food smoking are you a smoker of meats? can you help? share your recipes! - Page 15

Looks great Chris

Sorry about the after taste - what are you using for coals ?? Are you using a lighter fluid or a chimney with newspaper ??? All I read about smokers is make sure it is dry very dry wood, folks at Cookshack say damp or wet wood causes creosote to form on the walls of the smoker. Next time it is used the coldest part of the smoker during the smoke is the meat and the creosote is drawn to the coldest part of the smoker (or when burning wood in a fireplace the chimney is the coldest part of the apparatus and that is where creosote builds up, eventually causing chimney fires.

 

As for the long cooking time on the pork, were you opening the smoker a lot because of the other product in there ?? I really try NOT to open my smoker at all any more unless I am about to flip the meat or wrap it in foil. Having that Maverick thermometer I saw my smoker temp nose dive quite a bit when I foiled the brisket Saturday. Like they say at Cookshack, it's done when it's done...  I cooked a 5.5 lb brisket from 09:00 to 16:30 to get a solid 192 - and the results I was after...  That involved opening the smoker once to foil and put the finishing sauce on the brisket - the smoker was open 90 seconds. It sure was worth it. This smoking thing is a lot of fun. Stay with it, our technique and finished product seems to be getting better all the time. Any time you wanna PM me with questions or give me advice please fire away !!

 

Now as they used to say in the Army:

 

Smoke 'em if ya got 'em...

(20 seconds later) Ok put 'em out !!

Edited by bigmike&nan - 3/19/12 at 5:21am

 

There are a few things that you should try to change. Firstly that pork only needs to get to 155 to 160 NOT 190. When I smoke whole pork butts (I am a sausage maker and smoker for a living) they usually are in for around 7 hours to get to 160. Secondly you should have a pan over the coals so the fat drippings (there won't be as much if you don't overcook it) don't drip on the coals and burn.

 

As far as aftertaste what kind of brine are you using and was the pork frozen before it was smoked? It may be the fat drippings but it is more likely something in the process before it ever went into the smoker.
 

 

I had a real dilemma when  I started smoking briskets, as a trained professional I was always taught to keep beef in between 135 to 160. Well smoking a fatty piece of meat like a beef brisket or a pork butt that won't give you fall apart tender and juicy meat. The meat actually needs to get to 185 - 190 for the fat and collagen to start breaking down - in fact there is a "plateau" in the temp where the temperature stalls at which is a sign you are starting to approach that prime temperature range. The last brisket I did the temp stalled for almost an hour at 180, I didn't panic, I just let the thing continue cooking. Sure enough about 45 minutes later it broke that plateau and starting slowly rising to 190 over another hour or so. Here is a great link from Cookshack. It's called Pork Butt 101, they have a lot of other 101 Threads there that are terrific.

 

http://www.cookshack.com/store/Smokin-Okies-101-Series/Pork-Butt-101

 

By the way I am not disputing what or why other people do it - jeez, everyone has their way - I definitely agree with what Tdub said about you needing a drip pan between the coals and your product, I bet a lot of the weird taste you are getting is coal smoke from the juices splashing and creating more unwanted coal smoke that is coating your meat. Good luck as I said before the more we practice the better our end product gets...  A pork butt is my next smoking adventure...

 

And one more thing, I would come up for a more appetizing name for that green chile creation than T*RD, how about Atomic Bomb or something ?? I mean who wants to eat a T*RD... I know Cookshack calls them PepperPoppers and makes a chile holder perfectly suited for the job...

 

http://www.cookshack.com/store/Accessories/PM004-Pepper-Popper-Grill-2-Dz-

Edited by bigmike&nan - 3/21/12 at 8:42am

Those thing are named lots of things and Atomic Buffalo Turds was one of the first I heard. You're right, doesn't sound appetizing at all.

About the pork. I was taught that the bad bugs are killed at 145F in pork and I believe that is the USDA recommendation. (The USDA used to recommend 160F but has lowered the temp with 3 minutes rest.) That sure doesn't make it fall apart tender, tho. Many will disagree with my method for a butt and that's fine. I smoke my at 200F for approx. 14 hours until the blade bone can be pulled out clean with your hand. Since I don't normally use a thermometer on a butt I just look to see how much the meat has pulled back from the bone. If it looks right I give the blade a tug and that tells me really quickly if she's ready. I would have to say that 160F is not what you're looking for when it comes to honest to goodness pulled pork.
Edited by slick4591 - 3/21/12 at 1:31pm

 

cuban style Slow cooked with indirect heat consisting of natural hardwood charcoal(not briquettes) and seasoned black cherry wood on the top 2 pictures and the 3 was with oak. When it's cooking there is a canopy of aluminum foil over it to hold in heat and smoke. The pig gets seasoned with basic spices and injected with Mojo sauce. It cooks fairly quickly for its size 6/10 hours depending on the pig. The halves starts skin side down for half the time then we sister up the matching grate flip and cover for the remaining time.  The waiting time is usually filled with some beer drinking but for me water as I am the cook and the butcher.

Edited by duckinnut - 4/18/12 at 2:27pm

My apologies for not being around more, been busy with a lot of stuff.

Still smoking. Did a pork butt that made the best pulled pork I've ever had. I used to swear by my made in the dutch oven in the oven pulled pork, no more.
The smoky flavor the smoker gives the mean was amazing - I BELIEVE I used cherry and apple wood for it. WOW.

 

Then I found a thread on the Cookshack forum for Burnt Ends, read the recipe which sounded good. Did some trolling on YouTube and see why people are so nuts about it.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zw8p4dpX3SU

 

Essentially you cook a whole brisket in the smoker, when the flat portion is at temp (about 190) you take the whole thing out of the smoker and put it on a cutting board.

With the back side (dull side) of the knife you slide thru the now cooked fat seam that separates the flat from the tip (deckle or point) and wrap the flat in foil and then a towel.

Cover the perviously unexposed layer of the the tip with rub and put back in the smoker about another 90-120 minutes until you get this lovely crusty dark thing - you've rendered almost all the fat out of the tip and you have this crispy tasty mass. So then remove, slice and then cube the meat, place in a throwaway aluminum pan and ladle in a little sauce. What you get is "burnt ends" - the meat is fall apart tender. It's way better than pulled pork. Great over a baked potato, on a soft potato roll, over rice... WOW

 

Edited by bigmike&nan - 4/17/12 at 9:49am

Chris, that sausage looks great!

That whole hog looks to die for, and I'd love me some skin and cheek meat.