Smokers (BBQ - not grilling)

[biknflyfisher]

Yah, it’s a big deal out here on the left coast.

It can be cooked many ways - most grill it really hot to get a char on the outside leaving it very rare on the interior. But, I’ve found that it lends itself very well to 5 or 6 hours at 200 degrees or a bit less to get it smoky and very tender.

My wife and I were very happy with tonight’s results...

 

[08FJR4ME]

I have heard we have a new butcher shop in the area but I haven't been over to check it out yet. Maybe its time after seeing Fred's Ribs.

Dave

 

[Fred W]

Yeah, I’ve never seen any long ribs in a supermarket. Just the short ones. Worth seeking them out, IMO.

 

[Bounce]

Yankees. Can't live with 'em. Can't... well... that's about it.

 

[Fred W]

Cooked a nice ~ 6 lb. Brisket flat yesterday for some company. My brother the pro foodie and his new wife came for the afternoon, and they are big fans of BBQ brisket. It came out really good (again) cooking with wood on my offset, so I guess I can say Ive got it figured out now. Used some nicely dried wild cherry wood I had pruned from one of the trees in the yard a couple years ago.

On the pit at 9AM. Gave it 6 hours of smoke varying between 225 and 245, to where it had just powered through the stall. Then at 3PM foil wrapped it, this time with 1/2 a can of Harpoon Flannel Friday drizzled over it, and let it finish on the Weber gas grille with indirect heat between the front and back burners turned down way low.

Pulled it at 205 internal at a little before 5, and only rested it about 1/2 hour cause everyone was starving. Due to the company I failed to get photographic evidence, but it was just as good as the whole packer I did about a month ago. The flat was nicer to deal with, much less waste, as it came pretty well trimmed, and I was able slice the whole thing up. It was considerably more expensive per pound. The 12 lb packer next to it in the meat case would have cost me about the same total, but the 6 lb flat was all good meat.

Our guests were pretty impressed with the results and brother was talking about buying himself a smoker by the time he left last night. Good BBQ is positively viral.

 

[Knifemaker]

Yeah, some of the folks that don't have a smoker tell me "I need to get one of those" after sucking down my ribs.

Speaking of which, I got about 23 pounds of baby backs and the plan is to put them in the offset tomorrow. Almost picked up a slab of beef back ribs, but the baby backs were on sale....Going with hickory and some left over apple wood. May do a wet marinade/brine instead of the usual dry brine. Photos later.

 

[Fred W]

23 lbs is what, 8 full racks? I dont think I could do that many on mine unless I made a stand-up rib rack like you have.

Still surfing and drooling over all the fancy pits you can buy. Latest I found is by Lone Star Grillz, the 20x42 offset is awfully nice. Just need to convince the CFO that this is part of our retirement expenses...

I probably need to get going and build a few UDS pits and sell them to help pay for my BBQ addiction!

 

[BigOgre]

I've been hearing that the price of pork may soon be soaring. Reportedly the flooding in NC has caused many plants to lose a good amount of their hog stock.

 

[Knifemaker]

23 lbs is what, 8 full racks? I dont think I could do that many on mine unless I made a stand-up rib rack like you have. Still surfing and drooling over all the fancy pits you can buy. Latest I found is by Lone Star Grillz, the 20x42 offset is awfully nice. Just need to convince the CFO that this is part of our retirement expenses...

I probably need to get going and build a few UDS pits and sell them to help pay for my BBQ addiction!

It was 6 racks. @2.94 a pound. Average 3.9 pounds a slab. Yeah pork! !!

You were discussing moving earlier to a smaller local? From what I have read here it seems both your Joe and

Your UDS should be taking care of your smoking needs. Unless you plan on offering your smoking services to

the general public, I don't see the need to go bigger here.

 

[Fred W]

Need shmeed... its all about WANT! I know, I could definitely make do with what Ive got. I actually havent even run the UDS lately and should probably fix that situation. But I also dont NEED a 1300cc 135 HP motorcycle just to go the speed limit, now do I?

As for pork futures, that is unquestionably situational price gouging. For one thing, they havent realized any losses yet. For another, the BIG Hurricane turned into a strong rain storm. Cat 1 hurricanes are not FEMA issues. But global warmists need (fictional) weather activity problems to prove their own warped theses.

Im banking on pork continuing to be relatively cheap. Also, Beef has dropped significantly as people have voted with their wallets and skipped the Beef for dinner in lieu of more affordable proteins. Beef is the most expensive meat to produce. But its pretty hard to tell what actually costs what with all the damn government subsidies.

PS - Those are some meaty baby backs. Nice that you can find some with the loin roast meat still on them. The stingy meat carvers around here tend to cut them pretty tight, which considering the price of boneless loin vs ribs doesnt make much economic sense.

 

[TomInPA]

Agree with Fred and will add China is imposing tariffs on pork and as a result the U.S. price has been below production costs. I don't see the storm as an issue.

I've not been doing a lot of BBQ this summer as we haven't had a crowd over to eat it. A couple racks is about all I do.

 

[Bounce]

Finished off the last of the smoked pork tenderloin I cooked a couple of weeks ago. Man demz sum taistee samichiz!

 

[Knifemaker]

The obligatory before shot:

This cook I salted the ribs, and then put them in a large bag, which I filled with pineapple juice. They sat in the fridge like this for about 18 hours, then were shaken off and coated with rub.

Using hickory mostly. Avoiding adding more charcoal as usual. Temps @225-234.

And nursing a hangover from yesterday's cocktail sampling....

 

[Knifemaker]

And for no particular reason, a shot of my workbench. A while back there was a thread asking for a pic of your workshop. Mine was never finished until many months past that post. So, here it is while I sit and solve my hangover with three fingers of Irish Whiskey...

 

[Fred W]

Be interested to hear the results. Ive heard pineapple is a serious meat tenderizer. Hope they dont come out mushy on ya.

 

[Knifemaker]

After shots. 2 in the oven staying warm (will eat in an hour or so, so won't know about taste firmness until then.)

They did not fall apart yanking them out of the rack (some were thick and kinda stuck)

 

[Knifemaker]

OK. The ribs didn't really seem to be anymore "tender" than usual. But they did seem a bit more "juicy"...but that could just be do to the fat content of the ones we ate. So not really sure what the impact of the pineapple juice had. We ate the larger racks, which were not as submerged in the pineapple juice as the smaller ones...so will just have to see how those comeout later. (They've been sequestered to the freezer for now) I did notice the pink smoke ring seemed to be a darker pink than usual. Again not sure if this was due to the juice....That all said....the ones we ate were as awesome as the ones from the last cook.

I was a bit concerned. About 3 hours into the cook I put just a few chunks of lump in along with several chunks of wood. After about 3 minutes I opened the fire door to make sure all was well, and noticed a weird chemical smell. My guess was one of the lump charcoal pieces was not what it seemed. It was definitely burnt plastic type smell. I grabbed some tongs and pulled out the pieces I put in. None seemed weird or had the smell, and a few minutes later the smell was gone. I figured by now the ribs were crusty enough and hopefully wouldn't have absorbed any of the weird smoke. We detected nothing odd eating them, as said they were awesome.

So not sure if the lump or the wood chunks were contaminated. But all ended well

 

[Bounce]

After shots. 2 in the oven staying warm

I found a good way to keep the smoked meat warm for hours without the risk of extra cooking. Wrap in foil, then wrap in several layers of towels, then place in an ice chest (no ice of course). ribs, pork tenderloin, and shoulders will all still be too hot to bare hand even hours later.

 

[Blind Squirrel]

After shots. 2 in the oven staying warm

I found a good way to keep the smoked meat warm for hours without the risk of extra cooking. Wrap in foil, then wrap in several layers of towels, then place in an ice chest (no ice of course). ribs, pork tenderloin, and shoulders will all still be too hot to bare hand even hours later.

A.k.a. a cambro.

 

[Knifemaker]

After shots. 2 in the oven staying warm

I found a good way to keep the smoked meat warm for hours without the risk of extra cooking. Wrap in foil, then wrap in several layers of towels, then place in an ice chest (no ice of course). ribs, pork tenderloin, and shoulders will all still be too hot to bare hand even hours later.

I do that to meats whose internal temperature is lower than what my oven can run. (Like pork loins, brats, and roast beef) An oven is basicly a large insulated box. You're not really "cooking" if the inside temperature of your meat is higher than the outside temperature. (You do need to tightly wrap the meat of course to keep it from drying out) After 4+ hours in a 225-235 degree smoker, the internal temp of the ribs is likely close to 200. Never used a probe on ribs, so just guessing here. I wrap them in two sheets of heavy duty foil and put them in the oven at 175. (The lowest I can set my oven) I see no difference doing this compared to putting them in an insulated ice chest....other than losing the use of the oven for cooking other stuff.