Food Smokers and Smoking Tips/Tricks/Techniques

Should have used the 26” instead of the 22” oh wells

chicken thighs marinated last night with lemon Pepper then added some On Point rub from @bvbull200
also added a tri tip that I had to cut in half. One with On Point. One with Dalmatian rub.

 

I know @k20me uses this method I’ve been using the instant pot no heat sealing and have had great results. Sausages are meh but everything else comes out great. Ribs are fantastic.

 

Chaps. We’re on a venture here. So many uncharted territories.

first. Chuck roast. I never do red meats this is weird. Figured I’d give it a shot. Put it on at the same time as the ribs. Which leads me to the second. Butter olive oil and garlic powder rub ribs. I’m excited to see how this works out. And third. The sausages. The ones on the left were thawed normally. The ones on the right.... so, I asked my wonderful wife to move the sausages from the freezer to the fridge yesterday. I neglected to mention there were two packs. SO they went on frozen. Just kidding. I know not to smoke frozen meat BUT they went into the instant pot frozen for 1 minute cook time to defrost and thaw. Actually cooked them a lot more than I thought it would so we’ll see how those turn out. Both are spicy Italian pork sausages this time no more turkey attempts.

next time I’m not experimenting this whole unknown and experimenting stuff is exhausting. As usual sorry it’s rotated.

 

Wrapping it up

 

Decided to get the Akorn out this afternoon

 

I don't have a sous vide but I vacuum seal all my leftovers in 1 pound packages and when I'm ready to eat some of pull a frozen package out and put in a large pot and cover with water and bring it to a boil and let simmer for a few minutes. It not only thaws it out but brings it up to temp and ready to eat in around 15 minutes. Great for work night meals after a 12 hour shift. If you package them flat instead of bulked up at one end they work better and heat up evenly.

 

Any recommendations on a good/reliable meat grinder that won’t break the bank? Want to try this out.

 

I usually cook enough for one week and don’t need to freeze it. But I have a vac sealer and have used it a few times including last week. Every so often I over estimate .

like I’ve said I use an instant pot I have I think the medium size but the small size works just as well for one person max two for reheat too. Sausage casings have a hard time haven’t found the best way to reheat those whole yet. I do sometimes slice them long wide and use them as burgers toppings. That’s delicious and unhealthy.

manual stainless steel. It’ll be a workout but last forever.

 

Thanks for the input guys. I have some pulled pork portioned out in vacuum sealed bags in the freezer. I plan to warm some up tomorrow for my kid’s first birthday since it will only be the three of us celebrating due to quarantine.

 

honestly. Pulled pork I just toss in a skillet from frozen comes out great. But I freeze it dry without sauce yet.

 

Best pulled pork I have done yet

 

Done

and the wife’s plate with her box Mac n cheese

 

Crikey. In the middle of C-19 ran out of Alder pellets.

$19, try a new brand. Whadaheck. Worthashot: https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B087C6PJRG/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

Poor man’s sous vide I do the same but at a lower temp. Just let it ride until I am ready to eat. I had some ribs that I pulled a little too early so a touch tough. When I reheated them in a pot of 200f water for about an hour they were perfect as if I had pulled them off the smoker correctly.

 

All done. About to tuck in and eat my weight in carcinogenic food. Yee haw.

 

My first ribs on the smoker should be off in 15-30 min and ready to glaze. So excited!

 

Spoils report.

Sausages good as always. The ones I instant potted didn’t take the smoke as well I think because I basically cooked them enough in defrosting. Lesson learned, oh well.

the chuck roast came off at 160 IT. Was good but chewy. I might try to actually cook that more in the instant pot to see if it might shred.

the ribs. Y’all. The ribs. Ho. Lee. God. I can’t do ribs like this every time I’d be morbidly obese within a month. Butter and olive oil with garlic powder dry rub and chuck them on for 6 ish hours. I don’t complicate with the 321 or anything like that. These came out phenomenal. I don’t know if it’s the rub, the butter (never used butter before) or what, but whatever it was. Y’all gotta try this. It’s like my Italian grandmother meets a sweet southern grandmother.

 

Costco was picked over of almost everything the other day, they didn't even have any pork ribs .

But I did manage to get a pack of 2 little fryers. Decided to ignore the rain and do a little beer can roasting with the vortex in my Weber.

I brined it for about 5 hours with a Kosmos Q brine mix a buddy gave me and cooked with charcoal and a little cherry wood all stacked around the upside down vortex with the chicken in the middle and a little Vitamin R up the rear.

Turned out super moist, the skin was nice and crispy with good flavor. The breasts didn't get a whole lot of smoke flavor but the dark meat was just the right amount of smokey.

 

If you want it to shred like pulled pork you gotta take it to a higher IT.. 200-205

 

yup. I pulled it at mid rare temp I thought it would be good there. Lesson learned for next time if I ever do another one it’s a 12 hour timeframe not a 6 hour.