Everything smoking...meat smoking !! Tips, tricks, and recipes + (poll added)

Poor Nugget

 

Lol that was a good one Jose

 

Brooks bbq chicken is the original version of "Cornell chicken" salt, vinegar, egg, spices. It's the best chicken IMO. I'll have to buy some sauce and rub when I'm up there for a family reunion in Sept. Maybe a few lucky ones will get a bottle of sauce hidden in their next syrup order

 

1.5 hours in on a 14 lb prime brisket today. Barely fits the smoker.

 

I just ate a bunch of carne asada and that's making me hungry again.

 

I decided I hadn't fired up the smoker in a while, so I did a Boston Butt for some pulled pork today. Put it in at about 8:00 am this morning and just pulled it at 3:30. Held about 250 for the day. First time using cherry wood - smelled wonderful. Letting it rest now - can't wait!

Here it was this morning:

 

Ok, so that turned out to be one of the best things I have made on the smoker. So awesome. Homemade slaw and homemade sauce. Big hit with the family, too!

 

Damn that looks good!!!!

 

Buddy of mine gave me these recipes. I have not tried them myself, but he says they are awesome. Enjoy (we need a BBQ emoji)

 

I've used the 321 method (at 225-250 degrees) for MANY years. Recently though, I tried going up to 275-300 for 1.5 hrs with no texas crutch (foil) and the ribs turned out pretty damn good!!
They were tender without falling off the bone. Had a decent "chew" to them while still not being tough, and you could taste more meat flavor instead of just being a smoke-bomb. I think it was 275 for the first hour (rub only), then 300 for the remaining half hour (with sauce).

 

LOL.... The chicken looks like it is just chillin there waiting to be eaten!!

 

Guess I never posted a pic of the finished product. One of the best briskets I’ve made.

 

I’ve been doing ribs at 300 for 1.5-2 hours with no crutch and they’ve been fantastic.

 

Wrapping ribs is not really needed unless your smoker moves a lot of air and dries out your ribs. On my metal “egg,” I do about 5 hours at 225 with no wrap and they come out excellent.

 

I run a BGE and it’s keeps a ton of moisture in the system. So what works for me won’t work for others on different systems. But this is why I’m not always blindly following “rules” and suggest everyone figures out what works for them on their own rigs.

 

Some chickens for the couple of days for lunch. Bastards took 5 hours to cook at 225-250 with applewood.

 

Looks good

 

Just a question, I'm thinking of getting a vacuum seal machine being I always seam to cook for a boat load and usually its me and the wife! So, we end up with a bunch of leftovers and being I like to smoke all types off meat on the smoker, I've always thought of getting a vac sealer!


Are they worth it and ant better ones then others to buy!


Thanks!

 

We use ours all the time. I make my own bacon, and we always have leftover brisket or pork when I smoke big cuts of meat. Vac-sealing is a great thing for frozen raw meat, too. Keeps the freezer burn off it. We seal up pounds and pounds of paddlefish every spring, catfish, crappie, etc. Heck, I even vac seal hot dogs in 5 or 6 packs when we buy them in bulk from Sam’s. The best type are chamber sealers but they start in the several hundred dollar range. Unless you want to spend that $$ for a professional one, I’d just hop on Amazon and find one with good reviews at the price point you like and try it out.

 

Thanks for the response, I may get one soon!

 

Looking to get a smoker, recommendations needed for best budget or best value smoker?

 

Figure out what kind of BBQ you like and then get one to match. Personally I’m a fan of egg style smokers - they go for thermal insulation (efficiency) and low air movement meaning they run a long time on one load of charcoal and thy don’t dry out the food. I have a Char Griller Akorn and it cost $249 and this is my 6th summer with it.

I have a $99 Black Friday special electric smoker I thought I’d use all the time. I’ve used it maybe 3 times in 2 years.

 

Do you have a charcoal grill currently? Because if so, the cheapest thing you can do is to do a little modification if necessary and use it as a smoker. I did that for years with a grill that I modified. Then, I caught the bug and went and finally bought a nice smoker. But, be careful - like anything else, it gets expensive fast. I am considering purchasing or building my own stick burner. I love BBQ.

 

Thanks will check it out.

Thanks, will check out the egg style.

No bbq atm, tossed it out. So time to upgrade.

 

Ribeyes (reverse sear, so smoking now), corn and local peaches to go with ice cream after dinner.



And done!

 

Havarti, white and yellow cheddar, colby, colby jack and Dubliner coming off the smoker right now.