Food Smokers and Smoking Tips/Tricks/Techniques

For those of you with a uds do you enjoy it, got a free 55g barrel and am debating on trying to build it or not. I already have, traeger, weber charcoal grill, and propane

 

Hahaha

 

I went to buy a beverage fridge for the garage. Guy at Lowe’s said get a garage rated fridge. Huh? Garage rated? Apparently some aren’t rated for temp swings that a un-heated garage goes through. I guess it’s not a concern if the garage is temp controlled.

 

never had a problem other than some stuff freezing inside just turn the temp controller to warmer in the winter...

 

That lasted overnight. Ad is gone lol

 

I'll sleep easier now though and not stress over them being there at least.

 

I got a 22" Red Anniversary Kettle last month for my birthday that I'm looking forward to firing up. This thread was the inspiration and now I'm waiting for some warmer weather to break it in. Mainly eat venison and ducks/geese, but I'm excited to try lots of other cuts from the butcher shop I have avoided the last few years. I grew up in the Bay Area of California and ate TONS of tri-tip, but now that I live in Canada it seems they are few and far between. Hopefully find one of those once I've picked up some charcoal grilling skills.

I have two chest freezers...one full of training birds - ducks and pheasants, and one full of meat for me. Girlfriend refuses to open either since there is often some overflow from one to the other....

 

Yeah newer fridge freezer combos might be more efficient but because of that they don't handle temperature extremes well. The garage rated ones just have a heating element over the thermostat to trick it into thinking it is warmer than it really is outside. You can purchase a third party one for $10 and turn any fridge into a garage rated one.

The new ones freak out in hot or cold temps and can be worse than an old fridge with energy use in extremes which is why I keep my old one. Garage is heated but only to about 40 degrees in the dead of winter. Enough that rust will form from the salt and ice that melts so I park in the driveway.

Funny now that I think about it, that is why I use the freezer in the garage fridge for birds. And the girlfriend is gone so I could actually put them anywhere I want now. But don't only out of habit. Who says I'm not trainable?!

 

Can't seem to,find it but someone posted a pulled pork recipe a couple weeks ago. Is there a way to find it without going threw every page?

 

Pulled pork is pretty easy. I normally rub it down with my favorite rub, smoke @225 or so with Apple and cherry wood until it hits 195-200, wrap and rest for at least an hour in a cooler, pull and eat.

You could bump the temps higher in the smoker after a few hours as well to get it done quicker.

 

Been in the biz for a long time, never heard of a garage rated frig. I do know how cold temps can affect them though. I learned something new today!

 

@WBF610 has it right, it’s that simple. Could even go 250. I go bone in just because I think it tastes better, just be sure to read your internal temps a couple inches away from bone or edges. If you hit the stall (160 or so internal temp) you could wrap with foil until internal temp is what he said, saves a couple hours. If you really want to cheat, pull it from smoker at stall and put it in oven to finish. Once you’re at the stall it’s not going to pick up any more smoke.

 

no way to ask this without some gutter humor: what do you use to hold the meat when wrapping the meat?

 

I use meat forks, whatever they’re called, to pick the whole thing up and set it on foil to wrap. Brings up good point... tie the whole thing with string before putting on smoker because it can fall apart pretty easily when trying to handle it later.

 

Any of you got recommendations for bbq sauces? Not sweet bb, 4 monkeys, or Stubbs lol looking to try something else

 

make your own...you looking for more of a tart flavor?

https://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/north-carolina-style-bbq-sauce

 

Just didn't want any of those lol

 

I got a set of those slippery rubber gloves. I normally put it in a foil pan, then cover with foil. A bit easier to handle after.

 

Oh yeah that too. Sometimes the silicone gloves make more sense, depends on the cut. Messier but easy and effective.