke them when we finish!

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Bigger is always better!

Have two racks of ribs and a tri-tip lined up for this weekend! I leave my smoker up at my folks place in Tahoe, so don't get to use it very often, but it'll get some good use soon! Any tips on the tri-tip? I haven't done one in awhile; last two smokes were both pork shoulders...

Smoking a boston butt tonight with some bourbon barrel chunks.

Guy who works at a local store brought in a huge variety of wood for smoking. Anyone have experience smoking with peach or orange?

chef273b said:

Guy who works at a local store brought in a huge variety of wood for smoking. Anyone have experience smoking with peach or orange?

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No. I'd be interested to hear the results....

chef273b said:

Guy who works at a local store brought in a huge variety of wood for smoking. Anyone have experience smoking with peach or orange?

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try the orange with chicken

finsfan said:

try the orange with chicken

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Or pork

chef273b said:

Guy who works at a local store brought in a huge variety of wood for smoking. Anyone have experience smoking with peach or orange?

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I smoked a whole hog with peach and it turned out awesome.

Going to smoke two Cornish hens today. Getting ready to spatchcock them then inject and rub down.

Smoked trout recently...yum.

Smoked pork shoulders, so I'm having some for dinner with homemade rice.

Broke in my new WSM with a pork shoulder on Friday. Came out amazing. I am now hooked. Almost as much as I am with brewing. And even better, my dorkish need to research before I do anything new allowed me to stay dead on my temperatures and not worry during the stall.

Pictures?

Unfortunately it was 11pm when it came off and I was too impatient to break out the phone. I shredded it and started snacking. I will say though that it was purdy and tender and just plain mmmmm.. Next smoke I will share, I promise.

I've been experimenting with different woods. I used to use apple for pork and hickory for brisket, but I tried pecan this weekend with ribs and beans--since I can't find apple. It was not as hard to keep on the cool side as oak and gave a much milder smoke flavor than hickory or mesquite. Even after 8 hours everything had a really mild and even light colored smoke layer. I tried it on some homemade bacon, but next time I'll use hickory to get a stronger smoke flavor. This fall I plan to trim a pear tree at church and try it in the spring.

We've been smoking with Cherry lately and it gives the meat an incredible flavor.

Anyone ever smoke a leg of lamb? Just pulled one out of the freezer and roasting it seems boring to me right now.

RoughandReadyRanch said:

Anyone ever smoke a leg of lamb? Just pulled one out of the freezer and roasting it seems boring to me right now.

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A friend and I did several months ago. Turned out amazing

Wood? Did you guys so anything special as I have always just salt and peppered them and stuffed them with rosemary and garlic.

Here are a few pictures from my first whole hog. photos are a little blurry due to the home brew coming out as soon as the fire was lit.



















After 12 hrs underground we didn't even need a knife to carve it you could pull the meat off the bones with your fingers

RoughandReadyRanch said:

Wood? Did you guys so anything special as I have always just salt and peppered them and stuffed them with rosemary and garlic.

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He was more in charge of this as I was brewing at the same time.

He used a very small amount of hickory. Nothing special that I can remember; salt, pepper and some kind of sauce.

Next time I talk to him I'll get the details.

PJoyce85 said:

He was more in charge of this as I was brewing at the same time.

He used a very small amount of hickory. Nothing special that I can remember; salt, pepper and some kind of sauce.

Next time I talk to him I'll get the details.

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Thanks. That is a tiny leg of lamb but it looks super tasty. I am gonna breakout the charcoal wet smoker and give it a go on Wednesday.

RoughandReadyRanch said:

Thanks. That is a tiny leg of lamb but it looks super tasty. I am gonna breakout the charcoal wet smoker and give it a go on Wednesday.

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It was pretty small but perfect for 3 people with sides. His dad has a small farm so that lamb was butchered just a few days before.

I can already taste it. Looking forward to a nice cold rainy day tomorrow. Smoking meat and drinking homebrew! Is there anything better than that on a nice fall day?

I have 6 huge coho filets brining at home right now... will be cold smoked tomorrow... I luuuuurve me some lox!

Wife just picked up some St. Louis spares at Costco, so I know what I'm doing this weekend ;-)