Food Smokers and Smoking Tips/Tricks/Techniques

AH, now I see. That was the next question, thought it was a brush laying there... "that brush is going to be awfully hot!"

 

different version of doneness chart

 

is it this?
https://www.smokingmeatforums.com/ams/pops-wet-curing-brine.9561/

 

Yes. I've used it several times and it's pretty damn good.

 

Personally I prefer a method that has been lab tested and approved by the USDA. At least when dealing with curing salts and meat especially. Not something from the internet, as Abraham Lincoln said you can't believe everything you read on the world wide web.

Not really confusing to use a calculator but it does require attention to detail and accurate measurements. And you KNOW what the PPM is when your eating the finished product. That is the most important part of curing to me, I want to know how much I am eating. And try to minimize it. Going to steal a line from a food scientist. The one that wrote the calculator on Meatheads website:

Lower is presumed better, because we are not sure how dangerous nitrite is, and because there are many alternatives to cured meats. In fact, if you read through the EU and US nitrite regulations, they are highly complex and nuanced and vary depending on how the meat is cured, packaged and shipped. They often argue over setting LOAEL safety bands, compromising on 500x reduction instead of 100x, in response to a consensus view of the latest studies. Again, the differences many be hard to justify by actual public health benefits, at least in the short term. But lower levels may be wise in retrospect.

I do agree with him. And the studies reinforce the danger as the data keeps coming in. This from someone who has been known to sit in a room full of M.D and PhD's and when things get heated say I can't remember is coffee going to kill today or was that last week? I don't get invited to as many meetings as I used to and that is just fine by me. I hate meetings or at least most of them.

No idea why anyone would ever cure a pork shoulder to begin with. Or chicken wings. As I said I prefer to minimize my exposure to nitrite and nitrates and only use curing salt when I feel there is a need for it during smoking due to falling inside the danger zone window of temperature and time. The online calculator does have a visual that shows a bone and how to measure thickness.



Then again I went through the same brainwashing school as @Misplaced Nebraskan so may be warped to begin with. Wait.. I think he already said we were and would be correct

I use one bowl for the whole process from beginning to end, a dedicated stainless steel "wings" bowl. I rinse the wings and line the bowl with paper towels and toss and dry. When dry lightly coat with oil salt and pepper. Then let sit for ~hour or so. After I put the wings on the grill I wash the bowl well and put my ingredients for the hot sauce in it. When the wings have about 10 minutes left to go I pull the wood chunk and put the bowl over the vortex and whisk until mixed. Throw the wings in and toss. Back on the grill for more than 5 minutes but less than 10 minutes. Then back into the bowl and tossed again to eat. Works for me and less mess to clean up when done.

Of course you need blue cheese dressing and celery.

 

How I feel every.damn.time I look up a recipe on one of rhese young kid's blogs and they have The Great American Novel posted, requiring me to scroll through 57 pages of drivel...

 

One thing to be aware of is there is no mention of brand or flake size of sea salt used. volume measurements work if using the same grain sized salt. or same brand. 1 cup of Course, Fine, Flake sea salt will have different weights.

 

this is more important if you start changing brands or from one grain size to another. if you always buy the same stuff, not as critical. but if you try different salts. weigh a cup of your reference salt, so that if you go to a different grain size you can use the same weight , this helps to keep the salinity in the right range that you are expecting.

 

With regards to why cure a pork shoulder, i think hams apply and buck board bacon.

 

Oh yeah... Most definitely already different before the school. The school just finished us off

 

First step in making buckboard bacon is it remove the shoulder blade. Which was the question, what about cure absorption around the flat shoulder bone in a pork shoulder that sits near the edge. I have never seen a blade in shoulder cured. Or buckboard bacon with bone in. Anywhere. So not sure why you would do it bone in?

Pssst... the ham is at the other end, the round bone end Like the picture I posted of the calculator that shows how to measure.

Time to light fires. No way this package is 2.5 lb. of wings, full of water weight. I know better and should just stick with meat from Costco. They were on sale at the grocery store so thought I'd try them. Still cost more per pound than Costco party wings 6 pack. And don't look near as good

 

Baseline. And if you change any variable it requires repeating.

 

Must have missed the bone part. I was merely commenting. I’ve seen people cure whole front shoulders somewhere before.

My costco still doesn’t carry full packers. I leave a comment card every time i go, hoping to walk in one day to find them.

Good luck with the wings.

 

And what are said ingredients for the hot sauce? I'm all ears.... gonna have to try this out this weekend on my new grill (and many many thanks to DanOMite for the new cookery! )

 

This is why it appeals to my Engineer's brain....

 

Stopped by my best friend's house tonight. He's also a cook on our competition team, so we obviously have very similar interests. Naturally, a stop in to say hello resulted in spice talk and him sending me on my way with a bunch of raw spices to whip something up.

Most guys have something that drives the wife nuts when they come home with more/another one of. Mine is easily seasoning/spices.



Got a sample of the new hats, too.

 

Brian
Do you ever get seasonings from Pendreys in Fort Worth

 

Frank's hot sauce and butter if I recall correctly. At least that's what I use.

 

Late dinner... leftover rib roast sammich. Mayo (sadly no horseradish in the house), cheddar, Koop's spicy brown mustard, on toasted wheat bread. Entirely too good, even though it is obviously a bit more done after 45 seconds in the microwave

Oh, and some Tongue Torch sauce from Zaxby's. Don't tease me, it's tasty and makes a good add on when I want a subtle touch of heat to sandwiches and the like. Also, my son used to work there, so I got it free.

Edit - post the pic, stupid....