Food Smokers and Smoking Tips/Tricks/Techniques

correction, i thought i put in the 2 probe tp-08

$40 ThermoPro TP08 500FT Wireless Meat Thermometer for Grilling Smoker BBQ Grill Oven Thermometer with Dual Probe Kitchen Cooking Food Thermometer

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B014DAVHSQ...TF8&colid=14LWXXQGAPEPZ&coliid=I119YFH1G07E0U

 

I would say pork butt.
Ribs are pretty much fool proof.
Chicken - Do thighs or dark quarters, not breasts - they are dry.
Brisket can easily fail and is a big waste of money.

 

I have done breasts and they weren't dry. Some I have put in brine to add moisture and they were even better. I do agree they can easily dry out though. Rib's well I can say I have had some bad ones so not always foolproof lol.

Brisket I agree wait till you know how the smoker runs and have used it at least a few times. My first one wasn't great but was still pretty good and each of them since has gotten better.

I think the best thing I can say is just have fun with it and experiment with things. We smoke pizza's often now and they are awesome.

Fatties are also something you can do just about anything with and you aren't likely to mess up.

 

Agreed. Pork butt is pretty hard to screw up.

 

spatchcock a chicken, ya cant go wrong, my 1st cook was boiled water for 3 hrs, just to maintain temp,,, good practice

 

I vote ribs. I've done 7 or 8 rib smokes so far and each one has come out good. The only fail was rub based, but that's what you do: experiment to find what you like. I also did different cook methods and found that not wrapping them (3-2-1 method wraps them) was the best. Get a rack or two, sauce 1/2 of one, no sauce other half, try diff rubs on each half, have your friends taste test. That's howI did it.

 

Alright! Please tell me about that purty glaze! I gotta do two hams for Xmas, mebbe 3 or 4.

 

Nothing! You have to season the smoker first. Then I vote for baby back ribs.

 

You need to read a bit before you smoke. Learn before hand about the smoker you want. Realize it's gonna be a cheap beginner unit probably before you get hooked and want a bigger and better one. Lots of info on the one you want just be sure before you buy it. Smoking meat is a long cooking process. Make the same slow deliberate choice on your first smoker.

 

Pork butt is probably the easiest thing to smoke. Start with a smaller one, around 3 pounds. Ribs are certainly not as fool proof as a butt. Take the butt to 195 and pull it off and let it rest for at least 30 minutes. A 3lb butt should take around 4 to 5 hours at 225F. That is a fairly small amount of time relative to how much time other things take. After you learn how your smoker holds temps for that long, you can move to other meats.

 

No secret! Costco mastercarve ham! Glaze packet included! Great ham!!

 

I have venison steaks on the traeger right now. the wind finally died down so I can actually fire it up.

 

Nice! How long do you usually leave them on? Always worried about smoking my venison due to how lean they are.

 

With the traeger I just set it to 350 and cook them. I dont really mess with smoking them, they still get the flavor a little bit. But yeah I dont like to smoke them because like you said it will dry out.

 

Thanks!

 

They come out nice at 350.

 

Yeah they do

 

If you are ever in Northern CO give me a PM my freezer is full of elk and deer right now. But I eat it every day until its gone, then I go back to buying meat. Id be happy to fire up the traeger for a fellow TW member.

 

Deal. Same goes for northern NV though I only have some venison for wild game right now. My buddy is supposed to share some of his elk though (his family bagged six this year). I do have some pork from my buddies pig that was slaughtered earlier this year, phenomenal stuff, and I just got my cow back from being butchered so that is as fresh and organic as it gets.

 

I want to get a pig and a buffalo next year. My group bagged 6 deer and 3 elk this year. We did ok, thats actually a slow year for us but we had some new hunters with us so we tried to get them some shots. Ive been doing good on geese this year, but after that my family really gets into the deer and elk. My daughter likes both better than beef any way which is awesome.