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

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

Stringent: Dec 22, 2004; image text goes here

Hollis Brown posted:

Edit: A little off topic, but can anyone recommend a good tomato based barbecue sauce?

Repost from YOSPOS, but I figure it might come in handy here.

I'm from North Carolina, and my parents grew up in Lexington. Here's my grandmother's BBQ sauce recipe and her BBQ slaw recipe for lagniappe.

Sauce:
4 cups (946mL) white vinegar
2/3 cups (142mL) sugar
1 1/2cups (355mL) Heinz ketchup (any ketchup is fine, Heinz is best)
Juice, pulp and rinds of one lemon
1/2 stick of butter
1 teaspoon salt
Black pepper and Texas Pete to taste

Mix all the ingredients and simmer 2-3 hours until desired thickness.
Keeps forever so if you want to double the recipe go for it.

Slaw:
1 head of cabbage, grated
1 teaspoon of salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 cup (118mL) sugar
Texas Pete to taste

Add those to a mixing bowl and mash them together with your hands.

To this add:
1/4 cup (60mL) white vinegar

Mix again

Then add:
1/2 cup (118mL) Heinz ketchup

Mix again and you're done, add any of the ingredients you feel might be lacking to taste.

Will keep almost indefinitely in the refridgerator, but it's best fresh.

Stringent fucked around with this message at 14:10 on Jan 24, 2012

# ¿ Jan 24, 2012 13:09

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# ¿ Apr 26, 2024 01:33

Stringent: Dec 22, 2004; image text goes here

Mach420 posted:

Re: the WSM, you can foil the water pan, or do what some have done and go without the water pan, subbing sand or a big foiled terra cotta plate for heat regulation. A big 22 kettle is perfectly fine for a shoulder or chicken. The WSM is definitely preferred for bulk smoking, bigger items, or things that take a long time, since you can almost just set and forget it and have it go for half a day on that big shoulder or brisket.

you absolutely should be double foiling the water pan.

as for the charcoal, i don't see how cleaning the ash from the grill would be any easier than from the smoker.

# ¿ Mar 20, 2012 23:08

Stringent: Dec 22, 2004; image text goes here

MasterControl posted:

help me out here..what does double foiling the water pan do exactly? Also..are you filling it with water? Or empty?

Double foiling prevents any spills onto the pan itself when you take the top layer off. I only use water during the summer, but ymmv.

# ¿ Mar 21, 2012 23:22

Stringent: Dec 22, 2004; image text goes here

BraveUlysses posted:

If you want to make sure you have extra juice and flavor, you would be better off injecting rather than mopping (another bark killer).

I gotta disagree with this. The moisture from the mop will burn off after an hour or so and I've found it keeps the meat on the outside from drying excessively.

# ¿ Jun 9, 2012 11:51

Stringent: Dec 22, 2004; image text goes here

TECHNICAL Thug posted:

Anyone have a smokenator 1000? I have heard good things but haven't used one yet. I'm probably getting a 22" weber kettle soon and may buy a smokenator for it.

Alternatively, I just use the base of my 18" wsm as a grill.

# ¿ Jun 21, 2012 04:07

Stringent: Dec 22, 2004; image text goes here

Canuckistan posted:

I've never gotten crispy skin with brine and low temp. Maybe duck is different, but if chicken and turkey are any indication you're going to have problems. By the time you blow torch at the end won't the subcutaneous fat needed to crisp skin already be rendered off? I'm just guessing here as I've never done it.

I've heard that air drying uncovered in the fridge for a day can help a brined bird get a crispy skin.

I've always had to throw it in the oven after it's smoked to crisp the skin.

# ¿ Jul 23, 2012 12:58

Stringent: Dec 22, 2004; image text goes here

coronaball posted:

So I am out of town and at the mercy of what my friend has in his house to cook 2 racks of STL ribs tomorrow.

The good: We have all the seasonings to make a pretty good version of the AmazingRibs guy's Memphis Dust Rub.

The bad: there's no smoke wood of any kind to be had.

Unknown: We're gonna use a Traeger pellet smoker/grill whatever the gently caress it is. It's the top of the line version and based on the tri tips we made tonight its very easy to control temp, but I am a babe in the woods when it comes to pellet smokers.

Any thoughts or suggestions?

An axe, a chisel and wikipedia?

# ¿ Oct 13, 2012 11:16

Stringent: Dec 22, 2004; image text goes here

Digital_Jesus posted:

Buy yourself the aftermarket steel door. It will change your life.

http://cajunbandit.com/

What's so great about it?

# ¿ Oct 25, 2012 10:39

Stringent: Dec 22, 2004; image text goes here

Digital_Jesus posted:

The stock door that comes with the new versions of the WSM is a giant turd. It's a piece of aluminum sort-of maybe the same shape as the opening in the drum. It's useless. On a full coal bed I'd get maybe 8 hours with the standard aluminum door. With the steel replacement I don't need any additional fuel for a full 16 hour brisket.

The temperature also holds much more steady and you don't need to worry about windy days. Best $35 I spent on my WSM.

Next on my list is the cajunbandit WSM mid-section extension so I can get 9-10 butts in there instead of the standard 6. Got parties coming up yo.

Edit: Also I forgot to mention. I had a delicious accident the other day. I pulled out my kettle do throw on some ribeyes, and being a lazy bastard I forgot to clean out the bottom vent. Long story short I would up with 4 ribeyes that had been smoking at 150 degrees for 30-40 minutes then threw them on a proper set of hot coals to sear the outside. Amazing. Recommend loving that one up again to anyone else.

Sold!

# ¿ Oct 26, 2012 04:10

Stringent: Dec 22, 2004; image text goes here

BraveUlysses posted:

I was moving it out of the garage and should have pulled instead of pushed as I moved it.

Sigh...my BGE was the best 500 bucks I ever spent.

aww, man.

# ¿ Oct 29, 2012 02:29

Stringent: Dec 22, 2004; image text goes here

Cuahtemoc posted:

Hi Guys

I recently got interested in replicating some of the stuff that you do in American style BBQ. It's been a little difficuly because you use different cuts and smokers aren't really available over here. I've been using a charcoal fired Kamado oven and had pretty good success so far, I think.

These are my first tries at each.

Ribs - ours aren't as meaty as yours as we butcher pigs when they're younger, I think. Used the Amazing ribs memphis dust, cooked @ about 120-130c for 3.5 hours.

Pulled Pork - Smoked in the Kamado for 3 hours@ 130/140c, followed by 8 hours in the oven @ 110c

Just got some proper digital thermometers so I'm keen to see how it improves. Doing pulled lamb shoulders on Saturday followed by another pulled pork on sunday.

Out of curiosity, where are you located?

# ¿ Jan 30, 2013 12:12

Stringent: Dec 22, 2004; image text goes here

Cool, where'd you get a kamado?

# ¿ Jan 30, 2013 15:13

Stringent: Dec 22, 2004; image text goes here

the worst part about bark is having to make myself stop picking it off and eating it

# ¿ Apr 28, 2013 05:33

Stringent: Dec 22, 2004; image text goes here

Hickory is the only acceptable wood for pork. :colbert:

# ¿ Apr 30, 2013 02:51

Stringent: Dec 22, 2004; image text goes here

bunnielab posted:

Today I built a thing.

It took about 4 beers and other than a brief use of a level, it was all improvised with just a tape, screwgun, and hand saw.

Tried to do some chicken in the grill using some bricks to make it into a smoker.

It worked just ok. The temp loss from opening the lid was insane but I did get it to hold at like 305f without messing with it. The idea was to see if I could use the grill for anything if I had a pile of people over and the WSM was full. I think I could get away with fast and hot dry ribs or chicken if I planed it better and brined the parts.

I also tried to make some jalapeno cheese things. I took this hot pepper jam my friend made and mixed it with cream cheese and stuffed the peppers.

Sadly, I hosed them up. I put them on the toasting rack in the grill but it was just a bit too low and knocked some of them over, spilling cheese into the grill which I am super excited to clean out tomorrow. The holes in the holder are too small in any event and I am going to open them up a bit so the peppers sit lower and better.

Also this guy was loving with me all day:

Then I got drunker and sat around a fire until I was too tired to drink anymore.

That's a perfect day right there.

# ¿ Jun 9, 2013 08:16

Stringent: Dec 22, 2004; image text goes here

Martello posted:

Anyone here try tea-smoking? I just had some tea-smoked pork belly from a traditional Chinese place, and it was loving amazing. I want to try it myself once I get my WSM.

I too would like to hear about this.

# ¿ Jun 13, 2013 02:15

Stringent: Dec 22, 2004; image text goes here

Stringent posted:

I'm from North Carolina, and my family's all from Lexington. Here's my grandmother's BBQ sauce recipe and her BBQ slaw recipe for lagniappe.

Sauce:
4 cups (946mL) white vinegar
2/3 cups (142mL) sugar
1 1/2cups (355mL) Heinz ketchup (any ketchup is fine, Heinz is best)
Juice, pulp and rinds of one lemon
1/2 stick of butter
1 teaspoon salt
Black pepper and Texas Pete to taste

Mix all the ingredients and simmer 2-3 hours until desired thickness.
Keeps forever so if you want to double the recipe go for it.

Slaw:
1 head of cabbage, grated
1 teaspoon of salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 cup (118mL) sugar
Texas Pete to taste

Add those to a mixing bowl and mash them together with your hands.

To this add:
1/4 cup (60mL) white vinegar

Mix again

Then add:
1/2 cup (118mL) Heinz ketchup

Mix again and you're done, add any of the ingredients you feel might be lacking to taste.

Will keep almost indefinitely in the refridgerator, but it's best fresh.

# ¿ Jun 21, 2013 14:33

Stringent: Dec 22, 2004; image text goes here

BraveUlysses posted:

The BGE is just the American version of a kamodo grill which has been used for thousands of years in Asia.

To boil rice.

# ¿ Jul 1, 2013 02:22

Stringent: Dec 22, 2004; image text goes here

Meclin posted:

Thanks a lot for the advice guys! I had to try a beef brisket again today, just to see how the higher temps would work and couldn't be more happy with the results. I did a pork shoulder at the same time, so it drew out the cooking time a bit, but I smoked most the day around 240-245 and foiled around 150 internal temperature. When I pulled the beef off it was right around 190 internal. I remember someone in the thread mentioned putting in the thermometer should feel like you are sticking it into butter--it was! Here are the results: tender with a great smoke ring. Bark is much more pronounced as well.

Pork shoulder smoking:

Cutting up the beef brisket:

I even have burnt ends!

Thanks again!

That is a nice looking brisket.

# ¿ Aug 4, 2013 04:58

Stringent: Dec 22, 2004; image text goes here

bunnielab posted:

Butt question:

I am doing two ~7lb boneless butts for Saturday 2pm. I have found that the 1.5h per pound is pretty true but since there are two butts I am not sure how to time it. Going for a 21h smoke based on 14 total pounds seems crazy but I dont know.

EDIT: Also, to truss or not to truss. I like the idea of more surface area for bark to form but dont want it to fall apart.

It might add an hour to the time it'd take to just do one.

Truss one of them?

# ¿ Aug 30, 2013 02:54

Stringent: Dec 22, 2004; image text goes here

Crazyeyes posted:

Got my WSM set up yesterday. Thinking I'm gonna try some chicken and pork butt this weekend. Anyone have a guide/scale for how much charcoal to use for a given time length? As I understand it chicken is pretty quick relatively (2-3 hours). I would hate to waste 12-15 hours with of charcoal to do them.

Poultry wants to go a lot hotter than pork, wouldn't recommend doing them together.

For poultry I usually light a full chimney and that's enough for the whole cook.

For a pork shoulder, fill the ring minus some space in the middle for lit coals, then throw 1/3-1/2 a chimney of lit coals into the space.

Also: http://tvwbb.com/

# ¿ Sep 4, 2013 14:08

Stringent: Dec 22, 2004; image text goes here

LaserWash posted:

Okay, slow cooking goons, I need a suggestion on pairings.

I'm smoking some pulled pork on my gas grill on Friday and need/want to do something else (meat cooking-wise) at the same time. What should I be doing that would be easy? I did a brisket and sausage for the first time a couple of weeks ago and it was freaking awesome. Not bad considering it was my first time.

What should I smoke with my pulled pork? What kind of trimmings and stuff should I do?

My wife and I are having it for dinner on Friday night with some homebrew. It's going to be epic.

If you're not dead set on another meat, smoked baked beans is the nectar of the gods.

# ¿ Nov 13, 2013 23:07

Stringent: Dec 22, 2004; image text goes here

Faithless posted:

Is making bbq beans using the drippings from a pork butt a good idea or a greasy terrible idea? I was just thinking about cooking the beans directly under the meat in my smoker.

Just catch an edge, a shoulder drops a lot of grease.

# ¿ Dec 11, 2013 12:59

Stringent: Dec 22, 2004; image text goes here

GEEKABALL posted:

This sauce recipe was posted in this thread earlier by another goon, I can't be arsed figure out who... but I've used it and it's good.
Texas Pete is apparently some kind of bottled hot sauce and I have never (is there an "irony" emote)? noticed it for sale in Texas. I used Tabasco. Recipe:

Sauce:
4 cups (946mL) white vinegar
2/3 cups (142mL) sugar
1 1/2cups (355mL) Heinz ketchup (any ketchup is fine, Heinz is best)
Juice, pulp and rinds of one lemon
1/2 stick of butter
1 teaspoon salt
Black pepper and Texas Pete to taste

Mix all the ingredients and simmer 2-3 hours until desired thickness.
Keeps forever so if you want to double the recipe go for it.

That's me. It's my grandmother from Lexington's recipe.

# ¿ Dec 25, 2013 00:22

Stringent: Dec 22, 2004; image text goes here

BulimicGoat posted:

So I'm looking to do the smoked baked beans with pork butt drippings, but I prefer smoking the pork in a foil pan. There should be no difference if I just pour what's left in the pan into the beans and stir it up versus letting it drip through the rack, right?

Better even because you have more control over the amount you put in.

# ¿ Jan 30, 2014 06:18

Stringent: Dec 22, 2004; image text goes here

Empanadas just basically own in general I've found.

# ¿ Aug 5, 2014 15:35

Stringent: Dec 22, 2004; image text goes here

revmoo posted:

Same. I give everything a sniff right out of the package and if doesn't have a clean smell I'm not cooking it. I've only ever had bad pork out of the package three times, ever.

Mine always smells like a corpse 3 weeks dead and I still cook it. Never had a problem y

# ¿ Sep 15, 2014 14:00

Stringent: Dec 22, 2004; image text goes here

KettleWL posted:

I can't tell if this is a GWS style in joke or a serious recommendation.

That's about what I thought, on to exploring better options that don't use my smoker. Thanks for the response and clarification.

I've never tried this since I don't have a good source for venison, but I've always thought that a proper venison roast would be an amazing substitute for beef in a bourguignon.

# ¿ Sep 28, 2014 14:00

Stringent: Dec 22, 2004; image text goes here

Trig Discipline posted:

Got asked to cook BBQ for a gathering of about 40 people, so I'm doing pulled pork and drumsticks. It's about sixteen lbs of pork and four dozen drumsticks, so things are getting a bit crowded.

Only the pulled pork and drumsticks are for the event. The pork bellies are for American-style bacon, which you can't get here. The silverside is for sammiches.

You're still in Aus right? Where'd you get the smoker and how much was it? I've got a friend who's looking for one.

# ¿ Oct 23, 2014 04:35

Stringent: Dec 22, 2004; image text goes here

atothesquiz posted:

For those cooking with a WSM (or really any charcoal smoker), do you preheat the smoker before you put the meat (pork shoulder for example) on? Or do you put the meat on right when you pour the hot coals in?

I've done pork shoulders plenty of times before in my propane smoker but this will be the first time using my new WSM to make pulled pork. I've used it once before to get a feel for the temperature control when I smoked my last batch of bacon and I put the meat on right away with no problems.

Places like virtualweberbullet say to put it on right away and others say to preheat because the 15lbs of meat or so act like a huge heat sink, taking much longer to get up to cooking temps.

The temperature isn't so much an issue for me as the smoke is. When I first light charcoal it takes like half an hour to get past that nasty wrong tasting smoke.

# ¿ Oct 24, 2014 17:14

Stringent: Dec 22, 2004; image text goes here

I'm not much of a turkey fan, but that's a nice looking turkey.

# ¿ Nov 7, 2014 01:54

Stringent: Dec 22, 2004; image text goes here

There is only one wood and Hickory is its prophet.

# ¿ Nov 9, 2014 23:39

Stringent: Dec 22, 2004; image text goes here

I've got a WSM so the things that interest me most on the BGE are the high temperature stuff like pizza and steak.

# ¿ Dec 26, 2014 07:05

Stringent: Dec 22, 2004; image text goes here

feelz good man posted:

Smoked pig's head sandwich. Dry brined for a few days, smoked over pecan wood, then finished in a covered pan with some water in a low oven until melty. Served on a toasted roll drizzled with garlic oil, with pickles and habanero jack cheese!

Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes.

# ¿ Jan 15, 2015 03:31

Stringent: Dec 22, 2004; image text goes here

Trig Discipline posted:

I'm going to smoke a couple of goat legs today. Never done goat this way, so I'm just sorta acting at random. Anything special I should know about goat?

Too late I guess, but I just had a look here http://tvwbb.com/search.php?searchid=1640997

You have a trip report? I'd love to see pics.

# ¿ Mar 8, 2015 13:24

Stringent: Dec 22, 2004; image text goes here

http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3438423

# ¿ Mar 13, 2015 03:35

Stringent: Dec 22, 2004; image text goes here

feelz good man posted:

No, it's completely different. The main flavour profile is cayenne/garlic/allspice and pecan wood smoke. Also I ground about 75% of the meat and hand chopped the last bit for a nice chunky texture.

There's no way I have space for a meat grinder, but how do you think 75% preground then the rest hand chopped would work?

# ¿ Apr 19, 2015 01:39

Stringent: Dec 22, 2004; image text goes here

Trig Discipline posted:

Yes. It's my fantasy fallback job if the whole academic science thing falls through. Australian BBQ is hilariously bad, so the field is wide open.

What weirds me out about this is that making good BBQ is so ridiculously easy. So something in there must be difficult.

# ¿ Jul 3, 2015 14:13

Stringent: Dec 22, 2004; image text goes here

Did a shoulder.

# ¿ Jul 5, 2015 11:09

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# ¿ Apr 26, 2024 01:33

Stringent: Dec 22, 2004; image text goes here

Digital_Jesus posted:

Thine beef is complete.

and it was cooked absolutely spot on. Bends completely but doesn't break. Brisket perfection.

Very nice, good job.

# ¿ Aug 22, 2015 09:51

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