Food Smokers and Smoking Tips/Tricks/Techniques

Cooking Ribs and pulled pork for friend's birthday.


$1.96 brisket sale at our grocery store. This is why I always come home with a packer

 

Sorry to resurrect stuff that is so far back. I haven't been following this thread the way a meat lover should. What is it that you do for work? I do building stucture design. Judging by the dirt, it looks like you are doing field work.

 

I think I have enough meat in there



Time to wrap the pork shoulder

 

Gonna head over to Costco to see what they have for an overnight smoke tonight if I ever get out of this Toyota dealership. What's the point of a service appointment if it takes 2 hours to get an oil change. Did test drive a new 2016 4Runner SR5 4WD with 300 miles for $35k. Very tempting, just the one I want. No 3rd row, no dealer add ons.

 

looks good so far!

 

Time to wrap the ribs

 

They look damn near done, why you wrap now? Just curious.

 

Doing 3-2-1 method

 

Someone was talking about doing chicken for the first time. Here's a pretty good guide to help get started. If you're familiar with the restaurant called "El Polo Loco", they butterfly cut their whole chickens. While I don't really like their spices and seasonings combination (too much salt.for me), the end result of even doneness is dead on.

http://www.seriouseats.com/2012/08/the-food-lab-how-to-grill-a-whole-chicken.html

 

I spatchcock any whole bird that I cook, chicken or turkey.

 

I usually just do thighs because I prefer dark meat. But I'm thinking of precooking a couple for the week for dinners. My wife and I have different work hours so we usually eat at different times. So I'm looking to have something done and in the fridge for quick meals.

 

Time to rest for an hour



Had to taste a small piece. Can't even cut, bone slips like butter



Had to try the pork shoulder also

 

All done

 

I've got some thighs to cook, but it's about to rain sideways

 

Finally got the thighs going. This is the way I normally set up the kettle for smoking. I can't justify using the fuel for the wsm to do a cook this small. I have a 14.5 smokey Joe that I'm going to convert to a smoker at some point.

 

I hear you on the small cooks/smokes. Even if I know nobody is coming over (like my son and his girlfriend), I'll do at least 8/12/16 pieces, potatoes, eggs, vegetables and maybe a few other items with the intent of dinners for later in the week. I really like to put a few tomatoes in a small foil pan and smoke/cook those for sauces or salsa along with some Anaheim peppers, onion and jalapeños. Just get them softened up and a quick trip through the blender. Anaheim's I'll put over direct and burn the skin, let them sweat in any type of plastic bag for a while and the skin just falls off leaving just the meat....ok, now you got me talked into a cook for tomorrow.

 

Try out some split chicken breast. I love them. Never had a bad one!

 

nice!

 

I'm not much on chicken/turkey breast meat unless the bird was cooked whole. White meat pieces are too dry for my liking.

 

Bone in skin on breasts can be moist and delicious. Boneless skinless not so much lol