The Art of Smoking Your Meat
 

Hello all!

So for Xmas I bought a smoker. Long long overdue. Anyway, I've been cooking on it almost every weekend. So far I've smoked chicken, turkey, pork chops, wild boar, sausage and a brisket that came out absolutely WONDERFUL.

Today is both pork baby back and spare ribs. I will add pics throughout the day. :)

first thing I did to the meat was wash it off of course, then I smothered it with honey and then was very liberal with the seasoning and massaged it in well. always massage your meat, not only does it feel good but the end result is very tasty!

as far as the fire goes you want a temp of about 150-200 and smoke for about 1 hour per pound at 200 and add an hour at 150.

that's the theory anyway.

I'm still learning my smoker. Sometimes it cooks hot, but mostly it cooks cold. For example, last weekend the 10 pound brisket smoked for 24 hours and still wasn't done. I admit that i cheated a little and finished it up in the oven but my OH my was it delicious!!

ok....throttling a smoker is paramount. Check this out....if you need to raise the temperature, what do you do? open or close the vent more?

You close the vent more. Reason being is it will hold more heat. If you open it then the heat escapes more rapidly.

Now I'm hungry.

Might head over to -ahem- 'the other side of town' for some BBQ.

so i stoked the fire and it flamed up. not a problem. you (I) want to hit the meat with some heat but not too much. open the throttle to keep it as cool as possible. now if the temp stays too hot just prop open the lid to let more escape.

and hop in the car co-pilot. it will be ready about the time you get here!
:)

too damn salty. fucked off. i admit it. a good cook admits when he fucked up.

just did it have to be my first post on smoking? ffs. guess so.

Carefull with the Rub its salty

I still can't believe Sheldon hasn't posted in this thread.

BBQ is not to be joked about gentleman. This is serious business.

Is that mesquite?

yeah it's mesquite. I have two and a half bags of it. next time i do ribs i'm going to double wrap them in foil and then unwrap them about 3 hours prior to them being done

I use a Big Green Egg whenever I'm home long enough to cook but also have a steel model similar to yours, a Char Griller. I mainly use the latter when I have more then I can fit on the medium sized BGE.

Best thing I learned is to get a good Polder or other model thermometer with a probe. The kind that tells you the temp in the food as well as the temp in the smoker and has a timer and alarms to warn you if things get out of wack. I typically smoke at 225 to 250. The ones like in your pictures that come from the factory tend to be less accurate.

I also tend to make up my own rubs. I find so many rely on more salt or other spices that I personally find overwhelm the taste of the meat. I also shy away from anything with MSG in it.

I would be really cautious about this, plth. I've read in several places that closing the upper vents can give your Q a burnt taste. They all recommend that you leave the upper vent fully open and regulate by closing/opening the lower vents.

tohmahtoh tomato pete, :) with this smoker, it leaks like a sieve. the best way to throttle this sucker is via the top vent and somewhat with the fire vent.

Chris, i have heard about and seen the eggs but never used one or been around one being used. i checked one out at Academy but shied away and got this one. the rub i'm currently using is hand made by a friend of mine and it's damn good on a beef brisket but with the pork ribs, i admit it, i over did it with the rub.

tomorrow, however, is another story. it's just me here this weekend so i'm the Guinea Pig. i must correct last weekends fuck up. i was going to make an all day marinara from scratch but i'm putting that off until next weekend.

i'll post the results when they are in. :)

eta: the pit didn't come with a temp gauge....i picked that one up on the end cap of the isle on my way to the check out register.

didn't take any pics but this time i nailed it! perfect flavor, perfect texture, fell off the bone perfectly!

6 hours total. 3 wrapped in foil and 3 unwrapped. average temp was around 175 with a few bouts at 275.

Any difference between the wrapped and unwrapped, as to texture, flavor, dryness/moisture, etc?

wrapping does hold in moisture. the problem is that you don't get the full smoke effect to the meat.

i've found out before, like the ribs that i started this thread with...ribs are not easy due to the lack of meat. hard for me to explain but take a brisket for example. you can smoke that for 24 hours at low temp (150-175) then put it in the oven to finish it off and it will come out perfect. i had put it in a foil pan and sealed the pan with foil for the first 12 hours or so and uncovered for another 12 then in the oven at step down temps, intervals of one hour, for 4 hours starting at 225, 200, 190 and finally 175. melted in your mouth with perfect flavor.

the ribs i did last weekend i was careful not to over spice and over smoke them. you want the fire hot at first to cook the meat then let it die down to around 175 on average to smoke the meat.

that's my style at least. everyone has their own technique, this one just happens to work for me but it's always a work in progress :)