Who's smoking meat this weekend?

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Wanted to share some pics of my Pork Butt smoke from Monday but my Photobucket app is being stupid.

I smoked an 8.5lb butt at 235F for 8 hours and was around 180F IT. Since dinner time was approaching I turned it up to 250 for 2 hrs and then to 265F for 2 hrs. I never thought it would finish. I finally hit 199F at the 12 hr mark. Didn't have time to wrap for a rest as my family was getting very hangry!! I chopped it up and it turned out great. I need to start butts when I go to bed instead of first thing in the am! Ugghhh!
 
I did some 3 - 2 - 1 ribs this weekend, first time using the akorn grill. worked very well.

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I can get a Memphis select pellet smoker for $750. Should I pull the trigger?

Fa-reaking absolutely! I've had mine for about 4 years and it's amazing. Puts the Traeger I had for a few years to shame. It holds temp extremely well and is easy to clean with the thick gauge stainless
 
I thought these type of grills were basically electric that used pellets instead of chips. The fact they are the fire makes perfect sense. I wonder if pellets would work cooking with them in a grill or bge. I assume they would great. Only difference is they would be hand-fed. I'm sure they light really easy and get really hot. It seems just any old Weber kettle Grill could benefit from cooking with pellets, no?. I almost went with pellet stove over gas inserts inside house. I need a gas grill, but this type of grill seems like it would be just as easy to use. Is this grill the one and done?
 
I thought these type of grills were basically electric that used pellets instead of chips. The fact they are the fire makes perfect sense. I wonder if pellets would work cooking with them in a grill or bge. I assume they would great. Only difference is they would be hand-fed. I'm sure they light really easy and get really hot. It seems just any old Weber kettle Grill could benefit from cooking with pellets, no?. I almost went with pellet stove over gas inserts inside house. I need a gas grill, but this type of grill seems like it would be just as easy to use. Is this grill the one and done?

Bear in mind, I don't own a pellet grill (I own two kamado grills and previously grilled/smoked with propane).

1) Generally you don't use pellets in a charcoal grill or BGE/kamado. The kamado is so well insulated that you want a small fire, and because of the volatile compounds in wood you can't have an overly hot fire in there. You need to use charcoal as your main combustion source, with wood (or perhaps pellets) as a flavor addition. But for a kamado, there's no real reason to use pellets over wood chunks.

2) From everything I understand, the pellet grill is as easy, if not even easier, than a gas grill. You have the electric temperature control so you can control temps automatically rather than a gas grill which is manual. Ease of use is IMHO similar.

3) One of the biggest critiques of pellet grills is that they don't get hot enough to do much real searing. They're great for smoking, for roasting, etc. But if you want to put a crust on a steak, you need more heat. There are workarounds for this (such as a product called GrillGrates) that can help. But it's just tough to get high, direct, heat on to food. So IMHO it's *almost* a "one and done" grill, and I'd consider it an absolutely perfect grill to be paired with a simple weber kettle on which you could sear most anything.

4) Another point regarding gas vs. pellet is two-zone cooking. There are a lot of times where you want to have a cold area of your grill and a hot area. Gas grills, with multiple burners, allow you to have a side of the grill ready for direct heat and a side where you get indirect heat. You can't really do this with a pellet grill. It's going to be pretty even across the whole surface. This is better for smoking, of course, but sometimes not as good for grilling.

I'm torn right now on the decision of gasser vs pellet. I'm going to need a grill that's just a little easier to deal with than the kamados, particularly for those after-work grilling sessions where I don't want to mess with charcoal. I'm still not sure which way to go, especially since I can always fire up the small kamado for searing if necessary. But I'm thinking it might be gas.
 
^well said.

Pellets def. don't work for anything other than pellet grills though.

@bwarbiany - the Fast Eddy's PG500 has 2 zone cooking & serious searing. Expensive but might be fun to look at given your criteria.
 
I bought a pellet grill recently, it is great for chicken, ribs, and brisket. We also did a pork tenderloin that turned out well. I think if it as an oven with smoke, and still use a propane grill for burgers, steaks, and boneless chicken breasts.
 
I'm torn right now on the decision of gasser vs pellet. I'm going to need a grill that's just a little easier to deal with than the kamados, particularly for those after-work grilling sessions where I don't want to mess with charcoal. I'm still not sure which way to go, especially since I can always fire up the small kamado for searing if necessary. But I'm thinking it might be gas.


Have you looked at the Weber performer (coal and gas). I've been using one for years and it's pretty easy to get the coals going fir an evening burger.
 
Got a used weber tonight. Reaaaaalllly old silver genesis. My friend who used to sell them said they will last forever and that it was ok to buy one. The burners seem fine a little rust going on, the flavor bars were upgraded to ss but are older (blackened) and he got new grates at same time, again older. For 80 i am very happy. Our cheap walmart grill is always catching on fire. I am super stoked and cant wait to use it. I think just having the removable drip tray is huge. Plus it sits way lower than the cheap grill. Thats why i think, allbrhe drippings were always lighting on fire. Figured could buy new grates and bars pretty cheap.
 
Got a used weber tonight. Reaaaaalllly old silver genesis. My friend who used to sell them said they will last forever and that it was ok to buy one. The burners seem fine a little rust going on, the flavor bars were upgraded to ss but are older (blackened) and he got new grates at same time, again older. For 80 i am very happy. Our cheap walmart grill is always catching on fire. I am super stoked and cant wait to use it. I think just having the removable drip tray is huge. Plus it sits way lower than the cheap grill. Thats why i think, allbrhe drippings were always lighting on fire. Figured could buy new grates and bars pretty cheap.

We bought one of these new about 7 years ago. NEVER thought of owning a gas grill, having only grilled over charcoal/oakwood for many years. Visited some family and they gave us some great grilled boneless/skinless chicken thighs that had been cooked on their Weber and came right home and bought one.

They're really nice for when you don't want to wait for a charcoal/wood fire to get going. Ours has a little box you can put smoker chips in if you want to get some of that flavor going, but we don't use it that much - the flavorizer bars really work pretty well to get some good flavors from the fat and juices that drip down as the meat cooks.

Still prefer steaks over a "real" fire of charcoal/oak, but otherwise, for quick and dirty, you can't beat that gas grill. We've kept it on our covered back porch and we use a big Weber cover for the winter months, so it has stayed nice all this time.

Hope you get lots of enjoyment out of it - $80 isn't bad at all, and yeah, replacing the parts that need it is pretty simple and will make it good as new! :rockin:
 
Have you looked at the Weber performer (coal and gas). I've been using one for years and it's pretty easy to get the coals going fir an evening burger.

Well, if I'm going to mess with charcoal, I'll just fire up one of the kamados. The smaller one does heat up pretty quickly if I need it to, but gas would be easier.

Plus, I want something that my girlfriend can easily light and use as well. She's probably not going to mess with charcoal and fire management.
 
Well, if I'm going to mess with charcoal, I'll just fire up one of the kamados. The smaller one does heat up pretty quickly if I need it to, but gas would be easier.

Plus, I want something that my girlfriend can easily light and use as well. She's probably not going to mess with charcoal and fire management.

This is a good point in choosing a gas grill - who is likely to use it? KOTC has full reign over the charcoal/wood-fired stuff - and we have a Weber kettle grill, and small Weber tabletop grill he uses for steaks and such, and a big Brinkmann offset smoker. I will, and do, use the gas grill and really enjoy the convenience as well as the quality of the stuff it produces. It's a nice alternative for many things.
 
I have some thick pork chops marinating in 4tbl brown sugar, 2 tbl soy sauce, 2 tbl oil, 1 tbl citrus champagne vinegar, and 1/2 tsp ginger, what did i leave out, besides garlic which I am out of? I need a solid brown sugar marinade recipe if anyone has one. Cant wait to use this grill.
 
So the grill is amazing as touted. It lights really well and has two burners, one in back and one in front that shoot gas out of a hundred little holes or so. The cast iron grates put to much sear on the meat. I am going to a constant flip method so not to worried. The way it cooks, keeps heat, and the results are unbelievable. It feels like cooking over a hot charcoal fire.

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Also didn't smoke, but grilled up some grouper last night. I used this marinade, but didn't get tuna steaks as apparently there's a Hepatitis A scare right now with tuna steaks.

My girlfriend cooked this up as a side in the wok...

Heck of a meal :D

That marinade is great, I've been using my own version of it for years! Everyone I make it for loves it
 
Semi-related: So when the power company comes into your back yard to trim trees near the electric line, they just leave the limbs where they fall and nope the hell out of there. That's exactly what happened at my parents' house the other day, so I offered to come clean it up.

The tree is mulberry, so I'm definitely bringing some of the wood home. After it cures in the garage for a while, it's going in the WSM.

ETA: Checked the Dept of Natural Resources rules about moving wood - the transport I'm planning is okay.
 
Fa-reaking absolutely! I've had mine for about 4 years and it's amazing. Puts the Traeger I had for a few years to shame. It holds temp extremely well and is easy to clean with the thick gauge stainless


I got the person all the way down to $700 for it and got vetoed by the wife. FML
 
Fa-reaking absolutely! I've had mine for about 4 years and it's amazing. Puts the Traeger I had for a few years to shame. It holds temp extremely well and is easy to clean with the thick gauge stainless


I got the person all the way down to $700 for it and got vetoed by the wife. FML
 
WHYYYYYYY??? Does she not enjoy it when you cook good stuff and she doesn't have to do it inside the house?

Sorry about that - sounded like such a great deal. I'd have let my husband have it! (not that he'd have needed to ask me anyway) :)
 
firing up the Fast Eddy again this weekend for a family only BBQ (youngest son is graduating HS)

Need to keep it simple: wings, hot dogs and tri-tip (which I'll finish in the grill).

FYI, hot dogs in the smoker are awesome and a lot more relaxing to cook than on the grill.
 
Today, I plan on turning an 8 pound bone-in pork shoulder into pulled pork. I am going to go the hybrid route, and begin by covering it with two layers of heavy-duty aluminum foil and cooking it for two hours in the gas grill. Then, I will take it off, carefully unwrap it and save all that wonderful juice for later. Then, it will go on the smoker using regular charcoal, lump charcoal and some nice chunks of hickory. I'll check the temp after about two hours on the smoker, see if it needs more time and go from there.

glenn514:mug:
 
Today, I plan on turning an 8 pound bone-in pork shoulder into pulled pork. I am going to go the hybrid route, and begin by covering it with two layers of heavy-duty aluminum foil and cooking it for two hours in the gas grill. Then, I will take it off, carefully unwrap it and save all that wonderful juice for later. Then, it will go on the smoker using regular charcoal, lump charcoal and some nice chunks of hickory. I'll check the temp after about two hours on the smoker, see if it needs more time and go from there.

glenn514:mug:

Hey Glenn! How nice to see you! Hope you're doing well?

Your pulled pork sounds wonderful.
 
Hey, Temptd2! Each day is a micro-step in the healing process, but when you add all those micro-steps up, I think I've come a long way. Regarding the pulled pork, I did it similar to what I mentioned above the first time I made it...except I threw out the juices! :(:( The second time I made it, I kept the juices...and that was some excellent pulled pork! Sure hope this one turns out tasty and tender!

glenn514:mug:
 
Even though the internal temp was 191°F last night, it just did NOT want to be pulled. So, I let it sit on the stove top overnight, turned the roast over and put it back in the oven at 275°F for two hours. Then, finally, it cooperated and pulled easily. I added back in about 3/4 cup of the juices, and also put in a bit of Baby Ray's Honey Barbeque Sauce. It turned out tender and VERY delicious.

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How long is red meat good for, uncooked but refrigerated? I bought a bison tri-tip last Sunday and was gonna smoke it but time got away from me. Am I still good to smoke it tonight? Or is it probably not good at this point?
 
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