Slow Smoking Meat: I'm a Microbiologist, Dumbass.

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Goons with Spoons > Slow Smoking Meat: I'm a Microbiologist, Dumbass.

Beef Of Ages: Jan 11, 2003; Your dumb is leaking.

I am a man. This is my smoker.

PainBreak posted:

Chicken is one of the easiest things to "smoke", because it doesn't require you to break down any connective tissue, making it a matter of taking it up to 160F. 350F is a great temperature at which to smoke chicken, and at that heat, you should end up with somewhat crispy skin. If you can go higher toward the end, then by all means, do.

I haven't ventured into chickens, what with my recent focus on brisket and pork ribs (I'm from Texas, in case the brisket didn't tip you off). However, a competition I'm in in May has a half chicken as one of the categories, so I'm going to give it the ol' college try on Saturday. As you said, slow cooking isn't really needed here, so I may just cook it closer to the firebox so that the smoke flavor gets in but it cooks within an hour or so.

Here's a few shots of a competition I did last year where I had 37 pork tenderloins (easiest thing in the world to cook) going at once:

And a later event with briskets (wrapped in foil) and some ribs:

Beef Of Ages fucked around with this message at 20:23 on Mar 21, 2012

# ¿ Mar 21, 2012 20:14

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# ¿ Apr 19, 2024 07:18

Beef Of Ages: Jan 11, 2003; Your dumb is leaking.

A buddy of mine has one of those electric smokers, and it makes some drat good food. I like building a fire and tending it for a while because the smoke flavor is decidedly different, but both are good in my estimation. It's all a matter of what you like.

# ¿ Mar 23, 2012 14:08

Beef Of Ages: Jan 11, 2003; Your dumb is leaking.

I decided to try my hand at chicken today. I cranked up the smoker:

And I prepared the birds:

It turned out fairly well, though I now know what I need to do in the rub department to bring it up a notch or two.

# ¿ Mar 25, 2012 02:35

Beef Of Ages: Jan 11, 2003; Your dumb is leaking.

qutius posted:

I decided to wrap the brisket in foil after it hit it's ~150 degree stall point and it finished up to 202 degrees several hours later, about 7 hour total which is a tad on the short side? Hopefully its fit for eating, at least.

This is what I've taken to doing as well. A while back I read that article that was posted earlier in this thread about what causes the temperature stall and how to work around it, so I gave it a shot and it was great. I don't actually take an internal temperature reading on brisket (or ribs) while cooking because after an hour per pound on the smoker I know the meat is safe to eat, but the outcome has been simply a better brisket (more moist without eating so much of the fat).

Seven hours doesn't seem to short if you've got a seven pound brisket. If you had a fifteen pound brisket, might I recommend a chain saw?

# ¿ Mar 25, 2012 23:51

Beef Of Ages: Jan 11, 2003; Your dumb is leaking.

Mach420 posted:

An electric smoker uses heating elements while the normal ones use wood, charcoal or (ugh) propane. In an electric, the wood chunks are placed near the heating element in a way that they start giving off smoke. The majority of the heat is from the heating element. I still don't know why electrics don't give good smoke rings, but there you go.

Based on my observations from my buddy's electric smoker, my supposition is that the smoke is simply not thick enough in most cases to impart the ring. It adds flavor to be sure, but the standard wood burning smoker like mine completely fills the main cavity with smoke, the pressure built by the heat causing it to move through and up out of the smoke stack. The meat gets a much more, "even" smoke via this method while the temperature is variable, whereas the electric smoker provides a much more precise cooking environment where temperature is concerned.

# ¿ Mar 26, 2012 04:07

Beef Of Ages: Jan 11, 2003; Your dumb is leaking.

Alleric posted:

Fired up the Bradley yesterday to attempt a repeat of last Thanksgiving's epic: smoked duck.

Brined overnight in salt, sugar, apple juice, thyme, rosemary, sage, black pepper. Then went into the smoker for ~3 hours at 300, then to the oven at 400 to bring it up the last 20 degrees or so and tighten the skin.

Saute of kale and some puree of roasted parsnips and celery root... and man, that's dinner.

Does your duck come out greasy? Duck has a lot of fat in it in general, but a friend of mine smoked two ducks during the big cookoff we had in my back yard last year and while the meat was delicious, it was incredibly greasy. I'm not familiar enough with duck to know if that's just how it is or if there is some other way to handle it.

# ¿ Mar 26, 2012 16:31

Beef Of Ages: Jan 11, 2003; Your dumb is leaking.

Alleric posted:

Greasy... no. I mean, it's duck, so there's more inherent fat going on in the meat in general, but it's not greasy. Here's the complete breakdown of Duck L'smoke as it happens at my house:

1. Brine duck overnight.
2. Put duck in smoker at 275-300 (tune temps as necessary so you hit 140 about 40 minutes before you want to eat. For the love of all that's holy use a dedicated drip pan.
2.a. Hang the duck if you can. This will let some of the fat and excess brine out. If you can't, it's no biggie, because...
3. When you hit 140 at the breast, evacuate the duck from the smoker to either a. a grill (BRING THE DRIP PAN HOLY CRAP FIRE FIRE FIRE) or b. your oven at like 400 degrees (did I mentiont he drip pan?).

Depending on how long step 2 takes... a lot of fat will actually render out, but in step 3 it will come out in volumes. The two times we've done this the duck comes out of the smoker a beautiful mohogany color. Just stunning. 20-30 minutes on the grill or in the oven and the skin tightens and shines up. Let it rest a couple of minutes while you get the rest of dinner situated, and carve up as you like.

With this method I think the final fat presence on the breast was 1/8th of an inch? Thin, just enough to leave on with the attached skin when doing cross slices. Makes a killer presentation. Thighs and legs were just normal dark meat, only a little richer.

Last night I took what was left of the meat, chunked it up, tossed it in olive oil with chopped carrots, bell pepper, onion and stuck it in the oven for 15 minutes at 425. Browned some butter as that finished up and tossed all of it with penne and parmasan. It was like Thanksgiving pasta and it was awesome.

edit:

I have read of individuals scoring the breasts prior to cooking them just in general. Break the water/fat barrier, let more of the fat render out during cooking. I would presume one could also do this prior to the duck going in the smoker, but if you can keep from doing it... one whole, unmolested, dark, brown, shiny-skinned smoked duck is really a sight to behold.

Oh and if you can keep from burning the rendered fat up? Smoked duck fat roast potatoes... smoked duck fat grilled asparagus... smoked duck fat cut into ground beef for hamburgers...

Thanks for the details and thoughts. That dark smoked color on the skin was certainly achieved, but there was little done other than seasoning before it went on the smoker, so I think a lot of the fat was not able to be rendered out. Enhancing flavor I'm sure, but good lord it made a mess while cutting into it.

Aside from my buddy with the electric smoker, everything I do (and everything else we did at that big cookoff last year) was done via wood in an offset smoker like mine. The brine method is interesting, but the wood smoker does a more complete job of cooking (in my horribly biased opinion) so I don't know if it is necessary in that scenario. I do, however, think that finishing the cooking next to the fire (a la a grill) with some limited scoring for excess fat release might do better next time.

I have a plan. :tipshat:

# ¿ Mar 28, 2012 17:10

Beef Of Ages: Jan 11, 2003; Your dumb is leaking.

ObesePriest posted:

Smoking my first whole chicken and duck today! Anyone got any last minute tips? I brined my chicken and just rubbed my duck with salt and pepper.

I shall post pictures later!

I've got a brisket on myself. I added a little extra salt to my rub this time in the hopes of sparking a tad more flavor out. We'll see.

# ¿ Apr 1, 2012 20:08

Beef Of Ages: Jan 11, 2003; Your dumb is leaking.

Well, gently caress. I overcooked it, and I know exactly why. It was a 9lb brisket, but it was not a terribly thick cut (it was rather long), so it cooked more evenly and faster than a more traditional cut. Ah well, it still tastes great and while it is far from perfect, it'll eat.

After resting:

The lean half in a cross section:

# ¿ Apr 2, 2012 02:38

Beef Of Ages: Jan 11, 2003; Your dumb is leaking.

Pigsfeet on Rye posted:

A barbeque place near me makes chimichangas out of smoked brisket, they're great to chow down on. You might give this a try with your brisket.

Omelets are also an excellent use of hosed up smoked meats.

# ¿ Apr 2, 2012 03:04

Beef Of Ages: Jan 11, 2003; Your dumb is leaking.

It was my wife's birthday yesterday so, with the help of Bone_Enterprise, we made it Swine Saturday�. Pictures ahoy.

We started with, as any good time does, balls (cube of cheese surrounded by Italian sausage wrapped in bacon, seasoned well):

Upon request, he also whipped up a fatty (smoked turkey, prosciutto, smoked gouda, muenster, onions, red bell pepper, spinach, and seasonings stuffed inside a wrap of breakfast sausage and then wrapped in a bacon lattice, seasoned well):

I got the fire started in my offset:

He prepared his Masterbuilt:

I put on some ribs:

And a couple pork tenderloins a bit later:

It was a

Beef Of Ages fucked around with this message at 18:57 on May 13, 2012

# ¿ May 13, 2012 18:53

Beef Of Ages: Jan 11, 2003; Your dumb is leaking.

Bob Mundon posted:

Actually used the mustard trick, literally zero bark. Go figure. I'm chalking it up to the brisket going up in temp too fast to develop any, or maybe 330 is too low for a high heat cook, I dunno.

The one thing I didn't do was have it fat side up when in the foil pan, but even then, like I said it wasn't developing anything close to bark when I put it in foil, so not sure it would have helped.

Sliced across the grain too. Followed it pretty by the book, just turned out strange. Who knows, at least the burnt ends turned out amazing.

And using a 22.5, so the edges weren't a problem.

One trick I've started using to help develop bark is to unwrap it and let it sit bare on the smoker for the last half hour or so. Drys out that outer layer pretty well.

I need to try the mustard thing one of these days. I use a bit of peanut oil, salt, and pepper on my briskets and they generally come out ok, at least taste-wise. The Christmas brisket has been on for an hour at this point and should be ready by 6PM. :coal:

# ¿ Dec 25, 2012 15:33

Beef Of Ages: Jan 11, 2003; Your dumb is leaking.

I had posted a bunch of this stuff yesterday in The Football Funhouse's super bowl cooking thread, but then I remembered this thread so I though I'd share here as well.

I decided to smoke a couple of briskets.

One for me, one for the party this afternoon.

I've posted pictures of my rig earlier in this thread so I'll not bore you with that.

The fuel. While most cooks in Texas (including the professionals) prefer oak, I really like pecan. I like the way it burns and the smoke flavor it produces for briskets and ribs as well. Pork shoulders and whatnot like sweeter fruit woods, but I don't usually make those myself.

Got the fire started. Just a bit of lump charcoal to kick things off, topped with a length of seasoned pecan. Now it's time to season the first brisket!

Super secret rub: salt and pepper. :rolleyes:

I like the Montreal Steak Seasoning as well because it is salt and pepper with a bit of garlic, but it'd not required. In addition to the canned pepper, I also use a bit of fresh cracked pepper for a slightly sharper flavor.

Cover liberally on both sides, but not to the point where it's caked on. When you bite into a slice, you should taste meat, not a bark of salt and pepper.

Now that the fire has burned down, we can slap this ho on the pit and get to cooking.

Now comes the waiting, the watching, and my favorite part, the breakfast beers. :coal:

Fast forwarding several hours, here's a shot of the second brisket just prior to it's foil wrap.

Fast forwarding several hours more...

The small brisket, unwrapping and preparing for tightening on the smoker. You can see all the juices that stay close to or inside the brisket when it's wrapped. This keeps them from evaporating, thus stopping the well-fabled stall.

Same deal for the larger brisket.

Tightening.

After tightening.

The money shot.

Both briskets turned out really good, as evidenced by the fact that there was none left of the one I took to the party. :coal:

# ¿ Feb 4, 2013 16:13

Beef Of Ages: Jan 11, 2003; Your dumb is leaking.

Veritek83 posted:

Also any general advice on a piece of meat this serious.

Salt and pepper. I did these yesterday:

Turned out quite well.

# ¿ Apr 9, 2017 19:15

Beef Of Ages: Jan 11, 2003; Your dumb is leaking.

couldcareless posted:

There's tons you can do with brisket leftovers. My favorite is a hash with the crispier parts the next morning

Brisket and/or rib omelettes the next morning are tits.

# ¿ Apr 13, 2017 00:44

Beef Of Ages: Jan 11, 2003; Your dumb is leaking.

Hello fellow protein denaturation practitioners. I forgot this thread was here and had some free time today so I thought I'd share the good news of our lord and savior: swine.

I'm rolling with a fairly generic Old Country offset that is well used but I try to take care of it so it doesn't rust all to hell.

Got the fire rolling; I start with a mix of normal charcoal and pecan chunks and then burn pecan for cooking. Though I hail originally from the land of post oak (central Texas), I think pecan burns better in these smaller offset fireboxes because it doesn't have to be quite as hot to combust cleanly. I also like the smell and flavor imparted to the meat (both swine and beef).

Today's meat is a roughly 8.5lb butt and I threw in a small pork steak for lunch since it will be done in about three hours.

Because of my Texas roots, I use salt, pepper, and a mix from Katy, TX called Grub Rub that is really great on pork. Adds a hit of sweetness and a nice color on the bark.

Bountiful seasoning application complete.

Now we go on the pit for indoctrination of smoke.

This post brought to you by: Innertube Lager from Burial Beer Company in Asheville, NC. It's beer flavored beer which is quite appropriate for the day.

Let's see what happens this afternoon. :tipshat:

# ¿ May 25, 2020 15:01

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# ¿ Apr 19, 2024 07:18

Beef Of Ages: Jan 11, 2003; Your dumb is leaking.

Crutched at the four hour mark.

Edit: Forgot to post lunch. Lovely pork steak.

Beef Of Ages fucked around with this message at 18:24 on May 25, 2020

# ¿ May 25, 2020 18:11

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Goons with Spoons > Slow Smoking Meat: I'm a Microbiologist, Dumbass.