Smoking Meat

[Redhook]

Going to be in the 40Â’s the next few days so glad I was able to squeeze this in.

What, you never dragged your smoker into the kitchen to get it started in the winter 🤣? I smoke year round although the winter months make it challenging at times.

[gonelong]

What, you never dragged your smoker into the kitchen to get it started in the winter ��? I smoke year round although the winter months make it challenging at times.

I have smoked in my garage a few times. It is pretty obvious for a few days what went down. My wife is not amused, but the Beagle and I will visit the garage periodically and enjoy the ambiance.

GL

[medford]

Glad it was awesome.... days are getting longer and the lingering smell of something on the smoker will be hanging in the air more and more; almost as good as baseball

[goreds2]

A little off topic but does anyone here own a Blackstone griddle? We bought a 22 inch surface yesterday. I have it seasoned and ready to go.

Any tips would be appreciated.

[medford]

I don't have a flat top, would love to add one at some point however. From what I've seen, learn to play around a bit with hot zones/ cold zones, etc... Some of the flattops have naturally built in cold zones (though I'm not sure its on purpose) depending on how its made.

I think I've just about come to my level of pure happiness with 2 different things I've messed around with on the smoker for the last year +.

First, chicken wings, I've done these a bunch, and always been happy but after tweaking things a bit here and there and settled into my "zone" for smoked wings. Big bag of frozen wings, thawed out. Place them on cookie sheets and throw them in the fridge for a few hours to tighten up the skin. Then I take 2 separate big bags, each filled with 3 TBS of corn starch plus some seasoning (usually 1 kind of seasoning in one bag, and a different kind in the other) shake em up to mix up the corn starch and seasoning then dump half the wings into one bag and half into the other, mix them up to get them coated then let them sit out (in the bags) for 30 min while the smoker heats up to 250. Throw the wings on and season the tops again for 30 min. Flip and season again, then crank the smoker up to 350+ (I set to 450, but don't think I ever got it up much past 350-360) and let them cook for approx another 30 min (check temps to get the wings up to around 175, this allows the skin to crispen up some more at this temp). Take off, rest for 10 min coat with your favorite sauce (I mix franks red hot, worchestershire sauce and butter over the stove to make a buffalo sauce)

After the wings were off, and resting, I lowered the temp of the grill for my Easter Ham. Place the spiral sliced ham on a backing rack (makes it easier to rotate when basting and pull off at the end, Coated the ham with mustard and applied a bunch of seasoning to the outside (I've varied b/w store bought and making my own) and smoked at 225 for 90 min. after 90 min, crank the smoker back up to 350 and its time to glaze. I've tried a bunch of different style glazes, but I've finally settled into this, blackberry jam, seasoning (same I used for the rub), honey and brown sugar. Heat it up on the stove, stiring well so it doesn't burn then brush on a coat after the first 90 min. Let it cook for another 30 min while its cranking up heat, then baste again with the glaze allowing to cook for another 30 min. At this point, it should be up to temp and you can pull it (I aim for around 150-165, but since the ham has already been smoked before it doesn't really matter what temp you pull it off at, even more when you see my last step). After pulling it, I glaze it one final time and let it sit for 30 min to cool down a bit. You could glaze it for the final step, let it sit for 10 min and serve if you want, but I always make my hams the day before. I wrap it back up in foil and put it back in the fridge. Next day I pull it out, and put it into a slow cooker (Since the hams are typically too big to place directly into the slow cooker, I have to cut it up into chunks and heat up over low for a few hours and its always delicious. Even better, Hams are usually on sale this time of year, so this 10 pound ham cost about $9, add in the jam, seasoning and pellets, and you are looking at a great ham for $20 top, way better than you could get at hone baked ham. And its super easy, almost fool proof.

[Redhook]

I don't have a flat top, would love to add one at some point however. From what I've seen, learn to play around a bit with hot zones/ cold zones, etc... Some of the flattops have naturally built in cold zones (though I'm not sure its on purpose) depending on how its made.

I think I've just about come to my level of pure happiness with 2 different things I've messed around with on the smoker for the last year +.

First, chicken wings, I've done these a bunch, and always been happy but after tweaking things a bit here and there and settled into my "zone" for smoked wings. Big bag of frozen wings, thawed out. Place them on cookie sheets and throw them in the fridge for a few hours to tighten up the skin. Then I take 2 separate big bags, each filled with 3 TBS of corn starch plus some seasoning (usually 1 kind of seasoning in one bag, and a different kind in the other) shake em up to mix up the corn starch and seasoning then dump half the wings into one bag and half into the other, mix them up to get them coated then let them sit out (in the bags) for 30 min while the smoker heats up to 250. Throw the wings on and season the tops again for 30 min. Flip and season again, then crank the smoker up to 350+ (I set to 450, but don't think I ever got it up much past 350-360) and let them cook for approx another 30 min (check temps to get the wings up to around 175, this allows the skin to crispen up some more at this temp). Take off, rest for 10 min coat with your favorite sauce (I mix franks red hot, worchestershire sauce and butter over the stove to make a buffalo sauce)

After the wings were off, and resting, I lowered the temp of the grill for my Easter Ham. Place the spiral sliced ham on a backing rack (makes it easier to rotate when basting and pull off at the end, Coated the ham with mustard and applied a bunch of seasoning to the outside (I've varied b/w store bought and making my own) and smoked at 225 for 90 min. after 90 min, crank the smoker back up to 350 and its time to glaze. I've tried a bunch of different style glazes, but I've finally settled into this, blackberry jam, seasoning (same I used for the rub), honey and brown sugar. Heat it up on the stove, stiring well so it doesn't burn then brush on a coat after the first 90 min. Let it cook for another 30 min while its cranking up heat, then baste again with the glaze allowing to cook for another 30 min. At this point, it should be up to temp and you can pull it (I aim for around 150-165, but since the ham has already been smoked before it doesn't really matter what temp you pull it off at, even more when you see my last step). After pulling it, I glaze it one final time and let it sit for 30 min to cool down a bit. You could glaze it for the final step, let it sit for 10 min and serve if you want, but I always make my hams the day before. I wrap it back up in foil and put it back in the fridge. Next day I pull it out, and put it into a slow cooker (Since the hams are typically too big to place directly into the slow cooker, I have to cut it up into chunks and heat up over low for a few hours and its always delicious. Even better, Hams are usually on sale this time of year, so this 10 pound ham cost about $9, add in the jam, seasoning and pellets, and you are looking at a great ham for $20 top, way better than you could get at hone baked ham. And its super easy, almost fool proof.

Yum dude…..yum.

[goreds2]

Kroger had chicken legs for $1.29 a pound last week and we had some out of the smoker last night. I kept it simple. Prep was only olive oil on the chicken then towards the end added some original Kraft BBQ sauce.

[medford]

So I'm going to try pork butt burnt ends for campout this weekend. Going to smoke them at home on friday, let them cool down then get them all set up in their tins to recook/put on the BBQ and butter glaze late friday evening or saturday evening. I'll let you know how it turns out, a little nervous about doing the initial smoke, letting them cool down/put on ice then doing the final glaze/reheating 12-24+ hours later. I've reheated double smoked ham before, so it should work out.

If anyone has tips, I'd greatly appreciate it.

[WVRed]

Kroger had chicken legs for $1.29 a pound last week and we had some out of the smoker last night. I kept it simple. Prep was only olive oil on the chicken then towards the end added some original Kraft BBQ sauce.

So I'm going to try pork butt burnt ends for campout this weekend. Going to smoke them at home on friday, let them cool down then get them all set up in their tins to recook/put on the BBQ and butter glaze late friday evening or saturday evening. I'll let you know how it turns out, a little nervous about doing the initial smoke, letting them cool down/put on ice then doing the final glaze/reheating 12-24+ hours later. I've reheated double smoked ham before, so it should work out.

If anyone has tips, I'd greatly appreciate it.

Use pork belly instead of pork butt.

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[MWM]

Use pork belly instead of pork butt.

Sent from my SM-S911U using Tapatalk

Pork Belly Burnt Ends = meat candy

[medford]

I thought about that, but was afraid the thinner cut might lead to them drying out easier since I'll have to reheat them again at campout after the initial cook. recipe calls for 1.5" cubes, I figure after the initial cook, I'll lather them with some more sauce and dump them in a zip lock bag to lessen the odds of them drying out, then reheat them as slowly as i can with some extra butter.

I bit of an experimentation, I'll let you know how it turns out.

[medford]

So the pork shoulder burnt ends turned out pretty good. I do agree that using pork belly would have been a touch better, but I still fear they would dry out easier. Smoked them for about 3 hours, put them in some sauce, brown sugar and butter and sauteed them. The recipe didn't call to turn up the temp of the smoker, but I found that I needed to crank it up to 300-325 (from 225) to get the juices boiling and the pork up to 200 (I was running out of time too, but after checking it and seeing the sauces/butter boiling a bit I knew it was the right call). Anyhoo, took them off the smoker and let them rest/cool down, then added some additional BBQ sauce and put them in a zip lock bag and into the cooler on ice (and beverages ). Brought them back out after about 28 hours on ice, added a stick of butter (which was probably 1/2 a stick too much) to a pan along with the pork, covered them up and heated them back up over the grill. took the foil off after about 30-45 min of warming up, stirred them a few times to get the sauces mixed back in and everything was golden

Costco was out of pork shoulders, but they did have 1 package (7.5 lbs) of pork shoulder cut up into city chicken strips, which actually made the whole process easier as I only needed to cut up the strips into smaller chunks and get them seasoned and on the smoker. I'd definently got that route again if I see shoulder already cut up that way next time (I think its a regular item, but I've only purchased the twin pack of shoulders)

[goreds2]

I just took a Turkey breast out of the smoker.

Pre-smoke, I just just added olive oil and salt to the turkey breast. Set on 300 degrees for about 3 hours.

It looks like a fish with its mouth wide open but is delicious.

[Bacon]

I believe I have mastered the art of the smoked chicken wing, so I thought I'd offer a small masterclass on them, as it seems this is one that people struggle with (I struggled for years)
This can also be used with skin-on, bone-in thighs as well, which I highly recommend trying, as they are an incredible value right now in terms of price and meat content.

The key is in how you finish them. Smoking wings at low temps provides great smoke flavor, and will cook your meat to done temperature, but skin will almost always be rubbery, which is a bummer when you're eating them. I'll offer 4 finishing methods at the end. All of them will give you delicious, bite-through, crispy skin... but some methods are better than others. It just depends on which methods you have available to you.

The first part of the cook is universal.

I like to brine or marinate my wings overnight, this adds flavor and also allows the meat to retain moisture. You can use whatever you want here. Italian dressing is an old staple, but I've also just used a bottle of hot sauce like Franks, Texas Petes, or Louisiana. My go-to brine however is pretty simple and delicious.
Scale however you want, but this is the basic recipe:

2c Water
2c Apple Cider Vinegar
1.5oz Vegetable Oil
1.5oz Worchestershire
1.5oz salt.

add the salt to the water and vinegar first and mix/shake until the salt is dissolved, then add the oil and worchestershire

After soaking overnight or for 4-6 hours. Drain completely (don't rinse)

Some people like to pat dry the wings at this point to remove as much moisture as possible, but I don't find this to be necessary because with the finishing methods, it doesn't matter.

Season the wings with your favorite rub. Make sure you use a rub/seasoning that doesn't have sugar, because sugar burns at high temps, which is what we will be using to finish.

Smoke the wings at a low temp for 2 or 3 hours. I shoot for anywhere between 190 and 225. I think you could go up to 250 if you wanted, but I have a pellet smoker (Rec Tec) and the lower the temp, the more smoke.

At this point the wings should be at or very near the safe done temperature of 165, so it's time to finish them.

FINISHING METHODS (In order from best to worst [none of them are bad though])

1. Flash fry: either use a deep fryer or a pot with cooking oil (Vegetable, canola, peanut... no olive oil). Get your oil up to 375 and cook the wings for 2-3 minutes until the wings turn a deep golden crisp color. Then drain.
2. Air fry: Same idea. Set your air fryer to 425 and start at about 5 minutes. Check it and go longer if you still haven't achieved golden crispiness
3. Blackstone/Griddle: This one surprised me. Get your griddle ripping hot, throw some oil down and sear the wings for a few minutes aside until desired crispiness.
4. Grill/Smoker: Get your gas grill or even your smoker (if you can) up to about 350-400 and let them cook for 15 minutes, then flip, then another 15-ish minutes, but watch them to make sure they arent getting burnt.
5. Oven: Set your oven to 450 and cook them for 5-7 minutes, again watching for color/crispiness. You can also use the broiler here if you want to keep an eye on them so they don't get burnt.

After finishing them, you can do whatever you want with them. They're good just like that, or maybe with some added seasoning. Or you can sauce them as well. I've done both and they're great, just depends on what kind of mood I'm in.

[goreds2]

I fixed a Turkey breast last Friday (seems to be my go to lately). We had green bean casserole and home made scalloped potatoes with it.

Those wings in the post above mine look fantastic.