Grilling and smoking thread

[gold sunrise]

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?

 

:lol2:

I cracked up when I read the bolded. Bless your heart...:lol2: I did ribs and a turkey breast. I put the ribs on the top rack so that fat could drip on the turkey breast. I soak my wood chunks about a hour before using. For my turkey breast I also like to make a herb butter and put in the cavity of the turkey and put the breast side down so the herb butter can soak into the turkey. I use a stick of butter and then a mixture of thyme, and rosemary and a couble of cloves of garlic chopped. As for a rub I don't put sugar in mine, I just put the spices I like you know a pinch of this and a pinch of that....:lol2: good luck my friend let us know how it goes.

[NEERFAN]

In our complex we can only have electric. Our cross the hall neighbors bought a Masterbuilt 30 a few weeks ago, they smoked a rack of ribs for us and I was hooked. We proceeded to purchase a Masterbuilt 30 as well, on Saturday we smoked chicken wings. I was very impressed and can't wait to use it again.

[Watusi]

I appreciate all the responses so far. Very helpful.

 

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.

When you say this, you are talking about internal meat temps and not the ambient smoker temps, correct?

 

I've seen some digital tempurature probes online. Some are very sophisticated, some less. I'm debating about the need to keep it simple vs the convenience of monitoring temps without opening the door of the smoker. Thoughts?

[Pete W]

Regardless of if you are getting a simple instant read thermometer or a more advanced device with probes to read grill temp and meat temp both, I would advise to check out thermoworks products.

I have a thermoworks thermopop as an instant read for grilling steaks and chicken.

For low and slow I got an igrill2, but since then thermoworks put out the smoke and if I was buying today I would get the smoke

[BigVMan23]

I appreciate all the responses so far. Very helpful.

 

When you say this, you are talking about internal meat temps and not the ambient smoker temps, correct?

 

I've seen some digital tempurature probes online. Some are very sophisticated, some less. I'm debating about the need to keep it simple vs the convenience of monitoring temps without opening the door of the smoker. Thoughts?

 

 

Yes, internal meat temp.

 

You can get very fancy and get a "stay in" internal thermometer that constantly monitors the meat temp and can signal you once a preset temp is reached. Some even have bluetooth capability and will interact with your phone. I am still researching those but will eventually get one. Or you can go with a basic instant read digital, can get a good one usually for under $10.00 or so, and there are a lot of guys who just go with that. Pros and cons to both, but if smoking becomes a hobby, like it has for me, a good constant read thermometer is something I will eventually go with.

[JDEaston]

Regardless of if you are getting a simple instant read thermometer or a more advanced device with probes to read grill temp and meat temp both, I would advise to check out thermoworks products.

I have a thermoworks thermopop as an instant read for grilling steaks and chicken.

For low and slow I got an igrill2, but since then thermoworks put out the smoke and if I was buying today I would get the smoke

 

I'll second thermoworks products, they are built well and as quick and accurate as you can find. I got a friend the thermopop as a birthday present and he loves it. I myself have the smoke and it's the best wireless thermo I've ever used. I also have an instant read that my better half brought me from work when they replaced that model with a newer version. It's probably more expensive than the thermopop, but in my experience the thermopop is quicker and more accurate.

[Watusi]

Maiden voyage underway :thumb:

 

Put a pork shoulder on early this morning and am going to throw on some chicken legs after it is done.

 

Wish me luck.

Edited September 23, 2017 by Watusi

[JDEaston]

Good luck 'tusi, you'll find that it's much easier than you may be thinking. Did you buy any type of thermometer?

 

If you're going for pulled pork from the shoulder (some people slice it rather than pull it) remember that as much as what temperature the thermometer reads it's just as important that the meat probes tender with either the thermometer probe or by simply poking it with a toothpick.

[Watusi]

I bought a cheap leave in probe thermometer that transmits to a handheld device. I'm sitting in my lazy boy watching U of L and keeping an eye on it. I didn't even put it in until the butt had been on the smoker for about 6 hrs. It has currently stalled at about 160 degrees, but I understand that is normal. I'll let you know how it turns out.

 

I tried to post a pic, but I cannot post pics to BGP with my phone, no idea why. Haven't been able to in a while.

[JDEaston]

Sounds like your on the right track. The temp may even drop during the stall, in fact it likely will. Don't panic, just let it do it's thing and once it breaks the stall it'll be done before you know it.

[BigVMan23]

Pork doesn't stall like beef brisket does, it usually doesn't take it long to get past it.

[Watusi]

Pulled pork turned out great. I probably didn't produce enough smoke, but I couldn't ask for any better. Really happy with it.

 

Chicken legs were good, but way too spicy. Used a rub I found online and went very liberal with it, lol. My son and I liked them but everybody else had to peel off the skin.

 

By and large, it was a great success for our first time.

 

I appreciate all the help and tips from you guys.

[JDEaston]

Pulled pork turned out great. I probably didn't produce enough smoke, but I couldn't ask for any better. Really happy with it.

 

Chicken legs were good, but way too spicy. Used a rub I found online and went very liberal with it, lol. My son and I liked them but everybody else had to peel off the skin.

 

By and large, it was a great success for our first time.

 

I appreciate all the help and tips from you guys.

 

I meant to ask you after your maiden voyage post but apparently my brain was thinking it but my hands didn't follow along and type it, what type of wood were you using for smoke and was it chips or chunks? Anyway, naturally due to not being coal/wood fired, propane and electric smokers will produce less smoke than than a stick burner or kamado style cooker, but by choosing the right type of wood or adding something like an amazen pellet tube will allow you to get whatever smoke profile you like best.

[Watusi]

I used Hickory chips, soaked in water. I just don't think I a) used enough chips or b)replenished them often enough. I'm learning though.

[JDEaston]

The chips do burn up pretty quick, so it may be an issue of needing to load up your smoke box or keep adding throughout your cook. Meat quits absorbing the smoke once the internal temp hits the 140 range though, so it's not necessary to keep adding wood after that point, though it does add a nice aroma while finishing off the cook lol.

 

Another thing you can try to get a better smoke profile is to buy chunks instead of the chips. The whole chunks probably won't work well in your smoke box but if you take a hatchet to them and split them into quarters you'll have wood that will fit in your smoke box and burn much longer and slower than the chips will. I used to do that on my gas grill with a little 4x6" smoke box that was meant to be used with chips. The chips burned up so quick that I found myself needing to refill the box every hour or so, it worked much better than just using the chips. Don't throw your chips away though, you can sprinkle them on top of the chunks haha.