Food Smokers and Smoking Tips/Tricks/Techniques

The good news is that I've definitely learned how to maintain any temp I want in my WSM without water in the bowl... learning on my PK Grill was a good first step. That thing is fickle as hell but I got real good with it.

 

it's not too hard after you get used to it. i normally only use water when i'm doing an all-night cook and don't want to be woken up by the temp alarm. i have the 22.5, which tends to run hot. filling the pan with water keeps it below 275.

i also find that the best way to keep the water pan clean is to foil it, but since the foil has seams, grease and other crap can get through the seams into the pan. so i foil it and then stick a couple of the foil roasting pans inside it or directly underneath whatever i'm cooking. if i'm not using the bottom grate, i just stick 2 on there. i kinda bend them to give them a wider opening and crimp the seam in the middle together.

 

all-night cook... definitely in my future when I do brisket again.

 

I'm curing a butt to make buck board bacon and it's been in the fridge since Friday. I turned it Saturday and when I turned it Sunday I noticed some areas that were pretty pink, where the main part had already started to turn darker. Upon further investigation it looks like the pink area is in the space where I pulled the bone out. I'm guessing it didn't get much cure on it.

So Sunday I mixed a pinch of cure with some maple syrup and a bit of water (so I could distribute it over the whole area easier) then rubbed it over the area. Looking at it today it appears nothings changed. I realize it's only been a day but it seems the rest of the butt turned pretty quickly.

Is this normal, should I do anything else and is there a danger of having part of the butt not cure?

 

Keep turning it and I think it'll even out. Massage the bag a bit so that the accumulating liquid touches every surface of the meat. The liquid has some cure in it so it helps to distribute the cure.

 

I've been researching the BBB thing myself, I've never tried it. But about to. Have any of you ever used a brine? Pops Brine is the one that several folks over on smokingmeatforums.com swear by. I think I'm going to go that route. Trying to decide now to hot or cold smoke.

 

Here's a link to my Buckboard Bacon
http://concoxtions.blogspot.com/2015/10/buckboard-bacon.html?m=1

 

I read that link over the weekend, good read.

 

Does this truly taste like bacon? I really want to try this when I get another smoker.

 

I've never done this. But I have been reading up on it. From what I can gather the taste is somewhere between bacon and ham, the thinner you slice (and fry) the more like true bacon, sliced thicker, the more "hammy" I'm sure one of the pros will chime in soon and set the record straight.

 

I'm no pro... but you're exactly right... the thicker it is the more it tastes like ham. I bought a meat slicer after I did my first one (that I sliced by hand) to get those thinner slices.
I honestly prefer the "Canadian" bacon made from a pork loin than the buckboard bacon, but I'll make them both again.
http://concoxtions.blogspot.com/2015/10/canadian-bacon.html?m=1

 

I use brines to keep the meat from drying out. Not flavor. I get the flavor from the smoke and rub

 

So I just went in on a portion of a cow with several others and I ended up with a bunch of roasts (in addition to a crap ton of ground beef and steaks!) I've got cross rib roasts, rump roasts, chuck roasts, and an arm roast. Can I smoke and pull any of these? Are any good for making jerky?

 

I smoked a chuck roast once and pulled it like pork. Shredded beef sandwiches.

 

I was referring to a brine to cure the meat (instead of dry cure).

 

Good to know. Thanks! I think I have 3 of these cross rib roasts so I'm really curious about what I can do with them.

 

Take the most lean roasts, slice and make jerky. IMO the eye of round is the very best roast/cut for jerky. It's one huge muscle with a easily trimmed off fat cap.

 

Agreed that eye of round is the best cut for jerky! I haven't made a big batch in a while...

 

I did a 6lb roast for a buddy last week. He'd been after me for quite some time. I ran out of room on my dehydrator. I've since ordered a couple extra racks for it. Also I've been drying a but load of tomatoes lately.

 

I bailed on my dehydrator a while ago. I use LEM jerky trays in the oven set to the lowest setting (175 in my oven) with the door cracked. I had an older magic chef dehydrator and it seemed to take way longer to get good results.