Smoking Food (Meat)

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Some of the last months smokes. I use a electric borniak smoker.
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I use an electric water smoker which I really love. It has a built in thermometer and a temperature probe so it’s very easy to use. For the wood I use cherry from a tree in my yard. I usually use 1” thick branches cut into short rounds and only cut them off the tree when I’m ready to smoke. That way it’s green and wet and the flavor is much better in my experience.
 
Lots of good stuff here fellas, although I expected more knife shots in amongst the meats.

Really enjoy the versatility of my Primo XL (kamado), you can do a lot of different things really well.

I have 2 top line insulated vertical cabinets for smoking. They are amazing. Mix about 70/30 charcoal to wood chunks. A full firebox will last 24+ hours. Wood like like to mix fruit and nut woods about equal. Cherry and peach are my favorite. If I'm doing oak I go just oak, maybe a few pecan scattered in there.

For the live fire, Santa maria grill I do a mix of red oak and almond. Great flavor and the almond get ridiculously hot.
 

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Lots of good stuff here fellas, although I expected more knife shots in amongst the meats.

Really enjoy the versatility of my Primo XL (kamado), you can do a lot of different things really well.

I have 2 top line insulated vertical cabinets for smoking. They are amazing. Mix about 70/30 charcoal to wood chunks. A full firebox will last 24+ hours. Wood like like to mix fruit and nut woods about equal. Cherry and peach are my favorite. If I'm doing oak I go just oak, maybe a few pecan scattered in there.

For the live fire, Santa maria grill I do a mix of red oak and almond. Great flavor and the almond get ridiculously hot.

Nice brisket. Do you have any pictures of your smoker?
 
Love my eggs, very versatile , great for sub zero temps but nothing can beat the taste a well made, heavy walled offset smoker.

I don't smoke much in the winter as the offset smoker is a giant heat sink in the cold. Luckily in Texas we don't see much cold weather.
 
One of our favorite things to smoke in my electric water smoker is pork tenderloin. I use fresh cherry wood for the smoke. Literally all I do is salt and pepper the tenderloin after washing it and patting it dry. An hour and a half at 220F and the flavor is really something special.
 
I have a Masterbuilt electric smoker. Like others said it's not super powerful or flexible, but super convenient. I use mostly apple wood, but you can get Jack Daniels oak barrel chips from used barrels which are absolutely amazing on ribs and brisket. If you haven't tried them I recommend them 100%.

Jack Daniels smoker chips
 
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Nice brisket. Do you have any pictures of your smoker?
I have a Humphrey's Pint reverse flow and a Lonestar Grills standard flow insulated vertical cabinet smokers.
Here is a pic of the LSG. I love this pit. Amazing construction and engineering. Just runs forever with perfect temps and draft.
The Pint is a great smoker, I got it used before the LSG. Only kept it because it makes amazing ribs. I think it is the reverse flow, so the air is coming from the top that makes a difference.
 

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Did a beef chuck roast. It wasn't the best piece of meat by any means but beef these days is hit or miss and damned expensive.

Smoked for about 3hrs at 225F until it reached 155F. Then pulled it and put it in a braising liquid of beef stock, red wine, apple cider vinegar, onion, garlic and ginger, wrapped up tight and continued to cook at 225F for about another 2.5hrs until 195F. Then pulled and wrapped for 45mins. Reduced the braising liquid slightly and served as a dipping jus.

Great flavor but roast was still a little dry. I think it was a combination of the meat itself and going a little too far before braising. Maybe if I'd pulled it around 135F it would've held more juice. Still good, but room for improvement.

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I bought the smoker yesterday, I'm hooked now for sure!

Made Norwegian salmon and have to say it was from another world entirely compared to what I got done in the gas bbq with a simple small box for wood.

Next up ribs and pork belly today! I have apple wood and and alder, thinking its apple this time, never tried that before knowingly at least.

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There was preliminary negotiations about a bigger smoker with the "government" too. She needs a little warm up for that, but it'll happen one day most likely :)

This Muurikka is a nice handy size though, and I would guess it'll work pretty well during winter also.
 

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I bought the smoker yesterday, I'm hooked now for sure!

Made Norwegian salmon and have to say it was from another world entirely compared to what I got done in the gas bbq with a simple small box for wood.

Next up ribs and pork belly today! I have apple wood and and alder, thinking its apple this time, never tried that before knowingly at least.

View attachment 131063View attachment 131064.

There was preliminary negotiations about a bigger smoker with the "government" too. She needs a little warm up for that, but it'll happen one day most likely :)

This Muurikka is a nice handy size though, and I would guess it'll work pretty well during winter also.
You pulled the trigger! Very nice!
 
Those meat claws work well for Brisket. I refuse to use a meat "fork". They should be outlawed. Why would one want to poke their meat and lose all that juice? I use the Big Green Egg claws.
 
A shot of your ribs n pork belly post Muurikka would be cool
What I advertised as pork belly secretly had some rib in it too..

My 5 yo gave the fattiest piece a 4 thumbs up. This was a high score where he was lying on the floor with feet in the air too, but I could notice it wasnt the perfect score yet. Theres more to come :) Next time I'll perhaps tone down the smokiness a bit and maybe take them out a bit earlier/less heat.

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I bought the smoker yesterday, I'm hooked now for sure!

Made Norwegian salmon and have to say it was from another world entirely compared to what I got done in the gas bbq with a simple small box for wood.

Next up ribs and pork belly today! I have apple wood and and alder, thinking its apple this time, never tried that before knowingly at least.

View attachment 131063View attachment 131064.

There was preliminary negotiations about a bigger smoker with the "government" too. She needs a little warm up for that, but it'll happen one day most likely :)

This Muurikka is a nice handy size though, and I would guess it'll work pretty well during winter also.

Congrats friend! :)
 
This thread inspired me to put my Green Egg into service for the year. That coupled with an amazing sale on brisket at my local meat emporium prompted me into action for an upcoming family dinner. With nine adult attendees at the dinner I decided to separate the point from the plate. First up was the point. Here’s a pic of the finished result.

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I don’t have any more pics of this cook as my family fell upon the brisket like a pack of ravenous dogs. A week later (yesterday) I did up the plate. A couple more pics.

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I did a few things different on these cooks. Firstly, I used a dry brine approach. I salted the brisket, added my own brisket rub and let the brisket sit in the refrigerator for 48hrs in the case of the point and 96hrs in the case of the flat. The briskets then went into my Green Egg for a cook at 225F to a target internal temperature of 165F. I used Cowboy chunk charcoal and pecan wood lumps for smoke. From the Green Egg my briskets were wrapped in foil then went into my Anova Precision Oven in Sous Vide mode at 205F. I cooked both briskets to fork tender. In the first cook this was 195F, the second (the flat) was 205F. I used no steam on the first cook and 60% steam on the second cook just to see if it made a difference.

From my days with a Weber Smokey Mountain Cooker things have sure changed. This neat little device is a big part of the ease with which a successful cook can be achieved. No more “babysitting” the cook. Set the target temperatures and wander off … have a nap if you like. The remote indicator (Bluetooth) has a great range and tells you exactly what is going on with the cook. The Anova precision oven which I use for finishing has its own very accurate temperature probe which tells you exactly what’s going on and connects to an app on my iPhone which lets me monitor the end of the cook from my easy chair. The only risk to a great summer BBQ is that our Government will probably ban BBQ as a risk to some minuscule probability that BBQ spreads Covid-19. They have pretty much banned everything else.

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Smoked small boarribs finished on the grill. Better get on finishing that hunting license so I can do these more often.
 

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July 4th Brisket. Loading the pit. I had to get up too early. Brisket came out of refrigerator at 6 am to warm up to room temp. It went on the pit about 7:30 am. It is a big brisket probably 15 inches across width wise probably around 2 feet long.
There will be drinking involved.

Sorry no pictures of the finished brisket. It fed 15 people and we still have a quarter left. I was going to take a picture of what was left but my wife bagged it too quickly. It was very good with a nice bark. OK, I got it out. Here is a picture of what was left out of the refrig.

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I just happen to think of this. What do you guys use to carry your meat to and from the pit? My dad made me the cutting above for carrying meat many years ago. I had trouble using a sheet pan when the meat gets heavy. My other cutting boards are too thick and weight too much. I can put 40 pounds of meat on that thin cutting board. It also works for slicing but I don't use it for a cutting board.

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Sometime you gotta improvise. I was going to do a smoked pork shoulder yesterday. Saturday a health issue came up so I knew I wasn't going to be able to handle it.

Solution? Threw the shoulder in the sous vide 9pm Saturday at 165F for 15 hours. Pulled it out, rubbed it and dropped it on the smoker for 4 hours.

Tasty but not pretty
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Pulled and mixed with sauce
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