Food Smokers and Smoking Tips/Tricks/Techniques

Excellent work

 

You got it Xmas and just now are using it? What the hell is wrong with you??

 

I got mine for Xmas also. Already have done a beef roast, short ribs, baby back ribs, bacon wrapped chicken and today brisket. Next will be a ham.

Brisket is wrapped and is at about 5 hours on the smoker. Almost ready.

 

Trimming the fat...what kind of knife does everyone prefer?

Later.

 

Sharp!... But I usually use a 6-8" for mobility reasons. Easier when meat is cold too.

 

This was when I pulled them for the wrap. They are done now, but still wrapped and sitting in the cooler til I get to the park later.

 

Due to some rather poor planning on my part, the pork shoulder I planned on has to be postponed until next weekend.

Ended up picking up a little brisket point to make chopped beef sandwiches for this evening.

I picked a bourbon theme for this one...

The smoke will be provided by wood pulled from a whiskey barrel I have. Oak wood that aged bourbon. It smells really nice!


Injected with a diluted version of Butcher's BBQ Prime Dust that then had Pitfaced BBQ Meat Massage added to it along with some Weller Special Reserve. Weller is a wheated bourbon, so it is a touch sweeter, which is what I was looking for.



Rubbed with a touch of salt and pepper, then coated with Pitfaced BBQ Meat Massage. I went a tad lighter on the seasoning as there will be a homemade bourbon glaze getting whipped up shortly to go on top of it.



Need a name for it. The frisky whiskey briskey?

 

Ham was awesome. No sliced pics, everyone was hungry and wanted to eat.
Cutting board is about 18” long for reference.

 

Well late start, lot later than I planned. Which is fine.

In a hurry though so threw the grates on the gasser and the chimney on the side burner. Only had about enough time to light my cigar and everything was ready to get going, that was fast. To hell with the deep sink and scrubbing grates!



Ham is sitting over the beans with the glaze dripping into them. Coincidence? I think not.



About 3 hours to go, that ham looks awfully lonely sitting by itself on the top rack. Injected apple juice and honey in it first time injecting a ham. Usual glaze though. Time to go stuff some baby bellas and maybe an onion or 2.

 

depends. better off taking temps than shooting for times IMO. Brisket does work with a spice rub, but Ive also found the S&P to be the best flavor.

I like cherry, apple, mesquite, pecan and hickory. Cherry is a sweeter smoke IMO. Good for white meats. Apple, mesquite, pecan and hickory have been good on brisket. at least this is my limited experience.

 

Cheddar Cheese and bacon stuffed baby bellas are gone now, I couldn't stop eating them. Bacon wrapped meatballs are dripping into the no boil mac n cheese. A lot of the glaze and basting juices on the ham is in the baked beans. With medium spiced sausage and green onions mixed in. 120° pretty close... 5 more minutes pull everything except the ham, beans and mac n cheese which will get a good stir. And one more baste of the ham.

 

Ribs came out great.

 

Brisket flavor was great. Took her to 200*. Wrapped for the final hour with beef broth. It came out a bit dry but was still one of the best brisket I've ever had.

 

It is the best because you cooked it. It looks like you cut with the grain. I shoulda mentioned to cut against the grain earlier.

 

The chopped beef, kissed with bourbon, turned out fantastic. I'll keep tweaking the glaze so long as I feel like trying something like this, but this was already quite good.

Put it on some fresh dinner rolls with a little butter, then enjoyed with homemade fries.

 

Best no boil mac n cheese I ever made tonight. In fact best mac n cheese ever tasted. Everything came out perfect, and then some.

 

That's one helluva a plate of food!

Nicely done.

 

Wife cut it. I tried to tell her but she was in a "I don't want to listen" attitude. So hard to get her to wait 20 min and let it rest.

 

thats normal for my wife LOL...but if someone else said the same thing it would be ok

 

The rest is crucial. That is a big bonus to an overnight cook. With a good cooler, it can rest from late morning til whenever and still be steaming hot. I got a yeti roadie 20 specifically for resting meat. I had my ribs in there today still wrapped for over 2 hours and the foil was hot enough to burn my fingers.