Smokers (BBQ - not grilling)

[Knifemaker]

I’ll have to say it came out great. My attempt and making my own taco shells had a few issues, but were still quite edible. (I baked the tacos after filling and one side was crispy, the other side not.) I don’t own a taco shell rack, which likely would have been the way to go.
Or just buying pre-made taco shells.

The pulled pork of course lacked the smoky flavor one would be used to, but the onion and jalapeño flavored juice definitely made it tasty, as did pan frying it after it was pulled to create some crispy bits that just made the tacos a big step above regular ground beef tacos.
Have about 2-1/2 pounds left going into the freezer for future meals.

 

[Fred W]

Looks great. We do pulled pork tacos pretty regularly. we usually opt for the soft tortillas vs. hard shells.

In fact, I cooked up a whole bunch of smoked pork shoulder for the PP tacos for the rehearsal dinner for my son’s wedding several years back.

They live just down the hill from us here in VT. Since then they have given us a wonderful granddaughter, and just this past weekend announced their next (due at end of summer) will be a boy. He will be Fred W the 4th. Hard to say how great that makes me feel.

 

[Knifemaker]

Nice to hear Fred.

I usually opt for the soft (flour tortilla) taco. I hate the super crunchy corn tacos that shatter as soon as you bite into them. (I actually love the fried tacos from Jack in the Box)
The ones I made were not that crispy, thankfully. The leftovers will either end up in flour tortillas instead.

To be honest, the pulled pork out of the crock pot came out just as tender, juicy, and tasty as the butts I’ve smoked....just lacking of course the smoky flavor.
I’m actually thinking of combining both methods....smoking for a few hours and then finishing in the slow cooker (as opposed to the kitchen oven)

 

[Knifemaker]

Memorial Day fare....my bacon wrapped chicken thighs, basted not with BBQ sauce but my moms “cacciatore” sauce. Served with the wife’s awesome egg potato salad.
The sticky sweet sauce worked great on the grill.

 

[Fred W]

Haven’t seen anything here in a while. I still like my smoked meats, too much perhaps, but I do often wimp out and use the pellet smoker. It’s just so easy. Smoked roasts Or pork loins come out just as good, with far less work.

Today was not one of those days. I scored 4 huge racks of pork back ribs from a local market on sale. I resist calling these bad boys “baby backs” because they are bigger than any BB ribs I’ve ever experienced heretofore.

When I went to the market on Sunday, the section was bare, so I rang the bell at the butcher counter. They found a full case of them out back, but still frozen. No problem, I’ll take ‘em. Put them in the fridge to thaw until today.

These were the “swift” brand, which I have zero experience with, but these were very big, for back ribs,and very meaty, as back ribs can be.

Rubbed them up early this morning while I did some other things, and got them on the offset smoker at about 11AM.



Yeah those are full sized baking sheets. These things are big. Used the McCormack rub on them because I’m too lazy to mix my own. Slapped them on the pit, and it looks sort of full



I usually only smoke babies for 5 hours unwrapped, but these girls required a full 6. Here’s the one rack we will chow on tonight, the other three in the future



They came out lookin good. To be eaten soon.

Hope you all are cooking some good stuff this summer too! Cheers!

 

[Auburn]

^^^YUM^^^

 

[Knifemaker]

You know what the weight was? A few years back we took a rack of baby backs with us when we went to Louisiana. I think the weight listed was 4.8 lbs. I had smoked it and froze it for the trip. (Packed in dry ice) after we heated it back up and sliced it up, the pieces looked like small pork chops. Our host could only eat one as they were so big.
I usually try to find the heaviest racks I can, but most slabs available here are in the 3 pound range. We had some locally sourced baby backs that tasted great, but were small compared to those I picked up at Walmart.
Obviously it’s all about the size of the hog when it’s butchered. There doesn’t seem to be a correlation between size and taste, but definitely freshness is a big factor. All the locally butchered ribs we had tasted better regardless of size compared to the plastic wrapped ones at the grocery store.

Those do look pretty good. I usually make up two large jars of rub at a time, enough for 4 or five 6 rack smokes. It keeps pretty much forever if sealed in an airtight container. We have a store that sells herbs and spices in bulk (paprika, onion and garlic powder, etc, etc) so I make a enough to fill two one quart mason jars at a time. I’ll use it on pork loins, bratwurst, and even chicken.

Oh.. a recent asquission:


Been looking for a coarse grind sea salt for awhile, finally found some in Montague MI.

I need to get out and smoke something this week....

 

[Fred W]

Yeah, these were about 4 lbs each, whereas the baby backs I usually get are closer to 3 lbs per rack. The three of us (wife, her mother and I) only ate a half of the rack. Wife’s brother and his family are coming to visit in a couple weeks, so those other three racks were earmarked for that occasion.

We have pretty few choices for pork rib sources. There are a few chain supermarkets, one of which (Hannaford) is where I got these ribs at on special ($3.99/ lb.). We can often find St. Louis or full spare ribs at that price, but baby backs are generally higher.

Another chain (Market Basket) sometimes has fresh pork ribs available, but the racks are always short and they get $5/ lb for them, and never go on sale. The ones that do go on sale are the vacuum packed ones.

Walmart has been hit or miss here. They sometimes have AVS brand vacuum packed, and I’ve found those to be pretty good. Other times all they have is Smithfield, which I shy away from. The ones I’ve had were flabby and mushy, even with proper cooking.

Anyone raising fresh pork in this area with direct sales, values their efforts too highly, and gouges buyers on price. They appeal to the “locally grown” / farmer market angle and some people think it’s worth the big added cost.

 

[Blind Squirrel]

Smoked wings. Toss in salt, pepper, garlic and onion powder a few hours before smoking. Smoke at 250 for 2 hours. Let them rest while bringing peanut oil up to 375. 3 minutes in the oil to crisp the skins. Toss in your favorite sauce. I'm doing a 3/2 ratio of Sweet Baby Ray's hickory BBQ sauce to Texas Pete's for a hot BBQ sauce.

 

[Knifemaker]

New kid on the block:


(photo from the internet)

I’ve been on the lookout for picking up a pellet smoker for awhile now. Just hard to justify the expense when I have two dynamite smokers already.
But end of season clearance at Walmart had this Pit Boss Lexington marked down from $297 to $160. Just couldn’t pass it up.
It’s on the small side, but big enough to do stuff for our three person family unit. I just got it home, and it’s still in the box (some assembly required) but now the trifecta of smokers for me is complete.
Will report on the first cook when it happens.

 

[Fred W]

You are going to love it.

Yes, quite a different experience from smoking with a live wood fire, and much better tasting than charcoal.

Important: get good pellets. Not the expensive ones, the good ones. I like Lumberjack brand, but they can be hard to find. We have a farm/home store called Runnings here and they seem to have the best supply.

I could make a long list of pellets not worth buying. They aren’t “bad”, just lack any real smoke flavor. Traegers are among the worst. Do some YouTube searches on pellets and people will show results on nearly every brand you could buy.

It’s easy to get hooked on sitting on the sofa while your BBQ is cooking for hour after hour.

All of that said, I still cook my pork ribs and brisket on live fire. Anything else can go on the pellet burner and I’m perfectly happy.

Have fun!

 

[Knifemaker]

I picked up a bag of the Pit Boss Apple Blend. I read a review and it was ranked well.
On another note, I also picked up one of those 12” A-Maze smoking tubes, with the intention of smoking some cheese, likely when temps drop a bit more here.

Anyway I’m going to assemble the pellet smoker sometime tomorrow, and hope to try it out this weekend.

 

[Fred W]

Wasn’t thrilled with the Pit Boss Competition blend. Maybe the Apple will work better.

 

[Knifemaker]

I’ll likely order a bag of the Lumberjack or Barbecue Delight brand after I get familiar with the pit. The only choices they had at the store was the Pit Boss or Cuisinart brand.

 

[biknflyfisher]

I’ve been thinking about adding a pellet smoker to my arsenal. There are times when I’d like to have something smoked, but don’t want to have to tend (babysit) a live fire.
Come home at lunchtime from work, throw on a rack of ribs, then come home after work and BOOM - dinner!!
My son makes KILLER pork shoulder on his Traeger….
Biknflyfisher

 

[Bounce]

It’s easy to get hooked on sitting on the sofa while your BBQ is cooking for hour after hour.

Agreed. With or without pellets.

BBQ Guru recommendations for your smoker if doing chunk charcoal (how can that NOT be the best?).

 

[Knifemaker]

I do have my homemade “BBQ Guru” for my UDS which works quite well. For a long cook, like a butt or brisket, it does the job with no tending. The only issue it’s a bit of a hassle to set up… fill the charcoal basket, get some charcoal going, hook up the probes, and run the power cord for the blower and controller.

Don’t mind the prep time for an
8-12 hour cook, but if I just want to smoke some brats or a tenderloin, it seems like a bit of a hassle. And that’s my reason to add a pellet grill to my arsenal. Something I can pretty much just toss the meat on and push a button.

I haven’t cooked on it yet, going to do the burn off today. So can’t judge yet how well it “smokes” compared to my offset or drum.

 

[biknflyfisher]

As it’s Labor Day, I figured I should “labor” over the OK Joe and smoke some meat!
I have a rack of pork backribs in now rubbed up with Honey BBQ rub from a place called the Spice Tin in Murphys, CA.
In a little while, I’ll put on 2 tri tips rubbed up with a rub called “Triumphant Tri Tip” that my kids gave me for Fathers Day that I have yet to try. 1 of those I’ll freeze, and one well eat this week when it’s too stinking hot to cook.
Lastly, I have some chicken breasts that I’ll tie together in twos like little loaves to ultimately dice up for smoked chicken salad sammiches- yum.
And, for all that worked as “labor” (like my Dad, a Teamster, who’s now passed) I salute your hard work and accomplishments on Labor Day.
Enjoy the day folks!
Biknflyfisher

 

[Knifemaker]

Well did the initial burn off today. Set the temp to 400 F and let it run for 45 minutes. Checked with my Smoke X unit, temperature varied from 395-410. Not bad. The analog gauge on the lid did jive with the digital readout, which is nice to see, as a few owners reported they were off some.

I was thinking of doing a pork tenderloin this week and run it at 225 for the cook. But I might instead do two slabs of baby backs to compare them to one’s done on my offset as only question here is how much smoke flavor is imparted compared to my other smokers. Ribs off my offset have been to die for.
Definitely looking forward to cooking on this thing

 

[Bounce]

I do have my homemade “BBQ Guru” for my UDS which works quite well. For a long cook, like a butt or brisket, it does the job with no tending. The only issue it’s a bit of a hassle to set up… fill t try he basket, get some charcoal going, hook up the probes, and run the power cord for the blower and controller.

Don’t mind the prep time for an
8-12 hour cook, but if I just want to smoke some brats or a tenderloin, it seems like a bit of a hassle. And that’s my reason to add a pellet grill to my arsenal. Something I can pretty much just toss the meat on and push a button.

I haven’t cooked on it yet, going to do the burn off today. So can’t judge yet how well it “smokes” compared to my offset or drum.

Once you retire and have more time than money, you'll "get it". LOL