Food Smokers and Smoking Tips/Tricks/Techniques

2:25 hours in and 240 degrees in the kamado and 140 degrees in the shoulder.

 

I'd rather thigh.. never know what they are stuffing into those breasts to make them bigger!

 

Long way to go to 200/205 depending on what your intentions are...

 

200 is the target, but I'm totally inexperienced. I'll go probe tender.

Wrap or no wrap? I'm undecided right now. Maybe I wrap one and leave the other?

 

Wrap and put in foil pan to catch all the juices when unwrapping

 

Copy that. Always good to get some advice. This is literally my first cook ever. I won't be upset if there is a learning curve and I don't expect this to be perfect. I'll settle for tasty and edible.

 

Just for another point of view.. I personally never wrap and I put it in a foil pan when I take it out of the smoker. I prefer the bark to not be mushy. I pull it right in that same pan and let the juices reabsorb. Always more than one way to skin a cat right?

Welcome to the club and no matter how you do it.. it should be about your personal preferences and not what just one person says! a lot of experience in the room so don't be afraid to ask questions and practice practice practice!

Pork freezes well and reheats well and it'll help you learn your smoker too.

 

At this point, i'm not really sure what I prefer with the bark. I think I'm going to wrap one (whichever is looking crispier at 160 degrees) and leave the other unwrapped. That should at least help me compare and contrast.

Either way, they are smelling so good and i'm going to have a difficult time over the next few hours. I'll spend at least part of the time being a nerd and charting my updates and temps...

 

One of the best things you can do is keep a specific notebook and record times and temps for each thing... pork shoulders, briskets, chickens, turkeys etc. That will help you plan in the future for getting meals on the table close to the time you intend.

I recommend looking up spatchcocking birds for a faster more even cook without drying out the breast meat while not under cooking the thigh meant.

TONS of posts and recipes in this thread about briskets and PBBEs and shoulders and bacon and wings and every other thing you can think of. I know we are on page 2401 of this thread but for the most part, it is a worthwhile read.

Read the manual with your smoker if you have one.. if not google it and download one so you know what you can and cannot expect from it. Again.. practice... and then practice some more.. your friends and family will love you for it.

 

I've got a notebook going right now, great tip.

Spatchcock chicken is def on my list. I've been collecting recipies for the past few years and just never pulled the trigger on the kamado. I'll start wading my way through this thread soon!

 

The only thing you need for spatchcocking is a good pair of poultry shears to cut out the backbone.. should be around $25 but probably less.. a pair with a curved blade is best.. and even better is a pair than comes apart for decontamination.

That being said.. don't be afraid to spend money on knives and shears and tongs and the like.. you will be served fair better with quality then saving a few bucks.

 

So buy once, fry once then.

 

Reminds me of that guy that attributed his long life to no smoking, drinking, or sex.

He had been dead for years, he just didn't know it!

 

Whole chicken. Butter under and over the skin. Salt + Pepper. 350 for 2.5 hours.

 

I'm guessing Maner suggested wrapping because of the time of day, an unwrapped cook has a long way to go...

 

Ya I could have explained better. I wrap after I like the looks of the bark.

 

Have you ever tried spatchcocking it? and yes.. I have typed that word like 10 times now.. but it's so fun to say! HAHA

 

Tri tip and ribs!

Quick sear before I pull the tri tip off for a rest.

 

Looking good!

Awesome! I have a remote one but not on my phone .. on the list though!

 

No, but a quick GIS has me intrigued.