What to put in the smoker this weekend?

[ray1970]

I was looking online at plans for DIY smokers. The ones made out of the giant teracota (?) pots are intriguing.

[buffalobo]

Took about a week to cure the brisket into corned beef, then 3 days of soaking the corned beef in fresh water to remove as much salt as possible.

Then applied the pastrami rub, let it sit in the fridge overnight, then smoked for 10 hours until it hit 203F. Then wrapped in foil and left to cool in the fridge overnight.

First slices were a little thicker, but I was able to adjust it down a bit to make them thinner. Started out as about a 3 lb corned beef.

I think cleaning the slicer afterwards took longer than it took to do the slicing.

Hell yeah.

Cleaning slicer sucks.

[Linkless]

Wow, that looks really good. I need to dig one of my briskets out of the freezer for next weekend.

[Great-Kazoo]

Doing a lamb stew.

[Gman]

A site with some handy times and temps: https://kingofthecoals.com/smoking-times-temperatures/

[Irving]

Doing wings again today. Taking more pictures (for other social media). Recipe requires some light electrical and welding though.

[ChickNorris]

If you're opening a wing dungeon, I bet that would be popular.

[whitewalrus]

If you're opening a wing dungeon, I bet that would be popular.

They automatically give you extra hot sauce, right?

[DenverGP]

A site with some handy times and temps: https://kingofthecoals.com/smoking-times-temperatures/

Might be useful to get a general idea, but I'd strongly suggest you not try to smoke just based on time... Get a leave-in thermometer so you can monitor temps.

Brisket will usually stall around 150-160, some people wrap at that point, others smoke it unwrapped all the way. Regardless, you want to bring the internal temp up to 203F and hold it around there for at least an hour for max tenderness.

Steaks I smoke until around 120-125F, then take them off, then crank up the heat and sear them off, where I'll reach around 130F with some carry-over. If the smoker can't adjust temps pretty quick, i'll use the propane grill for the sear. Same process for tri-tip and tenderloin. mostly the same for prime rib, but I stop at 120F, then get the sear on all sides... End up with temps of 125F-130F depending on how the crowd I'm cooking for likes it.

I've never had a pork butt take 12-14 hours... 8-10 is pretty typical, and I always take it up to 203 just like the brisket.

About the only thing that I smoke based on time would be pork ribs, and there is still some adjustments. I'll do ribs around 5-6 hours total, but I split it into several phases... 2.5-3 hours in the smoker around 230F. I check to see when they have a good bark. Then I wrap them in foil with a little squeeze butter (parkay, etc) and brown suger. Back into the same heat for about 2.5 hours. Then I unwrap one of the racks and see how they are doing on the "bend test" where I grab toward the end with the tongs, and see how much the rack bends. Also checking how much the meat has pulled back from the bone. Then back on the grill, smoker, or even the oven for the last 15-20 min with some bbq sauce brushed on to caramelize up nice.

Everyone in my house has learned, especially for briskets / pork butt, It's done when it's done. Usually I shoot to have it done a bit early, because it's easy to wrap it up at the end and hold it in a cooler, or in a barely warm oven, etc. That ending holding time really helps to maximize the tenderness.

With stuff in the smoker, there are just a ton of variables that influence the time.

[ChickNorris]

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.was...outputType=amp