Food Smokers and Smoking Tips/Tricks/Techniques

Truth.. Match your smoke wood to your meat. Poultry likes lighter fruity wood. If I do hickory for poultry, I don't use as much wood. Beef and pork do good with a heavier smoke, like hickory or mesquite.. Although I avoid mesquite since I think it tastes really harsh no matter how little I use.

 

I do not recommend it especially if you have a heavy salt ratio in your rub. Too much salt will sweat out the moisture from the pork and depending on the fat content can actually dry out the pork. I take my butts out of the fridge an hour or so prior to cooking to them until they get to room temp. Then i rub them a few minutes before putting them on the smoker. Your time per pound is about right depending on your cooker and if you can maintain 225-250F the whole cook. I tend to start my butts at 300-330F for the first hour then dial down the cooker to 225 ish. It helps to set the rub, speeds up the cooking time and guarantees a nice bark.

 

http://tvwbb.com/showthread.php?42140-Tri-Tip-cooked-like-a-brisket-Dueling-Bubba-s-style

 

Awesome thank you! That helps a ton for prep. I have this Brinkman in the link below, should I still plan for about roughly 13.5 hrs with two 9lb butts? Probably the 15hr range?

http://www.amazon.com/Masterbuilt-20051311-2-Door-Propane-Smoker/dp/B004W4NDPY

 

I've found that prepping while the smoker gets to temp works just as well IMHO. As for time..I couldn't say. I smoke to 195 pull, foil and rest for a few hours. Tenderness tells me when it's done.

 

12 to 16 hrs then two hours rest. BBQ is done when done. When the bone pulls out easy it's done.

 

The resting period very important. I put my butts in a foil half pan to rest after cooking to capture any juices that leak out which all get tossed back in the pork after pulling it. I cover the pan w/aluminum foil and place it into a cambro box or cooler for resting/holding. This keeps your pork, brisket, sausage, ribs etc hot for hours until you are ready to eat. It also keeps the meats from cooling off too much and falling into the danger zone...which happens below 140°F internal. I have held butts for over six hours and then pulled them when I got to the catering location with great results. The key is to not open the cambro box or cooler.

It should hold temps steady enough to knock it out in 10-12 hours, maybe less or maybe more. You can always cheat a little and put it in your oven wrapped in a pan with some apple juice and braze it at 300-350°F until it's done. Conumdrum said it best above, barbecue is done when it's done..good luck.

 

you also need these....well maybe not need, but they make pulling pork a whole lot easier.

$12 Kitchen Maestro Bear Claws High Grade Meat Handlers for Shredding Meat/Pulling Pork, Set of 2

http://www.amazon.com/Handlers-Shre...UTF8&qid=1439929394&sr=8-3&keywords=bear+paws

 

Resting in a cooler: Wrap or pan them. I pan them, bit more expensive than wrapping due to the pan cost but easier to work with. Line the bottom of the cooler with old towels. Put meat in cooler. More towels. You want to get rid of air spaces. My cooler can hold 8 panned butts. If I only have 4, I even put a old pillow in there to get rid of the air space. They will stay hot for HOURS. The more meat the longer they stay hot.

When I do butts, I start at 10 PM, pan at about 4-6 AM to collect the 'golden fat butter' that drips off the meat, then check them till done. If done at 10 AM, no worries, they will stay VERY hot in the cooler till at least 3 PM. From 2 PM to 5 PM folks come by to pick them up. I do 4-6 at a time on my pellet pooper. I charge $7 more than the cost of the meat, so it's about $20 right now. It pays for my pellets, pans, foil, rub, vinegar sauce which everyone gets some to take with the butt. Pellets ain't cheap, I go through about #30 lbs of pellets at $.85 a lb. I do it for friends and family a few times a year.

 

I did a similar method last weekend. It was the tits. This is how I want to do my long smokes from here on out.

 

Nice! Two years ago in December I traded a rack of ribs for a christmas tree that my buddy harvested.

 

Thank you so much. I'll post pics during and after. I appreciate it!

 

That cracked me up right there. What kind of pellet smoker are you using? I've been cooking for 25+ years and have used or owned almost every brand and type of smoker out there except for a pooper. I know several guys on the comp circuits swear by them (mostly Fast Eddy's) and i want to look into a small one for the house...maybe a Trager.

 

NOOO Trager plueeze.

I have the Yoder YS640. Awsome unit. Pellet pooping is great. Put butts on at 10PM, monitor till 10:30, go to bed. Up at 4 ish to check/pan, add pellets if needed, back to bed till 8-9 AM. Take out the heat diffuser plate, crank it up, direct hot flame for steaks. Sears awesome.
It's a very heavy quality unit, USA make in Kansas. Shipped to me on a pallet. Check it out.



Paris, Kentucky

 

Thanks I forgot about the Yoder's, they make a solid smoker. Yours reminds me of the old Good one smokers. I only see Tragers out here in the Costco and now that I think about it i recall something about their augers snapping and the motors burning out. It was just the first name that popped into my head when I was typing.

Do you need to run the smoke daddy tube or is that an a-maz-n tube in there for extra flavor when you cook?

 

No, you don't need any extra smoke. I added some pure hickory in the tube in that pic I think, I have BBQ Delight pure pellets in many flavors, fun to play with in the tube. It's an AMZN tube. I use mix Lumberjack or Q pellets. One is great for beef the other has cherry etc for chicken/pork. Oak based for good BTU's. The Yoder puts out a very perfect 'blue smoke'. No creosote or heavy smoke bitterness problems.

Tragar is Chinese made light gauge steel, odd controls. Yoder, turn it on and set temp. That's it. Great fast customer support too.

Problem with Yoders is there really aren't many distributors, few. So I went on trust and many many reviews and forums. Took me a few months to decide after having a Masterbuilt (MES) for about a year.

 

I use bbq delight as well in my traeger.

 

Not sure.... But I love my Traeger!!!!!!

 

When I bought my smoker I bought Louisiana Grill pellets, mainly because the store had those and Traeger pellets and I know what's in Traeger. Tried the Comp blend and the Mesquite. Not much of a flavor or smell with either. After spending time on Pelletheads, Smokingmeat forum, etc... I bought CookingPellets Hickory, which delivery tomorrow (Amazon prime, free 2 day delivery!). Lumberjack, BBQ Delight and CookingPellets seem to be the top brands (with more of the named wood and less filler wood).

Looking forward to trying them out.

 

I use Q pellets. I've gotten good flavor from them. Mostly hickory or the competition blend.