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***Official Grilling and Smoking Thread*** (5 Viewers)

Bacon and cheese is on the cold smoker. Should get up to 10 hrs in the first sitting. I'll probably pull the cheese after 3 or 4 hours and let thwme bacon continue overnight. Then tomorrow bright and early start the real fire

 
msommer said:
Bacon and cheese is on the cold smoker. Should get up to 10 hrs in the first sitting. I'll probably pull the cheese after 3 or 4 hours and let thwme bacon continue overnight. Then tomorrow bright and early start the real fire
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What do you use for a cold smoker?

 
proninja said:
And what do you smoke on it? I've got the attachment for my traeger, but I'm not a huge fan of smoked cheese, and I haven't trusted myself to do a cure for lox yet. So it just sits there. Sometimes I dry food I've cooked sous vide in it before searing which is nice, because it's got airflow and smokiness. But other than that I'm kind of shuked. 
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My regular grill (which currently is a small version of a pit barrel cooker). The smaller the chamber is is the more intense smoke flavor for the same amount of sawdust

 
And this is my first time smoking cheese.  But I love Feta cheese and I think it will do well smoked. But it'll only get max 4 hours.

 
TheFanatic said:
So I had some inspiration today while sitting through a mind numbingly boring conference call. I have a recipe for tomorrow. It will involve ribs, bacon and pineapple. You can watch the reveal tomorrow on Instagram Live in the later afternoon/early evening 
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Had a bit of an epiphany myself.

i ended up pulling together a bacon wrapped mushroom and Munster cheese bread crumb stuffed smoked pork loin.

smells great so far.  I can't wait to see what it looks like on Easter.

 
The Ref said:
Had a bit of an epiphany myself.

i ended up pulling together a bacon wrapped mushroom and Munster cheese bread crumb stuffed smoked pork loin.

smells great so far.  I can't wait to see what it looks like on Easter.
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Wow. That sounds amazing. It just so happens I have a pork tenderloin in the freezer.....

ETA: Munster is hard to come by over here so I think I'll substitute with halloumi. That'll be lunch Monday when a buddy is coming over for brew day (hoppy red ale this time)

 
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msommer said:
Wow. That sounds amazing. It just so happens I have a pork tenderloin in the freezer.....

ETA: Munster is hard to come by over here so I think I'll substitute with halloumi. That'll be lunch Monday when a buddy is coming over for brew day (hoppy red ale this time)
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Haloumi might be better. It can handle the higher temps and not ooze out into the coals. 

 
Hell it's a three day weekend so I decided to fire the Weber Kettle up today and cook some thick center cut boneless pork chops. These have been in the freezer for a week, pulled them out Wednesday night,  with a little olive oil, S,P, @ G, as well as some Montreal Steak. Along with that I have some trimmings from a beef tenderloin that I helped my mom prepare, she supervised, for a golf tournament her club held about three weeks ago. I'm also, going to cook either some shrimp or a piece of salmon. Come inside and cook some rice and green beans as well as heat up a few yeast rolls and there will be no room for desert.

If all goes well I'll post a few pics.

 
A small update.

Sometime after I pulled the cheese (which is now a very nice light brown colour) my improvised cold smoke generator went out, maybe 2 am. So this morning the bacon was not done.

Being frugal I poured the sawdust into the base and lit a fire on top, basically hot smoking the bacon while I went back to bed for about half an hour.

When I came down again, the smoker was envelopped in a thick plume of smoke that smelled delicious and I patted myself on the back for a job well done, cleaned the grate etc. As I do that even more smoke starts billowing up and I can basically no longer see the wood (2 feet away). I had noticed that there no longer were any flames. I figure this is just a phase/reacion to the fat from the grate and will go away. Anyway I install the water basin to keep the temp down and open the sucker up to fire up the big pieces of wood.

Problem is that there is so much smoke that I can't even light a match in it, it's just snuffed out as soon as the sulphur burns up.

So now my timing is way off. I hope the smoke will die down in the next half hour or so so I can light the fire again and get the pork butt and turkey legs going - otherwise it may not be ready for dinner :doh:   :rant:   :wall:   

Oh, and it's raining...

 
Well,  the smoke went away and I got the fire going, but I'm having a hard time keeping the temp up, at least accordong to the ####ty built in thermometer - it's effing cold out there in the rain. Plenty of smoke so may just have to finish the pork butt in tfe oven...

Pull at 195ish, right?

 
msommer said:
Well,  the smoke went away and I got the fire going, but I'm having a hard time keeping the temp up, at least accordong to the ####ty built in thermometer - it's effing cold out there in the rain. Plenty of smoke so may just have to finish the pork butt in tfe oven...

Pull at 195ish, right?




 
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Yes, and don't forget to rest for an hour before pulling.  In a cooler with towels is best but foil will work as well.

 
Any of you guys have a homemade BBQ sauce recipe you love?

I usually use Sweet Baby Rays Honey for pork and chicken and it's ok but homemade has to be better right?

I like sweet with a little spice, especially for chicken

 
So I was guilted into using my backyard for my nephew's son's birthday party today. The nephew said he'd take care of everything else, they just needed the space (and pool). I'm hiding out in my bedroom watching NBA playoffs, but I couldn't help but notice one of the mom's grilling carrots then stuffing hot dog buns with them. So I went outside and asked wth. She explained they were vegetarians and so I had to try one. Oh yeah, it was way better than some Oscar Meyer deal. She par boils the carrots until they just soften a little, then fries them in a small amount of oil and when they start carmelizing she drizzles bbq sauce on them and keeps the heat on until they're glazed. These are ready to eat or they can be stored for the grill. So she finished them off over charcoal and... well hell... I'll make these for grins. Honestly fantastic topped with relish, onion, mustard, etc.

 
Cowboysfan8 said:
Any of you guys have a homemade BBQ sauce recipe you love?

I usually use Sweet Baby Rays Honey for pork and chicken and it's ok but homemade has to be better right?

I like sweet with a little spice, especially for chicken
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I recently took some plain Jane kraft and threw it in the food processor with chipotle peppers from can and pineapple. Love it. 

 
This guy got a free camp chef smoke vault. Did the normal ribs and abts today just to try it out. Doesn't keep constant temp as well as the smokey mountain and you have to keep checking it, but, if I ever need to smoke a lot this thing will hold a ton of meat. 

 
Chaos Commish said:
So I was guilted into using my backyard for my nephew's son's birthday party today. The nephew said he'd take care of everything else, they just needed the space (and pool). I'm hiding out in my bedroom watching NBA playoffs, but I couldn't help but notice one of the mom's grilling carrots then stuffing hot dog buns with them. So I went outside and asked wth. She explained they were vegetarians and so I had to try one. Oh yeah, it was way better than some Oscar Meyer deal. She par boils the carrots until they just soften a little, then fries them in a small amount of oil and when they start carmelizing she drizzles bbq sauce on them and keeps the heat on until they're glazed. These are ready to eat or they can be stored for the grill. So she finished them off over charcoal and... well hell... I'll make these for grins. Honestly fantastic topped with relish, onion, mustard, etc.
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That's pretty wild. I'm so taking this on as my oldest daughter has turned vegetarian and there's not much interesting stuff for her to eat when I'm Q'ing

 
The Ref said:
Had a bit of an epiphany myself.

i ended up pulling together a bacon wrapped mushroom and Munster cheese bread crumb stuffed smoked pork loin.

smells great so far.  I can't wait to see what it looks like on Easter.
Click to expand...
Did you sautė the mushrooms first to drive out some moisture?

 
TheFanatic said:
I like tenderloin so much more, but harder to stuff them as they are so skinny. Love to flatten them out and spread cheese, herbs, whatever and roll them back up
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My wife is amazing at laying open a thin cut of meat with a knife.  I stuffed it with pesto, wrapped it in bacon, and tied it with butchers twine.  First time I've ever wrapped in bacon, hopefully it tastes ok with the pesto and rub.  I don't think anything has necessarily tasted worse with bacon though.

It's raining like hell outside.  I bought a CyberQ temperature controller just for this.  It's nice to be able to adjust and monitor the temperatures from my couch on these rainy days.  I normally enjoy sitting outside for hours, beer and book in hand, just not on a rainy Easter.

 
Cowboysfan8 said:
Any of you guys have a homemade BBQ sauce recipe you love?

I usually use Sweet Baby Rays Honey for pork and chicken and it's ok but homemade has to be better right?

I like sweet with a little spice, especially for chicken
Click to expand...
roxys SC Mustard sauce

But I use considerably less vinegar. My usual rule of thumb is 4-1-1 ratio of cheap yellow mustard to vinegar to water.

I start by emptying cheap mustard bottle into pot. Fill mustard bottle quarter way with vinegar, put lid on and swish around, dump in pot. Do same with bottle filled quarter way with water.

Adjust rest of recipe based on size of mustard bottle.

ETA - I'll keep it simple and use garlic powder and onion powder instead of the thicker solids 

 
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The Ref said:
Had a bit of an epiphany myself.

i ended up pulling together a bacon wrapped mushroom and Munster cheese bread crumb stuffed smoked pork loin.

smells great so far.  I can't wait to see what it looks like on Easter.
Click to expand...
My Brisket game is really getting there.  Don't think I'm ready to roll into a BBq competition and take the blue ribbon but I think I'd have people lined up to eat if I had a tent.

That said today's smoked pork loin roast was my best creation to date.  Really nailed it and the guests raved about it.  If a local restaurant had this roast on hand they would throw some green beans and mashed potatoes on the side and call it the nights $13.95 dinner special.  

Interesting you guys asked about the cheese.  The Munster was there but it didn't "show up" on the plate.  Might use a different cheese next time.

 
proninja said:
Update: meat was off at 1. Sitting pretty in the cooler. 

I shouldn't have blended the salsa. After I defrosted it in the immersion circulator at 70, it was shockingly not very effected by the freezer. I mixed a small amount with the canned tomatoes (I've heard they offer a flavor contrast to fresh tomatoes that is nice) and I thought the canned tomatoes were the opposite of an improvement. But at that point in time I'd blended all the Pico. Oh well. It tastes good, just doesn't look great. For some reason it was a slightly creamier color after I blended it. Weird. 
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Well how did the beef come out?

someone brought a Mango salsa today.  I'm still taking first place for myself but the salsa went fast.

 
Brony said:
I recently took some plain Jane kraft and threw it in the food processor with chipotle peppers from can and pineapple. Love it. 
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Kraft isn't plain jane anymore. They revamped the entire line. Now they don't use HFCS, use real tomatoes, cider vinegar and cane sugar. They used to be a laughing stock that had to be be doctored to be good but now they make some really good sauce that stands on its own. 

 
Saturday night I made some ribs that I coated with salt, pepper, and jerk seasoning and threw the slab on the Timberline. Then I fried up six slices of bacon and poured the grease into a small pot with a TBSP of minced garlic, 6 ounces of pineapple juice and a couple TBSP of honey. After an hour on the smoker at 300, I brushed on the bacon fat concoction every 15 minutes. HOOOOO BOY! That's a winner!

 
The Ref said:
My Brisket game is really getting there.  Don't think I'm ready to roll into a BBq competition and take the blue ribbon but I think I'd have people lined up to eat if I had a tent.

That said today's smoked pork loin roast was my best creation to date.  Really nailed it and the guests raved about it.  If a local restaurant had this roast on hand they would throw some green beans and mashed potatoes on the side and call it the nights $13.95 dinner special.  

Interesting you guys asked about the cheese.  The Munster was there but it didn't "show up" on the plate.  Might use a different cheese next time.
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I did it with mushrooms, and the homesmoked Feta and bacon from upthread. Similar cheese experience. Weird

 
Friday night, I did a seafood butter boil on the grill. In an oven safe pot, put in 2 lbs of salted butter and a half a bottle of white wine along with a couple tbsp of minced garlic. Threw in big chunks of fish, and a lb of scallops and simmered for a few minutes and then added 3 lbs of shrimp and 2 lbs of mussels and at the same time threw on some pencil thin asparagus stalks that were dredged in olive oil, balsamic, garlic, salt and black pepper. Once the mussels opened, put the pot on the middle of the table along with some warm bread to dunk in the butter. Ohhhhh so good!

 
TheFanatic said:
Saturday night I made some ribs that I coated with salt, pepper, and jerk seasoning and threw the slab on the Timberline. Then I fried up six slices of bacon and poured the grease into a small pot with a TBSP of minced garlic, 6 ounces of pineapple juice and a couple TBSP of honey. After an hour on the smoker at 300, I brushed on the bacon fat concoction every 15 minutes. HOOOOO BOY! That's a winner!
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Hfs...... i know what's next....

 
Does anyone care to share any secrets to brisket?  I've only done one, and it turned out a little tough.  Kroger had a whole brisket marked down today, and I bought it on a whim.  I normally only buy meat at my butcher, but this was too good of a deal to pass up.  

 
Did my first smoke in the MES Saturday (wings) and it turned out great.  Did a basic dry rub and a few different sauces to finish.

Ended up doing a pork loin with this rub for Easter w/ apple wood.  For my first real smoke it turned out fantastic.  Finished about an hour early and did the foil/towel wrap.  Nice and juicy, great flavor.  Everyone loved it.

 
proninja said:
I have tried a bunch of different things, a bunch of different rubs, and what I've landed on is pretty simple, easy, and imo tastes great. The "secret" in my opinion, is not the final temp. It's the time it sits after you hit the final temp. I don't think that taking a long time to get to temp is as important as the time it spends at temp after you hit it. The cooler step is by far the most important for me as far as texture is concerned. You'll notice I don't specify a cooking temp. If you've got overnight, do it at 225. If you don't, just make sure you get it to temp at least two hours before you want to serve it. Crank the heat if you must, foil is also an accelerator, just don't skip the cooler step. 

Trim the fat
Rub - kosher salt, black pepper, paprika - I eyeball it and it ends up being roughly 1/3 of these. I don't mix the rub, I just put the salt, pepper, then paprika directly on the meat and rub it in with my hands.  
Smoke to 203 (or when the thermometer slides in and out of the flat easily)
Take off, wrap in foil, wrap in towels, put in a cooler. Let it sit there for 2-4 hours. 
Optional: Put back on the grill to firm up the bark (I usually don't do this, but most places recommend it)

Should look like this when you're done. 

Also, when you trim, the grain of the flat and the grain of the point go in the opposite direction. You'll slice it like mine in the picture until you get to about that point, then rotate 90 degrees and slice the rest. You can get all fancy and separate the point and the flat, there are great how-to cut videos to do it *right*, but I haven't quite gone that far yet. 
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Or you separate the flat and point. When the flat is done, pull it to rest and cooler it. Then cut that point into 1-1.5" cubes, sauce it and throw back on the smoker and crank the heat. You wind up with some great burnt ends and plenty of brisket slices. Plus with them separate they cook faster.

 
Hawks64 said:
Or you separate the flat and point. When the flat is done, pull it to rest and cooler it. Then cut that point into 1-1.5" cubes, sauce it and throw back on the smoker and crank the heat. You wind up with some great burnt ends and plenty of brisket slices. Plus with them separate they cook faster.
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Take those cubes, place them in an aluminum pan so they aren't touching, pour in some beef stock and add a dab of BBQ sauce to the top of each cube. When done to perfection, they should melt in your mouth. 

I've always said, the difference between a good pitmaster and a great one is burnt ends. 

 
TheFanatic said:
Take those cubes, place them in an aluminum pan so they aren't touching, pour in some beef stock and add a dab of BBQ sauce to the top of each cube. When done to perfection, they should melt in your mouth. 

I've always said, the difference between a good pitmaster and a great one is burnt ends. 
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I use a foil pan and just sauce. I like them a bit a crunch in the bark. Does the stock prevent them from getting that little bit of crunch?

 
Hawks64 said:
I use a foil pan and just sauce. I like them a bit a crunch in the bark. Does the stock prevent them from getting that little bit of crunch?
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It's a trick I learned from the competition guys to give a bigger window to get them right. Keeps them from drying out longer. But no crunch. I like them to melt in the mouth so that's not a deal breaker for me. 

 
TheFanatic said:
It's a trick I learned from the competition guys to give a bigger window to get them right. Keeps them from drying out longer. But no crunch. I like them to melt in the mouth so that's not a deal breaker for me. 
Click to expand...
I may give this a go next time I do a brisket....probably early early May.

 
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