Slow Smoking Meat: I'm a Microbiologist, Dumbass.

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Goons with Spoons > Slow Smoking Meat: I'm a Microbiologist, Dumbass.

rigeek: Jun 12, 2006

Brisket is never a good choice for a first smoke; it's very difficult to get right and not very forgiving at all. Ribs are a good first smoke, they only take (on average) ~5 hours. Pork butts (shoulders) are very forgiving (it's almost impossible to gently caress up a pork butt). Sounds like your brisket just wasn't cooked enough. It's easy to undercook one .. there is also no "right" temp to say it's done .. you have to poke it with the probe until the probe goes into the brisket like a knife through soft butter, then it's done. Lot of people say foiling is a "Texas crutch" but if you foil as soon as it breaks plateau, until around 190, you're guaranteed a tender, juicy brisket, just about every time. gently caress the haters that are against foiling.

# ¿ Mar 2, 2012 03:29

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# ¿ May 5, 2024 06:19

rigeek: Jun 12, 2006

Gravel Gravy posted:

So we cooked a boston butt last weekend, turned out great. I go grocery shopping on Monday, see ribs on sale and buy them, say we'll smoke them this weekend.

Fast forward we buy another butt, two racks of ribs, and some turkey drum sticks to smoke. WE are smoking the butt overnight in shifts, and the rest afterwards. From smoking a dinner for three into a gathering of people. How did this happen?

Same thing happens here ... if you smoke it, they will come!

# ¿ Jun 2, 2012 16:35

rigeek: Jun 12, 2006

The Rev posted:

Fired up my WSM yesterday after a bit of a break, made some pork ribs that came out amazing as usual. First time using the smoker in 100 degree weather, was amazed at how fast it came up to temperature (got it as a xmas gift this past year). I was almost worried the ribs would burn once I saw it shoot up to 275 with 2 vents closed, and the third 25% open! I have yet to have ribs from any restaurant that have come close to ribs on the WSM, and the price is always so much lower when you do it yourself, I absolutely love my smoker and the food it produces.

With the 4th coming up, my father really wants me to make a brisket, but out of the family and my girlfriend, my father and I are the only meat eaters. I am thinking of doing a brisket that my wholesale club sells, (BJ�s), that is just the flat section of the brisket. Don�t get me wrong, I love burnt ends when I made them last time, but in this case, it would just be too much a waste of money and food for my liking.

Does anyone have experience with smoking just the flat of a brisket, how might I do this in terms of time and temp? Or is this just a bad idea from the start, smoker-wise?

Invest in a Foodsaver or some other similar vacuum sealer. You can vac-seal and freeze the leftovers, and then whenever you get a hankering for BBQ it's already there, all you have to do is defrost and reheat.

# ¿ Jul 2, 2012 01:45

rigeek: Jun 12, 2006

One of the beauties of the foodsaver is, you can boil the bag .. put a pot of water on to boil, take the bag out of the freezer, drop the bag in once the water is boiling, and boil for a bit, the Q is as good when you open the bag as it was when it came off the pit.

# ¿ Jul 3, 2012 00:51

rigeek: Jun 12, 2006

Cooking a packer for 4th of July. Haven't decided yet whether to fire up the WSM and cook it overnight low-and-slow or fire up the kettle early Wed and cook it hotter and faster. I'm determined to nail it. Gotta figure out a kick-rear end sauce to make with it. I made a Dr Pepper BBQ sauce once that rocked, but I was too shitfaced to remember. Maybe I'll try that again.

# ¿ Jul 3, 2012 01:45

rigeek: Jun 12, 2006

I got the 9.5lb packer brisket. Going to trim the hard fat off the fat cap, but leave most of the rest. Smoke it on the Weber kettle using the charcoal baskets w/ Royal Oak and hickory chunks. Going to foil at ~165 and separate the point for burnt ends shortly after that. Wish me luck goons.

# ¿ Jul 4, 2012 01:59

rigeek: Jun 12, 2006

Foil it once it breaks plateau, around 170F or so.

# ¿ Aug 26, 2012 05:54

rigeek: Jun 12, 2006

vulturesrow posted:

Minimum of 185 if you just want to slice it up. A lot recommendations Ive seen say 195 for pulled pork but my experience is that is a little low. Seems like about 205 gets all the connective tissue completely dissolved pretty nicely. Also my technique when I finish in the oven is to foil it and put the heat anywhere between 250-300...works out fine.

At least 200.

# ¿ Sep 13, 2012 15:45

rigeek: Jun 12, 2006

qutius posted:

Those are generally best braised, not smoked or roasted in a dry heat.

I've got a boat load of grass fed spare ribs that'll be going on the smoker Friday morning. Is it worth throwing some beans on the smoker or are they best done in the oven?

Smoke those beans.

Throw in some meat trimmings if you have any, or maybe some bacon on top. Throw the beans in a foil pan or crock, and toss em on the pit.

# ¿ Nov 15, 2012 15:14

rigeek: Jun 12, 2006

I only use bacon if I have nothing else. Usually I smoke the beans in my WSM, on the bottom shelf, under whatever meat I'm smoking... so the fat drippings from the pork shoulder, brisket, ribs or whatever drips directly onto the beans... between that and the smoke, the beans are hard to beat.

# ¿ Nov 16, 2012 18:11

rigeek: Jun 12, 2006

Bob Mundon posted:

http://www.virtualweberbullet.com/brisket4.html

Was going to try that this weekend, what types of wood have you guys had success with? I've got some apple wood, but also have access to Mesquite and Hickory. Was thinking some apple wood, then a chunk or two of the others, or will brisket take a full load of stronger wood just fine?

Apple will be fine, as would cherry, hickory, and mesquite (only use mesquite in small portions, it can be overpowering). Sugar maple, pecan, and alder are also good. I usually just use hickory and/or cherry for briskets. If I have mesquite I'll throw in one chunk at the beginning of the smoke. In Texas all they use is mesquite; YMMV.

# ¿ Dec 4, 2012 04:36

rigeek: Jun 12, 2006

Bob Mundon posted:

Well, the flat came out completely mediocre. Zero bark, dry, not very tender (cooked up weird, even though the smoker was on the low side the temp shot up super fast).

However, the burnt ends came out amazing. Question: Other than tradition, is there any reason not to do the entire brisket as burnt ends?

I guess that came to mind because the flat came out so much worse than the point, if it had been better maybe be a different story.

The flat is probably too lean for that.. the point has a lot more connective tissue and fat to render out.

# ¿ Dec 10, 2012 02:11

rigeek: Jun 12, 2006

Bob Mundon posted:

Makes sense.

I guess I'll just have to keep fiddling around with it. Smoker was running around 330 for most of the cook, but like I said the temp shot up really fast (was up over 170 in less than 2 hours, and was at 200 after foiling in probably another hour and a half).

Did you add any liquid when you foiled it? Adding a little beef stock, apple juice, beer, whatever you have around usually helps. But if it was dry it may have been undercooked.. the window of "done" on a brisket is small. What temp was it at when you pulled it?

# ¿ Dec 10, 2012 02:19

rigeek: Jun 12, 2006

Royal Oak is good hardwood charcoal. Do NOT under any circumstances buy Cowboy brand. It's full of old plywood, and insides of old couches and probably the seat from a '69 Ford. Lump burns hotter than briquettes, leaves a LOT less ash, but because it burns hotter, you have to be a little more careful watching the smoker. The only other drawback I can think of with lump / hardwood is since it's "natural" and not pressed like briquettes, the chunks / pieces are not uniform in size, so when you fill your charcoal ring there may be "gaps" .. it's never caused an issue but be careful with the huge chunks. Maybe sort them out and leave them on top by themselves.

The wax starters are ok .. I just use either a few sheets of crumbled up newspaper, or whatever junk mail has been sitting around in the bottom of the chimney .. kills 2 birds with one stone.

# ¿ Dec 27, 2012 03:43

rigeek: Jun 12, 2006

Pulled pork - a shoulder will hold hot if he double-wraps it in HD foil and throws it in a small cooler wrapped in old towels. Leave it in the foil / cooler and it will stay hot for a good couple of hours. If you logistically can do it, hold it in the oven around ~200F until you're ready for it, then pull it out of the foil, and it will fall apart.

# ¿ Mar 29, 2013 18:08

rigeek: Jun 12, 2006

GigaFool posted:

He did say they're already having a ham and a leg of lamb. A pork shoulder might be overkill.

A pork shoulder is never overkill

# ¿ Mar 29, 2013 19:13

rigeek: Jun 12, 2006

3 pound shoulder on the 22" Weber kettle. Used RO lump and some apple.

Made a bastardized mop sauce .. equal parts root beer & cola, and I tossed in some papaya juice I had in the fridge. Reduced it by half and mopped with it the last 2 hours or so. The bark was incredible. And I have a bunch leftover for sandwiches for the week.

# ¿ Apr 15, 2013 15:54

rigeek: Jun 12, 2006

They probably did that to help with air leakage .. those doors have always been notorious for not fitting properly and letting in too much air, which leads to not being able to keep the smoker running as cool as you may want. Some gunk will build up in there and make for a better seal. I'd leave it as is.

# ¿ May 13, 2013 02:48

rigeek: Jun 12, 2006

bunnielab posted:

What is the point of injecting meat you are going to shred before eating? Go get a huge rear end turkey breast and shoot that bitch full of flavor.

Or maybe a pork loin to see if that helps keeping it from drying out.

You will definitely get flavor from the injection.. it's like a brine or a marinade. The injection gets absorbed by the meat, thus adding flavor. Plenty of BBQ competitors on the KCBS circuit inject and rub and spray.

# ¿ Jun 24, 2013 03:49

rigeek: Jun 12, 2006

2 boneless Boston Butts on the Weber kettle, followed by 3 racks of babybacks and a #10 can of beans. Making a big rear end bowl of slaw with it all .. making it all for a friend for her son's birthday so I won't get to enjoy it beyond a sample but goddamn does it smell nice in my backyard right now.

# ¿ Oct 13, 2013 03:41

rigeek: Jun 12, 2006

Pokkahn posted:

Could anyone point me to an authentic Carolina rub/sauce recipe. I have some NC guests requesting some BBQ. I have never eaten the vinegar Carolina version so I cant make heads or tails of all these different recipes of Carolina pulled pork.

For the vinegar based NC sauce, this is what I use:

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cup cider vinegar
1/2 cup ketchup
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes

For the rub, I usually use the Mr Brown:

1/4 cup ground black pepper
1/4 cup paprika
1/4 cup Turbinado sugar
2 Tablespoons table salt
2 teaspoons dry mustard
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper

# ¿ Dec 23, 2013 01:52

rigeek: Jun 12, 2006

Made some ribs today

# ¿ May 26, 2014 01:22

rigeek: Jun 12, 2006

Faithless posted:

Update on the Pastrami wars.

Spent 12 hours trying to maintain a good 200-225 on the smoker (Its a brinkmann) before being annoyed and double foiling it into the oven to temp.

Next day I decided to take some advice from Katz's Delicatessen's website which recommends if you buy their pastrami whole to boil it for 2-3 hours until it reaches the level of tenderisation you wish. Have to say that this was a brilliant method which worked perfectly. I was a little dubious at first that it may ruin the whole piece if I simply boiled it but it came out perfect.

Pretty sure for pastrami you're supposed to steam it after smoking it, but I'm a dumb Yankee and I have no idea, so if it worked for you, gently caress it.

# ¿ Jul 31, 2014 03:40

rigeek: Jun 12, 2006

If you are looking to get smoke flavor into your steaks, you can get that by grilling them on a charcoal grill and throwing some wood chunks on the fire. Steaks are lean, for the most part, so the whole low and slow thing doesn't really benefit them any. But, hey, if you liked them, that's all that matters. Diff'rent strokes and all that.

# ¿ Aug 4, 2014 02:35

rigeek: Jun 12, 2006

Cover the pan / sand with some foil. Then once the cooker cools down after the cook, just change out the foil.

# ¿ Aug 16, 2014 02:01

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# ¿ May 5, 2024 06:19

rigeek: Jun 12, 2006

BraveUlysses posted:

Hey, I think I saw someone post this here:

http://wolfepit.blogspot.com/2009/10/pepper-stout-beef.html

Anyone try it? looks amazing

Larry Wolfe is a BBQ God. Also, try his rub if it's still available for sale.

# ¿ Oct 25, 2014 22:26

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