Who's smoking meat this weekend?

I suggest the the WSM personally. But either one you pick is going to be very different than your current one. You're going to have to do a lot more monitoring of the smoker.

 

Mine's a UDS. I'll need to clean and scrub out the bottom this Saturday to smoke some salmon on Sunday. Somehow I got a little water through the ball valves this Winter.

 

Open the top vent all the way. adjust temp by the bottom vents only. after several hours give the legs a little kick to knock off some of the ash. Also make sure that your temperature probe (tell me you arent using the built in thermometer for more than glancing to make sure you have some heat in there) is spaced a little away from the meat as that can give you off readings.

 

I am using the built-in thermometer. I don't have a probe thermometer yet. Looking for a good deal on one. I have the understanding that the built-in is pretty accurate for it being a built-in.

 

Planning a double size batch of country style pork ribs this coming weekend. First burn of the season on the trusty UDS.

 

Not in my experience. The dome thermometers can be up to 50° off. Where you want to measure the temp is from the grate, not all the way up at the dome. As for thermometers. I like the maverick I bought after my cheapy wireless thermometer from tar-gay dropped two feet and died its a little more costly but works great. Does food and grill and annoys the hell out of you if you go outside your range.

Then again this is just my opinion.

 

Give it time and a few more cooks and you will get there.It gets easier once the smoker gets a little use on it.

 

as long as you know what temp (YOUR therm says) to get your smoker set to for the desired effect, that thermometer should work just fine. Experimenting and learning is part of the process when you get a new smoker

when you decide to upgrade, Tel-Tru is the Cadillac of thermometers.


Digital control is another great option. BBQ Guru and Stoker are the main brands and can make life pretty easy for long, low/slow smokes.

 

Just smoked a 7 pound bird. Brine overnight, injections of cranberry, brown sugar, melted butter and a custom chicken rub. 2.5 hours at 275, apple chips and cranberry juice in the drip tray. Wife told me a new brew would go well with the chicken. Time to brew another.

 

Except for injecting, this is happening tomorrow, as I give my MES 30 a proper shake-down!

 

Did 2 racks of baby backs. I didn't wrap these and I wish I would have. Smoke penetration was great but was a bit dry in some spots.
Overall another good smoke.
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Put three racks of spares on the WSM just before 1pm.

 

8.6# pork butt that I made for Big Brew Day festivities.
Put it on 10pm Friday night and let it ride til 630am today. Only had to check it once at 3am and it was steady 240 degrees all night long.
Love that Bubba's Barrel...
Perfectly cooked and delicious.

 

Cured some wild sockeye, and hitting it with cold smoke this morning.

 

Have a 5ish lb boneless pork loin on right now. Homemade citrus pepper rub and smoking it with a hickory and peach mix.

 

That looks delicious. I just threw a couple small filets of wild salmon on to hot smoke for brunch.

 

Sockeye are delicious. They start running soon

 

This weekend, I'll be doing 2 butts and 12ish chicken thighs.

 

I've got a picnic shoulder I'm going to smoke Friday pending weather. I think I'm going to keep this one simple; no injections, rub of salt, pepper, onion and garlic powder, paprika, with some pecan smoke. Heck, I may even get crazy and wrap this one up.
To my dilemma, smoking it in the Kamado Joe or the WSM?

 

Another quick question for anyone with experience, the shoulder skin from a picnic, has anyone smoked the meat, then after finished remove the skin and deep fry? I always fed it to the dog, but thought this may make some good rinds.

 

Sunday, we'll be barbecuing ribs; I've got a Spanish method that tastes out of this world....

 

Seems like with the rock-solid temp control of the KJ, and the fact that you won't need to add any charcoal during the entire length of the cook, I'd go KJ. Of course, I just got a KJ, so I'm excited about KJ in general

Looks insane! Tell us more about this Spanish method, please!

 

You got it ~ I'll also post this same info on a new thread:

Castilian "Lacquered" Pork Ribs
Costillar de Cerdo Lacado

From Culinaria Spain:

Roasted pork is integral to the cuisine of Castillian Spain, and there are many ways to enjoy it. This recipe, from the book, Culinaria Spain, is a modern take on the ancient Iberian tradition of roasting a pig over an open fire.

Simple foods are often the best; it has been proven time and again, and if you haven't learned this already, then now's the time! You will need:

Honey
Red wine vinegar
Salt
Pepper

That's it. Four simple, readily-available ingredients. When I made these ribs, I tried a twist introduced by a friend a long time ago, so I had 5 ingredients:



The balsamic is not required for thsi recipe, and is not a quintessential ingredient of Spain, but I wanted to use it in order to experience these ribs as my friend had enjoyed them, so I did. In the future, I'll stick the the four ingredients, experimenting with different honeys and vinegars, as I can; one spin-off that I would like to try is in replacing the wine vinegar with apple cider vinegar, which is commonly found in northern Spain's Asturias province.

Anyway, as I said, this is easy - incredibly easy. I started with a couple of teaspoons each of sea salt and freshly-cracked black pepper:



The ratio of honey to vinegar is 3 to 1; for instance, if you use 6 tablespoons of honey, then you need 2 tablespoons of vinegar. Since I had a lot of pork to cook, I used 3 tablespoons of each vinegar (for a total of 6 tablspoons, equivalent to half a cup):



Next, I turned my attention to the honey that I had chosen; the recipe specifies "runny acacia or woodland honey," but since I live in the middle of nowhere, I used this:



We actually have two local apiaries, and the next time I try this, I will use some raw honey from one of those sources.

Keeping to the ratio described above, I added 1.5 (equivalent to 18 tablespoons) cups of honey to the seasoned vinegars:



And stirred everything together:



This resulted in a wonderful concoction that promised to take my ribs to a whole new level!

Marinating the ribs is not necessary; a simple shake of salt and pepper - perhaps with the addition of a little pimentón de la Vera - is all that is needed. Having said that, I decided to let the ribs take in the flavours for a couple of hours, just because that's how I'd seen them done before. With this in mind, I poured the lacado mixture into a roasting pan, gave the ribs a modest dusting of salt and pepper, and then brushed the lacado mixture onto the surface:



I then turned the ribs face-down into the bottom of a roasting pan, dusted the bone side with a little salt and pepper, and brushed some of the lacado mixture on that side as well:



Once again, this is not necessary, but it certainly doesn't hurt a bit.

While the ribs soaked up the vinegars and honey for a couple of hours, I got ready for my barbecue. I brushed some yellow mustard onto some country-style ribs and dusted them with a standard barbecue rub; once that was done, I set up and lit my offset smoker, bringing it to a nice running temperature in the neighbourhood of 250 degrees. When everything was ready, I tossed all the pork onto the grates and began my cooking:



After a couple of hours, things were coming along nicely, so I began "painting" the lacado mixture on my ribs; first the bone-side:



And then the top:



I said it before and will say it again: simple is the way to go, and nothing elaborate is needed in order to produce beautiful, juicy, tender barbecue ribs that taste like a million dollars. You can be complicated if you want to, and have some very wonderful things - I've done it many times myself - but it's not necessary all the time, and this experience was proving exactly that.

I kept brushing and flipping and brushing the ribs every hour or so, whenever I added hickory or charcoal to the firebox of the smoker. It wasn't long before the ribs started to take on a beautiful shine and develop some deep, rich colour:



As you can see, I also brushed the lacado mixture onto the CSRs as well.

About three hours into the cook, I moved the ribs over closer to the heat:



The idea here was to allow the lacado mixture to glaze on in thin layers, allowing it to really earn its reputation as it "lacquered" the ribs:



Whaddaya think? I think they're coming along nicely, myself:



By the time the ribs were just about ready, the lacado and the heat had done their work beautifully, creating a wonderful, crackling shine on the ribs:



Between the lacado, the sweet hickory smoke and the pork itself, the aromas wafting up from the grates were enough to really bring out the carnivore in almost anyone:



When the everythng was ready, I brought it all in; first the CSRs:



And then the ribs:



I couldn't really stop myself - I took another picture:



And another:



The family couldn't stand it any longer, so I cut the ribs into sections and tossed them into the pit to be devoured. As you can see, there was - in addition to everything else - wonderful smoke penetration:



The taste was incredible. The smoked pork was just about perfect, with a savory, beautiful "bacon on a stick" flavour that comes from a really good barbecue. This was enhanced by the sweet/sour flavour and the crackling sheen of the lacado. A home-run all-around. This little trip to Castillian Spain was a nice way to enjoy a Sunday afternoon on a sunny spring day.

Hopefully, I've made it clear with this pictorial that simple can often be the way to go, and - if done right - will provide some very wonderful barbecue. Four ingredinets. You all have them in your kitchen or pantry. Try this, and you won't be sorry.

 

Epic meat post^

 

Only one way to find out!

 

Wow, thanks Tasunka. I will definately be trying this out. I love simple.

 

What temp did you pull them?

 

Hey guys - thanks for the compliments; this stuff really is spectacular.

@PJoyce85 - I don't really take temp readings of the meat when I do ribs; however, one could certainly do this and I am guessing that somewhere between 172 and 180 would be good.

I generally go until the ribs pull back off the bone and look "right...." I know that's pretty vague but it's also pretty intuitive. The rendering of fat on the ribs will be quite pronounced, and they will just look "right." Time-wise I would guess (this is a rough estimate, of course) 3.5 to 4 hours for baby backs, 4.5 to 5 hours for spares and somewhere in between for CSRs. Pit temperatures, wind etc. have such a big influence on cooking time that I am always reluctant to give times, but those could serve as general, relative guidelines.

 

I keep threatening to try this, but have not yet - from what I've seen online, you would need to boil the skin til it's very tender (about 3 to 4 hours, maybe a bit less since it's already been cooked in the smoker?), then cut into thin strips and dehydrated about 20 to 24 hours, then deep-fry to puff it out and make it crunchy - who knows though if all that is needed - I know that's the process for starting with fresh pig skin!

I do think that the smoked flavor on the skin would make AWESOME chicharrones! If you try it - please post results!

 

Hell, I'll give it a go. I'm off of work with a torn up knee so I have time. I've got all that is needed to do it, so I will post up with thoughts and pictures.

 

Sorry about your knee but glad you're available for experiments!

There is a Diners, Drive-ins, Dives episode where the chef goes through the steps of making the chicharrones. You can find it online, in case you care to see what he's doing before you try yours out!

 

I took a look at the video. Pretty straight forward. Some Tony seasoning is going to be my final addition. Only drawback is its a whole lotta work for all the more skin on the shoulder. Like they say, use everything but the "oink"!

 

Good luck, can't wait to hear how it comes out.

There are a few parts beyond the "oink" I'd rather not deal with!

 

A coworker sent me a link to this picture this morning. Has anyone yet heard of the swineapple?



Bacon wrapped pineapple stuffed with what looks like pork loin.

 

I'm tempted to say that goes too far, but I would eat the sh!t out of that.

 

Threw these on last night - just about done

 

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Started 3 hours ago and ABTs are done. Always got to smoke a snack.
So far with the KJ I've surpassed my 250 target and hovering nearly to 300. If you miss your temp it's a hoe to get back down. I've attempted to get the temp down by shutting vents and opening lid periodically to dissipate heat. The ceramic is such a great insulator it's a losing battle. Another downfall is keeping the smoke going while trying to keep temp down. Definitely a learning curve to low and slow with a kamado.
I'm hoping the iq120 makes it here today so I can try another low and slow with it.

 

Looks like yet another version of the bacon explosion

 

Final product. For no sugar in the rub, and the fluctuations in temp from my tampering, this is a great shoulder with nice bark. Not sure if this is unique to kamados or higher heat smokes but I experienced no stall while cooking this one. Once I get this pulled I will tackle the skin for rinds.
Porn!
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Does this count? View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1431725722.192375.jpg