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Devoyniche posted:Hey my dad bought a smoker a long time ago, a bigass metal one, like 150 pounds, firebox thing on the side, but every time we used it, the meat always tasted kind of weird. He's actually a really bad cook, and if we ever have family barbeques I end up doing most of it now, but I read in that Thanksgiving thread about someone smoking their turkey and it reminded me of the weird meat my dad always cooked with this thing. It had a decent smoke ring and we live in Texas so everyone has their on barbeque tips and stuff that they swear by, but it always had a weird acidic taste, almost metallic or lime-y. We never marinaded anything we smoked, it was always a dry rub; I thought it was the wood, we used pecan wood from trees we had growing, and oak and whatever trash wood we might have had from people trimming trees or whatever. That metallic taste you're talking about is usually a sign of oversmoked meats. Cut back on the amount of smoke you're generating.
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Nov 25, 2013 19:17
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Devoyniche posted:Hey my dad bought a smoker a long time ago, a bigass metal one, like 150 pounds, firebox thing on the side, but every time we used it, the meat always tasted kind of weird. He's actually a really bad cook, and if we ever have family barbeques I end up doing most of it now, but I read in that Thanksgiving thread about someone smoking their turkey and it reminded me of the weird meat my dad always cooked with this thing. It had a decent smoke ring and we live in Texas so everyone has their on barbeque tips and stuff that they swear by, but it always had a weird acidic taste, almost metallic or lime-y. We never marinaded anything we smoked, it was always a dry rub; I thought it was the wood, we used pecan wood from trees we had growing, and oak and whatever trash wood we might have had from people trimming trees or whatever. Could be the rub, could be the wood. Was the wood used properly aged? If the wood isn't aged you could be putting all kinds of whacky stuff into it, particularly a kinda sour sappy taste. Edit: it what the person above said. Oversmoking can cause that as well. Either way I wouldn't suggest you make your maiden voyage on this thing while attempting to cook the thanksgiving bird. Crazyeyes fucked around with this message at 19:23 on Nov 25, 2013 |
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Nov 25, 2013 19:19
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Cast iron Grill grates in the dishwasher. Yay or nay ?
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Nov 25, 2013 23:23
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jonathan posted:Cast iron Grill grates in the dishwasher. Yay or nay ? Cast iron rusts so quickly I don't think would. I also don't use soap on my cast iron. Edit For clarification, I don't have CI grates, just pans, but I don't think I'd treat them any differently. Water and a scubby, dry over heat, coat in oil, heat until it smokes and wipe off excess. Dukket fucked around with this message at 23:53 on Nov 25, 2013 |
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Nov 25, 2013 23:29
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jonathan posted:Cast iron Grill grates in the dishwasher. Yay or nay ? Yeah I wouldn't put them in the dishwasher. if they are super nasty that you can't clean with a stiff brush i'd personally just nuke it with fire, and season again.
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Nov 26, 2013 00:30
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Crazyeyes posted:Could be the rub, could be the wood. I'm not doing it for a Thanksgiving thing - it's an old turkey we got as a "buy one get one" deal or something that had been in the freezer for over a year and my dad wants it out of the freezer and keeps trying to give it to me. My grandma always does the Thanksgiving turkey. I think it could be a bit of both - oversmoked and "fresh wood". How do you determine what the proper amount of wood would be, and what is the protocol for properly aging wood? I assume the wood has to stay dry, and can't be like kept outside where it gets rained on, dries out, rained on, freezing, dries out, etc.
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Nov 26, 2013 00:53
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Devoyniche posted:I'm not doing it for a Thanksgiving thing - it's an old turkey we got as a "buy one get one" deal or something that had been in the freezer for over a year and my dad wants it out of the freezer and keeps trying to give it to me. My grandma always does the Thanksgiving turkey. a lot of recipes tell you use a hand full or two of wood chips. I usually use one to three chunks the size of my first or smaller. You of course don't know the size of my first (do you??!), but I think that still gives an idea. I may under smoke.
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Nov 26, 2013 01:44
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Fireplace wood. I don't know if its pine or hemlick. The kind with the white bark. If I have a 2 year old chunk of that, will it be a good flavor or poo poo ? This is for a 1 hour cook pork tenderloin bacon wrap.
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Nov 26, 2013 02:29
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White bark as in birch?
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Nov 26, 2013 02:32
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i like nice words
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Anne Whateley posted:White bark as in birch? Yeah I guess its birch.
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Nov 26, 2013 02:49
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jonathan posted:Fireplace wood. I don't know if its pine or hemlick. The kind with the white bark. No good
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Nov 26, 2013 02:57
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jonathan posted:Fireplace wood. I don't know if its pine or hemlick. The kind with the white bark. Don't smoke with pine. Not sure about birch. I don't know if hemlock is a tree but definitely don't allow with something known to be poisonous. Aging wood essentially means it was split about a year ago so it can completely dry before burning. You don't want sap fuming up into your food.
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Nov 26, 2013 04:59
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Thanksgiving for my side of the family is in the books. I smoked a 20lb whole turkey and a 12lb breast with a mix of apple, cherry, maple and hickory. I am generally a hickory, hickory and more hickory kind of person, but this turned out pretty amazingly. The sweet, mild smoke of the fruit wood, with just a hint of the pungent hickory really went together nicely. Skipping the brine, since it was a cheap, frozen turkey pumped full of briney solution, I thawed it, and it went into the 40" MES with AMPNS. It smoked for roughly 5 hours at 275 until reaching 155 in the dark meat. Highly recommended.
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Nov 26, 2013 06:11
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Crazyeyes posted:As I understand it being is the best way. Injecting melted butter into the breast will also reduce chance of it drying out. I'm going with the basic turkey brine on this page. I'm probably throwing in some herbs with it and maybe apple juice.
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Nov 26, 2013 08:08
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jonathan posted:Yeah I guess its birch. Birch gives off a thick, black smoke. A lot of people with fireplaces say you shouldn't even burn it for heat because it burns fast and it can gum up your flue. Seems like the last thing you would want to put on your food.
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Nov 26, 2013 09:12
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I had some smoked bbq pork a while back and it was amazing. So as a British person and thus completely novice to smoking meat, I didn't take it any further. But now I've found this thread and just bought a cheap smoker which is probably some chinese replica thing to see if a. I can do this and b. I want to do this. Its quite like the brinkmann smokers, it has some vents and a temperature gauge and 3 racks on which to smoke things, with a water bowl just above the coals, and an ash bowl below that. But like I said, I'm British, and while we can make tea, we have no idea what smoking meat is. So, I've got some questions if you more experienced people could help me out: My smoker has 3 grills in it, so I wanted to try a bit of everything at once, a pork shoulder, ribs and a chicken. How long do I need to smoke meat for, and at what temperature? I can see 170-200F mentioned a lot on the first pages of the thread. Is there a rule like for certain kinds of meat, you need certain temperatures? Is there some kind of formula like for x grams of meat, smoke for 1 hour? I see there different kinds of woods you can get like oak, whiskey oak, cherry, hickory, etc. Are there certain types that match with certain kinds of meats? For example is oak and chicken always a good bet, or is it all just personal preference? What are the differences between the wood? Could you recommend a certain type to start with for someone who is new to all this and doesn't want huge massive overpowering smokey? I also see some people use foil to wrap their meat in, but some don't. Whats the pros/cons to this, and when do you do it through the cooking? Edit: I also have a CCNA and might build one of those heatermeters if it will help me Ahdinko fucked around with this message at 14:21 on Nov 26, 2013 |
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Nov 26, 2013 14:14
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General temps (Thickest part of the meat): Pork Shoulder / Butts between 195-205 (I take mine off at 203). Brisket between 190-200 (I take mine off at around 195). Ribs I generally don't measure temperature but a good rule of thumb is when they start to inch back up the bone and when you lift them up with a set of tongs they won't fold over in half like a raw slab will. An average size slab of St. Louis will take about 3.5 - 4 hours at 225. There is no overall formula for pounds of meat = hours of cooking. You can guesstimate but it's dependent on how long each piece of meat decides it wants to be a stubborn bitch and break temp. Hickory & Oak are the big two for pork & beef. Oak tends to have a lighter & sweeter smoke flavor while hickory is a bit heavier and more robust. Applewood is a good start for getting into fruit woods as it has a sweet and heavy flavor. I'd also recommend trying Pear (lighter than apple, tastes a bit more woody). Cherry is sweet and goes well with chicken / turkey. Foiling your meat is what we call "Crutching". As the meat raises in temperature eventually it will start to sweat off moisture and "stall" due to evaporation. You can skip the 3-4 hours of sitting at 145-150 degrees F by wrapping foil. What that guy linked is good too if you wanna be a sperg about it and take all the fun out of learning.  vv Digital_Jesus fucked around with this message at 14:38 on Nov 26, 2013 |
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Nov 26, 2013 14:34
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Welcome to the joy of smoking meats! The thing is with this whole process is that it's all about developing your own technique and style based on what you like. So while there are a few generally right answers you should feel free to modify to what you find you like. It's all variable. Internal temp rules all when it comes to when something is done. The temp of your smoker will give you a rough gauge of when you think something is going to be done and the affect of the smoke on the meat but something an individual piece of meat can take longer or shorter or your smoker will fluctuate in temp resulting in varying cook times. A good instant read thermometer will help you here, especially while learning, but plenty of people get on without them by looking for individual signs that its done. Because of this I would smoke each of those meats individually. They all require different stuff and times. You won't become a pro overnight but the results are usually drat good every time. This is a pretty good primer to get you started in regards to the process and science behind it including wood types for what kind of meats. I also wouldn't worry about a heater meter yet. I mean it's a cool thing certainly but I would spend that money on hunks of meat and some fruit woods and cut your teeth on learning how this whole thing works manually. It's really fun and almost always delicious.
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Nov 26, 2013 14:36
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As someone that just started out this fall, having a brisket, sausage, beans (OMG!), and a pork shoulder under my belt, I'll tell you this. Those remote thermometers that are sold by Maverick and other companies are totally worth every little penny. Buy one of those, like yesterday. I have Fridays off from work, while my wife is working. I sit on the sofa, watching TV, playing video games, and hang out with the dogs on the sofa, while keeping my eye on the thermometer and the "smoker" outside the window on the porch at our house. No worries, just lots of fun. LaserWash fucked around with this message at 15:03 on Nov 26, 2013 |
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Nov 26, 2013 14:59
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I do actually have an STC-1000 for beer brewing, although its hooked up to a freezer right now, it wouldn't be hard to just connect another temperature sensor up to use for tasty meat. But wireless router thermometers are much cooler, right?
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Nov 26, 2013 16:06
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I'm not sure the temperature probe on the STC would hold up to those kinds of temperatures. I'm talking about getting something like the Maverick ET-732 that was designed for meat cookin' (said like a central Texan).
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Nov 26, 2013 16:13
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Apparently its good for 99c so yeah that'd probably melt, but I imagine I can probably buy a beefier probe for a few quid Edit: Bought some applewood, cherry and oak chips too. I can't find chunks for the life of me in the UK. Do I need to soak these? Ahdinko fucked around with this message at 17:11 on Nov 26, 2013 |
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Nov 26, 2013 16:30
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How should I use my wood chunks for a 15 lb turkey at 275? I don't want to over smoke it but I still want a nice flavor/smoke ring. Do y'all throw them directly on the coals or off to the side?
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Nov 26, 2013 17:01
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Ahdinko posted:Edit: Bought some applewood, cherry and oak chips too. I can't find chunks for the life of me in the UK. Read the link I posted, it talks about soaking wood ( and you will find people that disagree with it for whatever reason)
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Nov 26, 2013 17:24
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coronaball posted:Birch gives off a thick, black smoke. A lot of people with fireplaces say you shouldn't even burn it for heat because it burns fast and it can gum up your flue. Seems like the last thing you would want to put on your food. I use birch in my smoker without issue, mostly because I had a fallen birch tree on my hands and hey, free wood. Maybe bark being on the wood can make a difference, or using greenish wood, but mine is debarked and well dried. It does not give off a thick, black or blue smoke and it smolders for a long time just like any other comparably-sized wood chunk. One thing I'll say about birch is that the smoke flavor is subtle and you can let it smoke for 12+ hours without getting an in-your-face smoky flavor like you would with hickory or fruit woods. Marv Albert fucked around with this message at 19:32 on Nov 26, 2013 |
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Nov 26, 2013 19:29
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These don't particularly go together, but this is what I wanted to do, so suck it: I've got a rack of ribs and some brisket sitting in my office fridge, ready for Friday's smoking. 
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Nov 26, 2013 19:41
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Crazyeyes posted:As I understand it being is the best way. Injecting melted butter into the breast will also reduce chance of it drying out. OOH OOH I posted a link for a brine recipe a few pages ago but just google "whole turkey apple brine" just look for the like that takes you to the weber virtual bullet site. I made it last year and it was loving TITS! That being said I wasn't going to do one this year but decided I might as well. Went shopping got a 13lb fresh non enhanced turkey, apple juice, oranges, fresh ginger. I did some planning in my head and ill have just enough time to pull it off. 24 hour brine soak, 12 hours uncovered in the fridge to dry the skin. Then ill get up Thursday morning and fire the weber up. fps_bill fucked around with this message at 20:54 on Nov 26, 2013 |
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Nov 26, 2013 20:50
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fps_bill posted:OOH OOH I posted a link for a brine recipe a few pages ago but just google "whole turkey apple brine" just look for the like that takes you to the weber virtual bullet site. I made it last year and it was loving TITS! I'm doing this recipe as well, just started making the brine. The only thing I'm doing differently is heating up some apples, onion and herbs in the microwave for a couple of minutes and stuffing the cavity right before it goes on the smoker. My dad swears by this every time he does a thanksgiving bird in the oven as it enhances the aromatics. I may not be able to tell a difference since the smoke will probably be the primary aroma, but I figure why not try it.
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Nov 26, 2013 23:52
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Marv Albert posted:I use birch in my smoker without issue, mostly because I had a fallen birch tree on my hands and hey, free wood. Maybe bark being on the wood can make a difference, or using greenish wood, but mine is debarked and well dried. It does not give off a thick, black or blue smoke and it smolders for a long time just like any other comparably-sized wood chunk. I just remember burning birch in my parents fireplace and it burned really fast and the smoke being thick. Maybe it was green, or maybe they have different types of birch where you live.
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Nov 26, 2013 23:59
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coronaball posted:I just remember burning birch in my parents fireplace and it burned really fast and the smoke being thick. Maybe it was green, or maybe they have different types of birch where you live. it could have also just been a lovely tree, I've found often that if you don't examine the wood itself and just rely on the type you can get in trouble (or if you don't dry it, etc)
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Nov 27, 2013 00:10
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fps_bill posted:OOH OOH I posted a link for a brine recipe a few pages ago but just google "whole turkey apple brine" just look for the like that takes you to the weber virtual bullet site. I made it last year and it was loving TITS! How important is drying the turkey in the fridge? I was going to start my brine tomorrow, but if it's important I better start it right now! 
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Nov 27, 2013 04:40
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I've never tried it without drying the skin but the 1 time I did make it the skin was so crispy and bite through good. Idk what it'd be like without drying the skin though you are smoking it at about tree fiddy the skin might still come out rubbery.
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Nov 27, 2013 04:51
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Rand alPaul posted:How important is drying the turkey in the fridge? I was going to start my brine tomorrow, but if it's important I better start it right now! The drying phase helps the skin get crispy, according to the recipe. If you don't mind a more gelatinous skin I don't think it really matters. I started my brining earlier today if that is any consolation. You could probably hit it on a high temperature for 20-30 minutes in the oven before serving to crisp up the skin, though.
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Nov 27, 2013 04:52
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fps_bill posted:I've never tried it without drying the skin but the 1 time I did make it the skin was so crispy and bite through good. Idk what it'd be like without drying the skin though you are smoking it at about tree fiddy the skin might still come out rubbery. I was going to smoke it at about 350-375. Hmmm... Crazyeyes posted:The drying phase helps the skin get crispy, according to the recipe. If you don't mind a more gelatinous skin I don't think it really matters. I started my brining earlier today if that is any consolation. I wanted crispy skin. poo poo I might have to go start my brine now. Rand alPaul fucked around with this message at 04:55 on Nov 27, 2013 |
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Nov 27, 2013 04:52
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I started my brine before I left for work. Ill finish it and put the turkey in when I get home tonight. Pull it out and commence operation nice skin when I get home tomorrow night. Then get up Thursday morning and start it around 10. My time tables are working out pretty well. I'm not going to get a full 12 hours of drying time but it'll be alright.
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Nov 27, 2013 05:25
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Aww poo poo, the turkey was "enhanced" with a flavor solution at the factory, I'm now scared to brine it in case it has too much salt. Should I cut back on the salt or just skip brining all together?
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Nov 27, 2013 06:26
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Okay another Ham question, decided to just carve off a huge chunk of this ginormous ham on the bone my aunt got. It apparently is not smoked or at least it doesn't have a smoky smell to me at least. I don't know it is precooked but I don't know the method. It still has skin on it. Should I score or completely remove the skin , I was going to remove the skin but leave that nice fatty layer on top. I'm going with a classical brown sugar and mustard style rub. Then I am cooking it on the grill with some applewood in a roasting pan with a rack then foil it over. What's my cook time on this. This is kind of a weird ham, it's loving huge and that's mainly my big concern I've literally never seen a ham this big. So I am definitely cutting it at least in half. Also, suggestions for a brown sugar/ mustard base. Traditional style. Probably even put pineapples on it for appearance sake.
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Nov 27, 2013 06:32
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Rand alPaul posted:Aww poo poo, the turkey was "enhanced" with a flavor solution at the factory, I'm now scared to brine it in case it has too much salt. Should I cut back on the salt or just skip brining all together? I wouldn't brine it if it's already been injected. You really run the risk of creating a salt bomb if you do.
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Nov 27, 2013 14:54
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Just noticed mine was enhanced and it's about 20 hours into a brine. Whoops. Am I screwed? The brine has about 3/4 cup salt for a 14.5lb bird that was 3% enhanced. Other ingredients: 2 quarts apple juice 3 quarts water Lb of brown sugar 2 oranges 15 whole cloves 6 garlic cloves 6 bay leaves Trustfund. fucked around with this message at 23:21 on Nov 27, 2013 |
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Nov 27, 2013 23:16
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Trustfund. posted:Just noticed mine was enhanced and it's about 20 hours into a brine. I've never done this, but a cursory search of chowhound and some other sites shows you might very well have a salt lick for a turkey now. Sadly, I would trash it and start over.
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Nov 28, 2013 00:39
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