Food Smokers and Smoking Tips/Tricks/Techniques

Been makin’ it for a while now. Not always the flavour but sometimes the way you blend it. I’ve used coffee grinders, mills & a variety of mortars & pestles to get the right consistency.

 

My wife is an oregano freak. Need to include some but not overpowering. And yes it blackens. Bitters when burnt imho.

 

Unicorn is now going on everything.... It's as advertised.


Had a little grease fire in the Traeger last night lol I was like man that thing is still smoking quite a bit... As I get closer I see we have a full inferno in there. So naturally, switched the baby to the other arm and opened the lid and grabbed the tongs and flipped the chicken to sear the other side of the bacon. Fired up the gas grill and finished her up... My wife was like wtf are you doing! I'm like it's fine babe, I got this.

 

Burgers for lunch, now a quick nap while wife and kid are riding bikes.

 

PF "on point" rub its savory vs sweet.

 

Already have good recommendations on how to make your own and mix it. I will add that that regular brown sugar will burn at higher temps and sometimes really long cooks. So I mix turbinado sugar (sugar in the raw) with brown sugar 50/50 and it helps prevent it from burning. I just need to keep my youngest son from using it in his coffee so I don't always run out when I need it

 

Lots of great info already provided, but I'll pitch in my 2 cents, too.

It is definitely a sweet rub and if you're cooking towards the higher end of the temp spectrum, scorching can come in to play.

First you'll have to decide what you want to cut it with. More herbal flavor? Saltier? More pepper?

Pick the flavor profile you'd like to enhance, then start adding it in. Document your tests so that you don't end up recreating the same thing down the road. Keep in mind that the grain size can affect how much you get for a given measurement. For instance, a tablespoon of finely ground black pepper has a greater affect than a tablespoon of coarse grind black pepper.

After that get to testing!

Best to do it in "parts" so that you can start with small batches while testing and scale up. For instance, 5 parts Meat Massage, 2 parts salt, 1 part pepper. Then when you find the ratio you like, you can just convert those parts to tablespoons, cups, or whatever.

Dialing it in can be tedious, but it can be fun, too, and it gives you an excuse to cook a bunch.

It was also mentioned already, but for what it is worth, our newest rub, On Point (aka Unicorn) was developed to offer a savory alternative to the sweeter Meat Massage. PM me your order # for Meat Massage so I can reference it. I'm pretty busy prepping for competition at the moment, but I'll get a small sample of On Point sent out and you can see what you think .

I do this with rubs, from time to time, too. It is also how I 'make' salsa and spaghetti sauce anymore. In some cases, a good base gets you mighty close to what your looking for, then it just takes a few tweaks to make it ideal.

We have a customer that has a BBQ business that does the same thing. He buys our Meat Massage in bulk, then does a very minor tweak to it to before rubbing most all of their meats down with it.

 

Should include the free complimentary sauce dye pack.

 

You don't start your salsa and pasta sauce with organic tomatoes and spices grown in your own garden? IMAGE SHATTERED. Man now I have to rethink everything. Is PF really only McCormick Seasoning salt in disguise?????????

 

@Misplaced Nebraskan got a glimpse of the "laboratory" and the drawer full of raw spices.

Spaghetti sauce, though? Yeah, it's a pretty plain Hunt's spaghetti sauce, then a few fresh veggies, followed by dipping in to the spice stash .

 

I hear you man. I don't do my own from scratch often anymore. Mine usually cooks 4-6 hours and I just don't have that amount of time anymore.

Cooking is all about adapting and making things better and your own.

 

Teach us your spaghetti sauce ways .

I've done it from scratch plenty of times, but starting dinner at 6:00 p.m. after work? No way am I going from scratch. Tomato sauce + stuff and we're off.

 

Usually make it a day long project once I get all the ingredients to make about 18 jars. The smoked pork neck bones really add flavour. Havin’ fresh herbs are awesome too. Kinda a Fall time thing.

 

I used to do big batches of it and some day I will get back to it. I love having fresh herbs and crushed garlic in mine. I also used to make a ton of meatballs (3 meat) but I don't have the space to store stuff right now and I haven't had the time needed to make it the way I want. I did make a scratch batch not too long ago though, we had family over and we did meatball hoagies and I wanted the sauce a specific way.

 

I use fresh onions, garlic, and tomatoes (diced up). Fresh oregano, basil, and parsley, if available, too.

It's mainly the step of making the tomato paste from scratch that I don't really take on anymore.

The pork neck bones has my interest piqued!

 

Make your sauce when you pick your tomatoes lol. Can it and enjoy slow cooked sauce the rest of the year even if you are pressed for time

If that’s not an option you can get a pretty good sauce going in about an hour from scratch.....fresh or canned tomatoes seasoned and simmered with whatever meat and veggies you like then thicken with tomato paste

 

Never use a stainless steel pot & don’t forget to add some good quality dry red wine. I’ve used smoked chicken in a pinch but pork is much better. Oh, & a good dab or two of unsalted butter at the end.

Gettin’ Hungry now!

 

Smoking a brisket tonight using pepper and salt. Injected with beef broth.

 

why not a stainless pot?