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

[SmokinChick]

that Maverick thermo is the ticket. I've had two of them for several yrs now. The on/off switch broke on one of the receiver unit. I recently purchased the Maverick 732. Haven't used it yet. The range is supposed to be better and the switchs are better.
Enjoy the Maverick, smoking is all about time and temp. Now you'll know the temp all the time.
Plus now you can smoke all night and sleep with the thermo on the night stand. That is the best.

 

[bigmike&nan]

Busy day here, mopped the floors, started some Roman Bean and Vegetable soup (the meat, 1 lb of Smithfield Bacon all cubed and fried), did about 2 lb of apple wood smoked jerky yesterday and today about 2 lb of maple wood smoked jerky, which I think is my all time favorite now, about to do up a batch of biscuits. We got dinner covered tonight I think. LOL. Time to go read some of "The Vengeance Trail of Josey Wales" (they should have made a movie of this book also).

 

[hachiko]

Thanks guys for sharing your information......

 

[bigmike&nan]

6 1/2 pound brisket, rub applied, this was my first full packer which was 16 lbs, and I went a little nuts taking off a wee bit too much fat, then I separate the decle from the flat, this is the flat. Perplexed I decided to apply the rub and then lard with thick strips of Smithfield bacon, stuck in place with cloves. Using 3.2 oz apple wood at 225 and will occasionally spray with apple juice. Using the Maverick probes is a must with this baby.

 

[bigmike&nan]

Great smells around here today. Got that puppy slow smoking with apple wood, made a macaroni salad (which I am not crazy about generally, but whoa mine is mighty fine). Smoked the brisket at 225 for 7 hours, pulled it, laid our a huge swatch of foil and napped this finishing sauce on the brisket/bacon

1/4 cup brown sugar
1/8 cup ketchup
1/8 cup honey
1/8 cup fresh squeezed orange juice (from a tara tara red orange)

Sealed up the brisket/sauce in the foil and smoked another 90 minutes at 150... Now have it resting, we keep dipping our fingers in the sauce. ****

[/

 

[h4ppy-chris]

made my best ever ribs pix are here http://www.thesmokering.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=57072

 

[bigmike&nan]

Great looking plate Chris. I tell you I had a recent crisis of confidence doing brisket - I mean my briskets were coming out tasty and good - but reading the old guys threads over at the Cookshack Forum I knew I was missing something. That something: really long cooking times. I had a 15 lb packer brisket I over trimmed, and cooked off the deckle first pass - it was good... BUT... Always wanting better, wanting my brisket Q to look like stuff coming out of Kansas City or Texas, flaky fall apart grain, some BARK on the top.

Well I took this 6 pound flat that had some fat on it, but not really enough, draped Smithfield bacon over the top that I tacked in place with cloves. Smoked it at 225 for almost 8 hours, about 6 1/2 hours in the smoker and then 90 minutes wrapped in foil in the oven. Well we ate it and it was good but not fall apart tender. I took what was left and put in a big thing of foil, next morning I napped a sauce over it, wrapped it up and cooked it in the OVEN at 300 (higher than my smoker goes) for about 3 more hours. WOW, now I'm getting there.

So what I'm saying to you is hang in there - we're both learning as we go - the threads on these smoker forums help some - but we gotta learn what our own gear can do and in no time we are gonna be Zen Masters of Smoking... I'm really loving what I do. It's fun being out reading a book with the smoker going making the whole neighborhood smell good. As for pork ribs, oh man I love ribs, I take leftover ribs and cut some fattys, I take 4 or 5 sections and cut the bone out of every other one, so that each remaining bone has big fat hunks of meat on each side... I put them in a tray and heat them back up in my toaster oven... WHOA !!!!!!!

Best

Mike

 

[h4ppy-chris]

thanks mike, i love the UDS now i know more about it and done the mods. i can set it up and have it sit @225F for hours

now i need to do a brisket. making bacon ATM it will be ready to smoke Tuesday.

 

[slick4591]

Mike,

I've been cooking in Texas for 40+ years and even got into the professional end of it 10 or so years ago. I never buy anything but a select packer trimmed brisket and never whittle on it afterwards. The reason I buy the cheaper cut is because after you melt the connective tissue (collagen, I think) there's not a bit of difference in them. I use only a dry rub on the fat cap side, which I turn up in the smoker (Smokeshack) and leave alone. I use a half hickory and half pecan wood mixture. (The pecan softens the bite of the hickory.) Set the smoker at 190F and let cook 13 hours (12-15 lbs). When the time runs I leave in an additional hour to allow for the time it takes for the smoker to get to cooking temp. Also, realize that our smokers will probably cook differently, but you can adjust.

I was taught that meat has its own built-in thermometer. With the brisket it's the fat cap. If you push on the fat cap and your finger basically falls through it, then it's ready.

Don't mean to poke my nose in where it don't belong as I just wanted to throw up my method. Happy smokin'!

 

[h4ppy-chris]

thanks slick4591 some good info there.