Food Smokers and Smoking Tips/Tricks/Techniques

lol: http://www.wildwoodsurvival.com/survival/fire/bowdrill/index.html

Yeah the looftlighter is pretty wild. I wouldn't have ever bought one, but when my brother bought his BGE used it came with two, so he gave me one. I honestly probably only use it half the time or less. Most of the time (as long as I'm not pressed for time) I just light some lump in the chimney, have a beer, then dump it and add whatever additional lump i need on top

 

Did you get any lamb yet. Local store have whole leg--o-lamb for $3.99 a pound and Frenched rib rack are around $7 a lb. Also other various cuts for reasonable prices. If all goes according to plan I'm going to rock some lamb lollipops tomorrow. Already got the lamb and 2 boxes of blackberries.

 

Gesh you could at least move on up to magnesium stick, knife and steel to spark the magnesium Scott!

No matter what I'm burning usually start with the Weber fire starter cubes. Always work, cheap, and no smell no muss.

I have used a second charcoal grate and crisscrossed them to create a finer weave on one grill, even then when you dump lump on most grates a lot of the smaller pieces will fall through. So if I use lump I still start with a small portion of Kingsford briquettes as a base. Light with the chimney & starter cube and dump as the base, it doesn't take long. And lump catches fast but it also burns faster. I use a lot more KBB than lump though, if I use lump it is usually Royal Oak.

 

I use mini butane torch

 

Quick dinner tonight, beans (w/ peppers, onions, bacon, and @bvbull200 spicy pitfaced) that I had leftover from my lunches this week and chicken drumsticks marinated in dichickos peri peri sauce

 

Getcha a mini torch and when those are done run that mini torch across em to crisp up the skin a little

 

I just saw that on a travel show the other day lol, might have to give it a go. For tonight I’ll just settle for going over those coals later

 

Assholes stole my idea! It’s how I crisp up my wings and drums. Broiler in oven doesn’t get it crispy enough for me and a torch does it in about 5 seconds

 

Haha, since the interweb was invented everyone always steals everyone else’s ideas...

 

WTH! I dont think any of our lamb prices are that cheap!

 

Looks like a great dinner. Perfect sized meal.

Need to get my Weber fired up tonight. I don't have any meat thawed, though, and I'm on daughter duty tonight.

 

All done.

 

Me and my old horse will be there by fall. I watch a lot of westerns, but I can't yet do the magic time warp of TV. I do thank you for the invite and I am still available for adoption. My Easter dinner plans are a roasted, toasted, mayo infused, with garlic and gently caramelized onion, two all-beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions, on a sesame seed bun.

Or a reverse seared ribeye.

 

Nicely done!

 

I pulled this out of the freezer earlier this week. 12 lb select reserve slicing ham (whatever that means), all rubbed up and ready for the smoker Sunday morning.

 

This weeks project, Duck Prosciutto:

4 (2 pair) - duck breasts trimmed of silver skin, tenderloins and overhanging fat
4 - cups kosher, pickling or non-iodized salt
1 cup sugar

Spices

1/4 cup juniper berries
2 TBLS black pepper corns
2 TBLS fennel pods
4 bay leaves

- Toast the spices in a CI skillet for a few minutes until the aroma in the kitchen is making you salivate. Then rough grind/mill spices and mix in with the salt/sugar.

- In a non-reactive (I prefer glass, glazed pottery or corral) pour 1/2 the cure in then lay the breasts meat side down. Cover the breasts with the remaining cure, cover and place in 38 to 42*F fridge for 24 to 48 hours.

- After curing brush off any remaining cure and then rinse with white vinegar followed my wine then pat dry with clean paper towels

- After dried wrap in 3 to 5 layers of clean cheese cloth, truss and then hang. Hanging to dry can be done in you refrigerator where it will take 7 to 10 day to dry to 60% its original weight but I am using a curing chamber with higher temp/humidity so the process will be slower but the end result will be more flavorful.

I am also going to take one additional step and after drying from the vinegar/wine rinse I am going to put a sprig of fresh thyme on one side and a few sage leaves on the other side of the meat then wrap in cheese cloth and truss. This will impart a bit more and different flavor.


3-30-18 out of the cure:

1. Quick rinse with water and dried with a paper towel
2. Spritzed with 50/50 water vinegar and dried with a paper towel
3. Dipped in red wine and dried with a paper towel


Cut and roll out 4 sections of cheese cloth slightly wider than the duck breasts. Place a few sage leaves on the cheese




Duck placed on the sage leaves and topped with thyme





All rolled up and trussed tagged with current weight and target weight ready for hanging

 

This is why my neighbor and I get along well

My $60 26” weber from Craigslist vs his $1200 smoker

Making two small brisket packers today. One wrapped in butcher paper. One wrapped in foil.

 

Got some ribs going today

 

Trying to smoke bacon on the Weber kettle. Doing it by feel - I think the thin walls of the kettle will help keep the temps down. Going to shoot for 4 hours of smoke. I’ll probably have to reload the tube a couple times.



Ignore the used coals - I need to clean it out from last time.

 

So with my curing chamber up and running I've got 6 guanciale that have been aging for 3 weeks it was time to start some more projects. Last Friday I started curing a 4.77lb pork belly that will become pancetta and today scored a nice eye of round at BJ's wholesale club.

So I got home broke out the salts, spices and scales and set to work.

Eye of round trimmed of fat and silver skin and weighed out to 3lbs 12.7 ounces





Meet the cast of spices





Spices all weighted out and ready to go into the Ninja blender to mix well and grind the juniper berries.





Meat rubbed with cure/spice mix





Meat into vac bag with and loose spices then 90% of the air was vacuumed out and sealed.





Into the fridge for 2 to 3 weeks turning periodically. Once cured it'll get a rinse in cold water and red wine then towel dried and trussed. Then weighed and into the curing chamber until it looses 40% of its weight. Cure chamber will be set at 55 degrees and 70% humidity. Should take around 12 weeks +/-.









Fortunately I have a good friend to help me wait it out:





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Both regular and spicy Bresaola's are done curing. Removed from the vac packs they were curing in, rinsed with cold water, dried and then trussed. They are currently hanging in the curing chamber while the bactroferm 600 mold culture rehydrates. Tomorrow morning they get sprayed with the mold and then into a inoculation chamber running at around 65 to 70 degrees and 80 to 85% RH for a couple days until the mold establishes. Then back into the curing chamber set at 55 degrees and 70% RH for around 12 o 16 weeks to dry out and age.

The curing chamber is looking good:





5 Guanciale (back left)
4 Duck prosciutto (front left)
1 Pancetta (back right)
2 Bresaola (middle and front right)
9 Wheels of homemade cheddar (traditional, habanero, cayenne, black pepper variants some smoked smoke not)

_________________________________________________________________

Time to build a inoculation chamber. Since the bresaola's are 18" long on the hooks my original plan of using a sterite tote was no longer valid. So a trip to wallyworld and a new trash can, spray bottle and dowel rod were gathered up so the meats could be hanged w/o touching anything.

After some beta testing what got me a pretty consistent 68* and 86% RH was about 1 pint of distilled water in the bottom of the trash can to add humidity and thermal mass. The trash can was then placed on a heating pad set on medium. The heating pad is plugged into a 24 hour timer that is set to run for an hour then of for an hour repeat 24 hours a day and the opening of the trash can covered about 90% with a clean tea towel.

I inoculated the bresaola on 4/1/18 mid morning and on 4/3/18 early morning some very nice mold has established. Later today the bresaola's will be moved to the curing chamber for the long rest.









If all goes well in the coming weeks the bresaola's will be totally encased in a snow white mold.