Smoking for beginners thread

[Eastexasrick]

I am willing to learn
Please don’t send me back to Tennessee, I’d love it here in Texas.

Your good. I bet someone here has used a gas based smoker with excellent results. That looks like it's got genuine possibilities. I bet its got a rack of some kind in there to place chunks of wood on to generate smoke. And you won't need a big pile of wood fire it with.

 

[baboon]

If that smoker has never been used running cheap fatty meats to cure your smoker. The old keep it simple is easy to remember. Spatchcocking birds is the way to go. Smokers were designed for cheap meat. Figure out what wood you like on what meats. When it's ready pull it off, don't think more time won't hurt

Find a pork belly & make your own bacon, but never limit a pork belly to bacon only. Ribs are easy & better cuts of ribs make better eating ribs. Dino ribs rock.Thinly sliced rare smoked eye of round makes great sammiches.

Learn to appreciate rare meats. Old cook to temperatures for pork & poultry dries it out. Learn which what cut what you cook. Against the grain to eat, with the grain is jerky. When you have to ask something at the meat department always ask the fat guy, because he's well versed in eating. Never trust a skinny meat cutter.

 

[robertc1024]

I found this years and years ago and it has an awesome amount of information on smoking. If y'all haven't seen it, I'd download it before it disappears. https://www.eaglequest.com/~bbq/faq2/toc.html

Somewhere on there is a word doc.

 

[Mike_from_Texas]

View attachment 384486

I have one of those, it actually turns out some good smoked meat.

Get yourself a round charcoal pan and water pan. Put a few chunks of charcoal in it and then chunks of wood. Place it on the very bottom rack above the flame. Crank it up to get the charcoal smoldering and then turn the flame down and let the wood do it’s thing.

Run it between 225-250 for beef and 250-275 for chicken and pork.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

 

[Texan79423]

I would recommend youtube videos by Malcom Reed on how to bbq right or the Meat Church videos. Arron franklin is good too. You Tube is your friend.

There is the BBQ brethren forum as well. Good luck and don't worry about messing up the fun is light the fire and spending time

with friends or your dog.

 

[Byrd666]

Two things I learned, and was advised to learn, were simple things to learn, and did learn, from a couple of simple and nasty errors.

Take your time, aka, don't rush it.

Never, never, never, but, never, let the meat get dry. Water pans and basting are real good friends.

 

[toddnjoyce]

…So, let’s start with the first one:

I see the thermometer on my smoker can go up to 400°F. Is there any reason to smoke food at a smoker temperature higher than about 250?

That thermometer is likely worthless, so it don’t matter how high it reads. You want to know the temp at the level of the meat. If that gauge is above the spot where the meat is at, you’ll be smoking at a cooler temp than you think because heat rises.

Your Masterbuilt smoker is fine to start learning techniques and flavor profiles. The simple part is that two* temps matter. Internal temp of the meat and grate temp. The more stable you keep grate temp, the more likely it is you’ll end up with a better final product.
Note: Pork ribs are the exception, you don’t need to know their internal temp; when they’re bendy, your done.

I like the ThermoPro 4 probe thermometers; you can leave one on the grate and stick one in the meat.

Flavor comes from the smoke and from the rub and/or injection. Some woods will leave a bitter profile if burned green or at too high a temp. Others will produce a nice profile at a higher temp than expected because the species is dense enough that a stable temp is hotter than expected….this is where vents and offsets and such come into play.

Meat Church on the you tube is a good resource; he focuses on cooking at a certain temp to a certain internal temp for consistent results. There’s a reason my briskets usually come off the smoker at 198* whether it took six hours or sixteen hours to get there.

Practically, 300* is the point where the cooking happens too fast for the meat to absorb any flavor from the wood. I smoke ribeyes at 225* to 125* internal then sear them at 600* for about a minute each side to get them to rare. Two minutes each side is medium rare. More than that is trash.

Biggest thing is get out there with chickens or pork butts and find what your like.

 

[Vaquero]

That thermometer is likely worthless, so it don’t matter how high it reads. You want to know the temp at the level of the meat. If that gauge is above the spot where the meat is at, you’ll be smoking at a cooler temp than you think because heat rises.

Your Masterbuilt smoker is fine to start learning techniques and flavor profiles. The simple part is that two* temps matter. Internal temp of the meat and grate temp. The more stable you keep grate temp, the more likely it is you’ll end up with a better final product.
Note: Pork ribs are the exception, you don’t need to know their internal temp; when they’re bendy, your done.

I like the ThermoPro 4 probe thermometers; you can leave one on the grate and stick one in the meat.

Flavor comes from the smoke and from the rub and/or injection. Some woods will leave a bitter profile if burned green or at too high a temp. Others will produce a nice profile at a higher temp than expected because the species is dense enough that a stable temp is hotter than expected….this is where vents and offsets and such come into play.

Meat Church on the you tube is a good resource; he focuses on cooking at a certain temp to a certain internal temp for consistent results. There’s a reason my briskets usually come off the smoker at 198* whether it took six hours or sixteen hours to get there.

Practically, 300* is the point where the cooking happens too fast for the meat to absorb any flavor from the wood. I smoke ribeyes at 225* to 125* internal then sear them at 600* for about a minute each side to get them to rare. Two minutes each side is medium rare. More than that is trash.

Biggest thing is get out there with chickens or pork butts and find what your like.

Yep.
Learn on the dirt track before racing on pavement.
A done chicken that ain't dry is a great goal before trying a $40 brisket.
A pork butt is the best starting place.
Apple juice in a spray bottle can help keep things from drying out.
Best I ever done was a couple of briskets at 1 hour per pound at 225°.
Everyone wanted me to open a restaurant.

Those never got turned or wrapped.
Just seasoned mesquite smoked.

 

[thescoutranch]

I am not a big fan of smoked chicken, but I will eat it. And that definitely sounds like a great way to start learning the basics without breaking the bank.

 

[jjkukla]

I have a Weber Smokey Mt. that I have been using for several years and I love it. Added a Digi Q fan/thermostat a couple years ago and I haven't looked back since. Why I didn't buy one sooner is beyond me!
Ribs. Brisket. Chicken. Turkey. All cook damn good on the Weber.

ETA: I never smoke (intentionally) above 250*. 235 is my go-to for most cooks. Just did a couple racks of St. Louis style ribs this weekend; 235 for 3.5 hours, then another 1.5 hrs wrapped in butcher paper. Let rest for 30-60 mins and it was perfect. YMMV.

 

[glenbo]

View attachment 384486

I still have one of these, although the door is burnt through from use. It was the finest smoker I've ever used. Find some alder wood chips, HEB usually has them. It's a different flavor profile from what most folks use.

 

[Texan79423]

I was taught smoking is like sex the more you do it the more you will appreciate taking it low and slow. Leave that hot and fast to the little pecker guys.

 

[Byrd666]

Since you have a vertical smoker, look up "Beer can chicken", it's a good starting point. It will give you an idea how everything works without completely destroying the meat.

 

[NTXVet]

Thought about smoking a turkey but Zig-Zag doesn't make big enough papers.

 

[thescoutranch]

Yes smokers make darn good ovens. Although constant high temperature is tough on the racks and fire box, And you can burn all the seasoning off the walls if you push it too hard. Seen one go off like a ram jet engine once, not pretty.

Never really thought about a smoker catching fire. Was that due to grease buildup, or running it too hot or a combination.

Same question for @Vaquero

 

[Eastexasrick]

Never really thought about a smoker catching fire. Was that due to grease buildup, or running it too hot or a combination.

Grease, carbon and other byproducts of burning wood ignite in the cooking area of the smoker. This usually happens after the operator ( Chef ) ingests a bit too much alcohol.

His wood in the firebox is burned down to white embers, so he stokes the firebox with wood, opens the intake damper all the way to get it burning. He walks away.

If the flames jump over the baffles ( if there are any) and get a little grease fire going the process begins.

Chef Sparky is refilling his glass, extoling his smoking prowess, when he hears a low rumble which appears to come from the middle of the smoker.

If he has just the right amount of simi-restricted air flowing in across the fire, with a restricted exhaust to create compression combustion, his smoker becomes a ram jet engine, on a very inefficient level.

With the rapid oxidation reduction heat added to the compression heat, the walls, racks, baffles are glowing hot so even the built up carbon becomes fuel, along with the meat. Unless you can cut off the intake, or inject halon gas into the intake, it runs till it's out of fuel.

 

[jjkukla]

Since you have a vertical smoker, look up "Beer can chicken", it's a good starting point. It will give you an idea how everything works without completely destroying the meat.

^ This.
And also looking at brining your bird too; gets the skin crispy and traps juices inside.

(Bring on the out of context thread!)

 

[lone_star_state]

Let rest for 30-60 mins and it was perfect.

This is a key step in my cooking process, too.

 

[Vaquero]

Never really thought about a smoker catching fire. Was that due to grease buildup, or running it too hot or a combination.

Same question for @Vaquero

Combination.
A big trailer mounted smoker.
Wasn't quite level and all the drippings drained towards the fire box.
Once that lit up there wasn't much way to put it out.

 

[toddnjoyce]

Never really thought about a smoker catching fire.

Fat is combustible. Some folks believe in drip trays for that reason.