Food Smokers and Smoking Tips/Tricks/Techniques

So, tried a hybrid/cheating method....


2.5hrs in my Po'Man w/hickory pellets in the Amaze-n tube smoker.


Then wrapped in foil, meat side down over some brown sugar and butter for 1 hour @ 225 in the oven.

Removed from foil, saved the juices, back in oven @ 225 for 1 more hour. Basted half way through with reserved juices.



Tender as all get out! Great flavor, some smoke.....

 

I'm trying to get away from the oven. But the brown sugar and butter have me going back to it, damn it!! The results are what are count however and this I will try. Thank you for the details and enjoy them in good health!

There are some recipes and cooks on here that IMO blow away the dedicated smoking sites. This would be at the top of exhibit A, thank you once again!

 

I try and avoid using the oven....but it was later in the day for a typical 3-2-1 method, plus a tad chilly (by California standards)......so, I thought I'd try it.

I may have to cheat more often.

 

so i havent done a brisket yet and deciding to do one on xmas day. going to pick it up from my local meat market after work.(they said if i get the whole brisket it will be 4.49lb ) ive done plenty of butts and smoked a few fattys but that has been the brunt of my smoking experience. any tips for the brisket would be great...

 

Overestimate for time.

Have the smoker setup the night before (if you're doing an AM smoke)

Don't be afraid to use the oven if you're having temp control problems.

Make sure you don't cut too much fat off (if untrimmed packer)

 

I am in the same boat, doing my first brisket on Christmas this year. From what I have read and researched, I am planning on cooking it at a temp of 275, wrapping it in foil after the first couple of hours, and pulling it out of the smoker when it hits an internal temp of 196. I will then wrap it in a towel place in an empty cooler, and let it rest for an hour or so. Not sure what I am doing for a rub yet, seems like most just use some combination of salt and pepper. I may use some spicy mustard as a base too.

I am open for suggestions too.

 

I'd say let it ride. A big brisket is a pain to wrap. Unless time is an issue, then in which case, go for it.

Many do salt and pepper and get great results. I tweaked the Best Odds Brisket rub recipe found online.

 

so if i purchase the whole brisket as the butcher said it will be roughly 13 lbs that would be considered a "untrimmed packer"?

 

Oh I forgot about burnt ends too! i may try to do burnt ends. Not 100% sure on that process. But I think you have to pull the brisket and cut off the ends, cube them, add sauce and then place them all back in the smoker.

 

Yes, unless they tell you specifically that it's trimmed (check the label too for confirmation). You'd probably cut about 2lbs of fat off of it, but just weigh the fat and take the difference for the final weight. I got a 16.6lb one and trimmed it to just barely over 13lb. It took me about 12 hours to smoke, and 2 to rest. Be sure to add in the hour or two rest in the cooler.

 

Primo for the win! They have always treated me right

 

Or, you could do it like this...

http://virtualweberbullet.com/brisket4.html

 

Not really sure why it's over complicating things. When I have something in the smoker for 12 hours or so I usually have other things I need to do in that time. So I want a way to be able to remotely monitor things, also it gets pretty darn cold out here and I don't want to be standing out there if I don't have to. I want the hopper sensor so that I can tell I'm running low on pellet's before if runs out and I chance ruining a good piece of meat

When it gets cold here I go through a lot more pellets than I do in the summer so all of this is just a way for me to be able to be doing something else while making sure the smoker is still good to go.

Plus I'm a tech person so tech is cool

 

Damn your not helping me here, erh yes you are! Between @horstuff and you might end up taking a hard hit on the savings account.

An Ace hardware store near me is going out of business and Monday started a 20% off sale. Have a lot of friends that own a BGE and they all are fanatical about them so thought I'd go after work and see what they had at the store. Too late everyone else had the same idea.



Which was actually a blessing in disguise. The more reading I did the more I realized a weakness of the BGE is indirect cooking. Those that own them will tell you it will but it really boils down to the Primo Oval XL or Kamado Joe Big Joe from everything I have found. Not that the BGE is bad or anything, but the Primo and Big Joe are better in some features that I want. Ended up ordering the 18.5 WSM smoker yesterday for $200, but spent almost $300 on an air controller and today $100 for a silicone heat blanket for it. So am almost $600 into it, the cost of playing in the frozen tundra.

The red grill in the picture is a Big Joe normally $1,600 on sale for $1,300. The store will keep discounting at greater rates although the manager wouldn't tell me how much or when. That Big Joe hits $1,000 and no one beats me to it I'm bringing it home. Have a Weber Genesis E330 gas grill, Weber 22 Kettle and soon a Weber 18.5 WSM all on the deck. Just shoveled snow off the deck and working on making room for the WSM. Not sure where or how I will put the Big Joe on there too, but hoping I might have to find a way. If it doesn't work out then definitely will keep an eye open for a Primo Oval XL. Come to think of it either one of my sons would be more than happy to get my kettle and or WSM.

 

LOL lot of truth to that... The WSM would then become a dedicated fish smoker. I like to smoke a lot of salmon, and also trout that I catch and noticed a long time ago that it does leave a lot of oil\residue smell and taste in the smoker with salmonids. Right now have an old masterbuilt gas\charcoal 7 in 1 smoker dedicated for fish. But isn't my favorite cooking device to use to be honest and will not miss it. It may make it to the trash can as soon as today.

 

If you ever get bored with smoked trout, which isn't easy to do, try it in a pâté. There are lots of different recipes out there for it and got turned onto it when I was in Asheville, NC. If you have a crowd it does make it go further.

My Ex wife used to complain about smoking food in general and carcinogens, etc. I always still did it and she would grudging eat some of it. First time I did trout with her around I'd bring a plate of it in to cool down and refill the smoker. And every time when I came back inside after refilling the smoker the plate would be empty and she would ask if there was anymore of that smoked candy left LOL.

 

I will have to certainly try your recipe, never done it with eggs always used cream cheese. I know that it will be good if not more like great!

Yeah I was lucky to live there, landed there on recruiting duty as my last duty station before I retired from the Navy. Stayed another 5 years before I moved to Mn. 15 years ago. Everyone said I was going the wrong way and they were correct but it was the right thing to do. It wasn't easy and hard place to leave! Used to go to Camp Daniel Boone Boy Scout camp with my oldest son not far from Maggie Valley. One year he caught the only trout in the lake at Camp Daniel Boone and it was a huge one, and asked if he could quit now. Realized he never was going to be a fisherman at that point. The youngest son I had to literally take kicking and screaming off the trout streams around Asheville and Brevard, he was possessed with trout fishing back then. And now that he is older only marginally better.

 

@Cold Iron
Agreed. Money you put into the WSM will just go to give you an awesome fish smoker. Then save your money for a Primo for main event stuff.

And you're right about the BGE not being good for smoking... way too hard to get indirect heat without losing all your grill space. Oval is the way to go. Primo is the best of the ovals.

 

Man that sounds fantastic!

 

I'll have to disagree about the BGE and kamados being bad for smoking. The whole point is that you can build a small fire and get the temps you want. You don't need to offset anything. I get my best results in my Akorn by lighting a very small fire completely, letting the charcoal get glowing then closing it up 95% of the way. The heat lasts about 8 hours if you're looking for 225 to 250 and the lower volume of air keeps the meat moist. If you're getting poor results trying to smoke with a BGE, you're not doing it right.

If you're talking true cold smoking, I could see an issue keeping smoke going but the temps below 90 without an amazin smoker or the like.