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GHL,

Thanks for sharing your recipe, this thread has more potential if people start writing these up. Oddly I have a pork loin and baked beans on my smoker right now. I'm curious what you do with your beans, as I'm pretty proud of the ones I make but don't really have a recipe but am willing to kind of guess here soon in another post.

Also, for wood I haven't smoked anything other then oak yet as I have a huge pile of it in the back yard. Does wood really make a pretty big difference? and what woods are good for what meat?

Here is my bro's recipe for beans.

Porkrastinator Pit Beans:
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3 Cans Busch's Original Beans 28oz
2 Tablespoons BBQ Rub
1 12oz bottle BBQ sauce
1 Tablespoon celery seed
1 Onion chopped
1 to 2 lbs of smoked pork or brisket
5 Tablespoons of prepared yellow mustard
1/2 to 1 lbs Brown Sugar

tinga,

sounds about perfect imo, I like to add a little chili powder, and a some cut up jalapenos, but I enjoy food really spicy.

It sounds more like his recipe for stuff to add to beans someone else already cooked.

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It sounds more like his recipe for stuff to add to beans someone else already cooked.

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This is correct too, and I like to make mine from scratch, I'll have to figure out exactlywhat I throw in though.

Lots of recipes online for baked beans. They're supposed to take a long arse time to cook, but I guess if you're willing to smoke meat, you have the time. That's kinda why it seems to me you might as well do it yourself.

Blarg,

I found the recipe that I usually sort of go by, but modify for my own taste.

1/4lb bacon
1/2lb browned ground beef
1 onion
4 cans random beans
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 tsp dry mustard
1/2 c white sugar
1/4 cup catsup
2 tabelspoons molasses

bake for like 1 hour at 350

I change this a lot when I actually do it though, and add bbq sauce, more onion, more bacon, chile powder, jalapenos, liquid smoke, and a ton of salt when I do it.

also, I always cook it much longer

This sounds kind of like an all in one dish meal?

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This sounds kind of like an all in one dish meal?

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it is, every time I cook it I just end up eating bowls of it for each meal of the day until it's gone.

edit to add: I hope on trying to smoke this under a piece of meat so the drips go into it, and that's why it's relevant to this thread.

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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?

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are you cooking with straight wood chunks or charcoal + wood chunks. Straight wood is really hard to control temp wise, and usually burns a lot hotter than charcoal. personally I like charcoal plus wood chunks because its easier to control adn you are getting the wood smoke too.

I do a chicken a few different ways... but this is the main one... if you put the time in it is really good as it has a marinade + a rub + a basting sauce + it gets slow smoked...

The recipe is for 4 3-4 lb chickens halved or quartered... have your butcher do it as that seems to be the easiest way.

First the marinade:

2 quarts apple juice
1 cup Worcestershire sauce
1 cup orange juice
1 cup light brown sugar
1/2 cup olive oil
1/2 cup lemon juice
2 tablespoons hot sauce
1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
1/2 cup kosher salt

bring all ingredieants to nearly a boil... stirring occasionally.. then remove and let cool. This may take a long time as the oil retains heat almost forever (it seems), but you don't want to put a warm marinade on the chicken and start it cooking.

Marinade the chicken in the fridge for at least 2 hours and up to 6.

For the rub...

1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup sweet paprika
1/4 cup kosher salt
3 tablespoons black pepper
2 teaspoons garlic powder
2 teaspoons onion powder
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon dried basil

when the marinade is done... remove from the juice and slightly pat down with a paper towel... dont' remove allt he marinade as you want the oil to remain on the skin so it crisps up.

Coat the chicken on both sides with a generous amount of rub.

Smoke the chicken at around 225-250 degrees on apple wood for 3-4 hours or until the juices run clear when you poke it with a fork...

During the smoking process.. you can baste the chicken a few times (maybe 2-3 times) with this vinegar sauce.

2 cups cider vinegar
3 tablespoons ketchup
2 tablespoons paprika
2 tablespoons brown sugar
4 teaspoons kosher salt
1 tablespoon hot sauce
1 to 2 teaspoons cayenne
1 to 2 teaspoons ground black pepper
--- refridigerate and this will keep for several months.

*** Note ***
many consider basting / moping or whatever over kill... especially if you have a vertical smoker as there will be water / moisture in the air already..... if you baste to often the chicken will take longer so take care in basting only when you have to take the lid off...

Also... this can be done on indirect heat on a gas grill with a smoke box in the back.. the temp should be around 275-300... and it should take 1 1/2 - 2 1/4 hours... the same applies here... don't open the lid to often.

Up until now I have only done charcole + wood chips... not the chunks but the smaller ones... (it is harder to find wood chunks in the midwest)... I ordered some online and have about 30 lbs of hickory and some cheery and apple on hand now.

Tomorrow will be my first attempt at "chunks" only.. and my tentative plan is to use 1/3 the amount of wood that I would charcoal...

For charcoal I typically start with 20-25 coals... then every 1/2 or or so I add 6 coals... this seems to keep my smoker arond 220-250.....

I just plan on reducing the physical amount of wood as needed...

Here is my baked beans recipe...

1 large onion, diced
2 (16-ounce) cans pork and beans
3 tablespoons prepared yellow mustard
1/4 cup maple syrup
1/4 cup light brown sugar
4 tablespoons ketchup
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/2 pound bacon strips, cut into 1/2-inch pieces

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

In a medium - large bowl that you can bake (dutch oven), mix onion, pork and beans, mustard, maple syrup, light brown sugar, ketchup, and
lemon juice. Top with the bacon pieces. Bake, covered, for 45 to 60 minutes.

If you're smoking something... move the beans inside the smoker for the last 20 mins.

Sometimes I'll double the recipe (or more) and experiment with different types of beans... like i'll buy several differetn kinds of bushes baked beans.. the bbq / country / homestyle or whatever and mix them up....

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ribeye steaks? really? how do you do those?

I have yet to do a duck, sooner or later I will, or maybe a turduckin.

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As for the rib-eyes, you smoke them like every thing else. Though I recomend you get them cut really thick from the butcher. Otherwise, they are done fairly quickly and don't have much of that smoked flavor. The reason that rib-eyes work so well, is becuase of the marbling in them. The small disadvantage is that they are usually med well to well done. I usually don't like my steaks like that (med rare usually), but the smoke flavor is worth it on occasion!

Being from Texas and growing up on brisket it always struck me as odd when I got funny looks when you go bbq places around the country and ask for brisket. There was one place in Vallejo California that I went into and asked if they had it and the guy got all excited because he knew I was from Texas. He was originally from Houston and from that point on would hook me up when I went in there.

If you can't find a brisket at your local butchers, try sam's, they usually carry them. If no sam's in your area look for a jewish butcher. The brisket is the same cut that is used to make corned beef.

I've cut and pasted below the tribal knowledge from another message board I hang out at. I've had some of these briskets and they are incredible.

Brisket Intro

Where you get the brisket really doesn't matter -- it's a low-quality cut of meat, even at its best.

The key for meat quality is that you don't get one that's too big. The 12 pounder described above is about the biggest I will do. I prefer a 9-11 pounder. Just like a turkey, a bit smaller means a good bit more tender and moist.

Brisket is carrying about 1/3 of its weight in fat. It doesn't need basting, marinading, or any liquid treatment at all. The generally low cooking temp keeps a good bit of the moisture around, and the wrapping during the last several hours uses that moisture to your advantage.

I just use a plain old New Braunfels smoker, small offset box setup. I can get 2 briskets on at a time. It would be nicer if it could do more, but it's usually plenty of space for me. My biggest criticism is the thing-guage steel it's made with -- doesn't retain heat as well, and requires more fire-tending than I would like. However, I got mine almost 11 years ago, and by keeping it covered and clean, i have no real rust problems, and the metal has stood up very well.

Also, your 350 sounds pretty high -- but the rest of the process makes sense. Once you've wrapped it in foil, though, it's just a matter of heat and cooking -- with no exposed beef, it's not smoking anymore. Why not go ahead and take the shortcut of finishing it in the oven? Again, once you have all the smoking done and you wrap it, it doesn't matter what your heat source is.

I know that sounds like sacrilege, but the logic is pretty clear. Once you decide to wrap it, you're just cooking -- not smoking. Which is fine -- it's most important in that you are no longer obligated to tend a wood fire.

For my next project, I want to perfect the art of cooking a brisket cooper's style -- over mesquite coals. However, I'll have to build my pit, and I have no money, so that will have to wait a bit.

While low and slow is the rule, I think some folks put it TOO low. My ideal is 175-225, with a little over 200 being perfect. At times, let the heat approach 250 -- that's fine, and it gives you the heat you need.

At the end, when it is wrapped, you need to have it above the boiling point (212 degrees), because turning the moisture in the meat to steam is one of the things that tenderizes it, I believe. Again, when I wrap mine and put it in the oven, I do it at 220 or 225.

Brisket

Simple as hell on technique -- just requires time and patience.

Rub the night before with Bolner's brand brisket seasoning (add a little bit extra coarse cracked pepper).

By 8:30 a.m., my fire (started with some charcoal) of oak and pecan is ready. Put briskets on the smoker. Maintain heat at 170-225 for about 10 hours. At 6:30, remove beautifully black briskets from fire, wrap tightly in foil. Place in oven at 220 for 4-5 hours.

Result: perfectly smoked brisket, tender and moist as can be. Doesn't fall apart, but pulls apart with little expert. No knives were provided to my guests, and none were needed.

Brisket 101

Seeing that it’s the 4th of July weekend and Randall’s has brisket’s on sale for $.99/lb., and I have absolutely nothing to do this weekend, I went and grabbed a brisket. A friend has been wanting to learn how to do one, so I took some pics along the way. Also, since so many folks come to HD looking for brisket advice, thought someone may find this helpful. My brisket probably doesn't stack up to Brisketexan's, but it's awfully tasty.

This is my pit. It belonged to my dad. Very special to me, plus it is a hell of a smoker. Behind it is a 1/3 of a cord of oak with a few mequite logs mixed in.

First, I built my fire. Used charcoal to start it and used oak logs for the duration. I prefer oak to mesquite, as I think is gives the brisket more flavor and gives it that nice charred finish.

Adjusted the temp with the damper and chimney stack:

Rubbed the brisket. I just use equal parts salt and pepper and a little paprika or really whatever I feel like adding on that particular day. It really doesn't matter, because the flavor truly comes from the smoke and the meat.

Got the temp up to 200-225. If you go over or under, don’t panic. Just add logs and/or adjust the damper/chimney. When you're talking about 10-12+ hours of cooking time, an hour too hot or too cool can be remedied easily. When the temp was right,

I put the brisket on. Placed it as close to the thermometer as I could. I don’t use a meat thermometer, but you can.

Cracked a Dos.
Stared at my pit for a few hours. The dogs were going crazy. The one on the right is wearing a National Championship collar.

This brisket was 10.5 lbs. Basically following the 1.5 hours/lb., I pulled it off at 11:00 am after putting it on at 8:00 pm. I let it smoke all night, adding one log at about 11:30 pm. Got up around 6:00 am. The temp had dropped to around 150, but, I didn't panic and added another log and ran it up to 250 for about an hour before leveling it back to the 200-225 range.

After pulling it off, I let it sit for about 20-30 mins before slicing.

When I slice it, I first slice the fat cap off the top. (notice the nice charring the oak gives it?):

I slice my brisket perpendicular to the grain of the brisket. Nice smoke ring!

Slice all the way down. You can use about 80% of the brisket, if it’s a good, lean one. BTW, you know you have a lean brisket if you can bend it in half. Kinda like thumping a melon. If you can't bend it, it's likely too fatty.

That’s it. Simple. Rub it. Start a fire. Put it on. Leave it the hell alone. This was a particularly good one. No BBQ sauce needed on this one…

Some folks do a lot more than this, but I keep it as simple as possible, letting the smoke and the meat speak for themselves. The more I usually try to do, the more I typically screw it up.

Lazy Brisket

As an aside, I'd like to chime in with the "lazy brisket" technique. The last 2 years I have sponsored a team at the Houston livestock show and rodeo bbq cookoff and have picked up alot of pointers. One of the universal points of agreement is how long do you cook a brisket, the answer if four to five hours. What the teams do is cook the brisket for 4 to 5 hours, the first hour 300 then 3 to 4 at 225-50. The reasoning is that that is how long it takes to make the smoke ring, after that it does not change. The next thing that they do is take the brisket and wrap it in heavy duty foil, two or three time. They then stuff the wrapped brisket inside of old sleeping bags and put them in an igloo. The briskets will continue to cook just as if on the pit the entire time they are in the igloo. The time in the igloo should equal the time for a pit, effectively 45 mins to 1 hour per pound. Take the brisket out of the foil and let it sit for 20 minutes or so under low heat (your oven, your pit) and it will firm up. Then slice and serve.

The advantage to this method is you don't have to screw with it as much and you burn a lot less fuel.

One last tip, you can buy Prime brisket from butchers and it makes a difference.

How to slice your brisket

When you pull the brisket off, set it down fat side up with the big end on your left and the thinner, lean end on your right. Lop off the fat cap (pic above). The grain should be, for lack of better directions, going NE to SW, but only for the right 50% or so of the brisket. Start slicing somewhat diagonally from SE to NW until you are halfway through the brisket.

After you get halfway through, you get to the more marbled meat. Just slice 90 degress across the second half of the brisket. Sometimes I cut this part in half to reveal more of the fat. You will have to start individually trimming more fat off of each slice. Also, you will see a fat bulb on the bottom side that will need to be sliced out.

Nice, everything I have read and heard pretty much says agrees with your post, except the part abotu purchasing the brisket. Ive read in the BBQ bible, and a couple forums that it does matter what kind fo brisket you buy. A typical sams club brisket isnt the best becuase of where it is cut from, and the quality etc, and to find a butcher that really knows what a good bbq brisket is etc

here is a link:

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

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Seeing that it’s the 4th of July weekend and Randall’s has brisket’s on sale for $.99/lb.

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sweet jesus, it's like 3.00+ here and I live in an area where food is cheap.

thanks for the post, it helps a lot. I just pulled a chicken off the smoker. Didn't do anything real special with it, just regular salt/pepper.... and some bbq sauce rubbed on a few times, turned out pretty good.

I agree you should find a butcher who knows what it is and get it from him. I was pointing out sam's for the guy in the thread that called several butchers and could not find one.

Open a beer, drink half of it and shove the can up the chicken's ass next time. Set the chicken down so the can is strait up sitting on the grill. It becomes quite tasty.

I live in Austin and the grocery stores always have brisket as one of their loss leaders. Quite good for those of us who like meat.

I finished my first wood smoked pork shoulder yesterday. I did a 9 lb shoulder in about 14 hours. The temp was harder to control at first, but once I got the hang of it I was able to keep it between 220-250 or so... sometimes peaking in the 270-290 range when it got really hot. It turned out really well.. but I have a question. What % of the pork shoulder is throw away? With the bone and some grizle pockets.. how many lbs should a 9-10 lb shoulder produce?

Since I have two racks on my verticle smoker I also made a version of the "atomic buffalo turds"... which I have been making for a few years and was unaware that they had a name... although I use shrimp as the toping... you can use 26-30 ct and slice the shrimp down the middle. It was the first time I smoked them. They took about 40-45 minutes at around 250ish... and cooked up nicely.

Anyone have a good recipe for southern macaroni and cheese? I have one but it it's not ready yet..

Here is a starter of how I make my green beans...

Fry up some bacon in a heavy pan... a few slices or so.. when the bacon is almost done throw in a medium yellow chopped onion. When this is cooked (3-5 minutes)

Add

3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 tablespoon minced garlic (or more)
1 1/2 pounds green beans, snapped or trimmed
1 scored ham hock

Bring to a boil then reduce heat and simmer for 1 1/2 - 2 hours... I don't know if it matters much but I occasionally turn the ham hock.

Remove the ham hock and discard... serve warm.

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tinga,

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

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I made them as a side for our pig roast yesterday and they were the first dish finished. I altered the recipe a bit and stuffed the pepper with lightly browned hot sausage and then topped it with sour cream and wrapped in bacon.

They were amazing.

paging guids, or anyone good at smoking

What temp is best for the finished temp on a pork shoulder? I have an 9 pound boneless on the smoker right now and it had the pop thing on it that has come out now to say that it's "done" but my understanding is that the fat doesn't mix with the rest of the meet until a higher temp. The thing popped at 150 but my understanding is that 180 is a good temp to aim for. What do you guys usually cook your pork shoulders to?

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paging guids, or anyone good at smoking

What temp is best for the finished temp on a pork shoulder? I have an 9 pound boneless on the smoker right now and it had the pop thing on it that has come out now to say that it's "done" but my understanding is that the fat doesn't mix with the rest of the meet until a higher temp. The thing popped at 150 but my understanding is that 180 is a good temp to aim for. What do you guys usually cook your pork shoulders to?

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How will you be serving the shoulder?

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How will you be serving the shoulder?

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I threw a rub on before the smoking, and plan on just eating it by itself as it usually tastes good by itself. I plan on putting it in the fridge and eating it all myself in the next few days eventually putting bbq sauce on the plate with it when it starts to get dry.

I don't eat bread so I won't be making sando's out of it, although I'm sure it would be quite good this way.

guids,

Have you tried higher temps? I'll take it off here pretty quick after I check it again I think, but mostly because I hear thunder outside and don't want to deal with the rain. Just curious what the difference between 165 and 180 is?

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paging guids, or anyone good at smoking

What temp is best for the finished temp on a pork shoulder? I have an 9 pound boneless on the smoker right now and it had the pop thing on it that has come out now to say that it's "done" but my understanding is that the fat doesn't mix with the rest of the meet until a higher temp. The thing popped at 150 but my understanding is that 180 is a good temp to aim for. What do you guys usually cook your pork shoulders to?

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depends on what you are doing with it, but I shoot for about 165 at the thickest, and wrap it in tin foil after I take it off becuase it keeps cooking for a bit

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What he said. If you aren't doing sandwiches with it, shoot for 170, which means cook the thick part to 165 and wrap it.

For sandwiches, you're going to recombine in a pan or a crock or something anyway for serving it, so you can cut it at 150 to keep it moist and liquify the fat later with a low heat.

[censored], it's already raining so I'm hosed. I hope it doesn't cool my smoker down too much but I'll head out and check the temp as soon as it isn't pooring anymore.

edit to add: half the reason I don't want to go out right now is because my smoker is second hand and sorta old and I think there's a decent chance of it shorting out in the rain. I don't want to die.

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[censored], it's already raining so I'm hosed. I hope it doesn't cool my smoker down too much but I'll head out and check the temp as soon as it isn't pooring anymore.

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even if it cools down the smoker, it doesnt matter too much, just leave it on there a little longer. No, I dont do much pork other than ribs, so i havent experiemented with higher temps. Im rarely in a hurry, Id rather undercook something than overcook it.

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[censored], it's already raining so I'm hosed. I hope it doesn't cool my smoker down too much but I'll head out and check the temp as soon as it isn't pooring anymore.

edit to add: half the reason I don't want to go out right now is because my smoker is second hand and sorta old and I think there's a decent chance of it shorting out in the rain. I don't want to die.

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You're fine and it's not going to short unless the element housing is exposed.

I didn't read most of this thread, but a Montreal smoked meat sandwich from Schwartz's is one of the finest things I have ever eaten

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You're fine and it's not going to short unless the element housing is exposed.

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The power cord is cut open and exposed which is what I'm worried about. I put tape around it but that doesn't stop water.

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You're fine and it's not going to short unless the element housing is exposed.

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The power cord is cut open and exposed which is what I'm worried about. I put tape around it but that doesn't stop water.

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If you did a solid job with electrical tape, you're still okay - were the wires in the cord exposed or coated?

Just wire a new cord up when you dry out.

I did a fairly good job with the electrical tape, but it started raining hard enough again that I'm fine with leaving it on for a while longer before I go check it. I will have to rewire it sometime I guess but for now I'm fine with letting it smoke longer and check it in 15 min or so.

Looks like I'm going to have to fight the urge to go to sleep and stay up a while because I threw the thermo in and it's still at 150. Going to be a long night seeing as I bought a case of beer right when I bought the meat [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img].

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Looks like I'm going to have to fight the urge to go to sleep and stay up a while because I threw the thermo in and it's still at 150. Going to be a long night seeing as I bought a case of beer right when I bought the meat [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img].

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How long has it been at 160?

KotOD,

The thing popped (which is supposed to be 150) about an hour or so ago. I just stuck my thermo in the middle, and it said 150 which means I'm going to let it go a while longer. I think the rain prob did some damage to the heating, but it's done now I hope (raining that is).

Trip report,

Still drizzling outside and the meet is still at 150....... Moral of the story is don't try and smoke meet when there's a chance of rain. My water pan did dry out though which might have hurt the heating, I just put new wood and water in so I should have full heat again here soon. 8 hours in and I'm still not done though, I'm jealous of my roomate who just smoked ribs tonight.

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What temp is best for the finished temp on a pork shoulder?

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I pull mine at 190, double wrap in foil and rest for an hour in a cooler.