Food Smokers and Smoking Tips/Tricks/Techniques

Very cool build

 

If ribs take about 4 hours, give or take, in dog years, that's like 28 hours. She was worried they would be overdone.

 

Thanks. It was fun to put it together. Had to buy several new tools, but alas, my 20 year old Craftsman drill passed away during the build. Drilling 1/4 inch steel plate was a bit much.

 

Reverse Seared ribeye roast with some garlic butter rosemary rub. Also added a few strips of prime steaks haha

 

Oh wow this turned out great. Brined with salt, brown sugar, rosemary(from the garden) and thyme for 12 hours.

Then a little Pitfaced rub and smoked with hickory and applewood for a few hours.

 

http://www.pitfacedbbq.com/belly2.html
If u don’t have any of his rub yet u should give it a try lol
In the meantime make a rub heavy on sugar, salt, spices like cumin paprika garlic etc and pepper to ur desired heat level for a substitute
Save the center cut and make some easy hot smoked bacon: 1 part salt to 3 parts brown sugar, cure for a few days, smoke at 150-175 until it hits 140. Chill, slice and fry . Freeze what u don’t eat because there’s no nitrate cure
Works well for pork loin Canadian bacon too

 

Bacon? Did Someone say Bacon??





It was first time making Bacon at home... It was Maple Smoked would have to look in my notes for the time length in the brine.

Mine Would not leave the pit when I was cooking...



She was my faithful Pit companion, until the cancer got her in Nov. She was a BBQ snob, for a dog... she would refuse food cook with kingsford briquettes and lighter fluid. All I had to do was ask if we should Start the pit.. and she was dancing with excitement trying to get out the door

 

My only regret is that I used a "Roast Rub" that was given to me instead of some @bvbull200 Pitfaced. I can only imagine how much better it would have tasted!



I've never smoked one of these before.

 

This Oklahoma Joe chimney starter is awesome for searing. I turned it upside down to the shallow side and got a lot of surface area for a pretty minimal amount of charcoal.



Only one in this picture, but plenty of room for a second if needed:


And a blurry (as always) finished pic:



The steak was a little tricky. It was pretty thick and ended up not being fully thawed by the time it went on. I had it out for about 10 minutes, temped the center, and it read 34* .

Cost me a little medium-rare at the edges, but it was otherwise damn fine!

 

Dude, that is VERY well done executed!

Mighty impressive. The only downside is, when you nail a cook that well on your first try, there is nowhere to go .

Nice job.

 

And here is pork shoulder #2 of 2 today. I used the leftover juices from the burnt ends as a finishing sauce. Too bad I have to wait until tomorrow to eat it.

 

Why wait?

 

Sorry to hear that. My dogs do the same thing. Sit by the smoker and wait for something to drip.

 

Well, thanks to the guidance of you guys, here is the results of my first ever rib roast...


I ate the end piece, and the rub made a nice compliment to the beef. I am curious how that holds out for the middle pieces.
Overall, I am ecstatic over how this turned out. I will have to make sure I take a lot of notes on this cook. I am particularly pleased to note I didn't have any issues with the oblong ends overcooking. I have to credit that to the reverse sear, I think.
A friend is now bugging me to try cowboy ribeyes at his place.

 

Cooked perfectly!!! Pink throughout is the only way!

 

Looks way better than mine,

 

#1 curing salt penetrates pork belly at about a 1/4" a day. First have to have some #1 curing salt. Most of my Costco bellies run at least 2" thick so looking at 8 days for a cure. 7-10 days is normal.

I saw that episode. Sometimes his shows are a bit silly that was one but got some of his points across. He didn't use curing salt and was pretty high in the temps he allowed IMO.

You found the right place, and welcome

I've read a lot about Pops brine and somewhere have an account on SMF. Last time tried to log in couldn't, to say I'm not active there is an understatement. But for bacon I use Meatheads method and the curing calculator. It is easy and pretty much foolproof also. I do like the calculator. But that is likely my science background.

 

The equilibrium method seems easier, more fool proof, for my first time. Not knocking the dry cure at all. It’s just my comfort level for the first time I do it.

 

are you talking about an oven oven? Like in your kitchen?