Smokers (BBQ - not grilling)

[Knifemaker]

Well Fred finally inspired me to try making Pastrami from a corned beef brisket flat.
Found a nice 4 pound one (there were dozens to choose from at $3.20 a pound)
Got one that was pretty even thickness side to side. Not only rinsed it off, but let it soak for about 6-7 hours to pull some of the salt out.

Made a rub with black pepper corns, mustard seed, coriander, brown sugar, smoked paprika, onion and garlic powder which I cracked up some in my spice grinder (formerly a coffee grinder)


Just put in the Pit Boss. Will pull when it hits about 165 and wrap in foil, then finish in the oven.
I’ll then refrigerate overnight and slice up with my meat slicer.
So more photos and taste results tomorrow….

 

[Knifemaker]

Well, sliced it up this morning. Got about 30 “not to thin” slices. Tasted great, but more like just good corned beef,not store bought pastrami, but great is great.
Got some NY rye bread, a Ruben is in my future.

 

[Knifemaker]

Well for Easter dinner I have a 20 lb turkey I’m hoping to get thawed enough today and roast, and a 8.8 pound ham I plan on smoking tomorrow. Pictures to come…

 

[Knifemaker]

Both the turkey and the ham came out great. Wife made green been casserole and augratin potatoes. Happy Easter everyone!

 

[wingshot]

Smoked a spiral ham or Easter. My new favorite ingredients are Jamesons and Maple Syrup.

Smoked at 250F until approximately 110F internal temperature with the seasoning packet provided on top of a yellow mustard binder.

Pulled it off and put it in a aluminum pan, tented, and cooked at 325F until it reached 145F. At the tent stage, I poured 1 cup of Jamesons and Maple syrup mixture over and into the pan.

 

[Brevergy]

Well Fred finally inspired me to try making Pastrami from a corned beef brisket flat.
Found a nice 4 pound one (there were dozens to choose from at $3.20 a pound)
Got one that was pretty even thickness side to side. Not only rinsed it off, but let it soak for about 6-7 hours to pull some of the salt out.
View attachment 6668
Made a rub with black pepper corns, mustard seed, coriander, brown sugar, smoked paprika, onion and garlic powder which I cracked up some in my spice grinder (formerly a coffee grinder)
View attachment 6669

Just put in the Pit Boss. Will pull when it hits about 165 and wrap in foil, then finish in the oven.
I’ll then refrigerate overnight and slice up with my meat slicer.
So more photos and taste results tomorrow….

Wow, your pastrami project sounds like a delicious adventure! Fred's inspiration really got you going on a flavorful journey. I can almost smell the spices and hear the sizzle of the Pit Boss. Your meticulous approach, from choosing the perfect brisket to crafting that flavorful rub, shows real dedication to your craft.
Speaking of culinary experiments, I've been diving into the world of cooking myself. One game-changer I've found is using Bone Broth. It adds such a rich, savory depth to dishes and saves a ton of time. I get mine from healofoods.com, and it's become a staple in my kitchen.

 

[Knifemaker]

Not exactly smoked… but did a pot of chili (or chili flavored bean stew for Bounce) used smoked paprika, along with some Serrano and Cayenne peppers i grew last year that I smoked, along with some dried smoked chipotle I had. Also used some smoked onion. Wasn’t really that hot/spicy, as the total volume of the rest diluted it some.
Everyone thought it was a great balance.

 

[Bounce]

Looking good, but I couldn't give only a like after a call-out.

 

[Knifemaker]

Well how about this… reheated a rack of frozen smoked baby backs. 1 hour at 250°, then mopped down with a 50/50 mix of Carolina sauce and cranberry juice. Then Re-Wrapped back up in foil for 45 minutes at 325°. They were awesome.

 

[Knifemaker]

Hot here today (89°) Spatchcocked a chicken put on the pellet smoker with some Lumberjack apple pellets. Photo later.

 

[Fred W]

Missed a few posts. The pastrami seems to need a lot of smoke flavor. Wood smoke is probably stronger than pellets, though the Lumberjacks have proven to be among the best. I think that’s because the corned beef is already chemically cooked through corning (they may use some heat for pasteurization too. The commercial corned beef doesn’t seem to take the smoke up like raw meat.

Also, critical, is thin slicing. I spent the money to buy a LEM meat slicer, which comes in very handy for other meats.

Looking back on this old thread, running a bit over 10 years now, smoking meat has become such a regular part of my life. In the words of one of my favorite bands: What a long strange trip it’s been.

I’ve committed to stepping way outside my comfort zone, by saying I’ll cook up some “real BBQ” for our small rural association at our summer solstice celebration in June. Pulled pork for the most part, but a few ribs too. Maybe 8-10 racks, just for teasers. The PP will be the main fare.

I got a couple of new rib racks so I can up my quantity, and I might cook some on the wood offset, and some on the vertical pellet smoker. May do the pork butts on the UDS overnight, or maybe just cook them on the offset the day before. I’ve never cooked for a really big crowd, so this is a new adventure in BBQ for me.

 

[Knifemaker]

I will be cooking for a crowd this June too, likely be doing 6 slabs of baby backs in the offset and a brisket flat in the UDS.
And yes, I do have a 7” electric meat slicer that I used on the pastrami, but I agree pellets don’t infuse as much smoke as a wood burner and that may have been the contributing factor.

There’s an old joke about a guy at a restaurant that ordered a lobster…the waiter brings it and it’s missing a claw on one side.
The customer asked why does it only have one claw, and is told “he must of lost in in a fight with another lobster”
The customer pushes the plate back and says “ Well then, bring me the winner”

I noticed my chicken was missing half of its wing. Guess it lost a fight…
However ….the chicken was really great. Juiciest chicken breast I’ve ever had.


I dry brined overnight using a mix of kosher salt, granulated garlic, poultry seasoning, and pepper.
Next day I lightly oiled it up with EVOO and then coated with my regular paprika based saltless rub. (Making sure to get some under the skin)
As we don’t care for chicken skin, I didn’t up the temp to “crisp” the skin, just let it smoke at 225° until it hit 157°. I then covered it in foil and put in the inside oven at 170° for 40 minutes. Served with corn on the cob. Great dinner.
Still have the legs/thighs and wings as leftovers.

 

[Knifemaker]

Sunset the crew loved the smoked spatchcocked chicken I did last month, I’m doing another one today.
Using a commercial rub. Pics later.
Edit:
Well managed to get a photo after the bird was picked on, Dark meat came out great, Breasts were a bit over cooked. Pulled at 160, either my probe was positioned wrong or defective, not sure. First time I raised the temp at the end to help crisp the skin. Not doing that again.

 

[Fred W]

Gonna need to try one of these sometime. I’m rotisserie cooking a chook on the Weber gas grille today. Has the advantage of zero maintenance on the cook, and my wife likes the crispy chicken skin.

Our neighborhood Summer Solstice Party is shaping up nicely. I’ll bee cooking a couple of pork butts (maybe three depending on size) overnight on the UDS, this week. Getting that old pit out, I spent a couple of hours scraping the accumulated layer on the inside of the drum to get it closer to what it once was. The lid could not be scraped due to the curves, but I did use a flexible plastic putty knife to take the fluffy loose stuff off, so it wouldn’t fall into the food.

After figuring out how many will likely be at the event, I have just 7 racks of St louis cut ribs. That would likely be enough, but I may buy two more racks on tuesday just to be sure. I don’t think I can fit that many in my Old Country, even on rib racks, so I’ll probably split it up and do 5 or 6 on the offset, and do the rest on the upright pellet smoker. I’ve found that they come out reasonably close (with the edge going to the wood fire). Again, advantage of Pit Boss vertical pellet smoker is zero fire maintenance during the 6 hours of cooking.

The apple wood smoked racks from the offset will be the star of the show. I may not even need to serve the ones from the pellet smoker, but it will be good to have some in reserve. Worst case they go back in the freezer for later eating.

 

[Fred W]

Well, the weather pattern in the Northeast killed the neighborhood BBQ plan. We have been getting rain every weekend, and with the holiday next weekend, just pulled the plug on it. Now I have about 12 lbs of pulled pork and 9 racks of uncooked ribs in the chest freezer.

To make room for all of that, I had to pull out a 15 lb. Whole choice brisket that I bought a while ago from Wild Fork. My daughter and grandsons are up for a week, so it is a good time to smoke that. Trimmed it up yesterday and stuck it into my vertical pit boss, fat side down, at 225F at about 6PM.

Got up this morning to some delicious smells. Internal temp was 165F at 5AM, and the outside had some nice color. Wrapped in foil (fat side up) with about a cup and a half of beef stock, and into the kitchen oven at 225F. Using electric kitchen oven to save on pellets.

When it reaches 203F I will turn the oven down to 150F (ours goes that low) to hold until dinner time tonight, probably a 6 hour or longer hold. Results to follow…

 

[Fred W]

The rest of the cook went exactly as planned. Here’s the results:



Plenty tender, lots of smoke ring, and decent bark considering it was formed on a pellet smoker. But the flavor was kind of “meh”…

The chef is always his own worst critic, but after a full day of cooking, it just wasn’t worth all of the effort. Pork is so much cheaper, quicker and easier and the results are so delicious. And cooking a quick 3-4 lb. chuck roast is as good as this brisket in about 1/3 the time.

 

[Bounce]

I find that, on cook day, I seldom pick up the same amount of smoke flavor as everyone else. Seems to be something about always having my face in the charcoal/etc. The next day is always more pronounced.