Who's smoking meat this weekend?

CornyKegs 728
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S-Met said:
What's your setup? Any way you could add distance from heat?
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I have a Mastercraft electric cabinet smoker. I put them on the top shelf, but that might not be cooler. I found one YouTube that suggests moving a bracket to get the heating element closer to the wood chip holder. I'm also thinking about putting some gasket tape around the door as all the smoke seems to seep out there. I found one mod where the guy cut a hole in the bottom and ducts in charcoal smoke. I would like to avoid going that far....
 
bleme said:
I have a Mastercraft electric cabinet smoker. I put them on the top shelf, but that might not be cooler. I found one YouTube that suggests moving a bracket to get the heating element closer to the wood chip holder. I'm also thinking about putting some gasket tape around the door as all the smoke seems to seep out there. I found one mod where the guy cut a hole in the bottom and ducts in charcoal smoke. I would like to avoid going that far....
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Do you mean a Masterbuilt electric smoker? What size? 30"? 40"? I do know the 30" has a hot spot on the upper right side, for sure.

A good way to get tons of smoke with little heat is with an A-Maze-N pellet smoker tray. I use one with my MES 30. You can grab them on Amazon for $30-something. Lots of good info at https://www.smokingmeatforums.com/

Also, if you go the route of the A-Maze-N, look into the mailbox mod, it's cheap, and will easily give you cold smoking abilities.
 
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The before
 
bleme said:
I have a Mastercraft electric cabinet smoker. I put them on the top shelf, but that might not be cooler. I found one YouTube that suggests moving a bracket to get the heating element closer to the wood chip holder. I'm also thinking about putting some gasket tape around the door as all the smoke seems to seep out there. I found one mod where the guy cut a hole in the bottom and ducts in charcoal smoke. I would like to avoid going that far....
Click to expand...
CAUTION: REDNECK-SOLUTION!
Set your smoker in close, almost touching proximity to a solid table. Set your meat on a slightly raised rack on the table. A cookie sheet with a raised cooling rack works well to catch drips and aid in clean-up. Build a card-board box to sit on top of your smoker/table setup, making sure your heat and smoke flow into the box.

As heat and smoke rise it is trapped into the box. I would insert a dial thermometer into the box just to monitor heat. Cheap $5 pen thermometer works fine. You can extend the box as needed for cold-smoking options.
 
Ham. This was so good. With what has become the usual rub, brown sugar, pumpkin pie spice, and mustard with a few other things cant recall. Smoked with Jack daniels oak chips and apple chips. This combination is nice on ham. Need to look back and see what i liked this on. Haven't loved the apple. Never have really.
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Getting two racks of spare ribs ready for the smoker tomorrow morning. Small pieces of trimmings are snacks after a couple of hours of smoking time.

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Doing a couple racks of baby backs. I was planning on doing them non-traditionally with just olive oil, garlic and rosemary instead of rub and sauce then I had a eureka moment - rub one with Polish sausage seasoning. That can’t suck.
 
JonM said:
Doing a couple racks of baby backs. I was planning on doing them non-traditionally with just olive oil, garlic and rosemary instead of rub and sauce then I had a eureka moment - rub one with Polish sausage seasoning. That can’t suck.
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Will need to know the result. I've never used a sauce. First good ribs I had were from the 17th Street Bar and Grill in Murphysboro, Illinois. Tried to emulate Jim's magic dust using no sauces.
 
I’ve done the garlic and rosemary thing before with great results. I put Polish sausage seasoning on chops often and it’s great. Don’t know why it took me this long to figure out the sausage seasoning + ribs thing.
 
Lax coach said:
You guys are killing me with these outdoor griddles! We have one built into our range which we literally use 10x per week, but it's only 12" wide so large batches have to be split up. Plus the whole cooking outdoors being awesome thing. So now you've got me tempted, and I have to decide whether I want to go all out and get a Dedicated flat top grill that would essentially replace the Weber Genesis that has been neglected since I got my Kamado Joe; or get a topper for my camp stove for less than 1/3 the price.
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Less than 2 months later, assembled the Camp Chef Flat Top Grill yesterday. Chose it over the Blackstone due to more solid construction, better grease management, and the fact that there's a grill underneath (as mentioned above it's replacing my Weber Genesis).

Converting it to Natural Gas today and looking forward to its first cook!
 
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HWMO just put these beauties in the smoker. More like chops, they're so thick! Homebrew amber will be perfect with these......smells heavenly!
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Put a huge chuck on, salt only, and 6 hours later still stalled at 160. Was coming through it fine at 275, but getting late, turned it to 225 and nighty night. Hope it works out!

Update. ... this morning it was at 194. Looked normal, but a quick taste seemed a little dry. Had to do, what i had to. It seems like a long slow beef roast will require wrapping. Since i norally go 275 straight through its less of an issue.
 
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I found a good deal at the store earlier and got a 4# whole chicken for a few dollars. I've never messed with a whole chicken before, but it says giblets and neck removed already. Is there anything else I need to do with it at that point or just season it and throw it on the smoker?
 
treacheroustexan said:
I found a good deal at the store earlier and got a 4# whole chicken for a few dollars. I've never messed with a whole chicken before, but it says giblets and neck removed already. Is there anything else I need to do with it at that point or just season it and throw it on the smoker?
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I've been buying whole birds since i was a teenager... always save the carcasses to make chicken stock. I've got about 8 sitting in the freezer now waiting for a nice fall soup day.

I like both moist breast meat and tender fully rendered dark meat. Unfortunately you can't get both on a whole bird because white meat is bone dry by 165-170, and that's where dark meat just starts to get good.

So I quarter whole chickens and cook the breast+wing to about 155 and let the thigh+leg go to about 175. I usually put the leg+thigh pieces on before the breast+wing pieces.
 
schematix said:
I've been buying whole birds since i was a teenager... always save the carcasses to make chicken stock. I've got about 8 sitting in the freezer now waiting for a nice fall soup day.

I like both moist breast meat and tender fully rendered dark meat. Unfortunately you can't get both on a whole bird because white meat is bone dry by 165-170, and that's where dark meat just starts to get good.

So I quarter whole chickens and cook the breast+wing to about 155 and let the thigh+leg go to about 175. I usually put the leg+thigh pieces on before the breast+wing pieces.
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Good advice! Thank you!
 
treacheroustexan said:
I found a good deal at the store earlier and got a 4# whole chicken for a few dollars. I've never messed with a whole chicken before, but it says giblets and neck removed already. Is there anything else I need to do with it at that point or just season it and throw it on the smoker?
Click to expand...

I'm a fan of spatchcocking it... You basically cut out the spine [and a little area of cartilage on the inside of the sternum] so it'll lay flat. Helps it to cook more evenly. Especially because it makes the leg/thigh more "exposed" so they reach the higher IT earlier than the breast. So you can cook it and have leg/thigh at 175 right about the time the breast is getting to 155 or so.
 
Cured, smoked chicken! Interesting. Prague powder, cure number 2, whatever its called its sodium nitrite. I have posted legit info on amounts and usage on either this thread or others. Man wish i knew how to find stuff. Obviously i hold no liability for any info or anyones usage of sodium nitrite and everything is imo, and usage is at your own risk. Ok, that said, cures use different amounts than ground meat. Because ingesting is different to curing large cuts. With chicken, spatchcocked, i see the potential for ingesting too much from underside. Im guessing a serious rinse is needed after curing. Sadly, i have let my charcuterie skills wane a little as sodium nitrite isnt probably the best for you. Love hamburger jerky though. Ultimately there's no need to cure beef jerky, because it won't last long enough to need it. Making your own hot dogs, salami, pepperoni, bacon, and pastrami are all worthwhile endeavors im sure.
 
I use cure #1, as per the reasons listed in the link I posted. Follow the instructions there carefully and use the calculated parameters and you will be safe.

But yeah, cured smoked chicken is awesome! I also like to make poor man's pastrami using cured chuck roast and it's pretty amazing.
 
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