Food Smokers and Smoking Tips/Tricks/Techniques

Couple of tri-tips thrown on the BGE this afternoon.

 

I have never smoked tri-tip. I'll have to give that a try.

 

I just got done packing up 40lbs of boneless chicken breasts ($1.39/lb at Restaurant Depot)in the new beast sealer and in the freezer. What a freaking dream to use. Nonstop for about 30 minutes and no bad seals.

I have a brisket and two racks of ribs in the fridge ready for the rub on Friday. I also have about 20lbs of bone in chicken breast, 10lbs of thighs, and 10lbs of quarters. Brisket and ribs will go on the smoker along with a few of the other pieces, the rest will get grilled.

I also got a full 10lb wheel of Gouda to throw in on Sunday since I'll have the smoker out and ready to go. This will be my first time trying to cold smoke and I'm hoping it isn't too hot. I have a bunch of large foil chafing pans just in case and I'll grab a bunch of ice to put in the smoker.

It's going to be a good weekend.....

 

Tri-tip is smoked at a higher temperature thus shorter time then most meats. 300 - 350 F for 1- 1 1/2 hours. Take it off at 155 F internal if you like it on the rare side, 165 F if not. No need to rest. Cut against the grain and dig in.

 

Garlic heavy seasoning on these filets. Was trying to save them for the vampire rub, but wifey wanted them tonight. Fried taters and fresh broccoli.

 

Salmon!

Used way less wood chips this round.

 

London broil the other day

 

Love all the pictures!

I'm getting my smoker fixed up after the minor catastrophe on Thanksgiving where I blew the thermal fuse in the heating unit. Luckily I planned ahead and had plenty of charcoal to finish it off.

I'm rigging up a temperature controller and reaching the thermal fuse with a resettable one. I have latches for the door to install so it stays tighter too. Still need to work on a few components, but I will post some pictures when it is done.

 

155f beef is rare?

 

X2

 

No joke. I pull my tri tip at 135f and let it rest an hour

Usually comes up 5-10f but still...

I also cook it low and slow with a sear at the end. I might try cooking it hotter though.

 

Maybe his thermometer no worky so good? The pics don't look overcooked, as would 155f. I dunno.

 

Lucky! Sleep at all after that, damn what a crappy way to find the snake.

 

For tri-tip
I will pull at 135/140 and let it rest.
Medium rare on the rare side side i guess?

 

Lockhart update.
Took about 2 hours to unbox and build.

Here are my thoughts and observations.

It looks sweet.

Got the Smoke IT app all setup, it is clunky but works.

You might have to close and re-open the app occasionally


No P setting, only temperature control, you can also set to S

Inside lights are nice to have
Storage for the probes is good & the "pathway" for the probes into the grilling area clean.


Did the "burn in" tonight and
I am going to see how well it will smoke at lower temps tomorrow.

Will update more tomorrow.





During the "burn in"

 

It'll be interesting to see what the burn rate on the pellets ends up being on that Lockhart

 

+ 1

 

Before tri-tip was a "thing" it was sold to restaurants and dinners who cooked and sold it as Roast Beef. Still is in much of the country.

Looks good, I have visions of a few of those slices on a plate with mashed taters, corn and buried in gravy. One of my favorite comfort foods especially in colder weather. Now I am hungry!

It does look sweet and thanks for the update!

No P setting because the Platinum series finally uses a real PID controller. I would mainly use the smoker box for jerky and smoking fish so was wondering if the PID controller could keep a low temp between 160°-180°. Judging from how hot the grill area is compared to the smoker box looks like that should not be a problem at all. And could use the grill of course, I do like that on the little Pit Boss I have now. Except that it can get so hot it will turn off with overheat protection when I pull the plate back to do the sear.

I think I could like that thing...

 

Tri Tip blew my mind - in New England we call them (smaller cuts) "steak tips". I had no idea it was a New England thing until a few years ago.