Smoked a small brisket last night and brought it into work...before and after pics. It's good, but I personally have brisket about 4th in line in my personal taste for smoked meats. It's just not my favorite, so I cook it more for others than myself.

 

 

Just got my first request to do a bbq catering job. 55 pounds of pulled pork, also grill some hot dogs and burgers, take care of all the buns, condiments, etc. Might have to recruit some help with this one, may have about 200 people or more at the event.

Anyone have any good pizza dough recipes, particularly some that can take high temps? I purchased a pizza ring for my Akorn about a month ago to do high temp pizza cooks but have yet to use it yet, mainly due to work but I'm also trying to find a good dough recipe that wont burn at 600+ degrees.

So I bought a smoker and I have fired it up for an hour of seasoning. According to the instruction book, I am ready to smoke something now. lol

 

But I am NOT ready. I am nervous as a long tail cat in a room full of rocking chairs. I have no idea what to try first, what little tricks I should do, should I soak the wood chips or not, etc.

 

Help me out, guys. Point me in the right direction to smoked-meat nirvana. What can I cook first that I won't screw up?

So I bought a smoker and I have fired it up for an hour of seasoning. According to the instruction book, I am ready to smoke something now. lol

 

But I am NOT ready. I am nervous as a long tail cat in a room full of rocking chairs. I have no idea what to try first, what little tricks I should do, should I soak the wood chips or not, etc.

 

Help me out, guys. Point me in the right direction to smoked-meat nirvana. What can I cook first that I won't screw up?

 

I am very new also. Only used my smoker once. I smoked two whole chickens. They weren't expensive, so I wouldn't feel bad about screwing it up and they didn't take all day to do. Used a hickory rub (didn't use enough) and I used hickory wood that I slightly soaked. Over cooked them a bit and only one temp flare up. Overall, it went well and the chicken was good.

Thanks @FatNate.

 

So what temp and how long did you cook the whole birds? Guide I read said 4 hrs at 250 deg for whole chickens. Close?

So I bought a smoker and I have fired it up for an hour of seasoning. According to the instruction book, I am ready to smoke something now. lol

 

But I am NOT ready. I am nervous as a long tail cat in a room full of rocking chairs. I have no idea what to try first, what little tricks I should do, should I soak the wood chips or not, etc.

 

Help me out, guys. Point me in the right direction to smoked-meat nirvana. What can I cook first that I won't screw up?

 

What kind of smoker did you get? That will affect how you want to use/distribute wood.

 

For a first smoke I would honestly go with a 10lb or so pork shoulder if your willing to put in the time involved in smoking something that large. Shoulders are basically fool proof though, even if you try to screw it up it still come out great.

 

As far as the whole chicken goes I like to cook mine a lot hotter than 250, typically 325-350, otherwise the skin is kinda rubbery. I like the crispy skin. However the only way to cook one that hot without drying out the breast is to spatchcock it or use the beer can method.

 

I just took a break from work to stop by the house and eat dinner hah, I gotta get back to it though as it looks like I'll be working until the sun goes down. I'll check back later this evening and help you out with how to use the wood once I know what kind of smoker your using.

Thanks JD.

 

It is a propane smoker by Dyna Glo. I knew I could regulate the temps better with propane or gas and thought this was a good jumping off point. It was on sale last week for under $150.

 

At 73 lbs, I don't think the UPS driver was happy, lol.

 

Amazon.com : Dyna-Glo DGY784BDP 36" Vertical LP Gas Smoker : Patio, Lawn & Garden

 

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What the hell is spatchcock?

Thanks @FatNate.

 

So what temp and how long did you cook the whole birds? Guide I read said 4 hrs at 250 deg for whole chickens. Close?

 

Yes. But I should have pulled it around 3.5hrs.

Thanks JD.

 

It is a propane smoker by Dyna Glo. I knew I could regulate the temps better with propane or gas and thought this was a good jumping off point. It was on sale last week for under $150.

 

At 73 lbs, I don't think the UPS driver was happy, lol.

 

Amazon.com : Dyna-Glo DGY784BDP 36" Vertical LP Gas Smoker : Patio, Lawn & Garden

 

I would soak the chips for about 30 minutes prior to putting them into the basket. If you want more smoke maybe do soaked chips on the bottom layer with some dry chips on the top. Chicken/poultry doesn't need much smoke before it becomes too much smoke though, so be careful with that.

What the hell is spatchcock?

 

Cut the backbone out of the chicken and lay it on the smoker breast side up. It will essentially cook inside out this way, allowing the breast and thighs/dark meat to get done around the same time. Any other way other than the beer can method will cause the breast to dry out if you cook in the 325-350 range.

 

It takes longer for the dark meat to cook, so when cooking a whole chicken and want crispy skin, you're more less going to have to go with the spatchcock method or a beer can chicken unless you like dry breast. I like both methods for a whole chicken but to be honest the beer can method is still my go to. Takes up less space per chicken and in my experience is the breast comes up to temp shortly after thighs and such are done. It's hard to overcook a thigh (kinda like pork shoulder) so even if it's 5 degrees over your target temp, it'll still be juicy and tender. The breast on the other hand, is easy to overcook.

Chicken isn't my favorite thing, but we eat it quite a bit. My wife likes the breast and I much prefer the dark meat. Thanks for the tips.

 

I would rather do pork or some red meat instead. I might try the pork shoulder. For a 10 pounder, do I really need to allow 1.5 hours per pound?

First thing you got to learn, you can't smoke to a time you have to smoke to temperature. A good instant read digital thermometer at the very least is a must. As far as chicken goes I'd say starting with quarters is the best way to go. You want to use a lighter type of wood to smoke that, some type of fruit, Cherry, Peach are both good. Might want to add just a little bit of Hickory or Oak with that. If smoking a pork shoulder, throw the Hickory to it in my opinion the more the better. I also mix in some Jack Daniels whiskey Barrel wood with mine as well. I would keep the heat on the lower side and check meat temps more frequently until you get the hang of it. Somewhere around the 225 to 250 range.

So I catered an event weekend before last, did about 50 lb of pulled pork for a baseball organization. Also grilled hamburgers hot dogs and brats on site. It was quite a bit of work especially doing the barbecue early refrigerating it and then warming it up, that doubled my work but using my new propane smoker I wasn't sure when I would get done with it and it smoked quite a bit quicker than my electric smoker. Barbecue came out wonderful everyone enjoyed it and I made a little money on top of it. Now I have people asking me to do other events for them. Made some pulled pork Monday along with a frenched bone-in rib roast and three racks of ribs for a fantasy football draft party. Ribs cooked a little quicker than I thought and dried them out a little but the pulled pork and the bone-in pork roast came out wonderfully.