Food Smokers and Smoking Tips/Tricks/Techniques

I am certainly open to trying different methods. A big part of the appeal to smoking is trying different variations of the same thing and having it taste like a new dish that is equally as good in a different way.

 

This summer I'm hoping to have time to roll sheet for my own UDS . Will be about the same size as a normal drum but will be double walled with a 2 inch difference in diameter.

Ultimately it'll have quarter turn valves for intakes on tubes that pass through both walls. In between the walls I'll be putting high temp paint and then once built I'll be putting sand inbetween for insulation. I'm thinking as long as the sand stays dry I'll avoid oxidation. Using 1" flat bar to keep cylinders spaced equally .

Should be a fun project and hopefully a cost effective way to keep heat stable without using heavy metal or wrap insulation.

 

I see a subliminal message in there....

 

Another use for eye of round, bresaola:

So with my curing chamber up and running I've got 6 guanciale that have been aging for 3 weeks it was time to start some more projects. Last Friday I started curing a 4.77lb pork belly that will become pancetta arrotolata and today scored a nice eye of round at BJ's wholesale club.

So I got home broke out the salts, spices and scales and set to work.

Eye of round trimmed of fat and silver skin and weighed out to 3lbs 12.7 ounces





Meet the cast of spices





Spices all weighted out and ready to go into the Ninja blender to mix well and grind the juniper berries.





Meat rubbed with cure/spice mix





Meat into vac bag with and loose spices then 90% of the air was vacuumed out and sealed.





Into the fridge for 2 weeks turning periodically. Once cured it'll get a rinse in cold water and red wine then towel dried and trussed. Then weighed and into the curing chamber until it looses 25% of its weight. Cure chamber will be set at 55 degrees and 70% humidity. Should take around 12 weeks +/-.









Fortunately I have a good friend to help me wait it out:

 

Before

 

Sounds like a good start on a wood gasifier...

Or maybe a good way to make charcoal.

Also very heavy.

Keep us updated when you do the build, it sounds really interesting.

 

Haha well the outer cylinder is just to jacket the sand. So the inner will also contain the basket and everything will be exposed to semi direct heat.

 

I been got!

 

Yeah unfortunately a lot of the new ones are extra deep, and slightly larger. We use regular white bread on our old ones too. Perfect size.

 

Smoking deal on a display model WSM if you’re in the San Diego area (specifically the Carlsbad location.

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Also a deal on a display model Weber kettle.

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Nice!The beans look great also!

 

Full belly blues

 

Just so you know, there is only 1 female GMG, known as the Queen. The rest are male worker GMGs.

 

Hear ye hear ye. Please rise for the grand entrance of Duchess GMG. Queen-to-be should the reigning queen not be able to fulfill her royal smoking duties.

 

As others will attest, get some Grill Grates for burgers and steak and you will love that pellet pooper.

 

So been busy...no good meat cooking lately.

Question, my unit is having a bbq/smoked meat competition. The event is gonna be about 4 hours 9-1pm (Easter egg hunt, cornhole tourney, bbq comp, and awards). I’m having a hard time deciding what I should enter in the competition and if I should precook and reheat or cook and keep in a cooler to stay warm.

Thinking brisket, pretty sure I’ll blow the competition out with it because nobody will wanna get up early to smoke brisket but the crust will be soggy if left in the cooler too long

Any help or suggestions would be great.

 

If you're dead set on cooking a hunk of meat, this won't work, but ABT's have smoked meat (bacon) and you can prep a ton of them the day before the show and then put them on a smoker for an hour at the comp. I'm assuming the comp will allow smokers and grills, not just show up with already cooked stuff. Reason I say ABT's is because for every gathering I've made them for, wherever it was, bar none they were the hit of the feast and gone in minutes.

Recipe I always use:

https://www.bigoven.com/recipe/abts-smoked-stuffed-jalapenos/211974

 

So me and some buddies are about to go "glamping" for the rest of the week (we rented a nice big camper) and I plan on doing some ribs, pulled pork, chicken wings and some ribeye cap steaks.

I'm pretty confident on everything but have a couple questions on the cap steaks. I plan on just seasoning with S&P and cooking like a normal steak (reverse sear). But, I'm wondering if I should throw a wood chunk on the briquettes for added flavor? I have oak, pecan, and hickory at my disposal that I think would be best, I have apple and cherry too but I don't think I'll use that for beef. What do you guys think? What temp on the grill? Indirect to 120, then sear? I searched this thread and it's hard to sort through who has done it and who is talking about doing it hahaha.

Thanks

Oh, and I'll take plenty of pictures.