Who's smoking meat this weekend?

PJoyce85 said:

So after reading this thread for some time, I will finally be smoking, for the first time, a Boston Butt. I'm am going to use a basic rub and was wondering which wood would be better for a basic rub. I have access to Hickory and Mesquite and wanted to try one of those before branching out.

Thanks for the suggestions

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Congrats!!! Welcome to another wonderful hobby. I like hickory. Mesquite can overwhelm the meat quickly, IMHO.

I usually pick up fallen limbs from the pecan orchard down the road as well. They work great!

BadDeacon said:

Congrats!!! Welcome to another wonderful hobby. I like hickory. Mesquite can overwhelm the meat quickly, IMHO.

I usually pick up fallen limbs from the pecan orchard down the road as well. They work great!

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Great! Thanks for the advice. Hickory it is. I am checking some sources over here to see what wood I can find but I have found some places that will ship APO. I think Fruita Wood will ship APO for free.

I hope the setup works out. If it does the way I'm hoping, I already have several recipes on deck!

5 hours later, just about done

m3n00b said:

Gonna smoke a turkey breast on Sunday. Tips welcomed.

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Maybe a little late, but the one thing I'd highly recommend for smoking turkey is to put it in a brine overnight. The brine will moisten the meat and result in a very juicy turkey. I've always done this and I'm always amazed at how juicy the turkey is at the end. Keep the turkey and brine in a cooler with a bunch of ice... you want the turkey cold while brining for sanitation reasons.

Lots of brine ideas on the web. Most important things are ice and water and salt.

passedpawn said:

Maybe a little late, but the one thing I'd highly recommend for smoking turkey is to put it in a brine overnight. The brine will moisten the meat and result in a very juicy turkey. I've always done this and I'm always amazed at how juicy the turkey is at the end. Keep the turkey and brine in a cooler with a bunch of ice... you want the turkey cold while brining for sanitation reasons.

Lots of brine ideas on the web. Most important things are ice and water and salt.

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Thanks! The turkey breast came in a simple brine in its bag(target brand). 4 hours at 240 on hickory and it was the best turkey I ever had. Only got a before shot.

Remmy said:

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did you put another grate on top of the water for that butt?

passedpawn said:

Maybe a little late, but the one thing I'd highly recommend for smoking turkey is to put it in a brine overnight. The brine will moisten the meat and result in a very juicy turkey. I've always done this and I'm always amazed at how juicy the turkey is at the end. Keep the turkey and brine in a cooler with a bunch of ice... you want the turkey cold while brining for sanitation reasons.

Lots of brine ideas on the web. Most important things are ice and water and salt.

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do you still brine if the turkey is injected with a solution from the store? turkey is next on our list, but im scared to create an overly salty bird.

Caught this a little late but I smoked a Tri Tip with red oak on Saturday along with some Jalepeno/Cheddar sausages (Outstanding BTW), then Smoked up some ribs on Sunday. I'm about to give up on wrapping my ribs for the last 2 hours. All I end with is meat faling off the bones, great flavor but I like that gentle pull of meat from the ribs.

I'll update with pics of the Sunday session later.

finsfan said:

did you put another grate on top of the water for that butt?

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Yep.

And there are two butts on that lower grate.

Remmy said:

Yep.

And there are two butts on that lower grate.

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nice ive never thought about smoking on 2 levels, do you notice that you get hotter temps on the butts since they are closer to the coals/water or does it cook for about the same time down there?

finsfan said:

nice ive never thought about smoking on 2 levels, do you notice that you get hotter temps on the butts since they are closer to the coals/water or does it cook for about the same time down there?

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The top grate is actually hotter. Usually 10F higher than the lower grate. Those ribs were on for 6 hours and the butts were on for 12 hours. So, I didn't want to deal with moving the butts to get to the ribs if they were on opposite racks than what is pictured. Once the ribs were done, I moved the butts to the top grate for easier access.

Veedo said:

do you still brine if the turkey is injected with a solution from the store? turkey is next on our list, but im scared to create an overly salty bird.

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I only use untreated turkey, every thing I have read supports this.
Really is great way to cook a turkey

ChefRex said:

I only use untreated turkey, every thing I have read supports this.
Really is great way to cook a turkey

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I have been looking everywhere for one that hasn't been pre brined, no luck.

Remmy said:

The top grate is actually hotter. Usually 10F higher than the lower grate. Those ribs were on for 6 hours and the butts were on for 12 hours. So, I didn't want to deal with moving the butts to get to the ribs if they were on opposite racks than what is pictured. Once the ribs were done, I moved the butts to the top grate for easier access.

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thanks for the info, and 6 hours for ribs?! holy schit! mine take 3 hours if i dont keep the coals going right, you smoking at like 180?

finsfan said:

thanks for the info, and 6 hours for ribs?! holy schit! mine take 3 hours if i dont keep the coals going right, you smoking at like 180?

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Nope. Sometimes I smoke babybacks for 4.5 hrs (no foil) or 6 hrs (3 hrs smoke, 2 hrs foil, 1 hr sauce unfoiled). I smoke at 230-250.

Lots of pr0n here lately -









ABTs and MOINK balls






Making salsa verde


Pulled pork tacos


Bacon-wrapped pork loins stuffed with cranberry-apple stuffing.


Smoking some cheese for a smoked mac-and-cheese.

ooooo ok haha that make sense, i dry rub with a little wet marinade, smoke at 225 until done and straight to the plate, no foil for me and have only had compliments, have you noticed anything significant with foiling?

Remmy said:

Lots of pr0n here lately -

ABTs and MOINK balls

Making salsa verde

Pulled pork tacos

Bacon-wrapped pork loins stuffed with cranberry-apple stuffing.

Smoking some cheese for a smoked mac-and-cheese.

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well damn now im hungry, everything looks amazing remmy!

finsfan said:

ooooo ok haha that make sense, i dry rub with a little wet marinade, smoke at 225 until done and straight to the plate, no foil for me and have only had compliments, have you noticed anything significant with foiling?

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I did. I limit the foil period to 2hrs ON THE DOT. If you go over, you'll end up with some fall-off-the-bone ribs, which I don't like.

Veedo said:

I have been looking everywhere for one that hasn't been pre brined, no luck.

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Got a local butcher shop? Or even a butcher counter at the grocery store? They can probably find you one if you ask.

Going to be doing my first butt this weekend... Getting excited

kosmokramer said:

Going to be doing my first butt this weekend... Getting excited

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That just sounds dirty.

Lol, glad I didn't mention that I still need a good rub... Hahaha

kosmokramer said:

Lol, glad I didn't mention that I still need a good rub... Hahaha

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I need a good rub for my butt too lol

Picked up a shoulder to smoke for pulled pork and a loin to butterfly and smoke and grill. The weekend is too far away though. I might have to smoke some of this before then...

Smoking my first shoulder this weekend. Received the rest of the stuff in the mail yesterday and I'm picking up the meat on Friday!!

Tomorrow's my Bday. I'll be smoking all manner of things on my Weber Smokey Mountain. Probably put 2 pork butts on the bottom and baby backs at the top. Might get crazy and do some ABTs before I put the ribs on.

And brewing, of course!

passedpawn said:

Tomorrow's my Bday. I'll be smoking all manner of things on my Weber Smokey Mountain. Probably put 2 pork butts on the bottom and baby backs at the top. Might get crazy and do some ABTs before I put the ribs on.

And brewing, of course!

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that sounds like a hell of a day you have planned, happy early birthday!

13 pound brisket, no foil. 18 hour cook at 225, then rested for 2 hours. 2nd time cooking a big brisket, was worried it would be dried out but it turned out great!

Veedo said:

13 pound brisket, no foil. 18 hour cook at 225, then rested for 2 hours. 2nd time cooking a big brisket, was worried it would be dried out but it turned out great!

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Yowsa!

Finally got my heat deflector in, decided to smoke some wings and drums to break it in

got 2 racks of ribs thawing. going in the brine tomorrow

Veedo said:

13 pound brisket, no foil. 18 hour cook at 225, then rested for 2 hours. 2nd time cooking a big brisket, was worried it would be dried out but it turned out great!

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This is meat porn and should be reported. Looks darn tasty. Did you make 'burnt ends' with the point?

Man if I only had a dollar for every butt rub joke in this thread.....

Anyone here do a brisket and pork butts at the same time? I was thinking of doing both this weekend. I figured I can just put the brisket on first and then put the pork on later so they finish about the same time? Or should I put them all in at the same time and just pull the pork when it is done and hold in a cooler to keep warm?

We have done it. If you can put the butts over the brisket (the dripping fat helps to baste the meat). If you find a large enough butt you may not need to pull the pork early - they may finish up around the same time or close.

Melana said:

We have done it. If you can put the butts over the brisket (the dripping fat helps to baste the meat). If you find a large enough butt you may not need to pull the pork early - they may finish up around the same time or close.

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Yes I have a WSM so the butts will go on the top and the brisket on the bottom. I was thinking of doing 2 butts and a brisket. Maybe Ill try and find a smallish brisket.

We have also done Clod... the beef equivalent of butt. damn tasty.

smakudwn said:

Anyone here do a brisket and pork butts at the same time? I was thinking of doing both this weekend. I figured I can just put the brisket on first and then put the pork on later so they finish about the same time? Or should I put them all in at the same time and just pull the pork when it is done and hold in a cooler to keep warm?

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I did 2 butts and 2 briskets on my WSM a couple of weeks ago. I put the briskets on top since I was planning on foiling them at some point. I never foiled them and they ended up slightly dry (at least dryer than when I foil them).

I put them on and removed the same time as the pork. I think it was about 10 hours @ 250.

Pork will drip a lot of fat, so maybe the bottom is where you want those. The beef is fairly lean, depending on how it's trimmed.

I'm putting some butts and ribs on today as well, but the ribs will come off early.