Food Smokers and Smoking Tips/Tricks/Techniques

I think so

 

Choked it off and temps are dropping. But as you said, pretty sure this would make for nasty smoke. I will let it snuff the coals and save them for a high temp grilling of a couple pounds of chicken wings later today

 

Once they get ripping they are hard to choke out and subsequently stabilize at a low temp. You have to starve the fire of oxygen which can result in the coals getting snuffed. Open the vents again and back up the scale it goes. In my experience the best way to start a low heat fire in a kamado cooker is slowly- you can always open up the vents to increase the temp but once it's super hot things get much more tricky.

 

@burntkat thank you for the bourbon! Totally unnecessary but very much appreciated!

 

https://youtu.be/axdwo_vixY0

This should be our official thread song

 

My pleasure! Thank you for the grills! I am putting the egg to good use making 6 pounds of hot wings for the guys at the parts store. I have already learned a ton about this grill...and it's been burning wide open on 3/4 of a basket of charcoal since about 9am this morning/ save for 90 minutes it took for me to run the bourbon to you.

 

Beef ribs, baby back pork ribs and my first attempt at burnt ends using pork belly

 

Proud of my wife, she got the smoker lit and food in it while I was helping someone move. Now it’s football time.

 

Bacon a little closer. Since it my first time, I am taking it slow. I have everything necessary:


From reading and visiting various websites, this is the "step by step" that folks seems to agree on:

HOT SMOKED BACON

Cure Mixture - Basic

There are 3 ingredients for the mixture that will coat the pork belly and cure it. The amount varies depending on the weight of the pork belly.

· Kosher salt – 0.35 ounces per 1 pound of pork belly

· Brown sugar – 0.25 ounces per 1 pound of pork belly

· Cure #1 (Prague Powder #1) – 1 tsp for every 5 pounds of pork belly

If you add additional items, such as spices or maple syrup, etc, be sure to scale the amount according to the weight of the meat, and always double check the amount of cure necessary and used.

Steps:

1. If you are smoking more than one pork belly, measure out the cure mixture separately for each belly.

2. Trim the belly to remove any loose pieces of fat. Also check to see if there is any layer of skin or membrane.

3. Combine all ingredients until thoroughly mixed together.

4. Spread the cure mixture (kosher salt, brown sugar, cure #1, any spices or other additions) over the pork belly, making sure to get under all the nooks and crannies and on the sides as well. Make the coating as evenly as possible on both sides so the whole belly has a nice coating on all sides. Make sure to use all the mixture that you measured out, based on the weight of each pork belly.

5. Place each coated pork belly in a separate zip lock bag. You may need to sort of fold up the sides so that the liquid that exudes from the belly is in constant contact with the meat at all times. Remove as much air as possible from the bag and seal it.

6. Place the pork bellies in the fridge so that they can cure based on the weight. Cure #1 penetrates about ¼ per day, so a 2 inch thick belly will cure in 7-10days. Some suggest adding a day or two, just to be safe.

7. During this time the cure will pull moisture out of the pork and the belly will release liquid so every day you want to gently massage the bag so the liquid and spices are well distributed.

8. Flip the bag over every dayto ensure that the cure coats each side so that the belly is completely cured.

9. After the bellies have been in the fridge curing for the calculated period (7-10 days, based on thickness) they are ready, or “cured”. Some have said they will be a little firm to the touch.

10. Remove them from the bags and throw away the liquid.

11. Rinse them under cold water for a couple minutes to remove all the cure mixture.

12. Dry the meat. Some simply pat them dry, others put it on some sort of drying rack and stick it in back in the fridge for 1 day to dry out (form the pellicle). Some have said that a quick rinse is all that is necessary and then on to the smoker; that smokes sticks better to a wet surface. Choose the method that works best for you.

13. Set the smoker to be in the 190° - 225F° range. Choice of wood is yours: apple, maple, hickory, cherry, etc….

14. Smoke over indirect heat until the internal temp is 150° - 155°F, about 4 hours.

15. Take the slab out, place it in another zip lock bag, and immerse in a cool water bath to cool it quickly.

16. Wrap them in plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator or freezer until fairly firm. This helps them firm up for much smoother slicing.

17. After slicing, cook as desired. Fry? Bake? Deep Fry? Your choice.

Hopefully there is nothing that someone would say: "WTF are you Doing?? Next step is to measure the slabs, there are 5 small ones in the pack, mix and get it in the fridge!! I will post up pictures of the process.... In 7 - 10 days, I will either be dead from botulism or enjoying my first bacon...

RiskDude

 

Results of my wing session today...

Also, the temp pen I bought may end up being wasted money. The Weller I got at Lowes does the job just fine. Oh well, cheap backup isn't a bad thing

 

Love playoff season

 

No weighing,no calculator, just a simple recipe that works quite well.

There are lots of ways to make bacon. This is what I use.

real simple curing brine:

for every 1 gallon of water, add:

1/3 - 1 cup sea salt (depending if you're on a lo-salt diet)

1 cup granulated Pure cane sugar

1 cup brown sugar or Splenda® brown sugar mix

1 tbsp cure no. 1 pink salt

stir thoroughly until clear amber color, pour over meat, inject if necessary to cure from inside-out as well as outside-in

Curing times vary with meat, but generally overnight to 2-3 days for chickens and turkeys, 8-10 days buckboard bacon, 10-14 days belly bacon, pork shoulder, whole butts, 3-4 weeks whole hams, 10-20 days corned beef (fresh beef roasts, briskets, rolled rib roasts, etc.) If whole muscle is more than 2" thick, then inject so it can cure i/o as well as o/i, and/or in and around bone structures, etc.

You can add any other flavorings you'd like, this is just the basic curing brine. 1 heaping tablespoon of cure is about 1 ounce. The maximum concentration allowed safely is 3.84 ounces per 1 gallon of brine (24 lbs.per 100 gallons: 16 oz. x 24 = 384 ounces, 1/100th is 3.84 ounces). You can experiment with different concentrations as long as you keep it between those parameters.

I add blackpepper,onion, garlic powder

Cut them up and put them in a bucket with the cure mix...then into the spare fridge for 7 days. I also injected .

No specific reason for 7 days.. You can go up to 15 days

Rinsed and put back in the fridge with a generous coating of pepper onion and garlic on half. Added a thick coat of Slap Yer Mama and coated with Steen's cane syrup on the other half.

2 days later they got 12 hours of pecan, oak and apple smoke from the Traeger.

Back into the fridge for a couple days.

Used my slicer and had 8 pounds sliced in no time.

Vac Seal to store extras.

Try it you will like it..

Enjoy!!

 

Tossed this in the freezer for an hour to firm up before slicing for another batch of jerky:

 

Got a surprise, and early at that....


Can't wait to try it out! I need to figure out something relatively quick and easy to try it on.

 

I made it out to 2M BBQ in San Antonio for the second time recenly. Many experts & magazines are now claiming it is the #1 Top BBQ in Texas (beating out the infamous Franklins). I have had both..and the brisket is equally off the charts at both, Franklins is definitely more peppery, so I prefer 2M. The best way to describe the brisket at 2M...it is like cotton candy, it it is soft, fluffy,(But firm and not mushy), and it melts in your mouth, literally. (that Prime Brisket has a lot of marbled fat that just melts away)

For everyone's inspiration: This was our tray which cost $160. Worthy every penny

 

What's the green thing between the sausage and the stuff in the cup? Looks kind of like a sugar skull.

 

Maybe pickled onions and cactus?

 

$160?!?!?

I better be getting a couple briskets to go!

 

Nice copy and paste!!

You should have just posted a link to Pop’s brine.