Food Smokers and Smoking Tips/Tricks/Techniques

Thanks gents, I will have to try this.

One thing I am not going to inject, is the rib roast- I'm only going to 135IT, so it wouldn't be hot enough to kill any bacteria I'd be shoving into the meat. Perhaps a bit too worrysome, but having gotten sick from bad food once, I won't wish it on my worst enemy.

 

Don't hesitate to start thawing in the fridge a little early. You aren't going to hurt anything having it thawed a day/half a day early and just waiting in the fridge. It would suck, however, if the thing didn't thaw all the way before cooking.

Otherwise, you are reading the right article. Commit it to memory and hook the family up with a badass rib roast!

You can grind the spices up first with a mortar and pestle or a coffee grinder, then put in warm water to start dissolving. Do it the day before, then give it a little shake every now and then. You can then add apple juice or whatever you want to complete the injection. Let it sit still in the fridge overnight so any remaining bits settle at the bottom and don't put the needle all the way to the bottom of the jar when sucking up the injection. Ought to remain clog free that way!

If you want a store-bought cajun bird injection. Get Tony Chachere's Creole Butter injection.

https://www.tonychachere.com/Creole-Style-Butter-17-oz-case-of-6-P1291.aspx

About $5 a pop at your grocery store. They make ones with jalapeno in them, too, for a little extra kick if desired.

 

Smart man

 

Thanks. Searched that, and added to cart.

 

Damn...post up the process you used and let's get this thing figured out.

Brisket can be a real pain in the ass. Lots of variables and a really stubborn cut of meat.

 

Outstanding info, sir. Thank you for it.

 

Yep!

 

You mean this one?



Love it. And my Maple Sugar This was a turkey injection. I have eaten a lot of turkeys in my day and found the best ones to be a young hen (first year) in the 12-13 lb. range. Like any meat it helps to start with a quality meat to begin with, and they can vary widely with turkeys.

 

Based on this recommendation, texted the kid to take the roast out of the freezer and into the fridge to start thawing now. I forgot I will need to dry brine it for a day, and I might as well go ahead and do this right and trim that fat cap and silverskin off of it while I'm at it- which means it's time to learn to properly tie it up.

 

I like that too, but my oldest son doesn't like the red streaks in the meat from it

 

Back on the subject of Popeye's marinade, found this:
https://www.geniuskitchen.com/recipe/popeyes-fried-chicken-copycat-89925
Apparently they don't use anything too outrageous in their chicken. We shall see, will try this shortly after the new year, as I've been having a fang on for some proper fried chicken, and have a cast iron chicken fryer I haven't used since I received it several Christmases ago (and to my shame!)

EDIT: nevermind that first recipe- it's not well written and the front note is just pepper.
This looks much better, and isn't a clone of what can be bought from a drivethru... and I've had very good luck with recipes from this site, anyway:
https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/16982/spicy-grilled-chicken/

 

It works well marinating chicken tenders.

 

Anyone ever try those small bags of Jack Daniels charcoal with the wood chips?? Any good??

 

Have you thought about using the capsaicin and making an emulsion in the brine? A small amount of prepared mustard will do the trick. Emulsifying the brine will allow you to use oil based flavoring.

 

I have no idea how to do that. Will investigate for future use!

 

It's like making a dressing. When you make a dressing you have oil and vinegar which don't mix. You add some mustard and whisk together and it stays emulsified. Mayonnaise and aioli are emulsified sauces, but with egg used as the emulsifying agent.

That being said, make your brine concentrate and use your capsaicin or cayenne powder. Whisk inabout a teaspoon, or so, of dijon mustard to emulsify the brine. This will carry the oil part of the brine when you dilute it and put it over your bird.

 

Brilliant. I had no idea mustard was used as an emulsifier. You're like watching Alton Brown.

 

He's my hero!

It also helps that I went to college for culinary arts.

 

Looking for a badass slicer knife, anyone have experience with either of these?

badass "slicer" knife
https://amzn.to/2LyUPEE

Classic "slicer" knife
https://amzn.to/2CAnYN2

 

We have a guy that works here who has a degree in that as well. He's now a computer network engineer. -shrug-

He was instrumental in getting me to try the brining, even given that the bird is already "brined" (probably more like injected) with a saline solution out of the shrinkwrap.

I don't see me going back to the "straight out of the package" method ever again. At the very least I will inject it.