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I've never brined chicken or turkey but I can get crispy skin using meathead's method of using your hand to separate connecting tissue under the skin from the meat, then use a spoon to put some olive oil and herbs under the skin. You can then cook it (I just use a grill at 350) and then sear it at the very end for a few mins. I find using herbs on the outside of the skin is kind of a waste if you don't really eat the skin. I also quarter the chicken instead of doing it whole. It's quicker usually. IRREGARDLESS all methods are inferior to deep frying.
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Oct 19, 2016 23:04
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What about smoking one on a roasting rack? I've thought about smoking one this year, but I'm not inclined to purchase extra equipment if I don't have to.
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Oct 19, 2016 23:25
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I've done a couple turkeys on my Akorn, they come out super juicy and delicious. I follow the Serious Eats dry brine and I spatchcock it. Cooks in no time
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Oct 20, 2016 04:14
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I feel like olive oil would burn easier than the butter and herbs my grandma taught me to use.
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Oct 20, 2016 20:16
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Annath posted:I feel like olive oil would burn easier than the butter and herbs my grandma taught me to use. Olive oil has a lower smoke point than butter, but butter has milk solids that will burn on you at relatively low temps. Best thing I've found for skin is clarified butter. Get the flavor and browning benefits without the burny bits.
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Oct 20, 2016 20:21
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I recently came into a Masterbuilt 40" sportsman elite electric smoker and I'm suddenly responsible for smoking a 13 lb pork shoulder for a party this Sunday (planning to eat around 5pm). I've only smoked ~5lb shoulders in a jury-rigged electric skillet and cardboard box setup before. I need help. I assume I want to smoke this starting early morning Saturday and hoping to finish late night Saturday, then reheat for serving. Any advice on brine, rubs, times, foil, just-finish-it-in-the-oven, reheating? There's also a 7 lb brisket that I am hoping I could knock out on Sunday by starting early, but if that's too optimistic I can just forgo that plan. (~15 guests so I think pork sandwiches + sides would be fine as is). Would also appreciate advice on that.
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Oct 21, 2016 17:31
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FaradayCage posted:I recently came into a Masterbuilt 40" sportsman elite electric smoker and I'm suddenly responsible for smoking a 13 lb pork shoulder for a party this Sunday (planning to eat around 5pm). Break the 13lb shoulder down into 2 or 3 smaller chunks. Your going to shred it for pulled pork anyways I assume. Also it will give you more surface area for rub and bark. Pork usually takes me 6-8 hours in my MES 40. I usually start it at 225 and crank it up to 250-275 if it is getting to the stall. So you can start it Sunday morning. Plan a little early so it is done by 3pm as you can always hold it wrapped in a cooler until serving time. If for some reason it isn't done by 3 you have 2 hours of wiggle room and at worst you foil it or bring it inside to the oven. As for the Brisket you are probably looking at 13-14 hours (might differ if you have just a flat vs. a full packer) so you could start that even earlier. The good thing about the MES is that it is pretty much set and forget other than adding more wood. You could start the brisket at midnight, go to bed, when you wake you add more wood chips and start to prepare the pork. Add the pork in when you need to, adding more wood chips if needed. If the Brisket gets done early just do the same. Wrap it and put it in a cooler. When its closer to dinner time throw it back in the smoker or oven to warm back up. Edit- If you need a good rub recipe try Meathead's Memphis Dust from the AmazingRibs site. I use it but change it a little depending on what I am making. I don't like so much ginger unless I am doing salmon with it. You can also add some cayenne or something if you want it hotter. Trastion fucked around with this message at 17:48 on Oct 21, 2016 |
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Oct 21, 2016 17:43
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Thanks for the help! I was planning to use the Memphis Dust rub. What about a brine though? Is it okay to forgot that? (I'd have a hard time finding the right size containers).Trastion posted:Break the 13lb shoulder down into 2 or 3 smaller chunks. Your going to shred it for pulled pork anyways I assume. Also it will give you more surface area for rub and bark. Feeling around, it seems like the bones would prefer if I halved it down the middle. That's good cause I can freeze half if I'm gonna do the brisket as well. Trastion posted:As for the Brisket you are probably looking at 13-14 hours (might differ if you have just a flat vs. a full packer) so you could start that even earlier. The good thing about the MES is that it is pretty much set and forget other than adding more wood. You could start the brisket at midnight, go to bed, when you wake you add more wood chips and start to prepare the pork. Add the pork in when you need to, adding more wood chips if needed. It's a flat, according to the package. There's a fair amount of fat on one side. Some random googling tells me I should put it fat-down while smoking as a heat shield, and fat up while resting to braise/baste meat. Some concerns: I don't know how often wood chips have to be added yet. Wouldn't 6-8 hours of sleep run the risk of the chips running out? (Follow-up: Would that be such an awful thing? I assume the smoker maintains temperature with or without the chips.) Also, I'm a bit nervous about letting it run overnight without some soft of half-assed "Oh I smell fire" supervision from an awake person. Is it safe?
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Oct 21, 2016 19:00
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FaradayCage posted:Thanks for the help! I was planning to use the Memphis Dust rub. What about a brine though? Is it okay to forgot that? (I'd have a hard time finding the right size containers). I don't brine shoulders, they're plenty juicy w/ the connective tissue. Memphis dust is delicious. I add chips 2-3 times near the beginning of the smoke, about once per hour. Running an electric smoker overnight has never been an issue for me. Calm down, breath deeply. It'll be fine.
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Oct 21, 2016 19:50
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FaradayCage posted:Thanks for the help! I was planning to use the Memphis Dust rub. What about a brine though? Is it okay to forgot that? (I'd have a hard time finding the right size containers). Don't freeze half. You can freeze any leftovers. Cook it all, you'll have room. Pulled pork freezes well and if you package it into 6-8oz portions its great to grab a bag and warm it up to make tacos or whatever. A brisket flat will cook quicker than a full packer so you might get away with 10 hours but start it early. it's better to have to hold it in a cooler and warm it back up a bit than to have everyone waiting for 2 hours because it isn't done. Don't worry about any brine. What I usually do is take some plain yellow mustard (don't worry you wont taste it) and slather the whole thing with mustard. Then LIBERALLY apply the Memphis Dust. Make it nice and thick, don't be shy with it. Do this the night before if you can but I sometimes do it an hour before smoking if I am in a rush. As for chips I try to add them every 2-3 hours but it really wont hurt too much if you can't. Really a load of chips should give you smoke for 4-6 hours anyways. And yes it will keep temp even if there are no chips in it ever. It's basically an oven. I run mine all the time without being home/awake. Granted mine is on a cement pad in front of my shed. If it did catch fire I wouldn't lose the house just a shed and crap. If you are worried just find a place far enough away from your house.
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Oct 21, 2016 20:06
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Thanks all. Right now I'm leaning toward biting the bullet and starting the Brisket at 3-4am on Sunday (RIP watching Cubs game drunk), ready between 12-2pm, and being wrapped in an insulated cooler til serving time. . I'm not confident that soaked/dry wood chips are lasting more than about an hour as I'm doing a test run today with ribs. Is there any important difference between smoking in the early part vs the later part (assuming it's still before foil wrapping)? (I'll put the shoulder on later in the morning). Also amazingribs.com mentioned this rub for beef instead of Memphis (which is more geared toward pork). It seems like a good idea to me cause then there'll be a bit of constant instead of two meats wearing the same dress. Anyone ever used it?
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Oct 21, 2016 23:58
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Half and half salt and pepper is the best rub for brisket. The one in that link looks good though.
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Oct 22, 2016 03:18
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Tezcatlipoca posted:Half and half salt and pepper is the best rub for brisket. The one in that link looks good though. I definitely prefer dalmation rub on my brisket over meatheads beef rub. Memphis Dust is magic but his beef run was just ok.
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Oct 22, 2016 03:59
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Anyone ever do this fake burnt ends thing that uses chuck roast? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a-szH1srxOI They're on sale this week and I'm curious as to how close this thing is to the real stuff.
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Oct 22, 2016 04:21
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FaradayCage posted:Thanks all. Don't bother soaking the chips. It does nothing to the chips. Source: amazingribs.com article on it, disproved by science and logic.
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Oct 22, 2016 17:54
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Started this one this morning, should be done soon. but in the meantime, a pic from the beginning of the day!
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Oct 23, 2016 22:48
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Woke up at 2am to preheat. Put in the brisket (7lb) about an hour later with chips. Found out an hour later that there was no smoke. Found out how to remove the wood/ash tray (it was pretty full) and that fixed the problem). A combination of smoking at 225 (instead of 250) and a clear wood/ash tray meant that the smoke stayed strong for hours (4-6 as you all have been saying). That made me happy. Didn't need any micromanagement beyond that. Added the shoulders (~6.5 lb each) around 7am. (Also turns out it was two shoulders in the pack, hence the logical dividing place I was feeling.) Wrapped the brisket around 170-175 and put it back in. Pulled briskket out around 3pm and decided to wrap the shoulders because they were still around 155. Also cranked the MES temp up to 285 or whatever the max is. They got up to 195 right quick. Tested the bone and took em out at around 4:45pm. Started pulling/cutting at 5:15pm to keep to food schedule.      I don't have much experience with brisket. It wasn't ~dry~ but I know it can be more moist (without any liquid injections). I'll probably try wrapping it at a lower temp next time. Might also break down and get a hot beef injection device. Had about 16 guests. Everyone loved it. We have a godly amount of leftovers. (There were a lot of side dishes). Thanks all!
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Oct 24, 2016 01:10
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FaradayCage posted:We have a godly amount of leftovers. (There were a lot of side dishes). That looks great. I can't give any recommendations for better brisket as I don't do it enough to really know. But for the leftovers, like I said above, just freeze the pulled pork in 4-8oz bags. I use quart freezer ziplock and try to get all the air out. Then put all the quarts into a gallon freezer ziplock and get all the air out. This helps keep freezer burn down. When you need to warm it up you can boil some water and put the bag in it, just microwave if needed or add into whatever you are cooking. If you didn't sauce it all, which I never do, then it can be used in just about anything. As for the brisket, sandwiches are awesome and if you get tired of that then chop it into 1" cubes and throw it in your favorite chili recipe. Or if you are into mac and cheese that is a great place for chunks of brisket too.
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Oct 24, 2016 17:17
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12 hours seems like a long time to cook 7lbs of meat, that may be why the brisket is a little dry. The 10lbs brisket I just smoked took under 12 hours. It's so humid where I am though that I don't really hit a stall.
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Oct 24, 2016 17:48
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I did St. Louis style ribs yesterday and the flavor was awesome but the texture was kind of disappointing. They were still pretty chewy and had more of a porkchop-like texture. Also, they had no smoke ring! What did I do wrong? Cooked them in my Akorn kamado between 225 and 250 for about 6 hours, no crutch, and a water pan for the first 2 hours.
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Oct 24, 2016 18:18
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Mikey Purp posted:I did St. Louis style ribs yesterday and the flavor was awesome but the texture was kind of disappointing. They were still pretty chewy and had more of a porkchop-like texture. Also, they had no smoke ring! What did I do wrong? How did you test that they were done? I stick with the bend test - pick them up around the middle with a set of tongs, and the ribs should bend a bit and the bark should crack. Don't worry too much about the smoke ring, as it doesn't have any impact on the flavor of the meat itself.
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Oct 24, 2016 18:29
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Yeah I did the bend test, but maybe they didn't bend as much as they should have. Also my bark was kind of lacking so there wasn't much cracking going on. Sounds like I just didn't let them go for long enough. I must have underestimated how much the crutch speeds up the cook when you do the 3-2-1 method, because I figured an extra hour or so should have been enough but clearly it wasn't.
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Oct 24, 2016 18:44
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Mikey Purp posted:Yeah I did the bend test, but maybe they didn't bend as much as they should have. Also my bark was kind of lacking so there wasn't much cracking going on. Sounds like I just didn't let them go for long enough. I must have underestimated how much the crutch speeds up the cook when you do the 3-2-1 method, because I figured an extra hour or so should have been enough but clearly it wasn't. Just some words from someone who has been bitten by time issues quite a bit, you need to respect the cook time. Everything always takes longer than I read online...this may be because of a variety of factors (wind, outside temps, altitude, etc) but the bottom line is I always give myself at least 2 extra hours for wiggle room - if it finishes sooner you can just wrap it up and rest it in a cooler keeping it warm for a bit. If you're not done with hordes of ravenous attendees around, you could have riots.
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Oct 24, 2016 23:17
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Yeah I wouldn't be surprised if 6 hours w/o wrapping wasn't enough. I do about 6 for spares including 1.5-2 hours in foil.
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Oct 25, 2016 01:21
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So I did my first test run on the smoker. I have a pellet lighting issue since I somehow cannot find a can of butane to get my lighter filled. 7lb pork butt rubbed in yellow mustard then Memphis Dust, in for 12 hours (pellets probably smoked for half that time) at 225ish. At that point internal temp was right around 170. Foiled it and tossed it in the oven at 350 for another hour to get it to 195. Let it rest for about 30 mins, then shredded it. Pretty happy with the outcome, and looking forward to doing it again this weekend. Next goal, get some drat butane.
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Oct 25, 2016 17:58
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Moey posted:So I did my first test run on the smoker. I have a pellet lighting issue since I somehow cannot find a can of butane to get my lighter filled. Welcome to your new addiction.
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Oct 25, 2016 19:07
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Why mustard? Ive never done it and my rub sticks just fine.
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Oct 26, 2016 04:21
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QuarkMartial posted:Why mustard? Ive never done it and my rub sticks just fine. I've done it both ways a few times each and I have to agree that the mustard step is probably unnecessary. It's easier to get the rub to spread a bit more evenly (particularly if you have clumpy brown sugar), but the extra mess isn't really worth it.
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Oct 26, 2016 07:08
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FaradayCage posted:I've done it both ways a few times each and I have to agree that the mustard step is probably unnecessary. Agreed, the last time I did two shoulders at the same time one with mustard, one without. Hardly any discernible difference.
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Oct 26, 2016 12:42
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The real trick is to wear rubber gloves when putting the rub on so it doesn't stick to your hands. Much easier to get a nice even coating that way.
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Oct 26, 2016 13:18
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I like to use olive oil instead of mustard actually. Someone would have to test if it makes any difference, but my thinking was that you use oil to bloom spices in lots of different cooking methods, so why not smoking!
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Oct 26, 2016 14:08
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Just spray some water on it, that's good enough to make it stick.
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Oct 26, 2016 14:17
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arisu posted:Anyone ever do this fake burnt ends thing that uses chuck roast? I've done it a couple times with great results. Highly recommended.
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Oct 26, 2016 16:44
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I think I went a little overboard spending £84 on two huge pieces of brisket but I'm hoping my pastrami comes along as good as last time. Pictures of it hung up in my fridge - http://imgur.com/a/KZe6L Edit - Bonus picture of my dog Reuben 
Faithless fucked around with this message at 12:48 on Oct 28, 2016 |
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Oct 28, 2016 12:42
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^ Cute dogqutius posted:I've done it a couple times with great results. Highly recommended. Also try bacon burnt ends if you can get fresh pork belly http://www.tmbbq.com/smoked-in-texas-bacon-burnt-ends-at-heim-bbq/
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Oct 28, 2016 14:33
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Cross post from my camera does not... I smoked a chuck roast, nothing special except for the resulting jus, who would have thought smoked beef stock would taste so good. I added wostershire and a little lousiana hotsauce to the pan on top of the onion halves and two cups of stock, it was an amazing dipper.     
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Oct 28, 2016 20:32
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That beef looks amazing. I'm smoking the brisket tomorrow after about 11 days in a 8ish% brine with nitrates. I realized the meats way too big for my WSM so I had to cut the pieces in half. 
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Oct 28, 2016 22:10
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Today is experimental. I bought a whole brisket a while back but cut off the flat and smoked it (easily my best brisket to date) and put the point into a big freezer bag. I had it thaw in the fridge a couple days and trimmed it up a bunch last night and got the rub on it. I put it on at 4:00 this morning. Temps seem to be making good progress. It's an experiment because I haven't smoked a point yet and I haven't smoked a brisket that was previously frozen. I'm sure it will probably taste fine and all, even though it doesn't come out like a traditional slice of brisket.
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Oct 30, 2016 16:16
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Does anyone have a smoking gun? I've seen them around but wasn't sure what I would actually do with one to justify the cost. I made my wife stop at a thrift store we were driving by and found this on the shelf for $3.  Unused, the batteries and wood chips are still sealed. The manual is missing but I'm sure I can find one on their website.  I looked a bit more and found this  Also still sealed  And to round things out I found an old Weber Gas Grill Cookbook and an BBq book for $1 a piece and a $4 cast iron Æbleskiver pan  What smoking gun recipes should I start with? I've had smoked string cheese that I loved and was hoping I could make something similar. Could I use racks and a carboard box like Alton Brown's cold smoked Salmon recipe?
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Oct 31, 2016 19:53
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When you have low expectations you are happy with whatever results you end up with! Poorly framed and lit photos but they are better than  Points of briskets have freaking muscle fibers that go in every direction. The center of the cut is EXTREMELY fatty. I would estimate weight prior to cook was probably about 7 pounds. Probably had shrinkage in size by about 25%. It went on the smoker at 4:00 in the morning on "smoke" for three hours, then switched to 225* with total time on the smoker of 13 1/2 hours to reach a temp of 201*. Wrapped in foil/towels and rested for about one hour. The bottom bark was extremely crispy like really salty smokey beef jerky. As a sliced piece of meat not great with the bark, but when chopped it was really nice. The meat was very tender and flavorful otherwise. The marbling rendered through nicely and was easy to separate from the meat. The color of the meat after cooking was a little dark after cutting, as can be seen in the photo. I am not sure what that was about but it didn't take away from the experience. The chopped brisket will go really nicely for some sandwiches. I shared about a half pound each for two neighbors who all declared it was some of the best stuff they have ever eaten. PICS!   first time opening the lid after closing it 13 1/2 hours previously  It looks dry in this photo but it wasn't. You can see some chopped brisket on the bottom which was delightful. The rub was Plowboys Bovine Bold.
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Oct 31, 2016 19:55
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