Who likes to smoke their meat?

[Patrick]

Today's results

Spatchcock chicken will now be on the rotation - the configuration makes it smoke evenly without drying out.
Perhaps brining helped.

My fat ratio of 10% is just too low for smoked sausage. 20-25 is more in line with the recipes. it just looks weird.
this is the 2rd time i've had this happen out of 5. just too dry - some to blame on too high a heat, but mostly just
not enough fat.

the wet brine was salt, brown sugar, peppercorn, bay leaf - chicken, brisket, and tilapia came out great. ran the tilapia a little
long but it def mimicked the traditional smoked whitefish.

Brisket - best ever - wrapped at 3.5 hours and pulled off at 204F

ribs: My goto move it to leave them on all the way to 180ish. pulled them off at 160 - awesome.
more fat and connective tissue than usual, but still awesome.

shoulder. stalled cause i didn't wrap it.
Edit: pulled at 186, rest for 10 unwrapped - shredded. really good.

 

[qclabrat]

Okay, I’ve gone to the dark side-
Today was the first smoke on the pellet smoker (Traeger 575 pro).
View attachment 144801

View attachment 144802
Despite starting off at 30*, it got to temp like a champ.
Also did incredibly well bouncing back from a drop (opening the grill).

After 3 hours smoking, I was able to add this welder’s blanket from Horror Freight- not entirely nec, but I think it helped with efficiency and pellet burn.
View attachment 144804

Of course I try a brisket out of the gate. In 30-degree weather.
Took a couple of hours longer than expected, which is to say it was right on time.
View attachment 144803
Pleasantly surprised with the smoke ring, didn’t feel like it was smoking all that much, but proof is in the pudding.

I got half way through my plate and realized I wasn’t using bbq sauce.
That says it right there.
View attachment 144805


I also picked up a smoke tube.
Looking forward to making my own smoked salmon.
Gonna have to pick @qclabrat’s brain on the cold smoke.

Perfect night to dry ur salmon

 

[moto120]

Butcher shop down my way smokes some of his meats in small batches, the smoke always pulls my nose into his shop and I end up buying something delicious.
I have a few friends who smoke their own meats, everything always turns out great. Everything posted here looks fantastic.

 

[knobbyhead]

Today's results

Spatchcock chicken will now be on the rotation - the configuration makes it smoke evenly without drying out.
Perhaps brining helped.

My fat ratio of 10% is just too low for smoked sausage. 20-25 is more in line with the recipes. it just looks weird.
this is the 2rd time i've had this happen out of 5. just too dry - some to blame on too high a heat, but mostly just
not enough fat.

the wet brine was salt, brown sugar, peppercorn, bay leaf - chicken, brisket, and tilapia came out great. ran the tilapia a little
long but it def mimicked the traditional smoked whitefish.

Brisket - best ever - wrapped at 3.5 hours and pulled off at 204F

ribs: My goto move it to leave them on all the way to 180ish. pulled them off at 160 - awesome.
more fat and connective tissue than usual, but still awesome.

shoulder. stalled cause i didn't wrap it.
Edit: pulled at 186, rest for 10 unwrapped - shredded. really good.

Holy crap, that's a lot of smoking.

Spatchcock chicken us the way to go.

Here's my contrabution to the thread, a little 12 lb turkey on my weber.

 

[Patrick]

 

[Big Dumb Animal]

Jamaican jerk seasoned chicken, smoked with hickory and apple for 4.5 hours, seared on the grill. Too bad these are for friends and I can't even try them.

 

[Tim]

I smoked a couple dozen party wings yesterday. I used Killer Hogs AP and The BBQ Rubs. They were awesome!



Then today I smoked a whole prime brisket. I’ve smoked briskets, both whole packers and flats, maybe a dozen times this year. I’ve had mixed results. I haven’t maade anything that totally sucked but nothing spectacular, either....until today. This time I more or less followed Myron Mixon’s method and it turned out great. My timing wasn’t exactly what he claims to achieve but it worked. I will be ecstatic if I can repeat what I did today time and time again. I got great bark, a good smoke ring, and I was finally able to make burnt ends that were actually good!...wait, no...they were great!





Sorry for the shitty photos...I was in meat euphoria...

 

[knobbyhead]

I smoked a couple dozen party wings yesterday. I used Killer Hogs AP and The BBQ Rubs. They were awesome!

View attachment 147483

Then today I smoked a whole prime brisket. I’ve smoked briskets, both whole packers and flats, maybe a dozen times this year. I’ve had mixed results. I haven’t maade anything that totally sucked but nothing spectacular, either....until today. This time I more or less followed Myron Mixon’s method and it turned out great. My timing wasn’t exactly what he claims to achieve but it worked. I will be ecstatic if I can repeat what I did today time and time again. I got great bark, a good smoke ring, and I was finally able to make burnt ends that were actually good!...wait, no...they were great!

View attachment 147481
View attachment 147482
View attachment 147484

Sorry for the shitty photos...I was in meat euphoria...

Looks great!!! Brisket I feel is the hardest cut of meat to smoke. I need to look up Myron's recipe for this.

 

[jmanic]

Second smoke on the new machine, and I gotta say I’m on board!

With the set it and forget it approach, I decided to dry rub and smoke the chickens and sausages.


Maybe 2.5-3 hours on the chicken, 1.5 hours on the sausage.
All at 185*.
Basted chx with bbq sauce and added some grill marks to finish them off.




By all accounts, chx was awesome.
Sausage was good too, but smoke flavor was light.
That was user error.
If you look at first pic, smoke box is to the right, chimney to the left.
With the carpet of chicken I laid down on the grill, sausage never had a chance at smoke.

Still loving the new toy, and will nail it next time.

 

[JonF]

I find it difficult to get the level of smoke in sausage as you can in something you smoke far longer like ribs or pork butt. I think the casing on the sausage is a factor: No proof, just a theory. Its like a protective shield to some extent. OTOH, the polish butcher i sometimes go to has various smoked sausages that are far smokier than mine, even when i try to smoke the fresh Kielbasa i buy there so its certainly possible. Maybe they are doing a heavy cold smoke? I know the store bought junk uses a lot of liquid smoke to boost the "smokey" flavor.

 

[jmanic]

I find it difficult to get the level of smoke in sausage as you can in something you smoke far longer like ribs or pork butt. I think the casing on the sausage is a factor: No proof, just a theory. Its like a protective shield to some extent. OTOH, the polish butcher i sometimes go to has various smoked sausages that are far smokier than mine, even when i try to smoke the fresh Kielbasa i buy there so its certainly possible. Maybe they are doing a heavy cold smoke? I know the store bought junk uses a lot of liquid smoke to boost the "smokey" flavor.

You may have a point-
Whenever the smoker is in action, I always throw some sausage or kielbasa on at the end.
I have typically had pretty decent results,
but in retrospect I have also left them on waaaay too long.
(This is the first time I used a temp probe to keep an eye on them).

So I will give it another go with better grate distribution, and if that doesn't work,
I'll go nuclear and toss in a smoke tube.

 

[Tim]

You may have a point-
Whenever the smoker is in action, I always throw some sausage or kielbasa on at the end.
I have typically had pretty decent results,
but in retrospect I have also left them on waaaay too long.
(This is the first time I used a temp probe to keep an eye on them).

So I will give it another go with better grate distribution, and if that doesn't work,
I'll go nuclear and toss in a smoke tube.

Are you using a Traeger? If so the fire pot is in the center directly below the cooking grate. The heat shield and drip pan create indirect heat. I'm not sure the placement of the chicken made a difference? I'm not totally sure how the chimney placement affects smoke distribution?

I've done sausage a few times and I always overcook it.

 

[Bike N Gear]

I find it difficult to get the level of smoke in sausage as you can in something you smoke far longer like ribs or pork butt. I think the casing on the sausage is a factor: No proof, just a theory. Its like a protective shield to some extent. OTOH, the polish butcher i sometimes go to has various smoked sausages that are far smokier than mine, even when i try to smoke the fresh Kielbasa i buy there so its certainly possible. Maybe they are doing a heavy cold smoke? I know the store bought junk uses a lot of liquid smoke to boost the "smokey" flavor.

We are friends with a local restaurant owner who does an app with smoked, roasted tomato puree. We asked how hard it was to make. He laughed. "Just a bit of liquid smoke on roasted tomatoes." Tastes great.

 

[jmanic]

Are you using a Traeger? If so the fire pot is in the center directly below the cooking grate. The heat shield and drip pan create indirect heat. I'm not sure the placement of the chicken made a difference? I'm not totally sure how the chimney placement affects smoke distribution?

I've done sausage a few times and I always overcook it.

Huh-
Okay, I'll have to take a closer look when I clean it out next-
maybe I have the anatomy wrong.
In the meantime, I'm still gonna blame the chicken!

And me too on the sausage- this was the first time I used a temp probe,
and was surprised how quick they go: 60-90 minutes at 185*.
In the past I always left them on for 2-3 hours towards the end of smoke session.
I may try them at an even lower temp next time.

 

[JonF]

Huh-
Okay, I'll have to take a closer look when I clean it out next-
maybe I have the anatomy wrong.
In the meantime, I'm still gonna blame the chicken!

And me too on the sausage- this was the first time I used a temp probe,
and was surprised how quick they go: 60-90 minutes at 185*.
In the past I always left them on for 2-3 hours towards the end of smoke session.
I may try them at an even lower temp next time.

There are hotspots for sure but the smoke itself is known to be fairly uniform as the stoker fan seems to distribute it pretty well. The typical hotspots where temps are higher are on the edges where the heat shield ends and also the overall heat is slightly biased towards whichever end the chimney is since the heat is ultimately moving that way. If i have a non-uniform piece of meat, i try to orient it where the fatter end is by the chimney to take advantage of that.

I might be the only one that doesn't completely hate overcooked sausage. Most of the casings prevent the fats from completely weeping out as long as they dont split. The one thing i dont like is the collagen casings. they get so dry and leathery.

 

[jmanic]

I might be the only one that doesn't completely hate overcooked sausage. Most of the casings prevent the fats from completely weeping out as long as they dont split. The one thing i dont like is the collagen casings. they get so dry and leathery.

I'm with you, always overcooked those in the past-
And this reminds me- slow and low don't work for skin on chicken-
Apparently it will make the skin rubbery.
Skinless though is just fine at low temps.

 

[Tim]

I'm with you, always overcooked those in the past-
And this reminds me- slow and low don't work for skin on chicken-
Apparently it will make the skin rubbery.
Skinless though is just fine at low temps.

I am new to all of this. I am sure my methods are completely wrong...

I always do chicken at 350. Seems to give it enough smoke even for a faster cook. I guess the theory is that chicken is a delicate flavor so it doesn't take much smoke to be too much? And 350 is high enough to get crispy skin. My father in law goes low and slow on chicken...always turns out rubbery and over-smoked.

Wings I do at 250 and just turn up at the end to crisp the skin. I guess I could probably just do them at 350 the whole time?

 

[Big Dumb Animal]

I'm with you, always overcooked those in the past-
And this reminds me- slow and low don't work for skin on chicken-
Apparently it will make the skin rubbery.
Skinless though is just fine at low temps.

I've gotten past the rubbery chicken skin just by throwing it on the grill for a few minutes. I take the grates off to have full flame and use the tongs as a spitting fork to rotate a full bird. Actually, now that I think about it, a blow torch will probably be faster and easier. Stand by for results.

 

[Big Dumb Animal]

I am new to all of this. I am sure my methods are completely wrong...

I always do chicken at 350. Seems to give it enough smoke even for a faster cook. I guess the theory is that chicken is a delicate flavor so it doesn't take much smoke to be too much? And 350 is high enough to get crispy skin. My father in law goes low and slow on chicken...always turns out rubbery and over-smoked.

Wings I do at 250 and just turn up at the end to crisp the skin. I guess I could probably just do them at 350 the whole time?

I will always suggest brining your chicken over night, 4 hours for wings because they're smaller, in salt water and garlic. With bigger breasts I poke holes with a fork. I've never had chicken dry out or be any juicier using a different method.

 

[Bike N Gear]

I did a Spatchcock chicken last night. 15 minutes skin side down at 400 degrees and skin is plenty crisp.