Who's smoking meat this weekend?

[GrogNerd]

I would eat that 9,324,298,352,374,085,634,633,248,256,235 times

maybe 9,324,298,352,374,085,634,633,248,256,236 times,

I'm feeling mighty hungry this morning

gotta add: I don't do more than 3 hours in the smoker. I think it gives it just enough smoke ring & flavor, but it's just too much trouble to tend to the smoke box for anything longer

after 3 hours, any remaining time is in the oven, usually wrapped in foil. foil removed for the final hour

I don't think I had it in me for a midnight start. I figure running a little hotter (275 instead of 225) and then using the crutch to get me past the stall can get it done a lot faster without sacrificing quality. What got me today was that the smoker wasn't coming up to temp as fast as I wanted so I got worried.

For pork shoulder I actually go turbo. Run that about 350 or so and you can knock out a butt in 4-5 hours. Powers right through the stall without a crutch. You get a slightly more desiccated bark but given the surface->inside ratio of a butt it works fine. I wouldn't go turbo on brisket though.

All in all it worked out.

 

[betarhoalphadelta]

Top of the morning to us! View attachment 780644View attachment 780643

Your house is infested too, huh?

 

[cfrazier77]

Some nice smoked chicken leg quarters in a misty rain.

 

[Dgallo]

 

[Dgallo]

 

[Broothru]

I would eat that 9,324,298,352,374,085,634,633,248,256,235 times

maybe 9,324,298,352,374,085,634,633,248,256,236 times,

I'm feeling mighty hungry this morning

gotta add: I don't do more than 3 hours in the smoker. I think it gives it just enough smoke ring & flavor, but it's just too much trouble to tend to the smoke box for anything longer

after 3 hours, any remaining time is in the oven, usually wrapped in foil. foil removed for the final hour

Two words:

Traeger smoker

 

[Jayjay1976]

Two words:

Traeger smoker

Uh, pellet smoker.
I have a Weber Smokefire EX6 and I wouldn't trade it for a dozen Traegers. I LOVE the porcelain enameled steel, next best thing to full stainless construction; one grease flair up and you can kiss your powdercoat finish goodbye, and hello rust bucket..

Also, Weber has legendary customer service.

 

[Broothru]

Oh, I hear you. I've had Webers for close to 30 years. Currently we have two (one for the RV, doncha' know...SWMBO'd likes her steaks when we go 'glamping.'). My patio beast is a 5 burner Genesis, and I love it.

And I realize that Traeger isn't the only pellet smoker. My son just got vertical stack pellet smoker (Smokey Joe, I believe) after receiving endless grief from both me an his contemporaries over his other smoker which is an electric water smoker. Electric smoker??? You gotta' be kidding me.

We had a "Rib-off" a few weekends ago when he, I, and three other of his friends and their wives got to sample and judge each others entries. It was a blast. One other 'entrant' also had a Traeger, but neither he, I or my son ended up with the Best of Show. That honor went to my son's next door neighbor, who is a fire fighter, who cooked on a simple vertical stack charcoal smoker. $50 rig put us $1,000 rookies to SHAME.

My son-in-law in Florida prefers the wood-fired Texas side-draw variety, and he really knows his way around the grill, kitchen and smoker, having worker in his younger years extensively in the hospitality and culinary field. His younger brother is also an executive chef, so it must be something in the genes.

It's not the tool. It's the carpenter. Or smoke master.

 

[GrogNerd]

Wish

 

[Oldskewl]

Made some smoked salsa over the weekend. Not a big fan of cooked style salsas but I was trying to use up some of my abundance of tomatoes and peppers. It actually turned out pretty good. It something different.

 

[betarhoalphadelta]

It's not the tool. It's the carpenter. Or smoke master.

Yep. As it is with most things. The right cook can make nearly anything work. The wrong one can screw up the easiest "set & forget" smoker on the planet.

 

[Dgallo]

In defense of both pellets smokers and stick smokers as I have both… it takes no efforts to get bark/smoke rings on a stick smoker. That said it takes precision in picking wood l and maintaining the fire to be in range. With a pellet smoker, it’s easy to maintain temp and takes as much effort as an oven if you want it to but if you want to make really tasting/textured bbq, it takes a lot of l effort to change temps and use smoke tubes for parts of the cook to get the right level of flavor, bark, and smoke rings.

I think people don’t think it takes zero effort to make good bbq on a Traeger/it’s likeness but if your a perfectionist, that’s not true.

That said I’m sure you all know people who don’t cook well with their oven or stove or grill

 

[Jayjay1976]

I'm 100% a fan of the smoke master who can make a competition-worthy brisket on just a smokey joe, I just dont have the bandwidth to achieve that level of mastery while keeping up with my other commitments. Enter the pellet smoker, making honest-to-goodness BBQ available to the gainfully employed since sometime in the mid-80's IIRC. Praise to Traeger for blazing the trail.

 

[Kent88]

Home cured ham, smoking with hickory.

I just replaced the control panel for my masterbuilt smoker, and it was about half the price of the smoker when I bought it a couple years ago.

I would've bought a new smoker, but I felt bad tossing this one out when it could just be fixed with a control panel.

Next time I have a problem with it, barring a disaster I'll be getting a new one.

I thought I'd throw out some functions I'd like with my next smoker and see if anyone could make some brand or even specific appliance recommendations.

• I'd like to stick with an electric smoker. I really like the set and forget method, it's almost like a crockpot. The worst that happens now if I don't keep up with feeding it chips is that it doesn't smoke. I don't lose heat. The food still gets done on time.
• I'm not bringing a smoker indoors.
• My current smoker can't get above 275°F or maybe 300°F. I'd like it if my next one could get up to 400°F or even 450°F. Then I could make some sides, or even maybe just use it almost like an oven in the summer when we don't want to heat up the house.
• Size/capacity- I want it moveable by one person. I've never used all four shelves in my current smoker. I might've used three shelves once or twice in the couple years. I assume that if I can use it to make some sides that I'll need a little more space.
• I like being able to set a cook temperature with an app. I used to be able to monitor a meat probe thermometer in the app and would like to get that feature back.
• I sometimes cold smoke cheese in my current smoker. I would like to be able to keep doing that.

Hope everyone is having a good weekend.

 

[Oldskewl]

I have used Brinkman charcoal(with weber smokey mountain mods), Bradley Electric(similar to what you describe that you have), and recently a Rectec Pellet 590. I love the convenience of an electric smoker. I don't have time to babysit a smoker. The Bradley did great for 7 or 8 years, but I started having smoke puck jams(I think the pucks were swollen) and ended up up with non-smoke food if I didn't catch it. A pellet smoker will do all but the first and last items on your list. My Rectec has a 30lb hopper for pellets and I have never ran out of pellets even on overnight smokes. The app works awesome, can even adjust temp or shut off/turn on smoker away from the house. I kept my bradley for doing Jerkey, cheese, & salmon. They could probably be done on the Rectec but its lowest temp is 180F and highest temp runs around 500F. Rectecs customer service is incredible by the way from everything I have read. Bine has been bulletproof so far though. Knock on wood!!

 

[OleBrewing]

Finishing my smoker build started few years ago. Added more terra cota and steel sheets to the doors. Should be less flammable now since I plan on smoking in the garage. Summer sausage, bacon, and hams in the future.

 

[Jayjay1976]

I've been a-hankerin' for some pastrami so I picked up two corned beef points, they are soaking in water now to remove some of the salt. Planning to coat them with black pepper + coriander as usual, just wondering if these nifty packets of spices that came with the corned beef can be used in the rub, or is that not a good idea?

Also, teh interwebs say to smoke to internal temp of 165F but this is corned beef BRISKET after all, and I like the super juicy BBQ joint texture I get if I take it up to ~205F. Will this corned beef be way overdone if I cook it beyond 165F? I want it to be juicy AF and on the verge of pulling so we can pile it up on some sloppy ass sammiches. I'm going to grill some marble rye in thick slices, if things go right and its real messy we'll just make manhattans, just looking to impress some friends on Saturday. Eyes rolled back like a Mako shark, you know what I'm getting at.

 

[Kent88]

@Jayjay1976

 

[Oldskewl]

I use the Katz Pastrami Recipe from amazing ribs. And I think it turns out amazing. You smoke up to 160F and then wrap in foil continue to cook 203F. Here is the rub recipe. I do not use the pickling spice.

https://amazingribs.com/tested-recipes/spice-rubs-and-pastes/katzs-pastrami-rub/

 

[TheCache]

Slow cooking / smoking some St Louis ribs in my Charcoal Weber kettle today. First time trying it over charcoal. I think I'll use the 3-2-1 method for this first outing, seems tried and true.

May have to have a few of the Marzen's that have been lagering for a few weeks while I sit on the patio and watch the temps (tough job, but someones gotta do it).

 

[OleBrewing]

Finishing my smoker build started few years ago. Added more terra cota and steel sheets to the doors. Should be less flammable now since I plan on smoking in the garage. Summer sausage, bacon, and hams in the future.

Dry run with smoker a success. At least now ND wind will be out of the picture. See ya back in a few weeks with deer summer sausage.

 

[Jayjay1976]

I use the Katz Pastrami Recipe from amazing ribs. And I think it turns out amazing. You smoke up to 160F and then wrap in foil continue to cook 203F. Here is the rub recipe. I do not use the pickling spice.

https://amazingribs.com/tested-recipes/spice-rubs-and-pastes/katzs-pastrami-rub/

I used the Katz rub recipe from amazingribs and it turned out just perfect, awesome recipe, thanks @Oldskewl

Due to prior commitments I had to split the cook up over two days, it worked so well I'm thinking I might try a full packer. Saturday morning I applied the rub to both desalinated points and smoked them at 240 until they reached 160 internal temp, at which time I would pull them and wrap in butcher paper, but instead I sealed them in gallon storage bags and put them in the kegerator to rest overnight. Sunday morning I wrapped them in butcher paper and put them back on the smoker at 300 and set the probe temp alarm at 200. About 3.5 hours later I realized my phone was on silent and I missed the alert, by the time I caught it one of them reached 205, the other read 209!!

I brought them inside and let them rest still wrapped until the cooled down to 145 and sliced the one that reached 209, ready for the worst. Surprisingly it was super tender and juicy with really nicely rendered fat, not falling apart tender so it was easy to slice but absolutely melted in the mouth. We made grilled Reubens in a skillet on marble rye with Swiss cheese, kraut, and Dijon mustard, it was amazing. Our neighbors who are big BBQ fans from Kansas City raved about it, we had it all ready just in time for the Chiefs game.

It was such an easy process and breaking up the smoke over 2 days took all the stress out of it, I could even imagine vacuum bagging at the halfway point to put the cook on hold until the following weekend. I could even freeze them half-cooked to finish in the oven during winter, but I guess I might as well finish them off and freeze them that way. When I see corned beef on sale I'm going to stock up, and I'm already pricing a small chest freezer...

 

[Oldskewl]

Looks amazing Jayjay1976!! Glad the recipe worked out for you. I would have never thought to split up the cook like that. I have used the recipe 3 times now. I pick up corned beef everytime I see it on sale. After I smoke the pastrami I slice it, vaccuum seal it into packages for patrami sandwichs and Reubens and throw them in the freezer. It's definitely a treat to pull out of the freezer!

 

[Jayjay1976]

Looks amazing Jayjay1976!! Glad the recipe worked out for you. I would have never thought to split up the cook like that. I have used the recipe 3 times now. I pick up corned beef everytime I see it on sale. After I smoke the pastrami I slice it, vaccuum seal it into packages for patrami sandwichs and Reubens and throw them in the freezer. It's definitely a treat to pull out of the freezer!

Last Sunday's pastrami was such a hit I decided to do another this weekend. I picked up a 5.5lb flat, and before applying the rub I slathered it with Koop's Düsseldorf mustard as a binder and went heavy on the rub. I trimmed the fat cap and put the trimming in a tray to render the tallow, which I'll drizzle on the beef when it's time to wrap. I'm using Jealous Devil legendary blend pellets which are cherry, maple, and hickory, and spritzing once an hour with apple cider.

 

[Oldskewl]

Soooo..... how did it turn out? Did the Koop's Düsseldorf mustard add anything other than hold that generous application of rub on? I do prefer using a flat for pastrami. SInce it will be going on sandwiches most of the time I prefer not to have the fat throughout the slices.

 

[Jayjay1976]

Soooo..... how did it turn out? Did the Koop's Düsseldorf mustard add anything other than hold that generous application of rub on? I do prefer using a flat for pastrami. SInce it will be going on sandwiches most of the time I prefer not to have the fat throughout the slices.

It's not done cooking yet, yesterday I slow smoked it up to 160F and pulled it to rest overnight in the fridge, this morning I'll wrap it and finish it up to 203F. I find this method is a lot less stressful and the results are the same as if I spent a whole day smoking it. Here is a photo of it at 160F about to be pulled off and put in the fridge.

 

[passedpawn]

It's not done cooking yet, yesterday I slow smoked it up to 160F and pulled it to rest overnight in the fridge, this morning I'll wrap it and finish it up to 203F. I find this method is a lot less stressful and the results are the same as if I spent a whole day smoking it. Here is a photo of it at 160F ready to go into the fridge.

photo?

 

[Jayjay1976]

photo?

Sorry, I was sure I snapped a photo in the kitchen under good light, instead I posted the last photo of it on the smoker before I brought it in. Here is a photo at the same point from last weekend.

So last weekend after wrapping in butcher paper I cranked the smoker up to 300F to finish it fast. Today I've got time so I'll complete the cook at 225F so as to expel as little moisture as possible. Thinking about wrapping in foil actually, the paper soaks up a bunch of liquid and I don't know how helpful that is. I was going to include the rendered tallow in the wrap but SWMBO put the kibosh on that step.

 

[betarhoalphadelta]

Last Sunday's pastrami was such a hit I decided to do another this weekend. I picked up a 5.5lb flat, and before applying the rub I slathered it with Koop's Düsseldorf mustard as a binder and went heavy on the rub. I trimmed the fat cap and put the trimming in a tray to render the tallow, which I'll drizzle on the beef when it's time to wrap. I'm using Jealous Devil legendary blend pellets which are cherry, maple, and hickory, and spritzing once an hour with apple cider.

So is this an uncured pastrami? I.e. you take the flat, rub it, smoke it, and then you're good? Or did you cure it first?

 

[Jayjay1976]

So is this an uncured pastrami? I.e. you take the flat, rub it, smoke it, and then you're good? Or did you cure it first?

It was a store bought corned beef flat, I soaked it for 24 hours in RO water to reduce the salt content before smoking it.