Food Smokers and Smoking Tips/Tricks/Techniques

Of course there’s a thread for it.

problem is my fireplace is an outside corner fireplace so nothing is standard.

 

Got to do one of my favorite activities today...cook meat for people!
Mother's day bbq..
2 racks St. Louis, 2 racks Baby Backs...and yes pork prices are up...These cost about 25% more...
Oak, Cherry and charcoal...

Just started

5 hours later..Almost done...

Check out that smoke ring

Plated with potato salad and southern veggies (mac and cheese) SO PERFECT!

 

I just call ‘er RPM & that there is plain Redlined.

 

Yurp. Meat's up across the board, but pork is a pretty cheap meat to begin with anyway so it's not terrible. The desired cuts are climbing faster too, the ribs, etc. People ain't want the loins so I get those in bulk I haven't really paid attention to the prices though, probably should. I just go to one of the three discount stores (Aldi, Price Rite, Save a Lot ) for my day to day. If I want a brisket or something specialized, I end up at the butcher over in Providence.


I am going to set up a cook for 2 butts later this week, I think Friday night into Saturday. I am thinking 2 butts and then filling the rest of the open real estate probably with turkey this time.

 

Pork butts were as low as $0.95 a lb at Wegmans last year.

 

Yep, I was routinely getting them on sale at Food Lion for $.99/lb.

 

Hmm. I have not been tracking



This is from Save a Lot, tends to be the cheapest for meats around me. Good to know that we're going toward the 2x range in cost That won't stop me, it's still pretty cheap all things considered.

 

That was also many times the Smithfield brand. I’ve seen more than a couple people complain about getting Smithfield pork shoulders that were within the sell-by date but when the package was open smelled rotten. I’ve seen it a few times myself. Smithfield seems to have some QC issues and I won’t buy their brand anymore.

 

Good to know, thanks for the heads up! I've never had that issue, but will keep an eye out for it. It also matters on the transport company too, if the reefer truck craps out from Warehouse A to store B, can hardly blame the company over the distro.

 

Yes!!! Me too. Got some ribs a little bit ago. They had the usual cryo-pack sulphur funk odor but it wasn’t rinsing off. They were so rancid. I was able to exchange them at the store. Now every time I break a cryo-pack I cross my fingers.

 

We were discussing it in our local thread and someone mentioned that Smithfield was purchased years ago by a Chinese company, not sure if that would affect QC since they still have to follow FDA standards for food distribution but I did find it interesting. Largest pork producer in the world.

 

Got my first pellet grill as a late wedding gift last week, spent some time breaking it in and playing around with some different cooks:

Smoked a little baby pork butt (~4lbs) on cherry pellets

Smoked potatoes au gratin and a spatchcocked chicken (jalapeno lime dipping sauce) with almond pellets

smoked and seared ribeye caps from Costco with oak pellets

 

Grilled spicy chicken wings.

Patted wings dry and coated them in Zatarain's Concentrated Shrimp and Crab Boil and then seasoned them with Grill Mates Brown Sugar and Bourbon Seasoning.

Grilled 10 minutes then flipped and another 10 minutes... slightly missed the target IT as they hit 172F.

 

How spicy were they? I usually put some of that Concentrated Shrimp & Crab Boil in my shrimp boil but I can’t tell if the kick I get is coming from that or the Cayenne Pepper I add. Wouldn’t mind putting in some more for flavor.

 

Food Lion is going to be my new Bi-Lo, and KJ's Market somewhat, too. I could always count on Bi-Lo to have pork butt on sale here and there. But KJ's seems to have some pretty good meat prices, too.

 

They closed down the Bi-Lo’s around here a few years ago. Been around since I was a kid.

 

On a scale of 0-10 I'd say a 5... if I had marinaded them in the Crab Boil it would have been better.. I simply poured it over them while the grill was heating up

 

Had a casualty today...

 

I can't like that post but... time for an upgrade?

 

It's done!