on the smoker. got about 1 more hour on them, then finishing them off in the oven so I can go to a Studio Tobac event.

Image
[Reply]

Now THAT is a warped sense of Cookery! :-)
[Reply]

Left my smoker open last night. And it f*cking rained. :-)

Now I get to spend a nice afternoon scrubbing the cast iron grates and reseasoning. Super.

I think I'll fry up some bacon first. Ever have one of those days where you just crave bacon? This is one of those days. Doctors say every piece of bacon you eat takes 9 minutes off of your life. By that math, I should've died in 1732.
[Reply]

That sucks. I hate when that happens. I like your math though. :-)
[Reply]

I think they say that about COMBOS, too....But these Jalapeno gunk with the tortilla cracker crust are phenomenal
[Reply]

This all sounds way delicious...More!
[Reply]

A LOT was on the smoker today. I kinda messed up the placement of my hickory chunks
so I got minimal smoke when it counted today, but all in all I was pleased. I smoked a whole
chicken cut up, plus a weak-a55 rack of beef ribs, plus two packs of 'western-style pork ribs"...
or is it 'country-style'?? I am never sure. I also foiled some potatoes and some sweet potatoes.
I was thinking of sweets as more of a winter-fall kind of thing, but wow were they good today.
About three hours on the smoker. Took the bird off early. Once I fortified the coals, I had such
a hot fire, figured I would crisp the chicken and remove it. Good Call! Everything was perfect.
And YES, VIRGINA, that is REEEEAAAaaaallll butter! I am off the wagon all around.

Image

Image

Image
[Reply]

Ok Brad wins this thread hands down:-):-)
[Reply]

Maybe this PAGE, but I am but a gnat on the butt of a steer around here. But I hope to be a horsefly one day.
I will say one thing, I have perfected the art of smoking on a machine that is mostly a grill. I have gotten about
as good at this indirect grilling and smoking as you can get. I have even decided just to STOP practicing. I have too
much meat in the freezer and don't even go into a store to get vegetables or anything anymore, it's straight
to the reduced meat rack and if there is nothing I buy a chicken or a rack of BBRs. It's a sickness I tell ya.

And you know, I say I am done practicing, but in my second chimney of coals, something made me fill it up,
when I know I only needed a half a chimney or less to finish the cook and to maintain my temps and I got
distracted talking to the landlady about some bullshi+ and threw in a full chimney and my temps shot up to
300+ and LUCKILY I pulled the chicken after browning and crisping the skin cause I totally overcooked my
pork fingers who WERE doing fine and likely really didn't even need another round of coals.

So maybe I am not ready to stop yet.
[Reply]

Cooked (smoked) a 7lb shoulder yesterday. Saturday night injected (apple juice, salt, sugar, worcheshire) and let it sit overnight. Rubbed it down (paprika, brown sugar, salt, pepper, garlic salt) and had it on the lump by 9 a.m. In my pile of lump, I had some hickory limb sections that looked like 1" slabs of summer sausage. Put it on 260F and left for church. Got home, sitting at 235F. I kept it in the 230F to 250F range and took if off when the fat shoulder part read 190F. Wrapped it in foil, a towel, and put it in a small cooler until 6 p.m. Shredded about half of it and used a variety of home-made sauces. Wife made some awesome coleslaw and these two together made great sandwiches. I was going to take a picture of the cooking, but it was 110F outside with 90% humidity and the camera was at 73F and 50% humidity. Didn't feel like dealing with that. Also, never tried the corn in the microwave trick until last night. It produced some of the best corn on the cob I've ever had (and I've had a LOT).

2 ears in the shuck, microwave for 8 minutes, remove and wrap in a towel for 5 minutes, cut the bottom of the cob stalk off and push the silkless cob out the bottom. Perfect all around and no silk to boot.

BTW, nice looking grub, Brad!
[Reply]

Just use this stuff-it's what they use in all the competitions for more flavor. :-):-):-)

I did enjoy this critique of the BBQ Pitmasters from this season from the guy that runs amazingribs.com. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/craig-...b_1585354.html

Trigg's secret ingredient is to slather everything in sight in Parkay Squeeze from a blue squeeze bottle, which he blithely refers to as "butter" several times. Heck, this stuff isn't even labeled margarine. For the record, butter is made from fresh cream and maybe a little water and salt. Parkay Squeeze is made from liquid soybean oil, water, salt, hydrogenated cottonseed oil, vegetable monoglycerides, soy lecithin, potassium sorbate, sodium benzoate, artificial flavor, phosphoric acid, beta carotene, and vitamin A palmitate.

I don't want to sound like a snob and slam butter substitutes which have their place, but somehow I hold out the hope that champion cooks will be able to make great dishes with a minimum of processed foods. Sadly, this technique has become popular on the circuit as wannabes copy the winners like Trigg, and now that we have seen how much he loves the squeeze bottle, I fear an outbreak of carpal tunnel syndrome in other cooks.

I must admit it's great stuff for sweet corn though.
[Reply]

I'll pass. :-)
[Reply]

Pulling a bunch of pork back ribs out of the freezer for the 4th. Got em for 1.99/lb IIRC. Just wish I had a bigger grill/smoker.
[Reply]

Pete, let me tell you something...no you don't wish that, and I'll tell you why. A big smoker seems to somehow demand
more meat, like that plant in Little Shop of Horrors. You buy more meat, cook more meat, have to find people to come
over and eat that meat, and before you know it you will long for the good ole days when life was cheap and cooking
was easy. You've seen my grill I think, and I can get 5-6 racks of BBRs on it if I work at it, and 4 racks of spares.
Granted, I am an a55hole with few friends, so sure, I have small needs in the grilling dept, but trust me, until
you get into the Steve mode of throwing down serious meat for 500 of your closest friends, enjoy your little
grill and make BIG food with it.

All that said, I wonder if I am going to do another 6 am cook tomorrow?? I am sure there is some good reduced meat
out there to find today. 102 temp is no way to cook out. Fairly quiet round here the day before THE grilling holiday.
[Reply]

:-)
I thought it was a good idea to get a 6'x2'x3' smoker that can handle two whole hogs a few years ago and DAAMMN it can break a guy feeding the beast!
[Reply]

That's why I have a stable of smokers. They are like fishing rods (or golf clubs I'm told); one for every occasion :-)
[Reply]

Envy...we need a smilie for that, haha.

I have yanked a dozen drumsticks and one measly rack of BBRs to die in the morrow.
[Reply]

Ah life is good when your landlady pi55es you off SO BAD that you know she is never EVER going to enjoy another
mouthful of BBQ off your grill. It FREES a man. I am also never going to assist her in any way outside of keeping
the area around my front door neat and the grass cut.

Where was I?? Oh yeah. Today's selection. I rack of BBRs and 10 Chicken Wings, smoked to perfection
and then slathered with Sweet Baby Ray's for the last 30 minutes. Tastes like sweet butter on fresh corn.
[Reply]

Looks great Brad! Just FYI... those are legs :-)
[Reply]

I was wondering how that bastard got off the ground......
[Reply]