Who's smoking meat this weekend?

[1bottlerocket]

I also have a 57cm Weber. I installed a Fireboard unit and a Slow-n-Sear. The Fireboard gives some very steady temperature control, sort of set-it-and-forget-it and the Slow-n-Sear holds enough fuel for about 6-8 hours of smoking. With the Slow-n-Sear I have also went to using wood chunks and they burn a lot longer.

Here is a shot searing some Filets and a bratwurst:

And with a bone-in pork butt:
This was about an 8-9 hour smoke using pecan.

 

[betarhoalphadelta]

Here is a shot searing some Filets and a bratwurst:
View attachment 726297

Looks like a "happy" grill ;-)

What I mean with 'flavoured' wood is more woods that are suited to a specific flavour, like mesquite, yes. It's actually the one I've had the most issues with as well. I tend to get the smoke just right, but I haven't used mesquite in a while due to that bitter flavour. Could also be due to bad fire practice during my time learning how to do it all, though.

Yeah, mesquite is stronger, and people have wildly different tolerances to smoke flavor. Some people are much more sensitive to it.

As for fire practice, you can tell based purely on the smoke. If it's thin, almost translucent bluish smoke, you're good. If you've got white smoke, it's bad. Basically all smoking wood has volatile organic compounds [VOCs] that taste nasty. There are two ways to manage it:

1. If you have a smoker that requires a hot fire, such as an offset stick-burner, you have to have a fire hot enough to burn off those VOCs before you put the meat on. In an enclosed (especially vertical) smoker like a weber kettle, WSM, kamado, etc, you can't keep the temp at the grate low enough for smoking temps with a fire that big.
2. Otherwise you keep a very low temp with charcoal and add just enough smoking wood that you keep it smoldering instead of actively combusting. Usually when you light the fire, it takes a while for it to stabilize and get to a temp where this works. If you continue to see thick white smoke, you're doing it wrong.

It's much like a campfire--when you light a campfire it's nasty because you don't have enough heat to burn off the VOCs. But once there is a nice bed of coals you can throw a brand new log on top and the VOCs combust.

 

[Toxxyc]

Yeah I learned that the hard way. First smoke was done with the bottom vents wide open, only throttling at the top vent. Every time I opened the lid, this thick plume of white smoke erupted from the Weber and covered half the yard, and I thought "wow this is going to be awesome".

It was not, in fact, awesome. Only later did I realize "smoking" is perhaps a misnomer. You're not looking for smoke, you're looking for a clean burn. A tiny trickle of smoke from the top vent now is all I know I need. Top vents generally about pencil-width open, and then I control the temperature by the bottom vent.

I read something that made sense to me: You want to control your fire by the amount of oxygen you feed it, by controlling the bottom vent. You don't want to smother your fire in it's own smoke by closing the top vent with all that hot smoke in the kettle. That's what causes bad flavours.

 

[Rodent]

Did somebody say meatloaf?!!

So yesterday, this

became this

and with the assistance of a couple chunks of Pecan, it became this (barely managed to get an image of the second loaf before it also was savagely devoured)

 

[JJinMD]

Not this weekend, but next weekend, because PSA: Sam's Club had prime grade packer briskets for $3.48/lb this morning.

Dry brining starts today!

 

[passedpawn]

results are in, not perfect, but a decent start.
The wings were great and will definately get a repeat performance.
The pork was not quite pullable, so likely would have benefitted from more time.

Since all I had was birchwood, the smokiness was a bit too strong, have to go to the cottage to get a few bags of alder for smoking

pork needs to be 205F to be pullable. I've removed when under 200F and it was not time.

 

[passedpawn]

I caved in and got an A-Maze-N smoker for my smoker (haha). Anyway, worked really well. These baby backs are about 2/6 hours into the cook. Also, a glass of my incredibly-crushable german pilsner.

 

[betarhoalphadelta]

pork needs to be 205F to be pullable. I've removed when under 200F and it was not time.

I usually use the probe test rather than temp... When an instant read thermometer slides in (once you're past the bark) with no resistance, you're done.

Depending on cook temp and time, that could be at several different finishing temps.

 

[Toxxyc]

pork needs to be 205F to be pullable. I've removed when under 200F and it was not time.

Depends on the time as well. I've made pork to 205 quickly, and it didn't pull the best. I've made it to 200 before as well, but it stayed there for several hours, and it just fell apart on it's own.

 

[jerrylotto]

Sous Vide today

 

[Cammanron]

Last weekend

 

[cfrazier77]

Smoking pulled pork for 400 sammies.... fund raiser. Pictures from last time.

 

[Erik the Anglophile]

Cold smoked these chuckrolls overnight, now they will become overnight chili.

 

[betarhoalphadelta]

Smoked chuck roast... ~3.25#.

Temp/time?

Thinking of doing it with a typical brisket-style rub, just S&P and maybe some ancho chile powder if I'm feeling it, and aiming for about the 250 range. Wondering what time I need to be starting this thing in the morning to have it done by dinner... Wasn't planning on doing any sort of crutch/foil.

I'm thinking based on past small pulled pork chunks in that rough size that I should budget 7-8 hours for cooking, and if it rests 1-2 hours it should be fine, so start 9ish hours prior to intended eating time?

Good plan or am I going to be eating at midnight?

 

[Dgallo]

Smoked two racks tonight. Sauced them with some homemade bbq sauces. Tried a heavy tomato “backyard” style sauce, wasn’t crazy about it. Needed more sweetness or more acidity.

The little man almost ate a half rack to himself tonight!!

 

[deuc224]

I need to get this prime brisket ready for some smoke.

 

[Rodent]

Time again for a double batch of meatloaf, accompanied by a pair of med-small Pecan wood chunks staged to impart light smoke thru the initial 90 minutes of a 2.5 hour cooking session. Changed up the loaf recipe a bit and am quite pleased. Was a total hit with family who scheduled a visit (2 hour drive for them to get to our place) after learning that this was dinner

(each of those loaves contain 1.5 lb 80-20 Angus + 0.5lb Pork sausage)

 

[duffy5018]

Smoked chuck roast... ~3.25#.

Temp/time?

Thinking of doing it with a typical brisket-style rub, just S&P and maybe some ancho chile powder if I'm feeling it, and aiming for about the 250 range. Wondering what time I need to be starting this thing in the morning to have it done by dinner... Wasn't planning on doing any sort of crutch/foil.

I'm thinking based on past small pulled pork chunks in that rough size that I should budget 7-8 hours for cooking, and if it rests 1-2 hours it should be fine, so start 9ish hours prior to intended eating time?

Good plan or am I going to be eating at midnight?

I've smoked one chuck before. Was a bit bigger, more like 6# if I remember right. Took 9 or 10 hours to get to 190-195 with the smoker set to 225, I believe. Plus an hour and a half to 2 hours wrapped in a towel in a cooler. 12 or so hours total. So a little more than half that size, 9hrs should be plenty.

Of course this was 4 years ago, so take my advice with a grain of salt. And some garlic, black pepper and chili powder.

 

[bkboiler]

got two lil 3 lb preseasoned pork shoulders and also a (not preseasoned) rack of pork spareribs. Stoked...haven't smoked in a few months!

 

[jrgtr42]

Got a 10lb Boston Butt in brining now.
service will be Sunday afternoon, probably going to get it going around noon-ish tomorrow,hoping there'll be a break in the rain. get whatever time I can, then foil and cooler it till Sunday morning to finish and warm.
|Also hoping that the forcasted rain for Sunday afternoon fades out early. having the kiddo's birthday party, and not looking forward to everyone being in the house - even though all but one adults are vaccinated (the lone holdout is allergic)

 

[greywolf]

Ran off a copy of Mississippi Po Boy. Its just as good as it looks on youtube. Having the pork version tonight. I usually draw the line at two sammiches, but, tonight I'm glad there were no witnesses.

 

[corkybstewart]

Pork butt is almost ready to wrap, the chicken will go on in an hour.

 

[Toxxyc]

Anyone ever done the "hot 'n fast" method? I've seen people do 20lbs briskets in 5 hours with it, but I haven't had success. Brisket comes out tender, but not THAT tender.

 

[Dgallo]

Anyone ever done the "hot 'n fast" method? I've seen people do 20lbs briskets in 5 hours with it, but I haven't had success. Brisket comes out tender, but not THAT tender.

I’ve seen it for pork butt but not brisket

 

[ThirstyPawsHB]

3-2-1ish method for 2 racks of pork ribs in the Electric smoker then in the oven. Came out really good, smokey and tender even tho wasn't a "pure" technique.

Other notes: spritz with 50/50 apple cider and apple juice. Used Sweet Baby Ray's Hawaiian BBq sauce but didn't care for it. Switched to the Honey BBq

 

[treacheroustexan]

3-2-1ish method for 2 racks of pork ribs in the Electric smoker then in the oven. Came out really good, smokey and tender even tho wasn't a "pure" technique.

Other notes: spritz with 50/50 apple cider and apple juice. Used Sweet Baby Ray's Hawaiian BBq sauce but didn't care for it. Switched to the Honey BBq

View attachment 730669

I too bought the Hawaiian to try on ribs and didn’t care for it at all. Went right in the trash. Lol. I love SBR sauce, but the Hawaiian just wasn’t for me.

 

[bkboiler]

I'm trying the 3-2-1 method right now...but need to get better at it...don't have anything to spritz with...
More like 5 total hours at 260F avg...cherry wood chunks. Hoping for best!

 

[NSMikeD]

She's back home. My Cookshack Fast Eddy 120 pallet smoker. It had been stored with a local FD as it was being lent out to the BBQ Brethren for their numerous charity cook events. Need a cleaning, after the rain stops .

The WSM22 sits proudly next to her. Lots of KCBS competition awards among the two, and lots of people fed including 4 ships during Fleet Week at the Brooklyn Navy yard and one of the smokers cooking 40k meals atop the Long Beach Parking Garage in tech aftermath of Sandy.

 

[NSMikeD]

I'm trying the 3-2-1 method right now...but need to get better at it...don't have anything to spritz with...
More like 5 total hours at 260F avg...cherry wood chunks. Hoping for best!

try the 3-1-1. I was using it and took some nice trophies with it - including a NY State level Champion in Ribs. I thought I was doing something wrong that worked out right until I saw BBQ master Steve Raicklen's article on 3-1-1

The idea is that it can be easy to over cook ribs and often 3-2-1 produces mushy ribs. An hour in the braise step (wrapped in foil) should so the trick and you can then gauge the doneness using the bendy method and then adjust the last hour up or down accordingly. If they bend 90° then give them a glaze and remove after 20 minute. If they bend but not all the way, then gaze them in 40 minutes and they should be ready right at the 1 hour mark. If they are stiff, then check every 30 minutes and glaze when just about ready.

At 260 I cant imagine you will need 5 hours.


I do baby backs 2-2-1.


PS. I love the color cheery wood puts on ribs.

 

[NSMikeD]

Anyone ever done the "hot 'n fast" method? I've seen people do 20lbs briskets in 5 hours with it, but I haven't had success. Brisket comes out tender, but not THAT tender.

It takes a lot of skill. Basically the done window is much narrower than traditional low and slow. I know a number of competitors who do it so they can get sleep or free up a smoker. I've never had success although some things like latin pernil (pork) comes out great with Hot and Fast since the goal is knife slicing done, not pulling tender. Long rests in foil help finis hit and fast

Another technique I saw that works with meeting a serving window is basically a take off on the reverse sear. A very long cook at 185° and then fire up the smoker to finish just before serving, At 185° the connective matter will break down but won't dry out. The method in used in comps when you are trying to serve in a 10 minute window, and at home so your guests needn't wait 2 or more hours because the dang brisket is taking its sweet time.