Food Smokers and Smoking Tips/Tricks/Techniques

Nice

 

if nothing else, the power has been flickering, dunno if someone hit a pole in the area or a tree is laying on the line, but i expect power to go out here in a bit. at least i'll have either breakfast or dinner ready is the power does crash, 58° currently, windows open, is a nice night to cook

 

Cooking your grub with fire feels great when you realize how fragile the grid we all depend on is. They can't take that away from you!

 

there is a major substation about 3 miles away, last summer they shut it down for 15hrs to replace a transformer that was about to fail.

OMG the howls from folks here in the subdivision about the inconvenience, yep, it was 85° that day, hate it for ya. I was on the road that day, but wife was home and she handled it well, and had to work the night, so it wasn't terrible for her. Then the whining when power was out for 2 days after Hurricane Matthew last fall. Yes, there are no bigger issue they have to deal with than getting YOUR power back on. The big picture that folks fail to see, and the lack of ability to handle minor inconvenience.

Camping, its all camping

 

Pretty aggressive trim on some spare ribs in getting them to a St Louis cut, but I'm doing some testing, so I wanted to eliminate extra factors. Besides, it's not like those tips and trimmed bones will be going to waste!

 

Ribs, beer brats (boiled in pbr), and cheese stuffed bacon wrapped jalapeños on the WSM today

 

Woah. Boiled brats for 30 minuets in PBR and then on the smoker for 2 hours.

Turned out great! Usually my brats dry way out and these are juicy!

And stuffed jalapeños

 

That's art right there.

 

Just when I think I have cooking ribs down I out do myself... so juicy!

 

I managed to pull one rib aside for a quick picture. Smoker got a little hot on me as I did too much Dad and Husband stuff during that crucial first hour. Not too much of an impact on the final result. Very tasty.

 

Looks damn good to me

 

Nice spread! I love brats. Had some last weekend.

What kind of sauce is on the brisket? It has the color and consistency of the stuff made at The Salt Lick down in these parts.

Damn, you sure ate well today. All that stuff looked mighty good!

What do you think turned your ribs up to an 11 this time?

 

No rub or sauce?

 

I went long on the smoke (a little over 6 hours) this time and I started out really low 200f for the first couple of hours then four hours at around 250f. But I’m not sure if that’s what did it.

Pretty much my smoking experience is every once in awhile I’ll accidentally cook something really good then I’ll keep cooking trying to replicate it. I enjoy it.

I home brew beer too and have similar experiences.

 

That's the challenge and the reward of the hobby!

I've never tried ribs really low for a time. Interesting.

 

Yeah I have a dry rub on there. Still need to get some pitface...


I don’t use sauce generally unless I really mess up and it needs it.

Over saucing is one of the reasons I didn’t like bbq until I started doing it myself! Now I can’t get enough.

 

It wasn’t on purpose and I was too busy to rectify it, so I just let it ride. Worked out though this time.

 

I go without sauce as well. Dry rub is a must though.

 

It was mod the Jumbo Joe weekend.



Had an old 18" charcoal grate sitting around for at least 15 years. Yes I am a pack rat, at least when it comes to cooking stuff. Picked up a couple of stainless eyebolts and cross hatched the old and new grates to make the holes smaller. And give me handles to lift it out with.

Picked up a wood file handle and ran a picture hanger bolt into it and attached it to the bottom vent tab. Much better. And found a 16" galvanized metal pan to sit it in for peace of mind from wind blown ashes and embers.

When I got this I got the custom fit GreatGrates for it. Been reading about them for years but never really saw the need. With the cooking grate being so close to the coals figured I'd try it finally. Even though the damn thing cost more than the Jumbo Joe. The more I use it the more I like it. Although don't think will change from my 2 zone for cooking steaks.

Been breaking it in with sausage burgers and other fatty foods. Getting a good build up on it now. Did Cornell Chicken tonight that was marinated for 24 hours. Normally the oil in Cornell chicken would be a struggle to keep it from being burnt. Turned out about perfect with the GrillGrates.





For lunch today did wings marinated in Zesty Italian Dressing. Smoked with Cherry wood on the GrillGrates.



They turned out pretty good too. For wings think the Vortex does a better job, however they cook differently it depends on how you like your wings. But for Burgers, Brats, and chicken the GrillGrates work awesome. Better than I expected.

 

Alright guys! I got engaged not to long ago and wedding planning is in full swing. The fiancé is on board to buy a new smoker instead of getting food catered. We are going to assemble a "smoke squad" from our guests. The smoker will be right next to the party/event so it's not a big deal. I could do it myself even.

I need it to handle 8 pork butts. We might do some brisket too but I don't know if I want to torture those guys that much. Hard to screw up pulled pork.

Anyways, suggestions on smokers? I love my little wsm. LyfeTyme smokers are looking good too as she just recently became related to the owner and we will get a decent discount.