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- - Smoked Meat (http://archives1.twoplustwo.com/showthread.php?t=459895)

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if you only cooked your pork shoulder for 6 hours, you were cooking too fast at too high of a temp, unless it was REALLY small.

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It wasn't a full one, it was ~3lbs. I don't have any say in the temp on my smoker, as it's just one setting [img]/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img]. I just cooked it until the center temp was about 190.

pictures please.

you should try to make pastrami, which i believe is smoked corn beef.

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It's this big gourmet favorite these days, but used to be common for people to eat in the old days. They chop or saw thick bones, like cow leg bones, up into chunks, so they're kind of like a doughut of bone around a hole of marrow. Then they roast the bones, I think, and may or may not do something to the marrow like spice it. I read chefs raving about it a good bit, but have never had it and don't know much about it.

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What kind of Italian are you?!?!?!?! Please do not come into my neighborhood. If you do, pretend you are greek.

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Uh, what? Osso bucco, a classic Italian dish, is literally "hole bone."

Osso bucco, by the way, is a great way for the curious readers of this thread tangent to try marrow if they have never had it. Because osso bucco is the whole veal shank, so you have plenty of meat to eat as well as try the marrow in the center.

Call your local good Italian restaurants and find one that is serving it.

Enjoy!
-Stevie "3/4 Italian" G

a friend of mine just had a party on sunday and he smoked a turkey.. it was AMAZING

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if you only cooked your pork shoulder for 6 hours, you were cooking too fast at too high of a temp, unless it was REALLY small.

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It wasn't a full one, it was ~3lbs. I don't have any say in the temp on my smoker, as it's just one setting [img]/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img]. I just cooked it until the center temp was about 190.

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I have the electric smoker as well. One setting isn't a big deal. You can control temps with water, the vent, and the rack positioning, as well as adding in veggies and coverings during the process.

another random thread from 2p2 and now I want to know more about the topic! 2p2 got me into "proper" wet-shaving... interested in cigars and vodka... now I want to know more about using a smoker. All the food you guys are mentioning sounds so freakin good I might have to try this out.

The only smoker I ever used was my dad's Little Chief electric smoker and that's just to smoke up salmon.

Are there qualities to look for in a good smoker? Are there good websites with tips/tricks to use a smoker?

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It's this big gourmet favorite these days, but used to be common for people to eat in the old days. They chop or saw thick bones, like cow leg bones, up into chunks, so they're kind of like a doughut of bone around a hole of marrow. Then they roast the bones, I think, and may or may not do something to the marrow like spice it. I read chefs raving about it a good bit, but have never had it and don't know much about it.

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What kind of Italian are you?!?!?!?! Please do not come into my neighborhood. If you do, pretend you are greek.

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Guids is the Italian. I'm just a guy who reads food porn and chef memoirs and watches some cooking shows sometimes.

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I meant to quote guids begging his dad.

Dammit.

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I tried making it once, a couple of years ago but I [censored] it up and it didnt taste the same as his, maybe Ill give it another try now that I know a ton more about cooking.

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if you only cooked your pork shoulder for 6 hours, you were cooking too fast at too high of a temp, unless it was REALLY small.

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It wasn't a full one, it was ~3lbs. I don't have any say in the temp on my smoker, as it's just one setting [img]/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img]. I just cooked it until the center temp was about 190.

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I have the electric smoker as well. One setting isn't a big deal. You can control temps with water, the vent, and the rack positioning, as well as adding in veggies and coverings during the process.

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exactly, there should be some directions that tells you how to get things at certain temps. IMO 99% of a good smoke is temperature control, klompy if you dont already have one, drill a hole in the lid of the smoker, and get a bbq thermometer for it, make sure you learn how to keep it at X temperature for however long you are smoking, and alos make sure you have a meat thermometer to check the temp of the meat towards the end.

usually brisket = 225 for 10+ hours

ribs = 200 for 4 to 6

poultry = I usually start hot about 350, then dial it down to 250 after the skin crisps up

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another random thread from 2p2 and now I want to know more about the topic! 2p2 got me into "proper" wet-shaving... interested in cigars and vodka... now I want to know more about using a smoker. All the food you guys are mentioning sounds so freakin good I might have to try this out.

The only smoker I ever used was my dad's Little Chief electric smoker and that's just to smoke up salmon.

Are there qualities to look for in a good smoker? Are there good websites with tips/tricks to use a smoker?

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All I have is an eletric cylindrical smoker with a single control -- "On". I think the brand name is "Old Smokey" or "Little Smokey", but I've had it for eight years, so identifying marks are gone.

this thread made me unbelievably hungry

My aunt and uncle used to smoke smelt. Yummy. They used a good old fashioned smokehouse though.

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My aunt and uncle used to smoke smelt. Yummy. They used a good old fashioned smokehouse though.

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Wow I never see anyone eating those anymore. They can be pretty good!

My dad used to own a pizza and barb-q place and had a HUGE industrial smoker. We hickory smoked Ribs and put Lawry's Seasoning Salt on them and they were the best food I have ever had in my life. I used to eat them without Barb-Q sauce they were so good.

My brother and a friend of his are on the BBQ circuit. I have eaten many of their goods. At the typical BBQ competition, they cook up Ribs, Chicken, Pork Shoulder, and Brisket (all of which you have tried/going to try).

Some of the other stuff they have done at home/rogue competitions are:

- Lamb
- Atomic Buffalo Turds
- Sausage
- Baked ("Pit") Beans
- Prime Rib
- Tri-tip
- Brats / Hot dogs (Brats are so tasty when smoked)
- Beer Can Chicken
- Pizza

If I think of other stuff that we've had, I'll post a followup.

tinga,

The atomic buffalo turds sound really awesome, and I will have to try them soon.

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tinga,

The atomic buffalo turds sound really awesome, and I will have to try them soon.

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Believe me, they are awesome. It was really the reason I wrote the reply to this thread in the first place (and the first thing that came to mind), but I figured I'd share some other things too (and I know I'm missing more).

I may have to convince my bro to get on my account and do a 'ask me about BBQn' thread, as he would have more insight into this -- and I'm pretty much there to eat.

Once you're ready to step up in size, get a Kamado. You'll be able to smoke, grill, bake bread, get a nice 700* sear on steaks. Whatever a smoker, grill, or oven can do it can do. I have a #7 similar to the one pictured below but without the fancy tiling. For perspective, the grill area is 22.5" in diameter. I've never used it to capacity, but I've had no problem doing 18lb turkeys at Thanksgiving & could easily get at least 30 pounds or pork but on it should I ever get the desire to make enough pulled pork to last a year.
http://www.kamado.com/RobertWingo2.jpg

ok, so I only dabble in other forms of smoking, but I'm damn good at smoking pork butts/shoulders. I'll do my best to explain how to make a masterful carolina pull. I was gonna save this for an attempt to post on EDF one day, but it's clear that this thread is where it belongs. I hope it is helpful to you.

Picking a smoker:

there are a number of options here, and the fact is that even the bad ones will get the job done. I'll try to list them here, with pros and cons.

Indirect heat, charcoal smoker.

pros: best taste overall, good form, not expensive, good tempature control, reload wood chips without wasting heat, doubles as charcoal grill for burgers, etc. I believe it is possible to cold smoke. this is the only affordable indirect heat option, which is a huge plus for smoking.

cons: requires a lot of babysitting.

here is an example of an indirect heat charcoal smoker
these are available from all the box stores, wal-mart, home depot, etc. you can get them sometimes for about $100. If you are serious about your meat, you should own a charcoal grill in addition to your gas grill anyway.

They make baller versions of this for whole hog pig pickins, but you better be a master to run one of them.

Direct Heat, Propane Smoker

Pros: Reasonable Temp Control, somewhat portable, often roomier than other smokers with vertical racks for big smoking in a small package.

Cons: Refilling propane tanks, inferior flavor to charcoal, less authentic, more dangerous, gas can run out in the middle of a cook.

I own one of these and I would not recommend it, although to be fair i've made many tasty meals with this bad boy.

Direct Heat Charcoal grill

why on earth someone would want direct heat charcoal smoker is beyond me, unless you really just want a charcoal grill and will smoke once in a blue moon. even then, i'd get a grill with a sidebox for indirect heat. That being said, many chefs swear by these, and Weber makes some really high quality ones.

Big Green Egg

I haven't used one of these, but I've heard rave reviews from people about them. they're on the expensive side, but I'm really intrigued by the idea of the ceramic cooking to distribute heat evenly.

Electric Smoker:

Pros: very, very easy to use. Recommended for beginners. I'd like to own one for quick jobs. Hassle free with perfect, self modifying temp control.

Cons: least authentic of the bunch (you don't get a smoke ring on your meat, which is mostly aesthetic.) I actually argue that the flavor is slightly more authentic than propane.

In a ron popiel "set it and forget it" type of fashion, these are really the training wheels of the smoking world. Many experienced smokers swear by them as well. I have very limited personal experience with them, but they can be very affordable ($150-$200 for the lower end models)

I hope to get a restaurant quality electric smoker one day, with many racks, and a high quality remote thermostat. these are not cheap.

you have to decide if you are going to dry rub or not. In general, I coat the shoulder with olive oil, salt, cayenne pepper, and black pepper. there are much more elaborate rubs than this, and if you aren't going to make a carolina vinegar sauce, perhaps you should give them a shot. I don't know one on the top of my head, but add a bunch of spices you like, or lawry's, or whatever and presto... you're own secret dry rub!

I do not mop my shoulders, but you can make good arguments for mopping. a traditonal mop is:
1 cup Apple cider vinegar, black pepper, white pepper, cayenne pepper, 1 cup canola oil or olive oil.

mopping makes it take way longer because of lost heat (i'd speculate an extra 1-2 hours for a 10 lb shoulder) and doesn't really provide that much more flavor. People argue it makes the meat more moist, but I disagree, it may even dry it out.

If you do want to make it more moist, sear the outside of the shoulder in a frying pan (after you've applied the dry rub) I usually do not do this, as it cuts down on the choiceness of the outside "skin"

I recommend smoking pork with Hickory chunks soaked in a 1/2 water 1/2 apple juice blend, soak the chunks for about an hour.

notice I said "chunks". Hickory chips are usable, especially in smokers with small fireboxes, but you'll get a better flavor (more consistant, long lasting smoke) from chunks. expiriment with other woods at your leisure. I've had very tasty Peachwood smoked pork, but it did not mesh well with the traditional vinegar sauce that I love so much.

@10 lb cuts are the best, but different smokers will have different ideal cuts.

Place on the rack in the smoker FAT SIDE UP. smoke at 250 for slightly quicker cook, 225 for mad patience payoff. I like the 225 method, which is usually about an 18 hour smoke. You are cooking to an internal temp. of around 200.

Note that once the shoulder is 170, it is safe and edible. You'll have to chop it rather than pull it, but it will be moist and delicous. If you cook at 250 to an internal temp of 175, you can probably pull it off in about 6 hours, and you'll love it... until the day you go the distance.

*important* when checking the temp of the meat, be sure not to touch bone! the bone is way hotter than the meat, and will throw you off, maybe even to the health detriment of your friends.

once it hits about 200 Internal, it will literally fall apart in your hands. (this actually happens somewhere just past 195 in most cuts, and varies depending on the meat itself) If you have made it this far, congrats! yer friends now love you.

different 'cue comes from different regions. the mississippi river holds the best ribs, from saucy St Louis to Dry rub Memphis. Texas is where you find the best briskit, and beef short ribs, but the Carolinas hold the prime position for pulled pork. The South Carolinians make a mustard sauce that I've stabbed at with some success. here's a starter:
Yellow Mustard base, 3 parts
Apple Cider Vinegar, 1 part,
a LOT of black pepper,
a reasonable amount of salt,
onion powder, red pepper flakes, celery salt to taste

In western north carolina they make a tomato vinegar sauce. I've never tried to make this, because I think they use catsup. i've had some good ones, but I'm just not interested in expirimenting. at least the S.C. Mustard sauce has a very seperate, positive value.

Eastern North Carolina is where I grew up, and Here's a basic Vinegar Sauce for you to try.

3 cups Apple Cider Vinegar
1/8 cup salt
1/4 cup black pepper
1/4 cup cayenne pepper

shake it up, and spoon or pour over BBQ. Toy with this as much as you like, what is important is that it is salty, spicy, and vinegary. Many carolinians have personal recipes they don't share (myself included, only because I promised not to share to get my redneck friend's recipe) but they pretty much all use this base of ingredients.

If you like coleslaw, a traditional pulled pork dinner or sandwich includes a creamy slaw. (western N.C. sauces go with red cabbage slaw) I like to add banana pepper rings to my sandwiches.

I've had some TRs on experiments i've tried posted to my blog or other message boards. If I can dig them up, i'll add them to the thread.

Have fun with the 'Cue.

Smoked Salmon is great.

rutang,

awesome post, thank you.

Offset fireboxes suck imo, because they are very tough to keep at a constant temp, and take a lot of trial an error, the direct heat charcoal smokers, such as the weber smoky mountain gives you the best of both worlds, charcoal/wood, and no fuss. You can amoke for 18 hours with little maintence once you get your charcoal amounts, and water options down. Check out the link I provided earlier in teh thread for the weber bullet, there are articles telling you exactly what to do (a few tell you exactly how many charcoals you need to light). Basically, with a full water pan, 1 chimney of lit, and one chimney of unlit on top of that, you can smoke for about 12 hours w/o any maintenance whatsoever.

that looks awesome, Ive been looking for something to do pizza's in, I want at least 700 degrees for them and charcoal. You have gas or charcoal?

I've smoke a wild canadian goose, whick I shot, on a large wood smoker. This was probably the most exotic meat I have smoked so far. I put it in a large tin pan which was filled one inch deep with cheap red wine. Cheap wine is awesome for cooking. I covered the goose in the pan with the wine and covered the whole thing with tin foil. Four hours later there was delicious meat to be had. The most suprising thing was that even though well done, because it was wild meat, the goose meat was a pinkish red, much like a ham.

I saw somebody mention duck. This will be tricky as birds have a tendency to dry out. I tried a wild pheasant once, another hunting trophy, and It came out dry. Using a pan, cover, and liquid seems to combat the dryness.

I was thinking maybe ducks would be ideal because they're so fatty?

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that looks awesome, Ive been looking for something to do pizza's in, I want at least 700 degrees for them and charcoal. You have gas or charcoal?

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It's charcoal. They do have an gas starter option, but that's only to start the charcoal. The Big Green Egg is similar (BGE copied the original Kamado design from the 60s) but the Kamado has a lot more mass. My K7 weighs around 500 pounds while the similar sized BGE is around 200.

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I was thinking maybe ducks would be ideal because they're so fatty?

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This is what I think too, although hoksy is talking about wild duck, which tastes much different and isn't as fatty as store duck.

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Offset fireboxes suck imo, because they are very tough to keep at a constant temp, and take a lot of trial an error, the direct heat charcoal smokers, such as the weber smoky mountain gives you the best of both worlds, charcoal/wood, and no fuss. You can amoke for 18 hours with little maintence once you get your charcoal amounts, and water options down. Check out the link I provided earlier in teh thread for the weber bullet, there are articles telling you exactly what to do (a few tell you exactly how many charcoals you need to light). Basically, with a full water pan, 1 chimney of lit, and one chimney of unlit on top of that, you can smoke for about 12 hours w/o any maintenance whatsoever.

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your points are all true, but the benefit of the offset firebox is that you never lose the heat in the chamber when stoking coals/replacing coals/replacing wood.

further, charcoal heat is harder to control than any of the other options, but when it's applying direct heat, has the ability to ruin the smoke more than anything else, especially for a beginner.

both types of charcoal smokers require additional maintenance to maintain proper temps, and while a firebox design will be more work to maintain, if simplicity is your priority I'd think you'd go with a different design altogether and sacrifice the charcoal flavor.

All that being said, I don't own the weber, but know plenty of fans who swear by it. I also have a great respect for weber grills in general, so I could buy into the weber you're describing being close to or superior to an indirect heat design.

I'm intrigued by this precursor to the B.G.E. I'm going to have to make an effort to see one in action, and taste the "fruits" of it's labor.

can teh big green egg get up to 700 degree temps, does anyone know?

With the weber smoky mountain, the heat loss is minimal, i did a 22lb turkey for my first or 2nd smoke (see the el D thread BBQ), for superbowl, and it was abotu 20 degrees, I didnt have much trouble w/ temp control, other than keeping it keeping it warm. Ive used both, and the WSM is much better.

yes, the BGE has a sear capability of 700+.

Just curious, how do you cook with heat that high? Is it basically Pittsburghing it? Steak 30 sec a side, then into an oven for a few minutes? Or what?

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Just curious, how do you cook with heat that high? Is it basically Pittsburghing it? Steak 30 sec a side, then into an oven for a few minutes? Or what?

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I personally like my thick steaks super rare so basically what I do on teh gas grill, is get it up to about 6 or 700 depending on teh weather, sear it for about 2 minutes per side, take it off, put it on a plate and cover with tin foil for 5 to 10 where it continues to cook.

I've cooked decent pizza in a WSM on a pizza stone. No pan, using an inverted cake tin to raise the stone up into the dome and to provide deflection for indirect cooking.

I need to find a better dough recipe, as the dough I used baked just fine, but the taste was too bland.

I have also done a leg of lamb. Smeared with butter & Mopped with garlic & red wine. Steady low temp ( as per any other meat). Was a big full leg, bone in. Probably about 4-5 hour cook using hickory for smoke.

The Big Green Egg is awesome. You can get temps over 700 or slow cook for over 30 hours with refueling. Their forum is very useful also.

http://www.greeneggers.com/wwwboard/...wwwboard.shtml

When I was a kid, my dad used the smoker to make beef jerky.. and it was life changing

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When I was a kid, my dad used the smoker to make beef jerky.. and it was life changing

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I've made jerky before, but I've always just used a dehydrator, I do like the idea of smoking the meat before hand though.

I got a Weber Smokey Mountain earlier this year and it's amazing.

also, Pig Candy:
http://www.virtualweberbullet.com/bacon1.html

I have quite a bit of experience with pork. Shoulder, ribs and boston butts are the standard smoking fair where I grew up in Alabama. I have used an offset firebox like this for several years. http://www.grillmojo.com/img/grills/lt_singlelid.jpg

I use hickory as my wood of choice. One trick I learned from my Dad was to find a hickory tree and pick up the fallen nuts. Soak these in water and use them on your fire. If you can find the green (fresh fallen) ones all the better.

As far as exotic meats go, I had a fraternity brother with a big cooker who would smoke whole hogs and believe it or not goats. The goat was actually really good.

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When I was a kid, my dad used the smoker to make beef jerky.. and it was life changing

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I've made jerky before, but I've always just used a dehydrator, I do like the idea of smoking the meat before hand though.

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I've had lots of jerky that was extremely plain, and tasted just like, well, dehydrated meat. It's the spices and all that make beef jerky really shine. The smoking route seems like it would be the way I'd like it best.

I've done a lot of the standard meals on the smoker.. including pulled pork (6-9 lbs), ribs, pork chops, whole chickens, beer can chicken etc...

But I've always done it with charcoal. Tomorrow I'm going to try and do an 8 lb boston butt (bone in pork shoulder), but for the first time I'm going to cook with hickory wood chunks. Anything I should be worried about?

I'll share some of my recipe(s)..... I'll try and do them in seperate posts when I have time.

The first one is the pulled pork I do... although it sounds like you should defer to rutang... but here goes:

I don't use a mop either, as it seems to elongate the cooking time...

I do use a rub taht consists of

1 tbls mild hungarian paprika
2 teaspoons light brown sugar
1 1/2 teaspoon hot hungarian paprika
1/2 ts celery salt
1/2 ts garlic salt
1/2 ts dry mustard
1/2 ts freshly ground black pepper
1/2 ts onion powder
1/2 ts kosher salt....

I try and make sure I can get a good layer of fat on top of the roast, but since I'm in the midwest it is harder to get pork shoulder. If you're not in the south east make sure you call the butcher ahead of time.

I make a vinegar sauce that is

2 cups cider vinegar
1 1/3 cup water
1/2 cup ketchup
1/4 cup firlmly packed brown sugar.
5 teaspoons kosher salt
4 ts hot red pepper flakes
1 ts fresh ground black pepper
1 ts fresh ground white pepper...

I smoke the pork shoulder (depending on size) 6-10 hours or so at around 250.... to date I have only used wood chips but I use a mixture of 80-90% hickory and the rest applewood. I soak the chips in apple juice.

I also make some slaw with the vinegar sauce... about 1 1/2 cups of it to about 1 lb of fresh chopped cabbage... this I put on the sandwich too.

I make some pretty good baked beans I'll share later.