Who's smoking meat this weekend?

[Dcpcooks]

Sounds awesome. I might have to make the pork broth and Tare sauce

It's worth the effort. Momofuko cook book from David Changs NY ramen shop has all the recipes of your looking for some ideas.

 

[kev211]

Dropped a 6 lb brisket flat on today at 7:30 and it's heating up wayyyy fast. It's gonna be done way earlier than I planned I think. It's only 9 and it's at 118. I have the smoker set at 215!! No real bark forming either 😕

 

[kev211]

Are temp probes really that effective in briskets? They seem so thin so part of me is wondering if it's not actually as warm as the thermo says

 

[brewbama]

I never use a temp probe. I go by about what time I think it will be done based on experience, then start checking tenderness with a wooden skewer.

 

[applescrap]

I never use a temp probe. I go by about what time I think it will be done based on experience, then start checking tenderness with a wooden skewer.

Definitely thought of you and remembered your rib tips.

 

[applescrap]

Double post, sorry

 

[bfish]

Dropped a 6 lb brisket flat on today at 7:30 and it's heating up wayyyy fast….

When finished, wrap in foil and place in a small cooler filled with rags or newspaper. It will hold temp for at least 6 hours, probably longer.

 

[applescrap]

Are temp probes really that effective in briskets? They seem so thin so part of me is wondering if it's not actually as warm as the thermo says

Yes, absolutely. Yeah they heat up fast sometimes, for just a flat. that's why I use a temperature probe. I cook hamburgers, brats, hot dogs, all kinds of stuff in my smoker. I never guess I only use temperature for all kinds of meats, feel free to try the probe method. I don't see myself ever not using a thermometer, but you never know. I don't own a hydrometer though.

Relax don't worry have a home brew, when a high-quality probe says 195 in the center it's done. Or when you probe it and it's loose like butter it's done. I cook everything at 275 because I like to get things done quick. I have considered going lower because I would like a little softer bark sometimes.

By the way it takes a little time to go from 118 to 195 you will see

 

[kev211]

Brisket turned out fantastic!!

View attachment 1494122994480.jpg

View attachment 1494123001716.jpg

 

[headbanger]

Hey, to each their own, my friend. My experience, and given I've only cooked maybe a dozen briskets tops over the past 3 years, is that the point tends to be tender more quickly than the flat. Pretty much every one I've done has been that way. That's not to say it came to temp more quickly than the flat, but it was done and tender at a lower temp and time than the flat.

That's one reason the point works so well for burnt ends. You pull the brisket off and both the point and the flat are done, and you cube the point, add more rub and add BBQ sauce, and put it back on the smoker for a few hours. All that fat keeps it tender and moist instead of it drying out (which can happen to a flat).

I also suggest NOT cooking to temp, but cooking to doneness. The "probe test", where you stick a probe into the meat and gauge whether the meat has tenderized or it's still tough, is my preferred method. I use my instant-read thermometer, more for shape/size than for temp reading. When the probe slides in with little resistance (once through the bark of course), it's done. I've actually had briskets where the point is done but the flat isn't that close, where I've cut the point off for burnt ends but left the flat on the smoker to finish.

I usually separate the point from the flat before cooking nowadays but used to cook them whole as well. For many of the same timing problems you guys have already mentioned I find it easier to cook them separate. It really does make a big difference in the burnt end department (if you're looking for really good ends) and you don't need to worry about drying the flat out in process. They do call them burnt for a reason and I've found that it's hard to get there without a dry-ish flat unless you've got a really good smoker going really low and really slow. Plus I can wrap one, both or neither whenever I feel like I need to without fretting over the other.

 

[applescrap]

Two corned beefs were on sale, only sugar, figure plenty of salt already. Cherry and hickory. They are cooking slow I don't want to be up all night

View attachment 1494212150837.jpg

 

[Darkman]

Now I'm craving a brisket!

 

[Homercidal]

Smoker fail this weekend. I took the electric element out of a used, modified charcoal smoker and put it in my old electric smoker. The plan was to use the old one for electric and the newer model for charcoal. The element sat too low in the old smoker (I thought i modified it to sit higher, but obviously not!) The ribs sat for several hours and when I got home they weren't really cooked at all.

>8(

I'm thinking I should just put the element back in the newer smoker and dump the old one. I don't see me messing with charcoal very often, and it would need to be modified to really accommodate charcoal anyway. Too much going on to want to spend time doing that right now, and charcoal seems fiddly. I'm quite fond of just plugging it in and walking away.

Well, after some other chores I modified the legs on the old smoker and remounted the element to sit higher, and hopefully supply more heat than yesterday. I don't really want a second smoker taking up space in the garage when I am trying to get rid of things and make more space for brewing equipment and other hobbies. I feel like 1 smoker ought to do it.

But I still feel as though I owe it to myself to at least TRY a charcoal modification. I'm torn.

 

[applescrap]

^^charcoal mod would be nice. That being said I personally wouldnt want a bunch of junk sitting around.

 

[applescrap]

Help, i had a fail too. The corned briskets were set to expire yesterday so I threw them in at 275 rubbed with brown sugar. Small one up top temperature probed and bigger one lower. The small one was 180 and I think the big one was 170. I had to go to bed. Wrapped in plastic wrap and threw in the fridge. I am guessing since they got to 170 they are free of infection but what now. Reheat to 195 when cooked?


Btw after probing the meat with temp probe, I dont have the touch of you guys yet and will be sticking with thermometer as main gauge and probing as secondary for now. Excited to see where this leads.

 

[HopGobbler]

had lamb once at a Moroccan or Indian place but I am pretty sure it was braised, tasted great.

the ones you made look fantastic. it's weird up here in ND the only lamb at the store comes in frozen, I may have to find someone who raises them and try to get it fresh.

I'm a huge fan of lamb, I've made smoked rack of lamb a couple times also, and it was phenomenal

 

[kev211]

Ok... One more question about brisket. I promise (I think). Still a newb on this.

I put the brisket flat on this last saturday at ~7am. Injected with chicken broth prior to smoking and rubbed with salt and pepper/ Got it past 150 without crutching. Had the water, steamer thingy with HB hefe. Brisket was top rack in mt MES. at 185 I cranked the heat from 225 to 275 cuz I noticed that I didnt really have a bbark when I opened the MES. Pulled it at ~4pm and (it was at 275 for probably an hour) wrapped in foil, blanket, cooler. Served aout 3 hours later. The thing was delicious. I definitely will be doing it again. That being said, it was a little drier than Im used to with brisket. My friends didnt seem to think so but when I asked my wife, she knows I prefer honest criticism she said it was a touch dry, and I agree.

Any suggestions on what to do? Would brining help? It was so close to being absolutely awesome, but the slight dryness bummed me out a bit. Also didnt have a terrific smoke ring, but had smoke flavor, so Im not overly concerned about that.

 

[RRL]

Tried doing a beef boneless roast.... failed pretty badly.. ended up being dry.

cooked at 240F to 140IT... then put in a pan with broth and cooked to 190 then pulled and wrapped for an hour... was still super dry.

 

[betarhoalphadelta]

I'm a huge fan of lamb, I've made smoked rack of lamb a couple times also, and it was phenomenal

Got some info on process? I've tried smoking leg of lamb, but never a rack. I usually grill the rack of lamb instead.

What temp, what IT do you cook to, etc? Do you marinate or rub? Do you have a step to sear it afterwards? I can't imagine it's on there long enough to develop much of a crust at smoking temps?

When I do rack of lamb, first of all I trim off the entire big chunk of fat that's covering ~3" of the bone. I then marinade in EVOO, Santa Maria seasoning, and Herbs de Provence. Take it out and cover the bones with foil so they don't char, sear it over high heat, then move to indirect until I get a reading of ~125 IT (let carryover cooking get it the rest of the way).

 

[betarhoalphadelta]

Ok... One more question about brisket. I promise (I think). Still a newb on this.

I put the brisket flat on this last saturday at ~7am. Injected with chicken broth prior to smoking and rubbed with salt and pepper/ Got it past 150 without crutching. Had the water, steamer thingy with HB hefe. Brisket was top rack in mt MES. at 185 I cranked the heat from 225 to 275 cuz I noticed that I didnt really have a bbark when I opened the MES. Pulled it at ~4pm and (it was at 275 for probably an hour) wrapped in foil, blanket, cooler. Served aout 3 hours later. The thing was delicious. I definitely will be doing it again. That being said, it was a little drier than Im used to with brisket. My friends didnt seem to think so but when I asked my wife, she knows I prefer honest criticism she said it was a touch dry, and I agree.

Any suggestions on what to do? Would brining help? It was so close to being absolutely awesome, but the slight dryness bummed me out a bit. Also didnt have a terrific smoke ring, but had smoke flavor, so Im not overly concerned about that.

1: You won't get a smoke ring from the MES.

2: Tough to say. Brisket is an art, and I find way too often that it's more dry than I prefer. Brining might help. Foiling or butcher paper might help (although with foil you get closer to that "pot roast" texture going). I like the moisture when foiling, but usually try to avoid it. And IMHO finding a thicker brisket helps too.

How did you measure doneness BTW? I find if it's just a bit underdone, often you end up with dry tough side. When overdone, it's dry and falling apart. Hitting that perfect middle where it's tender and moist is sometimes not easy...

 

[kev211]

1: You won't get a smoke ring from the MES.

2: Tough to say. Brisket is an art, and I find way too often that it's more dry than I prefer. Brining might help. Foiling or butcher paper might help (although with foil you get closer to that "pot roast" texture going). I like the moisture when foiling, but usually try to avoid it. And IMHO finding a thicker brisket helps too.

How did you measure doneness BTW? I find if it's just a bit underdone, often you end up with dry tough side. When overdone, it's dry and falling apart. Hitting that perfect middle where it's tender and moist is sometimes not easy...

Ya I had read somewhere that you cant get the smoke ring with the MES. But its not hyper important to me. As long as the stuff tastes good then Im happy.

I measured doneness by sticking a temp prob horizontally in the thickest part of the meat. I have read up on "probing" yet so I dont really know what Im doing/what to look for. Like I said, I took it to 194 to be exact and pulled it. I dont know if maybe I should have taken it off earlier or not. Maybe next time Ill try not turning the heat up so high to get a bark. Another thing that I noticed was the fat was pretrimmed and most was about 1/4" thick except probably 1//4 of the brisket where it had completely been removed. So that may have been part of the problem. Will probably go to the butcher next time instead of costco

 

[applescrap]

I wonder if it wasnt quite done kev. They can go to 200 or 205. The fat cap and its trim would have certainly mattered, Aaron Franklin speaks to that in that video. Also don't discount looking at the meat and finding a very good marbled piece, verse one that might have just been a little tougher and more lean. I cook everything at 275 and have never put anything in the pan. I tin foil it for easy clean up. I've seen people open them up and spray them every 30 minutes and such. I don't know if it helps, I just set it to 275 and pull it at the temp I want. I add Hickory and Cherry chips sometimes every 30min then 45 to 1hr , until done and if you do that then you will taste some smoke. I leave vent fully open and have since day one.

I have had two different expensive pellet grill meats that I don't think were as good. I can barely taste the smoke in most people's cooking. Made me wonder if I'm doing it wrong. So I tried using less smoke and it just didn't taste good to me. I think it's because it's just a super awesome system. The smoke comes from below the meat then right up through the vent. Wait till you see those two briskets from last night. I have a 14 pound pork shoulder waiting to go on, might just throw it on tonight. See with an electric smoker, looking at it through my back window, I can turn it on and use it whenever I want and I do.

@bwarbiany thanks for the cool threads. Had fun already peaking around.

 

[OleBrewing]

I'm a huge fan of lamb, I've made smoked rack of lamb a couple times also, and it was phenomenal

I just got done eating a delicious pork chop rice/wild rice with green beans, yellow squash, and zucchini and picture is still making me hungry.

lamb is definitely in my future.

 

[kev211]

I wonder if it wasnt quite done kev. They can go to 200 or 205. The fat cap and its trim would have certainly mattered, Aaron Franklin speaks to that in that video. Also don't discount looking at the meat and finding a very good marbled piece, verse one that might have just been a little tougher and more lean. I cook everything at 275 and have never put anything in the pan. I tin foil it for easy clean up. I've seen people open them up and spray them every 30 minutes and such. I don't know if it helps, I just set it to 275 and pull it at the temp I want. I add Hickory and Cherry chips sometimes every 30min then 45 to 1hr , until done and if you do that then you will taste some smoke. I leave vent fully open and have since day one.

I have had two different expensive pellet grill meats that I don't think were as good. I can barely taste the smoke in most people's cooking. Made me wonder if I'm doing it wrong. So I tried using less smoke and it just didn't taste good to me. I think it's because it's just a super awesome system. The smoke comes from below the meat then right up through the vent. Wait till you see those two briskets from last night. I have a 14 pound pork shoulder waiting to go on, might just throw it on tonight. See with an electric smoker, looking at it through my back window, I can turn it on and use it whenever I want and I do.

@bwarbiany thanks for the cool threads. Had fun already peaking around.

Good to know! Thanks! Maybe Ill have to give another one a shot this weekend

 

[jammin]

Pork Chops

 

[blizzard]

Ok... One more question about brisket. I promise (I think). Still a newb on this.

I put the brisket flat on this last saturday at ~7am. Injected with chicken broth prior to smoking and rubbed with salt and pepper/ Got it past 150 without crutching. Had the water, steamer thingy with HB hefe. Brisket was top rack in mt MES. at 185 I cranked the heat from 225 to 275 cuz I noticed that I didnt really have a bbark when I opened the MES. Pulled it at ~4pm and (it was at 275 for probably an hour) wrapped in foil, blanket, cooler. Served aout 3 hours later. The thing was delicious. I definitely will be doing it again. That being said, it was a little drier than Im used to with brisket. My friends didnt seem to think so but when I asked my wife, she knows I prefer honest criticism she said it was a touch dry, and I agree.

Any suggestions on what to do? Would brining help? It was so close to being absolutely awesome, but the slight dryness bummed me out a bit. Also didnt have a terrific smoke ring, but had smoke flavor, so Im not overly concerned about that.

Did you add any liquid when you foiled? That might help, and you can use almost anything.

 

[applescrap]

Pork Chops

Thats a cool picture.

 

[kev211]

Did you add any liquid when you foiled? That might help, and you can use almost anything.

I didn't foil. Didn't want to ruin the bark and made it past 150 no problem. Based on what I've read both here and on the interwebs, general consensus is to avoid foiling unless necessary. But on the brisekt it didn't seem to need it

 

[kev211]

Couldn't figure out what to cook tonight. Decided to break out my new meat grinder and ground up some Chuck and bacon and made burgs. Smoked em with 35% hickory 60% cherry and a smidge of mesquite. Turned out so good

View attachment 1494556851607.jpg

 

[applescrap]

Couldn't figure out what to cook tonight. Decided to break out my new meat grinder and ground up some Chuck and bacon and made burgs. Smoked em with 35% hickory 60% cherry and a smidge of mesquite. Turned out so good

Yes, that the spirit. Those look perfect, what temp did you pull them at? They look like 140.