Food Smokers and Smoking Tips/Tricks/Techniques

My thinking (might be completely flawed) is that the slices not matching up would leave the taller sections very dried out by the time the heat transfered into the middle "slice". A 2" x 2" sections for instance would be done way sooner than the center of the stack which is essentially a 6" by 8" chunk o' meat.

 

Drink rum in the morning, then you're not a drunk, you're a pirate!

 

nope, started 15 min ago, on my second sam adams summer ale. Got a little 3 lb brisket flat to smoke later today. Might make a big breakfast too, but since i just started drinking i doubt it lol


do you guys have any pointers on smoking the flat? i was thinking a mustard base, my usual dry rub, and 225 for a few hours.

Shouldn't take too long right? And my dual probe wireless thermo is OOS. So going old school with a quick read thermo.

 

I understand your concerns, and I'm no expert by any means, I've just been running a thirty year experiment to this point. Every butt I put on gets this treatment.

 

Probably the most relevant post regarding the debate. A lot of stuff goes on during a long cook like that, so putting everything in a situation where you can get a result that you can control takes a lot of trial and error. We can scientifically prove that a melting fat cap doesn't "penetrate" the meat, but you can't disprove someone else's mountain of experience that shows that they get better results cooking with the fat cap up/down.

I try to rub my briskets just about 30 minute to an hour before putting them on. Lots of people prefer to let the rub sit overnight. I have a hypothesis about why it works for me, but I don't know for sure. It just does and it's based on dozens and dozens of practice cooks.

 

I saw one bbq show the place put the brisket on the smoker for 1hr then added the rub, they said it opened the pores up for the rub to penetrate deeper..dunno if theres truth to it but it sounds good.

 

nope not gonna buy in to it Just deleted a Paragraph

 

All the conversation about the 'fat' really interested me but since I don't cook the meats involved, it never entered my mind. Looking up some other info, I spied a topic on amazing ribs and thought I'd share. Not fanning any flames, I'm sure everyone cooks exactly the way they like the outcome. You'd die if you saw how I have to cook chicken for my wife.....
http://amazingribs.com/tips_and_technique/mythbusting_fat_caps.html

 

Doing 5 slabs of ribs today and that's all I thinking about

 

I'm doing a thing today and then cooking chicken on it

 

Smokey Joe conversion?

 

Yeah I've had a smokey Joe for years and it's just been sitting on my patio unused. I can't justify lighting my 22.5 wsm to just do chicken for 2 people.

 

anyone?

 

I would skip the base and rub, just use lots of kosher salt and fresh ground black pepper. 225 till done, maybe 5 hours total. That timeframe is highly variable obviously so just pull when 200 or so.

 

1. I need to hire you to be our official photographer. How much rub would that take?!?!? Those look professional grade.
2. The steaks look outstanding. You did a helluva job cooking them. I've heard viking, cowboy, and tomahawk. I'm not sure which is most appropriate, but they're awesome, even if you are paying for a lot of meatless bone.
3. The first one was cooked last night for my dad's belated Father's Day gift. Low heat in the Weber with mesquite wood, then seared to finish. I didn't get nearly the sear you did. I didn't have enough extra coals to start a searing stage and I got the internal about 5* higher than I wanted prior to the sear, so I only added about 5* of heat during the searing stage. I exchanged a little better crust for maintaining medium-rare. The inside was perfect. I'll do the other one tonight for the wife and I to gnaw on.

 

Firing it up for the first time right now to burn the crud out. This thing has been sitting on my patio pretty much unused for 8 or 9 years. I moved it twice and tried to sell it in 2 yard sales

 

I've got one of those and HATE cooking on it. This looks like a much better use of it. Thanks for the idea brother!

 

Well nine and a half hours later and we got some pulled pork. Two were pretty lean and cooked up very tender with the help of a little apple juice while foiled. One had plenty of fat on it and I saved all of it's dripping for when I reheat the pulled pork. Not gonna lie, I'm impressed with how these cooked and LOVE all the bark I have mixed in there. I think t4daddy is on to something. Definitely happy with the result and the wife gave it her 2 thumbs up. Now for some cold beer and fireworks!

 

Almost forgot the obligatory picture!

 

Looks like yours turned out well. Have wanted to do one for a long time for camping but keep reading that now it is almost impossible to find a tamale\steaming pot for a good fit. But certainly looks like yours fits perfectly!

Thank you for the kind words, tempted to say it wouldn't take much rub for me to take pictures for you but am going to use the last of the first pound in about an hour LOL.

I cheat and still do the sear and slide. I've found the reverse sear doesn't make that much difference, to me at least, and never can get those coals as hot as they are when you first put them on.

Yeah you have to be careful when buying them with the bone in especially most of the rib it better be lower priced than boneless. Around here that would be ~$10 a pound. When I see them close to $20 it is tempting to bring up the point with the butcher but I just keep my mouth shut and walk out.

Yours turned out well looks fantastic! Hope the one tonight for you and your wife turns out as well. I have hundreds of dollars of knifes and cutlery more than a thousand if I'm honest with myself. Yet more times than not I reach for my ancient wood handled cheap Chicago Cutlery knifes with brass rivets. For many tasks they are still my favorite I just sharpen them more often than the others, not a big deal IMO.