I am a smoker, the BBQ type.

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Kaido

Kaido

Elite Member & Kitchen Overlord
Feb 14, 2004
52,379
7,635
136
Been firing up the pellet smoker (Traeger) a lot lately:

http://i.imgur.com/VGsgnw9.jpg

I've done a few pork top loins so far (cheap + tasty, like pork steak!) with great results:

http://i.imgur.com/X31URgG.jpg

I'm glad I went with the pellet grill over the Bradley digital smoker. The Traeger is basically a convection oven with smoke, which makes smoking & cooking SUPER easy. I did a brisket the other day for 5 or 6 hours, pretty much all I had to do was plug it in & set the temperature.
 
zinfamous

zinfamous

No Lifer
Jul 12, 2006
111,994
31,557
146
heh, I like the idea of using Coke in a sauce--the Atlanta brisket. makes sense. It has lots of the flavors that you would want, but I'd rather go wtih the Mexican coke for the real sugar, or some other mixture of Brown Sugar/orange/cherry/sasparilla/whateverthefuckisincoke.

Or just a ginger Ale + brown sugar mix+ the other stuff. Tomato paste in lieu of ketchup.

what would be a Philadelphia brisket? Natural Light + Brown Sugar + Cheez Wiz? :hmm:
 
SpatiallyAware

SpatiallyAware

Lifer
Sep 7, 2009
12,960
3
0
Brisket turned out ok. For some reason it was one of those cooks where by the time it was done I was sick of smelling it.. It seemed better the next day.
 
SpatiallyAware

SpatiallyAware

Lifer
Sep 7, 2009
12,960
3
0
MarkXIX

MarkXIX

Platinum Member
Jan 3, 2010
2,642
1
71
SpatiallyAware said:
I've got 3 racks of babybacks chugging along at 225f.

I found this cattleman's carolina sauce, and it is excellent!

http://www.amazon.com/Cattlemens-Bar.../dp/B0025UCD76
Click to expand...

Just did two racks of baby backs yesterday at 225 for about 3 1/2 hours. I tried Texas crutch for the first time, but just for 30 mins at the 2 1/2 mark.

Ribs came out good. Used a Butcher BBQ honey rub. Ribs came out awesome. Consensus in my house was ribs without sauce were better than the rack I sauced.
 
N

NetWareHead

THAT guy
Aug 10, 2002
5,847
154
106
I did ribs 2 weeks ago and had some unintended results that proved to be a hit.I scheduled for the ribs to be off of the smoker around 4 PM. I normally take baby backs off after 3 sometimes 4 hours. I measure their done-ness by grabbing the end of a rack with tongs and looking for a break in the skin/bark of the rib. if the bark splits and reveals meat under, they are done. I like ribs that have a little give to them, not necessarily fall off the bone.

So my GF had to run out and take care of something work related. The ribs came off the smoker and I figured let me wrap them in foil and stick them in the oven on the warm setting (maybe 200 degrees). The ribs ended up staying there for 2-3 hours b the time she got back.

The ribs were undeniably the most moist ribs and with meat almost falling off. You could rip the individual sections from the rack with your hands, no cutting needed. Everyone I had cooked for said this was the best batch of ribs I ever made; the moistness and softness of the meat was unprecedented. I had nothing really to say because the result was unintended, it was simply the result of needing to keep the ribs warm in an oven.

Now, I was taught to never cook the ribs to that level. People talk wistfully about meat that falls off the bone but I was always taught that ribs should have a little give to them. Not hard and chewy. Still soft but needing a little bit of effort to eat. All of the accolades i received have me rethinking my strategy. What do you guys do?
 
GasX

GasX

Lifer
Feb 8, 2001
29,033
6
81
Purists be damned but I have a brisket in my gas grill smoking.

I cured it for a week, rinsed it and put on a rub last night. It's been smoking for a couple of hours now. Hoping to have some sort of coned beef / pastrami thing when I am done to make an awesome hash and perhaps a sandwich or two...
 
SpatiallyAware

SpatiallyAware

Lifer
Sep 7, 2009
12,960
3
0
MarkXIX said:
Just did two racks of baby backs yesterday at 225 for about 3 1/2 hours. I tried Texas crutch for the first time, but just for 30 mins at the 2 1/2 mark.

Ribs came out good. Used a Butcher BBQ honey rub. Ribs came out awesome. Consensus in my house was ribs without sauce were better than the rack I sauced.
Click to expand...


I have a seasoning mix for ribs I call 'russian ribs', it's basically salt+pepper and herbs de provence. Turns out excellent, great for when you don't want bbq-ish ribs.
 
SpatiallyAware

SpatiallyAware

Lifer
Sep 7, 2009
12,960
3
0
GasX said:
Purists be damned but I have a brisket in my gas grill smoking.

I cured it for a week, rinsed it and put on a rub last night. It's been smoking for a couple of hours now. Hoping to have some sort of coned beef / pastrami thing when I am done to make an awesome hash and perhaps a sandwich or two...
Click to expand...


Flat, point, packer?

How are you able to hold low temps on your gasser? I've had webers, kenmores, costco, none of them could consistently hold anything below about 275.
 
ElFenix

ElFenix

Elite Member
Super Moderator
Mar 20, 2000
102,407
8,595
126
SpatiallyAware said:
Flat, point, packer?

How are you able to hold low temps on your gasser? I've had webers, kenmores, costco, none of them could consistently hold anything below about 275.
Click to expand...

only 1 burner maybe?

275 is fine for brisket. competition briskets are done about 350 because of the time limit.
 
SpatiallyAware

SpatiallyAware

Lifer
Sep 7, 2009
12,960
3
0
NetWareHead said:
I did ribs 2 weeks ago and had some unintended results that proved to be a hit.I scheduled for the ribs to be off of the smoker around 4 PM. I normally take baby backs off after 3 sometimes 4 hours. I measure their done-ness by grabbing the end of a rack with tongs and looking for a break in the skin/bark of the rib. if the bark splits and reveals meat under, they are done. I like ribs that have a little give to them, not necessarily fall off the bone.

So my GF had to run out and take care of something work related. The ribs came off the smoker and I figured let me wrap them in foil and stick them in the oven on the warm setting (maybe 200 degrees). The ribs ended up staying there for 2-3 hours b the time she got back.

The ribs were undeniably the most moist ribs and with meat almost falling off. You could rip the individual sections from the rack with your hands, no cutting needed. Everyone I had cooked for said this was the best batch of ribs I ever made; the moistness and softness of the meat was unprecedented. I had nothing really to say because the result was unintended, it was simply the result of needing to keep the ribs warm in an oven.

Now, I was taught to never cook the ribs to that level. People talk wistfully about meat that falls off the bone but I was always taught that ribs should have a little give to them. Not hard and chewy. Still soft but needing a little bit of effort to eat. All of the accolades i received have me rethinking my strategy. What do you guys do?
Click to expand...

Depends on who I'm cooking for. My wife and I prefer a lot of bite in ribs. I usually cook baby backs hot and fast when it's just for us - 325-350 indirect.


But... I live in the south, and a lot (most) people prefer ribs absolutely falling off the bone, where they practically require a fork because you can't pick up the rib. To get them like this you do 2 hours in the smoker, 2 hours in foil, 1 hour on the smoker to firm back up.

I avoid foil, I don't care for the texture. So when we have company over I usually do 225-250 for 5 hours.



The way you did it, you risk drying them out. If it's not a very fatty rib it will be fall of the bone but dry meat. Foiling guarantees they're moist and very very tender.
 
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