Food Smokers and Smoking Tips/Tricks/Techniques

Thick rib eyes are the hardest for me to warm up because of the extra fat. But hot off the grill hard to beat of any cut IMO. Any more all steaks left over, like the T bone I did last night, I cut them thin. Cut the fat off them and just hardly warm them up. If I know I'm going to have lots of left overs I will under cook them on purpose for the reheat. I've had the best luck reheating with Prime Sirloin. I'd hold off on that ribeye and do it tomorrow if it was me.

 

Great advice. I'll probably do that. Was having hard time telling myself it would be ok any other way. Thanks.

 

FWIW, I never sauce except if somebody requests it, and then only as a finishing sauce. Preferences are highly regional so everybody likes what they like. For me, don't hide the taste of the meat and the rub. Otherwise it gets too cloyingly sweet and is like putting A1 on a steak. If you put enough rub on to begin with, you're good to go. Anybody in KC would disagree with me though.

 

I don't sauce my pulled pork but I eat it with a ton of Carolina style vinegar sauce, or spicy BBQ sauce, depending on my mood. I'm 90 minutes from Kansas City but I hate the thick molasses sauce that KC is known for.

Edit: That is to say, I don't mix sauce into my pulled pork but I do slather it onto the bun when I make a sammich.

 

Do you have vacuum sealer? I would pull it, vacuum seal right away, crash cool in some ice cold water for a bit, then throw it in the fridge. For reheating, you can drop the vacuum bag in some hot water. Bring to a boil, drop in, turn off the heat, then let sit covered. It'll taste pretty damn close to right off the grill.

Looks good from here. How'd round two go? Seems like it went a little smoother.

Texas Crutch user checking in!

 

Hmmm... interesting. Vac seal while hot? That won't steam it to death? Maybe not cause there's no air to steam with. Let cool for 10 mins maybe first?

I'm right at that point where decision has to be made. Up for trying new ideas.

 

That's why you crash cool it - to keep it from cooking in the bag. I'm not saying right from the grill to the bag, but no more than a couple of minutes before going in. You can let it rest a bit first, but a lot of those juices start to seep out of the steak. The rest is still important, but you want the rest to happen just before you eat it, instead, if that makes sense.

 

I have been smoking now for 3 weeks and have become hooked on it. I have been cooking tri-tip on a small Weber charcoal grill and bought a smoker this past Thursday. Yesterday was my first real test with a group of friends who came over for some bbq and to watch a fight. Made 2 tri-tips and they were an absolute hit with everybody.

For father's day today I decided to try my hand at beef ribs.

 

Noice.

 

Ok, fck it, I'm in. Doing that now.

 

If I'm putting A1 on steak...it's shitty steak! My first pork butt was a definite success...bone pulled out clean and everything was super moist. The bark was the best part (thanks to Pitfaced Rub from @bvbull200). I had to tell the wife, who woke up out of bed when she smelled it, to stop eating only the bark.

I did half of it with a very small amount of vinegar finishing sauce that I did myself with some balsamic and other spices. The other half I mixed with a sprinkling of rub. I didn't mix any BBQ sauce into anything as I'll let whoever do it themselves if they want. Both mixes came out great with the "sauced" half being a bit juicer (thanks to the vinegar).

Thanks for all the help and pointers...looking forward to the next one already!

 

You gonna be just fine you have the knack. Maybe the album too.

 

That one picture of the bone is how you know you did something right with a pork shoulder! Looks good and glad you liked the rub. It is pretty awesome on pork shoulder and the sugar helps develop a really nice bark.

Good stuff.

 

Good luck!

Ice cold water bath. Get that temp down quick!

 

Will do, chief. Thanks for the advice. I was all set to go the tried and true way, but a little adventure never hurt anybody. Much. Unless you're Brian Jones Or Kieth Moon.

 

That was a bitch. Thing was juicing all over, only let it rest for 3 minutes. First bag wouldn't seal, second bag did. In ice water now. Whew.

 

Don't you just hate when you do such a good job cooking a steak that it ends up being juicy like that? Easier just to dry them out.

Fingers crossed this works for you or I'm going to look like quite the putz.

 

Yeah I don't sauce like I used to and more times than not don't use any on ribs. And only sparingly on butt. Spent quite a few years in North Carolina. On the coast it is strictly vinegar based and never did care for it . When you move West to the Piedmont area it is still vinegar based but can have a mix of things, even tomatoes. Don't dare say ketchup LOL but there is a lot of variations. Once you hit the foothills and Black Mountain up I-40 it turns to tomato based and much sweeter which was my preference. But when you head down the Saluda grade to Greenville, SC it often turns into mustard based which gives the Western BBQ sauce a run for the money. Don't care for the boiled peanuts though LOL. I love the KC sauces from sweet to spicy. But not much good for you with the carb content and sugars.

I have a sweet tooth obviously. Used Splenda brown sugar, half the recipe for the jerky marinade that I did tonight. Purchased some molasses and thought I'd use that but went with the Splenda mix instead. Perfect even a blind squirrel gets a lucky nut once in awhile. Comes very close to the smoked salmon I made non stop years ago in Wa. State but not as sweet. Just a hint but perfect flavor don't care how long it takes this is going to be a repeat.

Should have cut the meat thinner the top rack had the thinnest cuts.



Trying not to eat it so can weigh finished amount but very little success with that LOL. Shouldn't be too much longer for the rest though.

 

Came out delicious! Chicken was really good and so was the pork! Might try a tri tip tomorrow or Tuesday

 

Methinks someone has already become an addict.