Finally got the thing assembled. Ribs tomorrow.
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I picked one up too. Pretty crazy deal. I told a friend and half hour later they were out.
I stuck mine in the freezer to be reincarnated as sausage.
Finally started the inaugural smoke. Two sets of pork ribs smoking with hickory. I'm not using the "solid fuel" box in this unit yet so I can just get a good idea of what the pellets contribute on their own.
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Nicely done, @Gadjobrinus
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Thanks buddy! This was a great Memphis rub recipe. From Steve Raichlen's book.
![Craft A Brew - Safale S-04 Dry Yeast - Fermentis - English Ale Dry Yeast - For English and American Ales and Hard Apple Ciders - Ingredients for Home Brewing - Beer Making Supplies - [1 Pack]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/41fVGNh6JfL._SL500_.jpg)
The hippie meat smoking guy from PBS, lol.
No finished pics, but here is an early pic of a bunch of ribs I smoked up for the superbowl. I cold-smoked these for an hour before turning on the heat. Nom nom.
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Nice, Andy!
I love those smoke tubes! I use a GMG for smoking but I have an old propane smoker cabinet that I keep around only for cold smoking.
I’ll cold smoke whole chicken for a couple of hours, then throw it on the GMG.
Bon apetit. Spatchcocked chicken and sweet tater for dinner tonight. Very lightly smoked so I can use the leftover for green chile chicken enchiladas tomorrow
Someone snatched one of your racks of ribs!
Porch pirates around here are bold.
Smoked a pork loin and butt yesterday. Pretty happy with the results. I was able to load up the pellets and head out, monitoring it on my phone. Had a nice smoke ring, better than what I had with the electric Masterbuilt.
I have a family member with a health issue and severe salt restriction. Does anyone have a no/low salt rub they like for smoked brisket ?
Have considered potassium salt?
As a HBP patient myself, salt substitutes such as potassium chloride can cause other issues. In my case, excessive potassium interferes with kidney function. Since a salt rub won't have time to penetrate much more than maybe 1/4 inch anyway, I'd rub it with Mrs. Dash steak seasoning and lots of extra black pepper. To help develop the bark, spritz it with 50/50 apple juice and apple cider vinegar, which also adds savory acidity and flavor. Since a little salt is okay, better than bouillon makes a low-sodium beef paste, that can be added as a binder with yellow mustard. Maybe make a loose, Carolina-style bbq sauce to serve it with.
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ThermoWorks is having an open box 40% off sale on the ThermaPen One.
If you're in the market for one, it's a good time.
If you're in the market for one, it's a good time.
Well I started smoking a brisket last night. First beef smoke with mesquite on the new smoker so I opened up a bag of mesquite pellets.
It finally seems to be breaking through the stall and I just opened up the second bag of mesquite pellets.
It finally seems to be breaking through the stall and I just opened up the second bag of mesquite pellets.
Any updates? What kinda smoker did you get?
That took over 24 hours to smoke. I finally caved around 17ish hours and bumped it from 225° to 245°. I didn't enjoy processing the finished product at 3am. I think everyone who tells me that a brisket can be smoked at 225° in a reasonable amount of time is lying to me.
I seriously want to try smoking a brisket entirely at 225° on a weekend where I have nothing else going on, starting at 3pm on Friday, wrapping it when it hits 160°, and just see how long it takes. Am I going to have to open a third bag of pellets to get it done? Will it finish before Monday? Idk.
Camp Chef's vertical pellet smoker with what I think they call their 'solid fuel drawer'.
but do you wonder... how can it resist coming to the temperature you've set? what sort of force can it possess that allows it to keep cooler than your set temp?
As the temperature of the meat rises, the temp differential decreases and the rate of thermal transfer slows. Since the finished internal temp for brisket is ~203-205, the last ~40 degrees can take 2 times as long as it took to go from 40-160. At 160, the meat is shedding moisture rapidly which has a cooling effect, the internal temp stays around 160 for an hour or more until the water content fall below a certain point. This is referred to as the stall. To overcome the stall, typically the meat is wrapped in butcher paper or foil to trap the escaping juices, dramatically speeding up the cooking and keeps the meat juicy, this technique is known as the Texas Crutch.
Since the meat is no longer taking on smoke at this point, it's common to bump the smoker to 275 or more, which also helps speed it along.
Brisket is great, but a massive PITA to smoke. My preferred method is to start a day ahead, smoke it at 225 to the stall, then pull it to cool off a bit before vacuum bagging it and into the sous vide at 145; 24 hours later it's ready to serve.
Another route is to sous vide it first, chill overnight, then throw it on the smoker the next morning. It loses enough juices in the bag that it will cruise through the stall, this also develops a nicer bark. Either way, the result is tender enough to cut with a plastic spoon.
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Oh I'm well aware of the stall. I've smoked brisket before. I learned about it from that hippie on the Project Smoke PBS show before I ever tried smoking a brisket. With my old smoker I usually started my brisket right away in the morning, and I'd bump the temperature after wrapping. But with this pellet smoker I figured that I can fill the hopper, let it smoke overnight, and wrap it around the time I used to start it, keep it at 225° like I keep hearing/reading is ideal, and have a finished brisket by supper. That's just not the case.
It isn't? If it isn't taking on smoke any more at that point, why am I not just wrapping it in foil and finishing it in the oven? Am I getting a return on the investment of pellets for continuing to cook on my pellet smoker after the brisket has smoked for 5-6 hours?
Kind of like the above. The smoker is one of my least efficient means of cooking. I get the law of diminishing returns applies to imbuing meat with more smoke, but I assumed there was some benefit that merited continuing to use one of my least efficient cooking devices. Do I need to re-evaluate that assumption?
It isn't? If it isn't taking on smoke any more at that point, why am I not just wrapping it in foil and finishing it in the oven? Am I getting a return on the investment of pellets for continuing to cook on my pellet smoker after the brisket has smoked for 5-6 hours?
Kind of like the above. The smoker is one of my least efficient means of cooking. I get the law of diminishing returns applies to imbuing meat with more smoke, but I assumed there was some benefit that merited continuing to use one of my least efficient cooking devices. Do I need to re-evaluate that assumption?
Cold meat takes on smoke the fastest. It condenses on the surface like water, actually this is part of the reason some people swear by using a water pan. Once the surface heats up, it stops accumulating. For those of us burning pellets, it helps to have the meat ice cold when it goes in the smoker, which extends the window for building smoke flavor. Once the meat starts getting hot, it's mostly about bark development; I spritz it every half hour with 50/50 apple juice and apple cider vinegar. A lot of people finish their brisket in the oven, because it's just wasting pellets. You can also place it in a foil pan on the smoker, so long as you cover it tightly. BBQ purists running stick burners don't care about that, those are the guys who smoke their brisket at 225 the whole way without wrapping. To them, maintaining the fire is the hobby, the succulent meat is just the reward for a long day spent in the yard.
So question on the sous vide process after hitting the stall: if you running it at 145 for 24 is it chewy at all? I thought the point of getting it over 204 internal was that was the point that that convective tissue and fat would break down releasing more juices and flavor into the meat.
I do like the pre-smoke sous vide concept though. Do you cool in the bag and then rub down with more pepper/salt before throwing it on the smoke or pull it out of the bag and rub down before cooling?
I plan on smoking a deer neck next weekend. The neck meat shreds similar to pork/beef roast. Usually reserved for oven roasting but I want to give it a shot.
I've never smoked deer meat but this cut sounds similar to beef chuck. Smoke it til about 160 or so then place in a foil pan covered with a bed of onions and some braising liquid (beer of broth) til it hits 200 and shreds like a butt.
btw- if you were my neighbor, I'd show up unexpectedly around dinnertime. Sounds delicious.
Once wrapped in foil it's not taking on smoke. You could easily finish in the oven at that point.
BTW a lot of [most?] competition BBQ guys do brisket at 275. I believe that's what Aaron Franklin runs his smokers at too.
I suspect 225 is probably old school thinking from people who didn't have good temp control, reliable thermometers, etc, to avoid burning. 275 is pretty mainstream now.
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