Food Smokers and Smoking Tips/Tricks/Techniques

NV is on my short list of places to retire. Easy on the taxes. Got to save money for food and drink.

 

Good Morning Everyone

 

I have some Pitfaced meat massage on the way that should be here Saturday and planning to smoke a couple chickens on Sunday. Anybody do chickens with the meat massager yet, how did it turn out?

 

I'm sure other, less biased () members will chime in as well, but I've obviously used it a ton. I've done a number of whole chickens and whole turkeys with it in addition to countless chicken thighs and leg quarters. It is a sweeter rub with some herbal notes and very flavorful. I think it does really well on chicken. If doing a whole chicken, get a little under the skin, then a decent coating on the outside of the skin and cook like you normally would.

Let me know how you like it!

 

Wife blended some in room temperature butter and shoved it all under the skin and it was good.

 

I’ve used it on whole chicken, wings, thighs, breast, tenderloins, you name it. I’ve pretty much moved to only using the spicy. That being said, the regular meat message lends itself really well to poultry and slower cooking because of the lower salt content. I hadn’t rubbed it under the skin, but I think I’ll try it with the butter next time like @Bigdaddy4760 mentioned

Here’s a few pics to get your stomach growling

 

I also have an old time cast iron country 8 hole muffin pan which has the big holes. Really think it's was for pop overs. But I will take and cook seasoned boneless chicken thighs in it over coals or in the smokers and it's great when they cook in all the juices.

 

This is genius! And a great way to change a unitasker into a multitasker.

 

And beans and bullets Could buy a lot of beans, shells and meat with the money I spend in taxes here...

On one of the episodes of Pitmasters someone shigged Myron Mixon doing thighs in a muffin pan and Myron went ballistic. Gesh glad he didn't know my grandmother!

I need to find a cast iron muffin pan, it is on the shortlist to fill yet.

 

Don't know if I could be around that guy very long. I want even watch anything he is on.

 

I’ve thought the same, then realized that it’s just TV and most likely all scripted. If not, someone somewhere would have punched him in the throat by now.

 

Agree totally

 

Random question...

When y'all are freezing meats....say tri tips and brisket, or any meats that typically benefit from some amount of trimming, are y'all trimming before freezing or after defrost and ready for cooking??


Asking cause I had separated and frozen the cryo pack of tri tips. But when I defrosted the one for yesterday, it seemed sloppier than normal as far as needing trim.

 

A buddy dropped off some homemade hot sauce today so I had to try it.

Hot sauce thighs and pitfaced wings:

 

All sorts of Bacon Goodness:

Got a nice pork belly from Costco and made bacon with half:

Let it cure for two weeks, then into smoker for 5 hours.

All sliced up:

This was my third try and my best yet!!! Yum.

 

That’s good looking bacon

 

I haven't frozen a brisket, but I do buy whole tenderloins and rib roasts and freeze them. I typically trim first so I can separate cuts, waste, and little bits that can be used to make stock etc. Then I just label up everything and foodsave it for later.