What to put in the smoker this weekend?

[drew890]

Meh, not a huge fan of turkey either.
Since it’s just the wife and I a whole turkey is kind of a waste anyway.
I’ll smoke a large meatloaf with all the traditional thanksgiving side dishes instead.

[Jer]

Wyome, I have tried using water and apple juice in a tin for humidity but not much luck. It uses up 3 to 4 cups over the 8 to 10 hrs. I will look into the foil though. I usually rub the meat with olive oil the night before too.

Jer, I did some checks on the units digital temp gauge and it?s pretty close. The smoker itself is pretty good at staying +/- 20 degrees of the 225. Next lowest temp is 185 and it struggles to maintain that at times, I don?t trust it to stay lit to be honest. The dial temp is always +20 degrees but it coincides with the digital temp. Maybe a dual temp thermometer would be an investment?

A few things....

For brisket I personally don't use any liquids inside of the smoker and I don't have issues with dryness. Salt, pepper then smoke and patience. No other ingredients required if you use good cuts of meat. In fact, with most of my smokes I really don't use any liquid at all save for some cuts of meat getting slathered in cheap yellow mustard to adhere the dry rub better for a nice bark when completed. The mustard taste completely cooks off during the smoke so don't let that scare you. Other than that... no liquids at all. No injections, no brines, nothing in the smoker. No liquids. Done properly your meat will be tender & juicy w/o the need for a lot of extra curricular activities.

For the temp I would put some more effort into investigating this in detail. For starters, how have you calibrated your thermostats to know that they're exactly what they state? Most are calibrated for sea-level which, using the boiling water method, would be 212 deg. At my elevation this same method requires a temp setting of about 10deg colder which can make a difference over longer smokes. Also, your smoker might read 225deg but that's at one point. It's not unusual for some smokers to vary significantly (almost 100deg) from one side of the smoker to the other. I'm guessing that these could both be your issue but the latter has more potential for larger differences obviously. If you set your smoker to 225deg and one side (where your probe is for instance) is 200deg and the other side of the smoker is 295 degrees you can see how this could mean more cooking on that side of your brisket which would dry it out.

These same variances can apply to your meat probe as well. Has it been calibrated? Where are you probing? When are you probing? Etc.

Does your smoker have heat shields? With long term smoking you don't want direct heat as it could overcook that side of your meat. Some put the fat cap down to protect the meat but if your smoker is setup properly and functioning properly this really shouldn't matter.

I also tend to wrap at 160 degrees on most whole-muscle meats like Boston Butt or Brisket. I use heavy duty foil and I do several layers making sure it's very tightly wrapped.

[Great-Kazoo]

Wyome, I have tried using water and apple juice in a tin for humidity but not much luck. It uses up 3 to 4 cups over the 8 to 10 hrs. I will look into the foil though. I usually rub the meat with olive oil the night before too.

Jer, I did some checks on the units digital temp gauge and it?s pretty close. The smoker itself is pretty good at staying +/- 20 degrees of the 225. Next lowest temp is 185 and it struggles to maintain that at times, I don?t trust it to stay lit to be honest. The dial temp is always +20 degrees but it coincides with the digital temp. Maybe a dual temp thermometer would be an investment?

Don't bother, get away from oil and try mustard as your base. If anything a dry rub the night before then wrap in saran / plastic wrap over night. Before going on smoker, mustard then another layer of your dry rub. I wrap brisket @ 160ish, but put on low smoke for 2-3 hours, then bring up to 225. Wrap @ 160ish till a 200ish reading.


Everyone does their smoking differently with good results. The best thing is try 1 or 2 ways to see what works best for you.

Try this temp probe, great customer svc.
https://www.amazon.com/Thermometer-B...=weinas+chugod

[vossman]

Great info to consider Jer, thank you. Kazoo, I will pick this thermo up and put Jer’s info to the test. With 6 probes I should be able test several areas.

[wyome]

Smoked meatloaf off the Blaz'n Grill Works pellet smoker, let the Pit Barrel Cooker have the night off

FB_IMG_1542516016236.jpg
FB_IMG_1542516023746.jpg

[buffalobo]

Blasphemers!

#smokedturkeymatters

#spatchcockdatbitch

While we don't always smoke turkey for Thanksgiving, we always fry at least one and serve some kind of smoked meat.

[Irving]

That smoked meatloaf sounds great. Did anyone try that smoked salsa recipe I posted by any chance?

[Great-Kazoo]

That smoked meatloaf sounds great. Did anyone try that smoked salsa recipe I posted by any chance?

Try smoking a few tomatoes or tomatillas then make the salsa. For fruits & veggies a milder (apple) smoke produces a better flavor.
The fruit or veggie's flavor is up front with the smoke a subtle background. With fruits & veggies trial and error will give you great results or something that tastes like it was in a fire

[meatman]

This past weekend, we picked the last of the jalepeno peppers in the greenhouse. They were different varieties of jalepeno, but I lumped them all together, sliced them in half, and smoked them with pecan chips in the electric smoker at 180 degrees until they were dried. Then I ground them up with a coffee grinder tonight to make chipotle powder. Just in time for chili season.


20181118_122737_resized (480x360).jpg

20181118_164312_resized (480x360).jpg

20181119_055555_resized (480x360).jpg

20181120_201511_resized (360x480).jpg

[Great-Kazoo]

This past weekend, we picked the last of the jalepeno peppers in the greenhouse. They were different varieties of jalepeno, but I lumped them all together, sliced them in half, and smoked them with pecan chips in the electric smoker at 180 degrees until they were dried. Then I ground them up with a coffee grinder tonight to make chipotle powder. Just in time for chili season.


20181118_122737_resized (480x360).jpg

20181118_164312_resized (480x360).jpg

20181119_055555_resized (480x360).jpg

20181120_201511_resized (360x480).jpg

How do you like the results from pecan, if you use it for any other food? I've had mixed results, not sure what's going on.