Food Smokers and Smoking Tips/Tricks/Techniques

On the pitface addiction fan train now, just ordered it.

 

Worst case if it doesnt fit you can cut the thigh drumstick off and cook on other rack because basically only the skin is holding it on . I also noticed because its seperated from rest of turkey when breast hits 150 160 thigh drumstick pretty much done also about 170.

 

I have a Costco 5 miles away. They have the best meats but in the last few years they have mostly done away with bone in meats. They use to have Porter House and T-bone steaks and bone in rib eyes. Now the first two have disappeared and the only way to get a bone in rib eye is to buy a rib eye roast which is 3 to 6 of them together and is costly. Cooking a bone in rib eye tastes about 1000X better than a boneless one. They also dropped the Bison burger which I loved.

 

If you've got 2 racks, just cut the bird in half after you spatchcock it.

 

I joined Costco mainly because of this thread, they went in not long ago here. 2nd largest population density in the State, over 100K people now. Was 50K when I moved here think the 100K must be the target market analysis magic number for them. For the most part happy with the meat there but I have no history with their meat selection.

I know most of the butchers in and around the towns around here, they smile when they see me and come over and ask what I am looking for today. And will cut it for me if they have it in stock. Couple of years ago on Fathers day I wanted the thickest Porterhouse they could cut but was a bit disappointed when the best he could do was 1 1/4", but at least it was more Porterhouse than T-bone.



Bone in Ribeye here is usually sold with the full rib and sold as a Viking Ribeye, or sometimes called a Viking Club LOL. Normally I cut the exposed bone off for the dog to chew on before it is cooked. But have also kept it on when didn't feel like cutting it off. Have had butchers cut the bone off for me. Still end up paying for it so ends up costing quite a bit more than Costco and is usually only Choice. Prime is hard to find here except at Costco. But does exist from time to time at the packing plants and smaller butcher shops.

 

I have found that I like poultry much better at 325-350 than low and slow. Now, beef on the other hand, still low and slow.

 

FUCK. YES. meat axes for the fucking win and that porterhouse....

 

https://spokane.craigslist.org/for/d/kingsford-bbq-smoker/6449917135.html

 

Dust some brown sugar on top about 20-30 mins before being pulled

 

Yea I use kiawe.

 

Roasted root veggies and flank steak.

 

Looks good

 

That or a solid rub that uses real brown sugar instead of selling out for granulated.

 

Beautiful. I always cook flank, skirt, and flat iron for fajitas, which is great, but still a bit of a tragedy. It makes a hell of a main course by itself. Nicely done.

 

I hate when I do this, because I feel like I'm not giving the food its due, but your pictures are always fantastic. Love how the fire was captured in that porterhouse photo.

The food looks pretty decent, too .

 

Brisket is on with some cherry wood, and is chugging along at 240, wait, 255, wait 238, wait........

Cold and wind, today is going to be a struggle. I’m just going to make one final adjustment to the vents, and let her run at whatever temp it wants to today.

 

The kamado showed up yesterday and only took 2 days from time of order. It was packaged extremely well and pretty much assembled, I just had to put the cradle together. I looked it over well and really have no complaints about it. I fired it up yesterday and tinkered with the temperatures, I was afraid there would be a huge learning curve to this but following a guide has helped tremendously and I was able to hold steady low temperatures for hours. I have it running right now with a couple of pork shoulders on so I will update it today with results.

 

There will be nuances that you will learn over the next couple of cooks like where the slide gates need to be to get and hold and approximate temp. The manufacturer can get you close but elevation and general conditions will need to be factored in. Just like anything if you have a failure learn from it and move on. Ceramic cookers will put out one great meal after another.

One of them is you are looking at the cooker the hinge is 12 o'clock and the handle is 6 o'clock. When using the plate setter always put one leg at 12 o'clock. With the natural airflow a hot spot will be created around the 12 o'clock position if you leave a opening for the heat to pass. With he leg in the way it diffuses the heat to the left and right of 12 o'clock making a more even heat.

When done cooking close the lid and vents and the fire will go out. Next time you want to fire up stir the wants left to knock off the ask and push it up exposing some of the bottom grate and back towards 12 o'clock. Then add fresh charcoal to the in front of the old. The old charcoal will be harder to light so taking advantage of the natural draft mounding the old charcoal it will all light evenly.

When cooking at high temps learn to burp or double burp the cooker before lifting the lid the whole way. When 1st lighting new or old w/ new charcoal puts off a lot volatile gases that do get burned off after about 20 or 30 minutes. However if you get a good fire going and lift the lid quickly a rush of oxygen rich air will flow in mix with the volatile gases and you'll have a nice backdraft AKA fire ball. If you are lucky the only damage will be singeing you arm hair and eyebrows off instantly. To burp lift and hold the lid open about 1 to 1-1/2" to allow air to slowly flow in. You might get a puff but it will be small. Close the lid for a few seconds and burp again then open the lid at a slow even rate. Don't just fly it open. Burping one needs to be done at grilling temps during the 1st 1/2 hour or so after lighting. Low and slow you can just open the lid.

I keep and paint dedicated 4" cheapo paint rush hanged on my BGE. Its great for dusting off the shelves, plate setter or when cleaning cold ash out the cooker.

As a side note if you are a gardener of have plants around the house the leftover ash is a good soil amendment.

 

Was going to ask @tubbsisland in the AZBS thread, but figured it would be more appropriate here for more knowledge / opinions.


I usually smoke pork butts 1 at a time, sometimes 2 at a time. I have (5) 8.5 lb butts to smoke for tomorrow. Using a Traeger pro 34.

So question is: if I evenly space the butts on the grill, with plenty of gap between them, will they smoke about as fast as when I do 2?

 

As long as they are not touching one another and the smoker temp stay where you want the number of pieces of meat is irrelevant.