Anyone Here into Smoking Meat?

[BobH]

After a close call this past summer I decided to scratch a couple itches I've had for a long time (lest they go forever unscratched) and indulged myself with a Masterbuilt smoker from SAMs. I'm pretty chuffed about the Thanksgiving turkey I smoked; so now I want to do a pork shoulder.

Anybody done this? I'd appreciate any information or suggestions you want to offer.

[Doc Watson]

Hey Bob, I've done this a couple times on an electric smoker I bought last summer to do ribs on. I follow this guy's basic method and use his "spray mop" formula rather than basting the shoulder with a mop using his recipe so the smoker is open as little as possible during cooking. With most all BBQ & smoking I've found that recipies are only guidelines to be loosely followed and that time and temperature are the only important factors in the cooking process. Low and slow is the way to go.

Hope this helps. Take some pictures of your finished product and let us know how it turns out. Hard to beat good "Q" !!

[BobH]

Thanks, Doc!

[Cellmate]

So, Bob,
How did the smoking turn out?

Cellmate

[BobH]

So, Bob,
How did the smoking turn out?

Cellmate

I bought the MES that Sam's had on sale last Fall. I smoked a turkey for Thanksgiving. First smoke I'd ever done and it turned out well.

After Christmas, I smoked some pork ribs and a couple of Boston butts. They were to feed out of town guests who came for our daughter's wedding. I got compliments.

Last week I did 4 small, whole chickens - BUBA style over beer cans. They turned out very well, too.

Last night, I put on an 8 lb. brisket after marinating for 48 hours. It has been on for about 15 hours and is very close to reaching target internal temperature. Can't tell you yet whether it was a success or a "Fail".

Thanks for asking.

[Cellmate]

Sounds like you are doing quite well!

I inherited a smoker from a friend. I've done some briskets, ribs etc., but no birds, yet. I did make a pastrami once. yummy!

It is a barrel smoker-sort of a barrel on its side with a firebox on the left-hand side and a chimney on the right.
It's a great way to spend a day, soaking wood, stoking the fire etc.

Glad it's going so well for you! I suspect your latest will turn out well, too.

All the best,

Cellmate

[BobH]

Hi Cellmate!

My smoker is a watt burner, not a wood burner. 'Er indoors reminded me that I'm too old, lazy and forgetful to keep a good smoke going for hours and hours. So far, she has been right - again!

The brisket turned out a bit dry and a bit salty, but not bad for a first try.

[Doc Watson]

Bob, sorry to hear about your brisket. Take heart in the knowledge that brisket is much more difficult than pork to get right. It's not as fatty a meat and thus, less forgiving. I suspect you marinated it a bit too long and, obviously, over did things a touch on the cooking time. Check out this forum thread on the subject and you might want to look over some of the links on this Google search.

Smoking food is an art that takes time to perfect one's technique and "feel" for the right time and temperature combo. Sounds to me like you have some natural instincts for it though.

[BobH]

Howdy Doc!

You are absolutely right about brisket. It is much less forgiving than Boston butt or pork ribs.

I did cook the brisket too long, but I blame that on not getting a temp probe reading as high as I thought I should; so I extended the cooking time thinking that the meat had 'plateau-ed'. And, yes, I did leave the brisket in the marinade about 12 hours longer than I should have.

But . . . I learned a lot and will do better on the next one.

Thanks for the encouragement.

[Cellmate]

Bob,

A chef friend has a practice that I am adopting. He, of course, carries an instant-read thermometer, and so do his help.
When he wants to know how a hunk of meat is progressing, temperature-wise, he will check it and have eight or so others check it, also.
And all with their own thermometers, in different locations on the piece of meat.

I started doing this and was shocked by the variation I found! Now, I, don't have 8 thermometers, but I'll check it multiple times to be sure to have a good Idea of how much heat I have.

Happy cooking! (as Jacques says)

Cellmate

[BobH]

Hey! Another fan of Jacques Pepin!

Yes, the instant read thermometers are great. The problem is that on this last smoke I trusted the one built into my electric smoker (Masterbuilt 40) and didn't use either of my others to take readings. Generally I use the built-in one and 2 others. These are the sort that have wire leads and have digital read-outs. I don't like to use the kind that you must insert for each reading because opening up the smoker drops the already low heat by at least 10% even in the Texas heat. In winter it is even worse.

Thanks for the response. It's great to know that I am not alone if being a fan of Mssr. Pepin.