Smokers (BBQ - not grilling)

[Warpdrv]

Man those things are ready to explode.... !!

Good stuff

I used an egg for binder, not sure if it was needed, but I also used maple breakfast sausage to mix into the meat as well, along with Worcestershire and the usual sea salt and ground pepper....

 

[nankoweap]

I was sooooo hungry when I got off work that I bought the pre-formed patties, went home, sautéed some onions and shrooms and enlisted woman and boy to start stuffing! Cranked up the grill to 350 cuz there was no way I could wait two hours to slow-cook these things. These turned out well. Next time we'll take our time... maybe.

 

[Bounce]

Yeah... burgers I'd grill (on my smoker) too.

 

[red2kcbr]

I'm using a single-axle rig my uncle built from a 100-gallon hot water heater. It has a large square fire box built low on one end, two side doors on the horizontal smoker body, and an adjustable smoke vent. It has a nice thermometer built in.

I'm starting to get the hang of it. Being in Texas, I use oak and hickory, and sometimes pecan wood. I'm still experimenting with brisket, a cut of meat that has always eluded me, being too tough most of the time. Now, using a base rub from Tom Perini's cookbook, and similar technique that he describes for oven-cooking a brisket, I'm starting to get it.

The last 3 or 4 briskets came out tasty, smokey, and tender.

I've also brined fish and smoked the fillets, and they were awesome. Chicken leg quarters are to die for. Ham is easy and wonderful. Haven't done a turkey yet, but it's on my list.

I'll load the smoker up with a brisket and a ham, sometimes a pork roast, and keep the temperature around 200. I'm using those throw-away aluminum pans, and start with a rub, add liquid to about 1 inch deep, beer and water, and smoke it for 10 to 14 hours. Keep an eye on the temp and the liquid level. Add beer as needed.

For the leg quarters, I smoke those directly on the racks, for about 6 hrs. It makes a mess in the bottom of the smoker body, so I always clean it and the racks when I'm done.

I package all the leftovers up in lunch-size portions, label and freeze. That's some good eating, right there. A leg quarter, or 5 or 6 ounces of smokey brisket makes some killer tacos for lunch.

It's pretty easy to control the temperature by regulating the air flow, but it will run hot if I overload the wood box. I check it about every hour or so, and so far haven't had to feed the dogs with the results.

I'm also an old griller, so I keep a big grill, a Weber, and a Smokey Joe vertical smoker. The big smoker is getting most of the activity, however.

 

[gixxerjasen]

I'm not sure how you screw up a brisket. Slow and low makes it easy and tasty. Actually, it's the easiest piece of meat I've found to cook. I'm currently struggling with my whole chickens. Trying to get them done without drying out is a pain for me because it can change so quickly.

 

[ionbeam]

...I'm currently struggling with my whole chickens. Trying to get them done without drying out is a pain for me because it can change so quickly.

Brine & spatchcock.

 

[wnyfjr]

...I'm currently struggling with my whole chickens. Trying to get them done without drying out is a pain for me because it can change so quickly.

Brine & spatchcock.

My brother-in-law did this on Sunday in his BGE. He had issues keeping the temp up (says he started the charcoal too early and didn't use enough), but it still came out juicy and smokey and dee-lish!

 

[Blind Squirrel]

When it comes to chicken, most people have a problem with rubbery skin. Watching the BBQ competition shows, they mostly do a brine (or injection) of some sort to keep the bird moist, and run the smoker hot (350+ degrees).

 

[gixxerjasen]

I've been interested in trying the spatchcock method, but as I posted pics on the front page, I've been playing with vertical roasters. They seem to work well so far. The problem that I have with chickens is there's several types of meat of varying thicknesses and making sure all are done without drying out is the hard part. Brisket is easy, it's just one thick slab of meat. Either it's done or it isn't.

 

[bluesdog]

Thanks to you guys, I'm now a smoker.

Bought a medium BGE a few weeks ago, and have since done ribs a couple of times, a whole smoked, 'sittin chicken', and a big chunk of sockeye.

For the salmon, I used some well-seasoned apple wood from an old half-dead tree for the smoke, and smoked it for 8+ hours @ <200. Very tasty indeed.

 

[Warpdrv]

Gixxer.... I have done A dozen chickens on my smoker..... I do them exactly like I would a turkey in the oven before I got the smoker...

#1 - get some good chickens, FREE RANGE CHICKENS from costco are like $10 each, 2 pack depending on weight are roughly $20.... They are very good with no gristle or weird cartilage, nor are they strangely enormous being free from all the hormones they use these days....

#2, get some apples and oranges to slice in quarters and stuff them inside. 1 apple and 1 orange will go in each chicken or so....

#3 Rub / Season the inside a bit and slather the outside real well..... I like using a stone ground deli mustard for hardiness and add whatever spices to it you like.

#4 Put on the smoker ----- BREAST SIDE DOWN !!! I cook at about 200-235 depending on how much smoke flavor I want... Until probes give me the temps I'm looking for.

#5 EAT THAT YUMMY GOODNESS !!

Try that simple method - I have NEVER had a dry chicken ever..... The apples and oranges will cook down and run through the breasts which is the most important part of this cook. That in itself will keep your bird from drying out. NEVER put breading or stuffing inside a bird EVER - it will absorb all the moisture from your meat - you don't want that.... If you want to use other fruits - whatever will yield moisture will work just fine.

Good Luck

 

[ionbeam]

Try that simple method - I have NEVER had a dry chicken ever..... The apples and oranges will cook down and run through the breasts which is the most important part of this cook. That in itself will keep your bird from drying out. NEVER put breading or stuffing inside a bird EVER - it will absorb all the moisture from your meat - you don't want that.... If you want to use other fruits - whatever will yield moisture will work just fine

For a traditional fowl filler I use onion, celery, carrots and herbs which also supply moisture during cooking. Don't pack it full, leave heat circulation space. Selective aluminum foil use can also help even out the cooking between the thick and thin parts.

Given some spare time and the assistance of a good beverage I spatchcock, then bone out the fowl except for wings and drums, put either fruit or veggies down the center then either truss or use skewers and lace the bird back into fine fowl shape. This really evens out the density of the bird and lets it cook evenly. When ready to eat take off the trussing and the bird will pretty much retain its shape. It's a snap to serve and often leaves the diners shocked to see that there are no bones and leaves them wondering how you done did it.

I would say that you should NEVER put bread stuffing in any bird that is going to be slow cooked. The stuffing does not come up to temperature fast enough and can cause undesirables to flourish before everything reaches a high enough temperature.

 

[gixxerjasen]

That sounds delicious.

 

[Warpdrv]

Sounds like a cool method there ionbeam,

FWIW - I don't stuff so full as to not allow any circulation or air pockets, but I can see your point... generally if your 1/4 or 1/8 cutting your fruit, it will be stuffed into the bird in a manor like a square peg in a round hole type thing and you'll have plenty of air spots....

 

[Fred W]

I'm not sure how you screw up a brisket. Slow and low makes it easy and tasty. Actually, it's the easiest piece of meat I've found to cook. I'm currently struggling with my whole chickens. Trying to get them done without drying out is a pain for me because it can change so quickly.

Well, it's not so much about "screwing it up" as it is "lack of perfection." When you are a Brisket kind'a sewer you are looking to achieve beef nirvana, whether that is achievable or not.

I guess it is time to report in on my birthday BBQ proceedings this past weekend, using my hyper-modified Char Broil COS. We purchased a smallish whole brisket from our local butcher shop, Mr Steer (why do butchers insist on having such cheesy names?) It was choice grade, and on sale for $2.99 a lb, but the smallest they had on hand was over 11 lbs. Knowing that low and slow the smoking rate is roughly 1 hour per lb. plus a little at 225 deg F, we opted to hack the whole in two halves, freeze the big (tip) end for later experimentation and just cook the flat for the fam damily on Saturday. I decided to press on with the gas (propane) heat source and fry pan smoke source, in spite of some difficulties I'd had in dry runs.

On Saturday AM, I fired the gas up at ~10AM with an intended 6PM dinner schedule. Waited to get temps up and stable before tossing on any of the smoking wood into the cast iron fry pan. As soon as I had good smoke I loaded on the Brisket Flat (which had been resting with my own secret recipe of dry rub overnight), Somewhat surprisingly, the temps were relatively stable and controllable, just like I had experienced in my "dry runs" previously. I had vary good control over the smoking chamber temps with the Low Pressure gas regulator I had bought on Amazon.com.

What was more disappointing was the quantity of smoke (also as anticipated). I threw a bunch of Hickory chunks into the cast iron "smoking pan" and it would generate some wonderfully delicious smelling smoke, but only for about 15 minutes or so. After that, the pyrolyzed wood was just un-ignited charcoal and did not emit much, if any, smoke. I continued to toss a new chunk into the pan every 20-30 minutes during the first 3 or 4 hours to try and maximize the flavor.

During this time we also grilled up a bunch of ABTs (on the Weber gas grille) and those were a HUGE success. My gawd were those delicious, I think we could have just done up 4 dozen and called it a day! But those were just the mid-day apps, and the brisket was to be the true "guest of honor" later on.

After a while I quit adding the smoking wood and just let the low and slow heat cook the meat. When I got to 155 I crutched the brisket in foil, but without adding any apple juice. It definitely did accelerate the cooking process, but perhaps some apple juice would have helped the final product. Around 5PM the meat hit the 203 degree F point, so I unwrapped it and tossed it back on for a while to firm up the then mushy bark. As it turned out, the bark never firmed back up all the way, and after a while I decided I was just drying the meat out more than it already was and took it off and re-wrapped it for a rest on the counter before carving.

When I wielded the knife, I was still completely confused about the direction of the grain. I tried making an exploratory surface cut and looking for a grain pattern, but try as I might, I could never seem to find the full 90 degree cross grain that is so prized. After hacking it up the best I could (I think I got some angled cross grain) we served it up with two reasonably good commercially available sauces (Sweet Baby Rays and Stubbs) home made corn bread, baked beansand cole slaw, and sat down to dinner.

The smoke flavor in the meat was quite good, though the smoke ring was very dark and shallow (did not penetrate the meat very far even on the bare, non-fat capped) side. The meat was reasonably tender and moist, though certainly not as good as some that I have had before. All in all it was enjoyed by all, but I (being the perpetrator) was not fully satisfied. Isn't that always the way?

Next tme I will try using the minion charcoal basket method as I think that may actually give superior smoke results, and probably cooking the fattier tip end of the brisket will result in a more tender result.

Thanks for all the ideas and fun getting this thing off the ground. I think I'll go back and rename this thread as it has now become a running account of all good things BarBeQue, not just my original fairly lame question.

Good cookin'!

 

[TomInPA]

On brisket I have consistently gotten better results with a whole clod, rather than the flat which ends up dryer. I am willing to cook at 275 degrees which means a 14 pound cut can be done between 10 AM and 6 PM with a crutch. I also get much better smoke generation at the higher temp. I inject a fair amount of flavored stock into the brisket before starting. Call it cheating, but it gets the desired results and compliments.

With the crazy modifications of your side-burner smoker, you could have gotten a real smoker. :shrug:

 

[Fred W]

On brisket I have consistently gotten better results with a whole clod, rather than the flat which ends up dryer. I am willing to cook at 275 degrees which means a 14 pound cut can be done between 10 AM and 6 PM with a crutch. I also get much better smoke generation at the higher temp. I inject a fair amount of flavored stock into the brisket before starting. Call it cheating, but it gets the desired results and compliments.

Thanks, I'll keep that in mind when I do the tip end. I think that I'll try using the minion charcoal method on that half and see how that goes.

With the crazy modifications of your side-burner smoker, you could have gotten a real smoker. :shrug:

But you forget... It was a gift from my loving family. How does one say no to something like that?

Besides, I really don't have all that much actual money into this thing, just time (which has been fun). The smoker itself was all of $75. (I know because I get the credit card bill) I bought the sheet metal and expanded metal at Home Depot for < $20. So really I have less than $100 into the COS.

The Propane mods (burner, hose and cast iron pan) totaled up to $50, but they are all quite "portable" and can either be used in some future smoker designs or else in my basement home brewery. I already have one (high BTU) burner down there, but you can always use a second burner when brewing. I'm already looking around for a good 55 gallon drum candidate to convert into a bigger Ugly Drum Smoker, so that propane burner may get some use in that project too.

edit - Update to my update: I just had some of the left over brisket from last Saturday on a sandwich for lunch. Mmmm... it was quite tasty, and did not seem all that tough today. Maybe I was being hypercritical? I'm sure having eaten all of the ABTs before hand took some of the edge off my hunger then.

 

[Fred W]

This thread needs more food porn.

Yesterday afternoon I smoke/roasted a small (2 1/2 lb) pork loin. Used the old fashioned charcoal / minion method in my FFCOS, and smoked it with Hickory chunks for ~ 3 hours at ~250F. Pulled the roast at 145F internal temp and rested on the counter-top wrapped in foil and a towel for 1/2 an hour.

How's this for a smoke ring?

Very good smoke flavor. I think the key was putting the refrigerator cold meat in the smoker as soon as I fired it up, so it got a lot of smoke at low temps as the heat built up to the desired 250. I bet if I kept the temps down below 200 for a while longer I could have got the pink ring to the center.

It was a very (very!) simple dry rub using just Montreal Steak Seasoning, which is really just coarsely ground salt and pepper, and rest in the fridge for 4-5 hours before cooking. The salt was fully absorbed by the meat during cooking and all that was left was the course pepper, which gave the outside a nice spicy flavor. Served with a little Stubbs Spicy BBQ sauce.

Mmmm Mmmm Good!!

Next time I do one I'll try a fruit wood (apple, pear or cherry) for a finer/sweeter smoke flavor.

 

[nankoweap]

That looks like a fine piece of meat!

 

[Fred W]

Thanks. It was. And for some reason they are dirt cheap. $2.50 a lb is cheaper than brisket (that shrinks a ton during cooking). Much easier cooking and may be even tastier. Certainly worth a try.