Who's smoking meat this weekend?

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Nice find on that prime brisket...post some sliced pix!

My Costco stocks them all the time. They had 10 different prime ones and another 30 choices grade ones in the coolers today.

This is going to be my first one.
 
I have 3 racks of pork ribs and a salmon fillet that will hit the smoker this weekend when we go camping, a long weekend at a campsite in central minnesota on a golf course and smoking some food, I think that I will smoke some deviled eggs as well, and a keg of my clone of Todd The Axe Man and everything should be ok. I think that I will cut the racks into thirds and do a mix up up different dry rubs and sauces, leaving friday, cant wait!!!!!!!!!!!

Care to share the ax man clone recipe?
 
Thanks for the props. Jealous of you guys, I love brisket.
5AM call....
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IMG_3571.JPG

Got my hands on a used Weber charcoal grill.
Scraped, cleaned and replaced some grates.
Burning some charcoal to burn off any old stuff inside.
Then Try to smoke a London broil!
 
The ribs were freaking good. My hunch that I have been under cooking them was right. Took a break from pecan and used cherry and Hickory. Glad I did because ultimately cherry and hickory I think taste better. But that peculiar taste of pecan will always keep it every rotation for me.

I never make my own rubs but decided to spice this one myself. 2 to 1 sugar to salt. The sugar was 50% Brown and 50% white. Not wanting to over spice it for the kids I used small amounts. I used bright red Mexican chilli powder, a dash nutmeg, dash all spice, dash cayenne pepper, garlic powder, dash cumin, dash of onion powder, and dash of thyme. Didn't get great pic.
20190525_172943.jpeg
 
The ribs were freaking good. My hunch that I have been under cooking them was right. Took a break from pecan and used cherry and Hickory. Glad I did because ultimately cherry and hickory I think taste better. But that peculiar taste of pecan will always keep it every rotation for me.

Just made my first batch of ribs a few days ago (no pics). They turned out pretty damn good. I think I waited a bit to long before I started to spray them down hut they were still quite moist. Not quite fall-off-the-bone tender but close.

Have to thank you @applescrap for the heads up on the hickory-cherry blend. I’ve been using it for practically everything. Ribeye, brisket, hot dogs, burgers, ribs, you name it. Its a great go-to. Haven’t tried it with chicken yet because I use an GMGs pellet premix of red oak, maple and hickory.
 
First attempt at smoking a London broil or beef.

MIL showed early, which made SWMBO push for dinner sooner.
Rushed into process. Used too much chili powder & paprika.
Coals were too hot and couldn’t wait for them to drop to 225.
Threw on at 325. Threw on some pecan chips.
Smoke was quick. Then flipped after 30 mins.
Pulled and wrapped at 145. (SWMBO doesn’t like rare, or any pink that resembles rare).

The meat came out med-well.
Over spiced. But I loved the pecan smoke.
Come to find out SWMBO does not like pecan or any smoke.

I will try again this weekend with a Steak. Only rub with s&p. will cook at lower temp. Will try to pull before it cooks to med.

Nobody does it right, first couple times, right?
IMG_0004.JPG


Please don’t judge too harshly!
But it does tastes really good!
 
First attempt at smoking a London broil or beef.

MIL showed early, which made SWMBO push for dinner sooner.
Rushed into process. Used too much chili powder & paprika.
Coals were too hot and couldn’t wait for them to drop to 225.
Threw on at 325. Threw on some pecan chips.
Smoke was quick. Then flipped after 30 mins.
Pulled and wrapped at 145. (SWMBO doesn’t like rare, or any pink that resembles rare).

The meat came out med-well.
Over spiced. But I loved the pecan smoke.
Come to find out SWMBO does not like pecan or any smoke.

I will try again this weekend with a Steak. Only rub with s&p. will cook at lower temp. Will try to pull before it cooks to med.

Nobody does it right, first couple times, right?View attachment 628808

Please don’t judge too harshly!
But it does tastes really good!
Never thought of smoking a LondonBroil. Kudos! You'll 1 up it next time. Guaranteed!
 
First attempt at smoking a London broil or beef.

MIL showed early, which made SWMBO push for dinner sooner.
Rushed into process. Used too much chili powder & paprika.
Coals were too hot and couldn’t wait for them to drop to 225.
Threw on at 325. Threw on some pecan chips.
Smoke was quick. Then flipped after 30 mins.
Pulled and wrapped at 145. (SWMBO doesn’t like rare, or any pink that resembles rare).

The meat came out med-well.
Over spiced. But I loved the pecan smoke.
Come to find out SWMBO does not like pecan or any smoke.

I will try again this weekend with a Steak. Only rub with s&p. will cook at lower temp. Will try to pull before it cooks to med.

Nobody does it right, first couple times, right?View attachment 628808

Please don’t judge too harshly!
But it does tastes really good!
Yeah great idea to smoke a London. My mom loves those. Pecan! On your way now. Salt only for me on steak. Yep, anything that cooks to 140 ish goes fast. Pork loin, pork tenderloin, rump roast, etc...super quick. I try to pump as much smoke as I can. Wrapping after finish I wonder about. I feel like with beef it keeps cooking? Idk but I pull and let sit if it's at a temp I want anymore. Any thoughts here anyone. Eating reheated smoked chuck. Chuck has a serious problem. Seems there cant be enough of it ever.
 
Yeah great idea to smoke a London. My mom loves those. Pecan! On your way now. Salt only for me on steak. Yep, anything that cooks to 140 ish goes fast. Pork loin, pork tenderloin, rump roast, etc...super quick. I try to pump as much smoke as I can. Wrapping after finish I wonder about. I feel like with beef it keeps cooking? Idk but I pull and let sit if it's at a temp I want anymore. Any thoughts here anyone. Eating reheated smoked chuck. Chuck has a serious problem. Seems there cant be enough of it ever.
Do you do any searing?
 
No, but am willing to learn more! I always smoke at 275 smokers top temp. It sears substantially better than 225 imo. But sure pull a little early and sear, I would be up for that. Cast iron or Blackstone griddle, grill maybe. Do you sear quick smokers? You know I am lazy.
 
No, but am willing to learn more! I always smoke at 275 smokers top temp. It sears substantially better than 225 imo. But sure pull a little early and sear, I would be up for that. Cast iron or Blackstone griddle, grill maybe. Do you sear quick smokers? You know I am lazy.
Never smoked steak but I do sear. Just thinking smoking a ribeye then a quick sear on charcoal might be nice or the other way around.
 

Nice! My first smoker was a masterbuilt 40" propane and it was great. SOOOO much capacity, because you can fit 2 racks of ribs per shelf, or a brisket, without having to cut them in half like the 30" version.

And that's a great deal!
 
Cool. Part of me is very tempted by one of those or a pellet smoker.

However, my Brinkman Trailmaster series is going great after 5 years so far (I coated the firebox with high-temp paint and sealed the edges with high-temp silicone, so I think that is a big reason why it's held up so well.) and I can't really justifty another at this point.
I do picnic shoulders a couple times a year and I would like to do a 18+ hour smoke without having to get up in the wee hours of the morning to tend it. So far I plan to serve Sundays, so I get it on as early Saturday as I can, let it go as long as I can Sat night, then foil it and put in a cooler overnight. Sunday morning, I put it into the oven at 225 - 235 or so (depends on how many hours it was on Sat) to finish off. It seems to work well, except I don't get that crisp outer skin this way.
 
Cool. Part of me is very tempted by one of those or a pellet smoker.

However, my Brinkman Trailmaster series is going great after 5 years so far (I coated the firebox with high-temp paint and sealed the edges with high-temp silicone, so I think that is a big reason why it's held up so well.) and I can't really justifty another at this point.
I do picnic shoulders a couple times a year and I would like to do a 18+ hour smoke without having to get up in the wee hours of the morning to tend it. So far I plan to serve Sundays, so I get it on as early Saturday as I can, let it go as long as I can Sat night, then foil it and put in a cooler overnight. Sunday morning, I put it into the oven at 225 - 235 or so (depends on how many hours it was on Sat) to finish off. It seems to work well, except I don't get that crisp outer skin this way.
This led me to the old brinkmann smokers that apparently weighed 235 pounds and were made with 1/4in thick steel. So now I am on the lookout. Anyone have one of those?

Yeah your brinkmann looks awesome!! Electric is a different deal.
 
This led me to the old brinkmann smokers that apparently weighed 235 pounds and were made with 1/4in thick steel. So now I am on the lookout. Anyone have one of those?

Yeah your brinkmann looks awesome!! Electric is a different deal.
Yep, that's my Brinkman. It's not quite 1/4 inch, but it's pretty heavy duty.
Brinkman is out of business, I believe, but I think this is the same one, or close enough -
https://www.homedepot.com/p/Char-Gr...arcoal-or-Wood-Smoker-in-Black-8125/206282469
It's about the price I paid too.
They had a Traeger Pellet grill on sale a couple weeks ago, $600, normally $900 or something, that I was tempted by... but SWMBO nixed that idea.
Just as well, the Brinkmann works great for me.
 
did my first brisket (9.5# Costco prime) in a Texas style smoker last weekend, and also my first use of Mesquite chunks instead of Hickory, Apple, and/or Cherry. was my first attempt using a side chamber for indirect heat and smoke after years of utilizing a fridge style gas smoker.

loaded in around 5:30A and all was going well until the winds picked up around 11A and it was impossible to keep the chamber above 195F, so I wrapped in foil and loaded into the oven to finish off. pulled from the oven around 3P and set into an igloo cooler until 5:30P so the juices could redistribute until it was time to serve.

best brisket I've done to date with the exception that my grain reference cut was insufficient to reference at serving time, so my initial cut was nearly parallel with the grain instead of perpendicular - grrrrr

didn't really care for the Mesquite, so next time it's back to Hickory, Apple, and/or Cherry. I'm also going to utilize a 1-2 day dry brine instead of an overnight immersion brine like I typically do to see what difference that makes.

even though the wind caused me some temp issues, they were late in the game and well past the point of good smoke with proper smoke ring
 
did my first brisket (9.5# Costco prime) in a Texas style smoker last weekend, and also my first use of Mesquite chunks instead of Hickory, Apple, and/or Cherry. was my first attempt using a side chamber for indirect heat and smoke after years of utilizing a fridge style gas smoker.

loaded in around 5:30A and all was going well until the winds picked up around 11A and it was impossible to keep the chamber above 195F, so I wrapped in foil and loaded into the oven to finish off. pulled from the oven around 3P and set into an igloo cooler until 5:30P so the juices could redistribute until it was time to serve.

best brisket I've done to date with the exception that my grain reference cut was insufficient to reference at serving time, so my initial cut was nearly parallel with the grain instead of perpendicular - grrrrr

didn't really care for the Mesquite, so next time it's back to Hickory, Apple, and/or Cherry. I'm also going to utilize a 1-2 day dry brine instead of an overnight immersion brine like I typically do to see what difference that makes.

even though the wind caused me some temp issues, they were late in the game and well past the point of good smoke with proper smoke ring
Think you'll like the hickory/cherry combo. I use mustard to coat then Tony's to dry rub.
 
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