Who's smoking meat this weekend?

Williams 728
Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
So now that is is over I can give the details. My wife and I were asked to cook for about 45 Medal of Honor recipients and their families and guests yesterday. They are in my town for a big convention and this was one of the events set up for them. It was a "Ranch Rodeo" and it had to be cooked on site. We cooked a 90 lbs hog, about 100 lbs of pork butts, 120 lbs of beef brisket and 30 lbs of salmon for 250 people. So with the help of a couple of friends and my wife we cooked for about 18 hours to get it done.

We started prepping the hog on Thursday night. We cut the legs off and cleaned out the inside of all extra fat and silverskin. We also used a torch to burn off any hair that was missed when the processor scalded and scraped. We washed it and scrubbed the skin well. We then stuffed the body with sausage and trussed it shut. We would have cooked it belly side up but it was for a presentation so we has to cook it belly side down. It went in the cooker at about midnight. We kept it on the cooker at 250 and used pecan and apple for wood. The hog took about 16 hours to cook. The brisket and pork hit the smokers at about 8:00 am. We ran the cookers at 250 until we wrapped the meat and then we bumped to 275. They took about 9 hours to finish.

We pulled the hog and let it cool a little. We then dressed it up for the presentation. This was fun as the rack was greasy so it was slick and we had to carry it about 50 feet to present it while everyone watched. We presented the hog to the President of the Medal of Honor group. I was beyond nervous. I can't remember the last time I was that nervous.

Overall I am happy with how it went. It was an amazing amount of work but we were so honored to do it. My biggest disappointment was only getting to meet a coupe of the MOH recipients as we were so busy. They really are humble and just every day people.

IMG_1381.jpg


IMG_1364.jpg


IMG_1367.jpg


IMG_1391.jpg


IMG_1395.jpg


IMG_5251.jpg


IMG_5256.jpg


IMG_5261.jpg
 
Been enjoying a Pit Barrel Cooker for the last year, but wanted another smoker that would cook a little lower for the few times per year where I do large cooks and need extra capacity. So I got a 22.5" Weber Smokey Mountain. Burned it in earlier this week and had my first cook yesterday. Brisket turned out well.

Qnjb2zr.jpg
 
applescrap said:
Tried to cook ribs and butt frozen. Straight from freezer. No sugar as temps are too high until end. Wish I would have gone indirect heat sooner. I think this is a decent enough method when in a pinch but eventually the meat must go indirect or it will char before inside is done. Not sure what to think really.
Click to expand...

I think you don't have a clue as to what you do, frozen? Really.

Frozen veggies are a nice touch.
 
applescrap said:
Tried to cook ribs and butt frozen. Straight from freezer. No sugar as temps are too high until end. Wish I would have gone indirect heat sooner. I think this is a decent enough method when in a pinch but eventually the meat must go indirect or it will char before inside is done. Not sure what to think really.
Click to expand...

Generally you only cook ribs or butt indirect*.

Trying to cook them direct will char them before they get tender whether they start frozen or not.

* Ribs are sometimes finished over direct heat, but not until after they're cooked to tender.
 
The ribs and butt were tasty, albeit, a little plain. Dont know why I went direct,..hey pass the bbq sauce. I have done more than a couple butts on a propane indirectly at higher temps. I think they were doing well frozen but I should have backed off on the butt a little earlier. I think I would do both from frozen again with mix of direct and indirect. Preference being thawed, high quality, and fresh for sure though! Every time I buy in bulk I don't plan the thaw well enough.
 
Brickman said:
So now that is is over I can give the details. My wife and I were asked to cook for about 45 Medal of Honor recipients and their families and guests yesterday. They are in my town for a big convention and this was one of the events set up for them. It was a "Ranch Rodeo" and it had to be cooked on site. We cooked a 90 lbs hog, about 100 lbs of pork butts, 120 lbs of beef brisket and 30 lbs of salmon for 250 people. So with the help of a couple of friends and my wife we cooked for about 18 hours to get it done.



We started prepping the hog on Thursday night. We cut the legs off and cleaned out the inside of all extra fat and silverskin. We also used a torch to burn off any hair that was missed when the processor scalded and scraped. We washed it and scrubbed the skin well. We then stuffed the body with sausage and trussed it shut. We would have cooked it belly side up but it was for a presentation so we has to cook it belly side down. It went in the cooker at about midnight. We kept it on the cooker at 250 and used pecan and apple for wood. The hog took about 16 hours to cook. The brisket and pork hit the smokers at about 8:00 am. We ran the cookers at 250 until we wrapped the meat and then we bumped to 275. They took about 9 hours to finish.



We pulled the hog and let it cool a little. We then dressed it up for the presentation. This was fun as the rack was greasy so it was slick and we had to carry it about 50 feet to present it while everyone watched. We presented the hog to the President of the Medal of Honor group. I was beyond nervous. I can't remember the last time I was that nervous.



Overall I am happy with how it went. It was an amazing amount of work but we were so honored to do it. My biggest disappointment was only getting to meet a coupe of the MOH recipients as we were so busy. They really are humble and just every day people.
Click to expand...


Wow! That's impressive.

You cooked the pig without flipping it at all?
 
applescrap said:
The ribs and butt were tasty, albeit, a little plain. Dont know why I went direct,..hey pass the bbq sauce. I have done more than a couple butts on a propane indirectly at higher temps. I think they were doing well frozen but I should have backed off on the butt a little earlier. I think I would do both from frozen again with mix of direct and indirect. Preference being thawed, high quality, and fresh for sure though! Every time I buy in bulk I don't plan the thaw well enough.
Click to expand...

I prefer buying in bulk also. what you should do is season a couple racks/rumps and keepem in the fridge then freeze. like I told the wife when I smoked some chicken quarters. it may only cost 67 cents a pound but takes 24 hrs to cook (including brine time)
 
Smoked a chuck roast. Rubbed with a spice blend from gourmet deli. Pulled at 190, in little one. Little one a little dry, bigger one was perfect. Sooo good. 7.5 hours mix of 250 and 275. Cherry and hickory.
 
applescrap said:
Smoked a chuck roast. Rubbed with a spice blend from gourmet deli. Pulled at 190, in little one. Little one a little dry, bigger one was perfect. Sooo good. 7.5 hours mix of 250 and 275. Cherry and hickory.
Click to expand...

With all the pointers you got from the peanut gallery here I'm sure it came out great haha:tank:
 
Sam's Club had a killer deal on Pork Butts, so I grabbed a nice big 8+ pounder and smoked that sucker on Sunday. I spent way too long standing at the cooler picking through the meat until I found the right marbling.

80-img_20171007_184149866_1cd425d318d8a695a1c6e62b4a36ff6e7527a252.jpg


Dry rubbed the night before and gave it plenty of time to sit overnight

80-img_20171007_184601673_e0094bbfafd150e1517bf45597836420a6466a89.jpg


I changed up my technique a bit and used a mixture of apple cider and apple cider vinegar to mop/spray on the meat instead of just water, I think it made the meat way more juicy than just using water

80-img_20171008_160653631_4b53161cc99d558d7b8bc1370899de88fd89645d.jpg


Finished product

80-img_20171008_185231808_37caee81b3f43f07a8c1d26ff5c3184918ada29a.jpg


And pulled apart, GF and I agree that this is by far the tastiest and juiciest pulled pork I've made yet

80-img_20171008_194349702_9ae36d720f3c917e7949817de70947ad54f8987a.jpg
 
Anyone with an MES have any suggestions for getting a better bark? Mine seems to be decent on pork shoulder, but virtually non-existent on brisket. I know it varies depending on your process, but even when Ive tried changing up rub, temp, foil vs non foil, etc I still cant seem to get a decent bark. I know from reading that I wont get as good a bark on an MES as I would on a wood burner, but theres gotta be a way to at least get some kind of bark
 
so i was smoking bacon wrapped jalapeno and cream cheese on the grill and decided to put the ribeye on for the what do they call it "reverse sear". smoke it for a little while took it off to do the shrimp and chicken kabobs, then grilled it turn out amazing. already ate most before the pic

20171008_185604.jpg
 
kev211 said:
Anyone with an MES have any suggestions for getting a better bark? Mine seems to be decent on pork shoulder, but virtually non-existent on brisket. I know it varies depending on your process, but even when Ive tried changing up rub, temp, foil vs non foil, etc I still cant seem to get a decent bark. I know from reading that I wont get as good a bark on an MES as I would on a wood burner, but theres gotta be a way to at least get some kind of bark
Click to expand...

I don't think there should be anything about the MES that stops you from having bark. You won't really get a "smoke ring" from an MES, but you should get bark.

What about a water pan? One of the ways bark forms is from the surface of the meat drying out. I could see if you have a very humid cooking chamber that perhaps this would be less prominent?
 
bwarbiany said:
I don't think there should be anything about the MES that stops you from having bark. You won't really get a "smoke ring" from an MES, but you should get bark.

What about a water pan? One of the ways bark forms is from the surface of the meat drying out. I could see if you have a very humid cooking chamber that perhaps this would be less prominent?
Click to expand...

Could be. Maybe I'll try with less water next time. I think maybe I use too much water because I don't want it to all evaporate out
 
Ham almost at 130 and ready for glaze. Using a pecan, apple juice, bouron, mustard, molasses glaze minus a bunch because we dont have it. Oh well, pics to come
 
Looks great. I never get the presliced but it would make sense. Probably get more of that glaze deeper into the meat
 
Good sale on baby backs so I put a few on the gas grill. I raised the grates up and wired them to the upper rack in the back. Set the burners on low and let 'em go for about three hours. Worked last time. We'll find out how this batch came out in a few minutes...

15360-68422.jpeg
 
kev211 said:
Anyone with an MES have any suggestions for getting a better bark? Mine seems to be decent on pork shoulder, but virtually non-existent on brisket. I know it varies depending on your process, but even when Ive tried changing up rub, temp, foil vs non foil, etc I still cant seem to get a decent bark. I know from reading that I wont get as good a bark on an MES as I would on a wood burner, but theres gotta be a way to at least get some kind of bark
Click to expand...

Spray a mop or juice on with a spray bottle, that's the best way to get a bark to caramelize
 
Need to thank jammin and others for leading me to the light. Applying the same principles from the steak discussion has helped me to understand what I like so much more. Ill explain, the last time that 5 dollar a pound rib eye was on sale, I got like 20 pounds of it. We came to realize that the best thing we could do is use it for taco meat. I realized it was overpriced at any price. Applying these same ideas to other foods and aspects of life has really been enjoyable. Using the best quality indredients i can find has produced dishes of amazing quality. I tasted a simple organic tomato sauce out of the can the other day and was blown away by its quality and flavor. Anyways it has been enjoyable enough that I wanted to say thanks and pass along the joy. I got brakes for my car and she said10 dollars more for the carbon and I said absolutely. It made me realize how cheap brakes are like the bad steak.
 

Similar threads

D
🔥 Smoking cured sausage to IT 152F within 4h without rendering fat (?)
Replies
7
Views
578
beren
beren
R
My Smoke Vault Propane smoker
Replies
19
Views
1K
faithie999
F
TallDan
What happened with my pulled pork today?
Replies
10
Views
2K
betarhoalphadelta
betarhoalphadelta
D
Smoking mountain lion meat???
2
Replies
53
Views
10K
TGFV
T
odorf
prepare to drool
Replies
20
Views
2K
Zuljin
Zuljin
InkBird 300

Latest posts

Back
Top