Food Smokers and Smoking Tips/Tricks/Techniques

That is a damned good deal on a damned good thermometer. If I ever lose mine or kill it, I will buy another. I don't care what color it is.

 

Same here!

When I go to the cabin in the month of October one of the first things I pack is the MK4. Worry about losing it or leaving it up there. I should just buy the one on sale so I have a backup. Yes. No. Yes. No. Maybe...

 

Note to self: Do NOT make joke about fat meat.
Sorry honey. Yes dear, I will go fuck myself.

 

Off the wall question for you guys: Have you ever tried using monkfruit in your rubs instead of brown sugar? I've been reading about it, but have no experience with it yet, and of course everyone who writes about it in their blog or whatever says it's the best thing ever, cause clicks. I'm probably picking up some from Costco this weekend to try it out, but also looking for feedback.

 

Never heard of monkfruit but after a quick search of it.. my answer is NO I wouldn't use it.

I use Turbinado sugar instead of brown sugar. It has a higher melting point and forms kind of a glaze instead of burning like brown sugar does.

For those who don't know most brown sugar is sugar that has been refined then had the molasses added back in.

The nice thing about cooking etc is that you can do whatever you want and try new things etc.. good luck and let us know if you try it!

 

I should clarify that when I refer to monkfruit, I mean the monkfruit sweetener, or the extract from the plant itself. It has no sugar, no carbs, no calories, and does not impact blood sugar levels, but is supposed to be many times sweeter than regular sugar. The two biggest takeaways there for me are no carbs, and no impact on blood sugar.

I'm gonna give it a shot, see how it works out. Something like a basic paprika, black pepper, salt, chili powder, garlic powder, onion powder, cayenne style rub, but use the monkfruit sweetener instead of brown sugar.

 

Ummm, use your imagination

 

Yea I understood you meant the sweetner ... Give it a try and report back... We're all just experimenting anyways!

 

It didn't work out so well for me. But we are all different and have to see how it works with your body.

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads...cks-techniques.229517/page-2378#post-22652839

I have been on and off Atkins since the 70's. Had high hopes for monkfruit but in my case HARD pass. But you are not me. Seems to effect people differently. And hope it works for you even though my body was not fond of it to say the least. It tore me up pretty up pretty badly. But I am an old guy full of stuff that is no longer legal to even produce.

But I am not THAT old Curt LOL. You have come a long, long ways. Doesn't look burnt to me. In fact looks like, erhhh never mind..

 

Forgot to post last weekends brisket.
16 lbs, light trim, fat side up. 180° to 160IT then wrapped and bumped to 225° until 204°. Rested for 2 hours. 21 hour cook time.

 

Yeah when they are young may be true. But kids learn. Some back story Chief.

During my Twilight Tour in Asheville, NC my oldest joined cub scouts. I lived in Arden at the bottom of the hill but on sign up night ended up setting at a table with a bunch of people that eventually accepted me. Only took a few weeks to find out that they were from the high rent district on top of the hill.

For the Pine Wood Derby of course "helped" my son out like my grandfather and my father did with me. Instead of cutting a slug open for weight and melting it in a soup pan poured and scraped excess off from my reloading equipment. Powder backed Teflon on the nail axles. And cut it into a wedge instead of carving it into an Indy car.

My son kept asking if we would win. I told him of course. He asked how did I know? I said because I was a Propulsion Engineer in the Navy. We won all of Western NC district at finals. When my son went up to accept the trophy the district manager said Cody you act like you expected to win. He said that he did. The manager asked him how did he know? And handed my son the microphone. My son said because my father is a Pee Pee Engineer in the Navy. I was in uniform and the whole place busted up laughing so hard that most of them had tears in their eyes. Hundreds of people..

Back to the Devils Court House and climbing a couple thousand feet. Scout master lived in the Biltmore Estates and was an Ex Marine. Biltmore Estates is where Tom Cruise bought a house and tore it down because he didn't like the layout, talking a million plus just for the 1 acre lot of land it sits on. And I had just moved from a single wide trailer in Eastern, NC which I purchased back as an E-5 to my 55k home in Arden. My first real stick home.

We parked at the parking area and when all the kids got out with packs etc. I told my son to take off his jacket. We were going to climb more than 3K in elevation. Was 60+ back down in Asheville and not much less than that in the parking area. Scout Master stared at us with a disgusted look and took off with the rest of the pack. After we caught up with them it wasn't much further when he stopped everyone and told them to take off their jackets. And he kept glaring at me.

Weather from NOAA, and HQ for NOAA was in Asheville then still maybe, called for extreme weather. And it was. You could smell the ozone from lighting strikes and trees were crashing all around us an hour after we left the parking lot. Snow to rain and back again, and a lot of it. Everyone was soaked. For supper that night I taught the kids how to roll trees over to find dry tinder. The scout master glared at me on more than one occasion and eventually called me a squid. I told him he was the lowest form of marine life, nothing in the world is lower than whale shit that sits at the bottom of the floor of the ocean.

In the morning all the kids and most of the parents had blue lips and were soaked and most were going through hyperthermia. The Scout Master and I got together on the same page finally and decided we needed to get everyone moving and blood flowing and did a forced march for an hour. It worked. And the sun came out and warmed everything back up. Damn I miss the South especially this time of year.

 

NO.

The wife tried it in everything from coffee to baked goods to straight desserts. Something was always off. If you have to for dietary reasons, you probably won’t find a better substitution... but you shouldn’t be smoking meat either...

It sweetens whatever dish it’s going into, sure. It also adds a unique and unpleasant flavor to what you’re making. If the ingredients are sparse — coffee with sugar — it’s an understandable solution. In things where it’s part of a larger whole, don’t use it. Revert to spg for smoked goods and count yourself a winner for losing the sweetness in that regard.

 

https://www.reddit.com/r/dontputyourdickinthat/

 

Some pretty resounding no's in here! Seems like the better bet may be to just save my money, and my rubs will just have to be spice and no sweet! I cut out carbs almost completely in Jan -- among other things I used to enjoy a few times a night, and by God it seems to be working so far. Next week I'll get my numbers ran again to know for sure if things are trending the right way. But it sounds like the monkfruit at least as part of a rub base is going to be out of the question.

 

Maybe use a rub Without the monk fruit on 90% Of whatever you are smoking then add some on the last 10% to see how you like it without risking the whole cut.

 

How do I pull my meat?

Cold out of the frig, or warm it in the oven 1st?

 

New favorite easy wings. Go to costco and get their garlic party wings. Add franks red hot. Shake. Vortex in the kettle but have to keep the temp a bit lower than normal so you don’t instantly scorch the garlic. Done.

 

Legit

 

Ok. Who here also uses a sous vide? I just picked one up and plan to start my pork shoulder on the smoker, then wrap in banana leaves and finish via sous vide for Hawaiian pork tacos. The sous vide recipe says 165° for pull apart pork. How the hell is gonna pull apart at that low a temp?