Food Smokers and Smoking Tips/Tricks/Techniques

Would definitely brine longer if I was going to brine. I'd pull at 160 or so because it's going to continue to rise after its pulled. Wild breasts have even less fat than domestic turkey and you don't want it to dry out. .02

 

Ball tip. It was $3.25lb. Similar to tri tip.

 

I do this with my WSM.. No water.. Just foil the hell out of the water pan..easy clean up.

 

finally got myself a cast iron pan ... question, how do you clean it? i seasoned it with veggie oil baked for an hour then some bacon, then i made these chops . came out DELICIOUS

 

Cast iron... One of the best investments you can make. I just leave mine in the oven (taking it out when I use the oven) and then right before I need to use it I heat it over medium, scrape the gunk out with sharp metal spatula, add about a tbsp of veg oil, scrape again, wipe with paper towels. It has never seen the sink. As long as you heat it up good, any bad juju will get killed before your stuff goes in. All that stuff adds to the seasoning of the iron. I never do fish in it though... Seperate pan.

 

Clean it with warm water and a nylon bristle brush. No soap! If you hot water/soap it then you start the seasoning process over.

Once you clean it make sure you dry it thoroughly, put it on the stove top with medium/high heat to really dry it off then rub with a light coat of oil. I use canola on a paper towel. Don't leave water in it to soak for very long: you'll get rust. That happens you need fine steel wool to remove and reseason.

To get heavy stuff off use a chainmail scrubber. This is the one I use. Gets the big crud off without removing the seasoning.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0164AD2L8/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o06_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I bought a Lodge (made in the USA!) 12" pan and it's been awesome. I wanted a smaller pan. I found they also make an 8' pan. For $11! How can you beat that?! Got it in 2 days, free shipping.

$16 Lodge 8" Cast Iron Pre-Seasoned Skillet – Signature Teardrop Handle - Use in the Oven, on the Stove, on the Grill, or Over a Campfire, Black

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00008GKDG/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

It is one of the bigger ball tips I've seen. Prob 4.5

Paper towel wadded up to wipe out the big chunks. About 1/8 in of water, let it warm over low. Dump it, dry it, place back on warm burner with a splash of oil. Let her warm up and take a paper towel and wipe that oil all over her. Just how I do it.

 

This... My Grandma told me over 50yrs ago "never wash cast iron". Just like stated above, preheat and that will take of anything that might happen to be there.

 

perfect thanks a lot

that scrubber almost costs as much as the pan!

yeah i went with the lodge 12"

 

She got away from me while I was cooking Mac....good flavor but too done for my taste.

 

I ruined a small brisket this weekend. Trimmed it down to about 3.25 lbs, 1/4 fat cap, 3 hour smoke on the traeger at 165 then 4.5 more hours in foil at 225 to an internal temp of 185. I think I wrapped it too quickly cuz i had a horrible soft bark on this one almost like it never had time to materialize and no smoke ring which was surprising to me. Still edible but far from what I was hoping for.

 

My cast iron from my dad who got it from grandma. She would scrap, rinse, and I think she used bacon fat to season. (Probably not the best thing to use) Then back on the back burner with a lid.

Send it over here! I'll take care of it
Did you smoke the Mac & Cheese?

 

I have a few, one is dedicated to nothing but cornbread. It gets nothing but a paper towel wipe after cooling. My "frying" pan may get a plastic scrubber then a paper towel wipe. Neither have seen any metal (of any sort) or water since I've owned them. That's closing in on thirty years!!!

 

I didn't smoke the Mac this time. Just easy on the stove. I still wonder why people bother with that boxed stuff.

 

My father in law has one that I keep trying to get from him! I told him I ain't trying to send him to the grave or anything like that, but I "claimed" that pan already.

 

Carnitas not really meat smoking, but it was smoking good...couldn't even take the meat out with the tongs with out it falling apart. That was a Fat Sunday...

 

Are they still on sale?!?! Im down to my last bag after I stocked up from the last sale they had.

 

Ya he is doing something wrong. I can get the same smoky flavor on my Traeger that my friend gets in his smoker and the food is just as good. With the pellet poopers it's all about quality of the pellets you use. I stay away from Traeger's they make it nice and warm but 0 flavor. I'm a Lumberjack Pellets fan.

 

Typically they are a little tough and on the dry side. They dont have a lot of fat in them is the main reason. The best luck Ive had is cutting them up in chunks and a simple breading, then deep fry them.

 

Ya the plugging it in thing can be a pita. Mine has the nice wheels on it so it gets rolled back into the garage after I'm done. If I had to leave it out I would have bought the cover for it. I also bought the thermal blanket for it so I can smoke outside in the winter, worked really well last year. Will get it's workout again this winter lol.

This weekend between my smoker and my friends we did 3 briskets, a bunch of brat's, 4 smoked pizzas (two cheese and two with brisket, one we also added bacon and sausage to it). Then yesterday had some family over and I did about a 20-30 min smoke on some porterhouse steaks then cranked it up to do the actual cooking. Don't have any pictures from the smoke fest weekend but lot's of happy people.

Next weekend will most likely end up with a couple of fattie's being smoked.