Smokers (BBQ - not grilling)

[Knifemaker]

Today is our Annual Oktoberfest BBQ.

What 35 brats look like before being smoked...

 

[Knifemaker]

And after...oddly they don't look to different..

Some of the happy participants..

Another one done till next year.

 

[Bounce]

Turkey on the smoker this afternoon for snack if people show up early tomorrow. Pork butt on the smoker in t-minus 5 hours for lunch tomorrow with the clan.

Felt like the dad in A Christmas Story while letting the turkey rest. When I finally carved it, it had good flavor and was very moist.

Pork butt ready to come out of the smoker and rest a bit.

 

[Blind Squirrel]

Getting ready for poker tonight. Brats, mild Italian, and hot Italian on the new CampChef SmokePro DLX pellet smoker.

 

[Knifemaker]

Our 7 year old granddaughter is back to stay with us awhile..... To mark the occasion, I put a rack of "baby backs" in the oven for her . (Baby's Back...get it? ).

What a pan of reheated ribs look like 30 seconds after pulling them out of the oven:

 

[Bounce]

Oven? OVEN! Oh, the shame.

 

[Knifemaker]

Oven? OVEN! Oh, the shame.

They were already cooked in the smoker and were frozen. Not sure there'd be any point in trying to thaw and reheat them any other way....

 

[eflyguy]

Like comparing a Triumph Bonneville to an FJR.. it'll get the job done, but you don't want your friends seeing you..

j/k!!

 

[08FJR4ME]

I know I have to hit the smoker one more time before it gets to cold out. I have a pork but and a large roaster in the freezer just waiting to throw on. Maybe next weekend.

Dave

 

[Knifemaker]

On a side note, which will likely need its own thread... how many of you make your own jerky?

I'd like to get into this.

 

[08FJR4ME]

Me, Me, Me, haven't done it in a while though. My son boroughed my dehydrater a couple of months ago and was doing it every week until he got bored. I know some wild turkeys that keep stopping by that might end up that way.

Dave

 

[Fred W]

I may be an outlier, but I'm not really all that fond of jerky. Seems like a waste of perfectly good meat to me.

On another meat grilling note, was up riding Stroms with some FJR friends this past weekend and another friend came over to their camp who had just got back from partridge hunting, and brought a couple of the birds he had bagged. The ladies seasoned those plump little breasts up and lightly cooked them on the gas grille. First time having partridge for me. It was damn tasty! I imagine they would take a light smoking nicely

 

[Knifemaker]

Never had any game birds myself other than wild duck. (Which I shot, cleaned and cooked myself)

I got about 3 pounds of deer meat I'm not sure what to do with. Choice is grilling, smoking, or making jerky.

Am shopping for a dehydrater right now. My son is my usual supplier of jerky, but the wait between deliveries has me thinking of doing it myself. I'll likely not use the deer meat for jerky, as I agree with you on this Fred, I don't want to use a really nice cut of meat for jerky. Deer loins are pretty awesome just cooked on the grill. My son uses flank steak for his jerky I think... But many use round roasts, and they are cheap locally. I do like well made jerky, the store bought stuff is expensive and loaded with preservatives...

I'll start another thread on this later. .....

 

[Bounce]

Grilling is great. There was a time, many years ago, when deer hunting provided my family our yearly protein. You're not the hunter in this case but when so, taking the field-cleaned carcass to a butcher can net you a freezer full of different cuts similar to a beef. Venison stew, burgers, and more are a great thing.

 

[BikerGeek99]

I finally got off my ass and got a smoker this past Saturday. It's no big deal - just a propane-fueled jobby from Home Depot.

I took my first swipe using it last night and smoked some chicken wings.

They were ... edible. Not great, but not terrible. It's a start.

 

[Knifemaker]

I finally got off my ass and got a smoker this past Saturday. It's no big deal - just a propane-fueled jobby from Home Depot.I took my first swipe using it last night and smoked some chicken wings.They were ... edible. Not great, but not terrible. It's a start.

Never thought about doing wings....as usually the sauce is overpowering when I make it ..
What model smoker you get? Pretty much any type of pork benifits from smoking. My personal favorite is, and always will be .... ribs Going to do another butt soon however, baby likes pulled pork...

 

[Fred W]

Welcome to BBQ mania, Andy!

All poultry, and chicken wings especially, need to be cooked at a higher temp than the 225F we typically use for smoking low and slow BBQ. Otherwise the skin never gets crispy or gets much color to it. I still prefer cooking my wings in deep fat and then smothering them with hot sauce (Buffalo style), or else on the gas grille with a sprinkle of salt and pepper.

For smoking poultry I like to run the pit up to 275 - 300 F and cook until the breast meat is 160F. Coating the skin with spray cooking oil before seasoning will also help with the browning.

My recco for beginning smokers is to do up some pork tenderloins, or a small boneless pork loin roast. Ideally with some fruit wood (apple, cherry, etc.) They cook up relatively quickly and take the smoke flavor really well. Cook tenderloins until they reach 145F internal, but pull a loin toast at 140 and wrap it in foil and towels for at least a 1/2 hour as the thicker meat will continue on up to 145 on its own.

 

[Bounce]

Pork tenderloin @225º will take about 2 to 3 hours and be great.

 

[BikerGeek99]

What model smoker you get? Pretty much any type of pork benifits from smoking. My personal favorite is, and always will be .... ribs

Going to do another butt soon however, baby likes pulled pork...

I got one of these <clicky>. I know it ain't the biggest / fanciest / blah blah blah... For now, it fits the bill to learn WTF I'm doing without spending a fortune.

Ribs are wayyy up on my list, as is pretty much anything pork. I'll get there eventually. Sooze is a fan of brisket, so that'll happen eventually as well. I also wanna try smoking salmon sometime.

I had a chat with a friend / neighbor (that owns a winery five minutes from the house - convenient, eh?) who uses his smoker all the time. He gave me the advice to use higher heat on the wings. He also suggested smoking potatoes as well - after 1 1/2 hours, the taters were still a bit under-cooked, so a few minutes in the microwave finished 'em off. They had a nice smoke ring to 'em, though.

My brother is talking aboot smoking a turkey for Thanksgiving, so that could be interesting.

I think the main things I'll be focusing on are the type of wood, amount of chips to throw in, what temperature and how long to cook.

Oh - when I smoked the wings yesterday, I also added a mix of bourbon and apple juice to the water pan in the smoker. You know - for science.

 

[Knifemaker]

^ That's actually a pretty decent smoker. Read the reviews, only real complaint seemed to be the inaccuracy of the tempeture gauge...a common complaint of most dial thermometers. Get a good digital one.

One review said to replace the gas line with one with a needle valve, likely a good idea.

Looks like it can hold quite a bit of meat although if you're doing ribs you may need to cut them to fit if they are long, or bend them into a circle and screwer them with metal skewers, or tie them with butcher twine, and put them in on their edges.

Most smoking sites will tell you adding anything to the water never seems to do much, but many swear they see a difference.

It's nice it can use charcoal or propane. I added this feature to mine.

Welcome to the club!