Food Smokers and Smoking Tips/Tricks/Techniques

No straight copper is toxic or at least they claim it can be. That is why copper pots are coated with stainless or something else. Don't think I'd risk it. Stainless is non reactive and my preferred metal. Not easy to work with or cheap though.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copper_toxicity

 

Not sure if I should hate or love Costco. Walked in to look for a pork belly and $211 later.... $80 of it was in meat though and I did need everything I got.

Stainless Steel skewers are great I have a bunch of them and use them for other things. The long wire ones I am now thinking of using for stringing jerky racks. They were great in the reviews and in theory but don't work well for me. I have several packs of different skewers but have settled on these, made in Italy and stainless so a bit spendy but I really like them.

$10 Norpro Stainless Steel 14" Skewers, Set of 6

14" Skewers

Going to start marinating some pork belly tongiht and tomorrow will be skewering them to try my hand at Pinoy street barbecue. I can at least try anyhow. Not authentic without bamboo skewers but I've gotten spoiled with the SS ones.

Damn Wikipedia even includes the ICD-10 code now . And is backward compatible with ICD-9 too LOL. I did have a Doc look up a Med on Wikipedia once, he was kind of embarrassed and said it was faster and easier than the internal knowledge base.

 

Just finishing up lunch and I think the only adjustment is to cut back on the cinnamon and add in a couple juniper berries

 

Picked up 2 trimmed tri-tips at King Sooper today, buy 1 get 1 free, so $4.49 a pound. Also found Stubb's beef marinade one sale so I'm going to marinade a tri-tip with this overnight instead of my usual dry rub. Should have bought 2 more but don't have the room.

 

I think you may have got a tough cut this time. I have a Traeger and never had these issues, now I usually don't run higher temps for brisket unless I'm running low on time. I have a dual probe remote thermo that I use and the internal Traeger probe was pretty darn close in temp.

If you do this again you could always do a beef broth injection on it to make sure it's moist (if there was one section drier than another then inject there more). This should insure you have moisture, you can also put some broth in once you wrap and this will help you out also. I always leave a decent amount of fat on it for the cook then trim for serving to make sure I'm ok with self basting/heat protection.

 

Decided to smoke some Boston butts today so I could try the pitfaced rub and my Thermoworks smoke that I got for Christmas.

 

Get a few briskets the next trip and then you can practice more. I have screwed up plenty in my time cooking and it just makes me want to get it right the next time. I would love to say all my screw up's where edible but I remember a few not even the dog would touch.

 

Installed the replacement bowl on my Weber kettle (gotta love a good warranty and a company that stands behind their product!) and am planning to grill tri-tip tonight. I'm already salivating...

Thinking of smoking ribs tomorrow, for the first time. There are tons of threads and information on the perfect ribs and the perfect process and plenty of contradictory opinions. Anyone have a link or pointers for:

• a good process for a first timer
• a rub or recipe which doesn't require mustard or bbq sauce (family isn't big on either of those)

 

Ate some bbq at Gilbert’s in Jacksonville, FL. Pretty damn good, the pork belly and burnt ends were my favorite



Oh and the pickles were really good lol

 

Chimney full of unlit coals on one side of kettle, 15 lit ones spread out on top of those. Use a thermometer to know when the temp inside, opposite the coals, is between 225-250. Don’t trust the factory temp gauge on the lid. Use any good store bought rub like Stubbs or something, no mustard required as a base. No saucing ever required. Put ribs on opposite side from coals so they get indirect heat. Put a couple - three chunks of wood on top of coals, not chips, no need to soak the wood. Keep top vent at least half open so you don’t have too much heavy smoke in there, don’t need much. Maintain 225-250 via upper and lower vents for 3 hours, then wrap the ribs tightly in foil and put back on for another hour. Unwrap, put back on for 30 minutes or until they bend at a 90 degree angle when picking them up with tongs. Baby backs are those times, spares need an additional hour up front. The times are guidelines only, they’re done when they bend at 90 degree angle.

Btw, for really good rub, hit up @bvbull200

 

See below.

Lots of rub recipes on the net, pick one or two, make them up and try on different racks.

Thought baby backs were 2-2-1? Either way should be fine.

 

I don’t like them wrapped as long, just preference.

 

Looking good so far! Can't wait to see/hear the results!

Appreciate the shout out!

I'm with you on the shorter foil wrap. I like what it does to the ribs, but I feel like anything more than 45-60 minutes starts to risk overcooking and getting a little mushy. Highly dependent on temp, though, and I stay towards the high-side of low 'n slow.

 

Ive had better results in less wrap time as well. I usually only wrap 1 hour now.

 

I think it’s gonna work. Threaded stainless steel rod and some scrap steel parts. Al Pastor marinading in the fridge.

 

those caps are usually galvanized, watch out for that, the fumes are toxic...

 

I was reading that you’d have to get to welding temps to have it affect you. True?

 

Id rather be safe than sorry...

 

I’ll go back to rummaging through the garage for more spare steel lol