What are you grilling/smoking with?

[CountryboyinDC]

10 hours ago, Mobasser said:

A little off topic of smokers, but do you guys sauce the meat while in the smoker, or not at all. I've had good results with ribs or roast by putting just a thin sauce on them. Other guys I know wait, and serve sauce on the side. What's you opinion?

Most things I leave off the sauce.  The only meat that gets sauce is ribs.  I add it after ribs have passed the bounce test (if you hold the rack of ribs with tongs at one end of the rack, and 'bounce' it, the meat cracks slightly).  I brush on what is a sparing amount compared to many rib joints and others I've tried.  Realistically, it is the least I can use, and cover the ribs.  When I go get the ribs to bring inside for saucing, I open the vents too and bottom completely on my grill.  They might reach 300 or even 350 degrees by the time I take the ribs off my grill, but it's indirect heat (something is between the flame and the meat).  I let them cook for 30 minutes at this heat after saucing.  

Ribs seem to have wide variability on what people want out of them.  I don't use a 'crutch' method on these or anything else I smoke.  I try to have them so the meat is easily bitten off of the bone, but doesn't fall off (some prefer it to be what I'd call mushy).  And some want it drenched in sauce, some prefer just the rub.  I usually cook 4 racks and give 3 away and try to do it in a way that sort of splits the difference, except for the consistency.  I like just a little chew, and so that's what I shoot for.  This past Sunday I overshot that a bit, and was disappointed myself, but a neighbor texted 'Best ever.'

[Biglittle8]

Mustard first, then dry rub or just salt and pepper for everything I do.

[bulldog1935]

A side-box smoker lets you grill, roast, and slow-smoke - all at the same time.  

Nothing quite like redfish grilled on the half shell.  

I roast chicken to chile rellenos.  

Slow-smoke tri-tip, tenderloin, venison, wedding sausage - and there are no words for a Boar's Head uncured casing frank after 2 hours in the cool part of the smoker.  

 

I smoked a turkey for 20 hours one Thanksgiving, and there wasn't a crumb for leftovers.  

 

Mine is getting even more use lately, because with my mom out of the kitchen, and my dad cooking for them, I'm keeping them in smoked meat to heat and eat, too.  The smoked meat makes caesar salad, perfect pulled carnitas for tacos, sliced thin for sandwiches, or thick-slice slice and quick sear in skillet for a beautiful steak.  

 

 

How about a venison backstrap breakfast taco?  

 

Whoever came up with grilled sirloin steak is an idiot.  Ribeye is a steak.  Sirloin is a beautiful roast that belongs on a smoker.  

[VolFan]

10 hours ago, flyfisher said:

Completely agree....dry rub and I am good.  why ruin all that meat flavor with sauce?  

I'll let you know...its not to bad of a drive from Knoxville lol.  I have been in that area a lot in years past climbing in the obed river area.

Utterly off this topic but the Obed is one of my favorite places in TN. Great fishing, climbing, camping, kayaking, and hunting. 

[Mobasser]

I'm trying to learn as much as I can about smoking meat, especially roast, and brisket. Around my area, most bar b que places are really overpriced. A brisket sandwich, fries and an ice tea is around 13.00 to 15.00. I know there's a lot of time and work in this, but I think you can, with some practice, make it just as good at home

[Deephaven]

26 minutes ago, Mobasser said:

but I think you can, with some practice, make it just as good at home

You mean way better.  Restaurants that charge the little amount you stated don't hardly ever try hard enough to make a real product.  There are exceptions but VERY few and far between.  Brisket isn't all that hard.  Maintaining a constant temp for 15+ hours however can be.  A digital controller for long smokes is well worth it if you are new.  My BIL built a smoker out of an old milk tank from the farm.  I spec'd a little PID, thermocouple and fan and for less than $40 that thing will hold perfect temp all day as long as there is fire in the box.  Off the shelf ones are more, but if low and slow is your goal they are worth it.  Can easily do it without, but I would include that in part of your shopping budget.

[CountryboyinDC]

2 hours ago, bulldog1935 said:

I smoked a turkey for 20 hours one Thanksgiving, and there wasn't a crumb for leftovers.  

I gotta ask, how did you smoke a turkey for 20 hours and it wasn't ash?  I think I may smoke 12-14 lb bird for 3 hours at 250 (I cook most meats by thermometer temperature, and turkeys to 170 at the thighs).  

 

The food looks delicious - I still haven't gotten venison tenderloin or back strap grilled to where we like it better than me searing it in a hot cast iron skillet.  Same for roasts - except for a crown roast (which really isn't a roast I guess), none of mine have been terrific.

[Deephaven]

I should add one other comment on here regarding a ceramic grill.  If you want to reverse sear your meat (which you SHOULD) they work awesome.  Super easy to start up the grill and hold 225 for as long as you need for your meat to come to temp and then open the vents and finish it at a ripping high temp.  There is hardly an animal that doesn't taste better this way.

[bulldog1935]

On 9/1/2021 at 8:22 AM, CountryboyinDC said:

I gotta ask, how did you smoke a turkey for 20 hours and it wasn't ash?  I think I may smoke 12-14 lb bird for 3 hours at 250 (I cook most meats by thermometer temperature, and turkeys to 170 at the thighs).  

 

The food looks delicious - I still haven't gotten venison tenderloin or back strap grilled to where we like it better than me searing it in a hot cast iron skillet.  Same for roasts - except for a crown roast (which really isn't a roast I guess), none of mine have been terrific.

holding the temperature to 185 except for those 3 or 4  hours above 250.  

The stuff of side-box smokers.  

I've mentioned before, even javelina is exceptional smoked that slow. 

 

ps @CountryboyinDC here's venison backstrap off the smoker. 

The thing about a smoker, nothing dries out - chicken, sirloin, pork, venison - all running with juices and the meat flakes between your fingers.  

 

pss - and when it gets cold, we can start talking about chili

[Mobasser]

I have nephew that won 7th place in the KC Missouri American Royal bar b que contest one time. He used a home made smoker. It looked like a piece of junk compared to some of the elaborate setups some guys were using, but he practiced beforehand on the heat control. I think Catt said above, it's all about the heat control, as is cooking anything. He also smoked some hard boiled eggs at the Royal. This may have been why he came in in the top ten. Nobody else had hard boiled eggs down there. The judges must have liked them.

[Mobasser]

About brisket. As a kid we had brisket and my mom.and grandma always cooked them slowly in the oven. We loved them. Most folks in the 60s just had a small bar b que grill, and you'd better keep a bottle of water close by, to spray out the fires! I never knew anyone who slow smoked meat back then. I also remember mom and grandma saying that brisket was a cheap cut of meat. They have quite a bit of fat. But, this is what makes them so good on a slow smoker. A brisket sandwich, some pickles, and just a little sauce is hard to beat! I'll rank them up there with crappie fillets. Well, almost....

[TnRiver46]

4 hours ago, VolFan said:

Utterly off this topic but the Obed is one of my favorite places in TN. Great fishing, climbing, camping, kayaking, and hunting. 

My moms side of the family all comes from coal camps out that way 

[flyfisher]

6 hours ago, VolFan said:

Utterly off this topic but the Obed is one of my favorite places in TN. Great fishing, climbing, camping, kayaking, and hunting. 

If there was more work there back when I was looking, I'd probably be living there to be honest.  That place is beautiful.  

16 hours ago, TnRiver46 said:

Whaaaaa???!!  Well the obed and it’s tribs are loaded with smallies and muskie that like flies, why would you go clinging to cliffs above the water??

It is a lot of fun and more mentally and physically challenging than fishing.  I have gotten away from it over the past 15 years but I still get the urge to head out a few times a year and usually do and have a lot of fun once I realize I need to not try and do what I did back when I was climbing 100 days a year lol

7 hours ago, bulldog1935 said:

 

 

I smoked a turkey for 20 hours one Thanksgiving, and there wasn't a crumb for leftovers.  

 

 

Either that was a gigantic bird or it wasn't really that long.  I can't see it being not completely dried out at that length of time.  I don't do the low and slow per se when I do my turkey every year.  I basically open my WSM wide open with some peach wood and let it go until the brined turkey is done.  Check the temp in the breast and the thigh and call it a day.  

[bulldog1935]

Actually, it takes a week at 185 to dry and cure a ring of Alsatian sausage (this is venison and pork).  

 

 

my lunch after I released this buck - I also turned him before he shot down the busted weir.  

I caught him in this pocketwater that most people bust over to get to the deep holes below or the next weir above.  

he took my swimming BWO

 

[CountryboyinDC]

19 hours ago, bulldog1935 said:

holding the temperature to 185 except for those 3 or 4  hours above 250.  

I've seen firsthand cookers taking radically different amounts of time to cook the same thing, especially big cuts of meat.  I would really like to try the turkey.(actually I'd like to try the back strap, sausage and chili), sometimes you think you've got something dialed in until you try something new.  Is this turkey stuffed?

 

18 hours ago, Mobasser said:

I also remember mom and grandma saying that brisket was a cheap cut of meat.

I can remember when it was, and wings were the cheapest part of the chicken.  Boy has that changed.  I remember when I got the cooker, I went to the McLean Organic Butcher and got a beautiful packer-cut brisket at a price I'm embarrassed I paid.  Family was coming for a visit, and I wanted to cook something I knew they didn't eat often.  I cooked that sucker into nearly jerky.  I had to chop it and make some barbeque sauce up quick so we could have supper (almost everyone had a second helping of green beans, but no one went for more brisket).  I had the remote thermometer in the wrong place, but I learned 2 more important things.  1 - don't cook something for the first time for company, and 2 - spending an unholy amount of money on meat you're smoking don't mean it will be any count.  My brisket cooking is definitely better, but I only do 1 or 2 a year.

 

19 hours ago, Deephaven said:

If you want to reverse sear your meat

Can't agree more - if you have thick rib eyes or NY strips, it is probably worth the time to build a fire in the old kamado.

[bulldog1935]

4 hours ago, CountryboyinDC said:

...  Is this turkey stuffed?

 

No, this was a turkey and a sidebox smoker, yard oak and wild oregano (green branches on the fire - wild oregano lines the fence in my back acre).  I used the hanging rack that you use for deep frying a turkey to be able to rotate and position the big bird differently each hour in the comparatively small smoker drum w/ the racks removed.  

[Deephaven]

3 hours ago, CountryboyinDC said:

Can't agree more - if you have thick rib eyes or NY strips, it is probably worth the time to build a fire in the old kamado.

Definitely worth the 30 seconds it takes, lol

[bulldog1935]

Camping, we've served up some serious fresh redfish fillets and even chile rellenos on Cobb grill.  Only takes 5 or 6 briquettes to cook on this little sizzler.  

 

 

 

[jimmyjoe]

   I know (for sure!) that I'll never get close to all the sophisticated techniques I see here, but one thing I notice: no one mentions honey. Honey and bourbon, honey and mustard, honey and chiles or honey just to hold rub. Honey on pork, honey on chicken and honey on duck.

   Why no honey? I always thought clover honey (my Dad kept bees) was absolutely great. Am I wrong?                jj

[bulldog1935]

I sear my rubbed meats in hot olive oil in a paella pan before I put them on the smoker (except sausages, glazed chicken, etc).  

@jimmyjoe I can't get enough Texas wildflower honey, but like sauces, that sounds anathema in Texas.  The one thing people do here is wrap their brisket for the last hour and pour in a can of beer or Dr. Pepper.

[Deephaven]

34 minutes ago, bulldog1935 said:

I sear my rubbed meats in hot olive oil in a paella pan before I put them on the smoker (except sausages, glazed chicken, etc).  

The lower the temp of the meat the better the smoke absorption.  Try the sear post smoke

[bulldog1935]

I'd be hard pressed to take instruction from anyone on smoking a deer flank, but seared meats drip less on the smoker, so I think it's easy to argue they retain as much if not more smoke - at least if you're patient and smoke slow.  On a sidebox smoker, it's certainly not difficult to get bastante smoke in your meat.  My four-hour wedding sausages (of course beginning uncooked) are always smoked through-thickness and don't show a ring.  

I have a friend who wraps everything after an hour because he doesn't want more smoke.  

 

Here, a friend showed up late with his sausage

[TnRiver46]

22 hours ago, jimmyjoe said:

   I know (for sure!) that I'll never get close to all the sophisticated techniques I see here, but one thing I notice: no one mentions honey. Honey and bourbon, honey and mustard, honey and chiles or honey just to hold rub. Honey on pork, honey on chicken and honey on duck.

   Why no honey? I always thought clover honey (my Dad kept bees) was absolutely great. Am I wrong?                jj

I hate bees 

[slonezp]

12 hours ago, TnRiver46 said:

I hate bees 

They put money in your pocket, don't they?

[TnRiver46]

12 hours ago, slonezp said:

They put money in your pocket, don't they?

Negative. We don’t deal with bugs (thank God)

 

im allergic to bee stings so I’m the epipen guy