IGX

Awesome motherbitches! Let's start slinging a little shit and also get some great dialogue going like we used to. C'mon!! There used to be some super-bright fuckers on here...get your asses in gear and let's begin the second enlightenment!! I'm down.

Shape, I bought a smoker. I thought long and hard about the Big Green Egg, but then I flipped the switch on a Traeger cause I ain't no bitch. I'm coming for the title and I wanted you to know.

My solicitor will be preparing a strongly worded, but fair, terms of agreement henceforth outlining the expectations of this challenge.

Next up for me...a beef tenderloin. But thanks to our current commander-in-chef I experienced a small dab of sticker shock when I was going to impulse purchase one at costco last week. 100.00+

Sorry double post.

This old board now feels like a breath of fresh air.

Shapecharge wrote: ↑Tue Nov 30, 2021 6:34 pm My solicitor will be preparing a strongly worded, but fair, terms of agreement henceforth outlining the expectations of this challenge.

Next up for me...a beef tenderloin. But thanks to our current commander-in-chef I experienced a small dab of sticker shock when I was going to impulse purchase one at costco last week. 100.00+

I know you remember when burgers were a nickle, but you can't hide behind inflation this time, gramps.

There's a neat burger place about an hour west of Boston. Right out of 1956. I thought it would be cool to buy that place and have Wayback Wednesday, with 1950s prices and carhops.

Fat Cat wrote: ↑Tue Nov 30, 2021 6:28 pm Shape, I bought a smoker. I thought long and hard about the Big Green Egg, but then I flipped the switch on a Traeger cause I ain't no bitch. I'm coming for the title and I wanted you to know.

Highly recommend a pork butt as a first project. High heat brisket also a winner.

Fat Cat wrote: ↑Tue Nov 30, 2021 6:28 pm Shape, I bought a smoker. I thought long and hard about the Big Green Egg, but then I flipped the switch on a Traeger cause I ain't no bitch. I'm coming for the title and I wanted you to know.

I was thinking about a Traeger for a while, but for me it is too specialized. Green Egg and Sous Vide, on the other hand, cover 90% of needs related to meat (and fish) preparation. You can smoke a pork butt for half hour on the Green Egg, then vacuum seal it and throw in the freezer for the indefinite time. Then chuck in in the sous vide at 80 degrees (Celsius) and forget it for 24 hours. My freezer is full of vacuum packed meat. Today I cooked hanger steak: 2 hours sous vide right out of the freezer, finish on the BBQ for 10 minutes. About 10 minutes of work altogether.

Grandpa's Spells wrote: ↑Wed Dec 01, 2021 3:47 am

Fat Cat wrote: ↑Tue Nov 30, 2021 6:28 pm Shape, I bought a smoker. I thought long and hard about the Big Green Egg, but then I flipped the switch on a Traeger cause I ain't no bitch. I'm coming for the title and I wanted you to know.

Highly recommend a pork butt as a first project. High heat brisket also a winner.

I'mma hit you up for some ideas in the near future. I am supposed to pick up the smoker this weekend and then it's on like Donkey Kong.

Grandpa's Spells wrote: ↑Wed Dec 01, 2021 3:47 am

Fat Cat wrote: ↑Tue Nov 30, 2021 6:28 pm Shape, I bought a smoker. I thought long and hard about the Big Green Egg, but then I flipped the switch on a Traeger cause I ain't no bitch. I'm coming for the title and I wanted you to know.

Highly recommend a pork butt as a first project. High heat brisket also a winner.

We're a go for pulled pork this weekend. You gotta a recipe for that butt?

See this thread here: free-speech-forum/are-there-any-bbq-peo ... 32451.html

Link to Aaron Franklin will be good. It is TX style: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LbzEa_juegs

If you want more Carolina style this is a good one, ignore everything else except the rub recipe: https://www.virtualweberbullet.com/pork ... -mr-brown/
I personally no longer trim pork butts I don't think it's useful. Sharpen your knife first if you do. If you can get Lily's Q Carolina sauce where you are I'd serve it with that.

When ribeye roasts go on sale around the holidays, make one of these:
https://www.virtualweberbullet.com/prim ... b-crusted/

I personally would not splurge for prime grade on this. I'm probably going to dry age a rib roast this year, and I will go prime for that, but I won't smoke it.

After those two I would consider a brisket. By default, try higher heat with a very simple rub. Managing 10-14 hour cooks is just a pain in the ass and I have gotten superior results with higher cooking temps plus foiling.
https://www.virtualweberbullet.com/brisket-high-heat/

Also, beef ribs are very easy and tasty and your kids can act like they're eating brontosaurus like Fred Flintstone.

If you do poultry, cook it as hot as you can in pieces or spatchcocked. Slow cooked poultry renders fat rather than crisping it, and you get bad skin quality. However, if you want something where you are reducing the calories/fat content, you can cook low, chuck skin, and you have v. good sandwich stuff.

One of the nicest things to do on the smoker is fish. Whole gutted, stuff the belly with coriander (or any other green stuff) and generously cover with salt on both sides. Doesn't take long, tastes great. I often make it on the barbecue on low heat, but the smoker will obviously make it even better.

I'm here, faggots.

FC,
A traeger is a fine investment. I've probably smoked ~1000lbs of meat and poultry on mine. Well worth the risk of having your butthole fall out.

Grandpa's Spells wrote: ↑Fri Dec 03, 2021 10:55 pm See this thread here: free-speech-forum/are-there-any-bbq-peo ... 32451.html

I did reread that thread. The reviews link actually placed the Traeger 575 Pro as the best choice, which is what I got. My son was so eager to use it that we didn't have time to make our own sauce, we used the bottled sauce Traeger pushes with the gear...I will not repeat that mistake.

Grandpa's Spells wrote: ↑Fri Dec 03, 2021 10:55 pm Link to Aaron Franklin will be good. It is TX style: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LbzEa_juegs

Very good recommendation. I started with your video, by the end of the evening I had finished his book Franklin Barbecue: A Meat Smoking Manifesto.

Grandpa's Spells wrote: ↑Fri Dec 03, 2021 10:55 pm After those two I would consider a brisket. By default, try higher heat with a very simple rub. Managing 10-14 hour cooks is just a pain in the ass and I have gotten superior results with higher cooking temps plus foiling.
https://www.virtualweberbullet.com/brisket-high-heat/

Book marked.

Now, help me troubleshoot my pulled pork of this weekend. It was not smoky enough and it was not tender enough. Still made everyone happy, but I know I can do better. Aside from obviously using a homemade sauce, I want more tender meat and I want a stronger smoke flavor. I followed the basic Traeger recipe, which called for rubbing, then 3-5 hours to reach an internal temp of 160, then wrap with apple cider and cook at same temp for additional 3-4 hours to an internal temp of 204 degrees. I followed this to the letter, and in both phases, it hit the target internal temperatures in exactly three hours. However, the smoke flavor was weak (IMHO) and the meat was not as tender as it should be. I am thinking that a lower temperature and longer period in the smoke would help. I also think that I would rest the meat longer than the recommended 45 minutes. Thoughts?

Fat Cat wrote: ↑Mon Dec 06, 2021 6:24 pmNow, help me troubleshoot my pulled pork of this weekend. It was not smoky enough and it was not tender enough.

Assuming for all this a Boston Butt, which is typically the stuff you get in stores. Pork shoulder consists of two roasts, picnic roast and Boston butt. Picnic isn't quite as good, has some stringier muscle tissue in there, and if you mix it with BB it's completely fine, but on it's own, you may have some servings in there you aren't totally happy with.

For smokiness, that doesn't penetrate that deeply, so cuts with poor surface to volume ratios will not end up as smoky, all things being equal. After a few hours the smoke flavor that's there is what you're going to have (you could even finish in the oven). Different woods also impart different degrees. Typically with pork, fruit woods are popular, Oak, Apple, Cherry, as well as mild woods like Oak. Hickory is stronger and I think you have to be a little careful with it. Mesquite is gross IMO. Typically if I want heavier smoke flavor I add more wood chunks. I don't know what your options is with the Traeger, I assume there's a setting. Otherwise, if you were using something like Oak I would step it up a level to apple, and remember that this will have a stronger effect on chicken or ribs so be careful there. Too smoky is inedible.

You can definitely try cooking lower. 225-250 is kind of tradtional, I think a little hotter is popular now because the effect seems the same and it cooks faster.

Tenderness is usually a function of doneness and maaaaybe lost fat content if it started to dry out. It's tricky doing pork shoulder because the temperature can hang in the 168-175 range for a long time as the connective tissue renders into gelatin. Around 185 you can slice it, 195-205 you can pull it and should get the desired effect. But it can be weird having it go "past" it's cooking time while your thermometer keeps telling you it's stuck at 175. Foiling it and increasing heat can move this along. I think if you are working with trimmed pork butt 205 may be a little long, but I'm surprised at the result you got. It should have been solid.

For resting, I will often put the foiled butt wrapped in a towel and put it in a cooler to transport if we're eating elsewhere, and it'll keep an hour very easily.

Grandpa's Spells wrote: ↑Wed Dec 08, 2021 5:50 pm Typically with pork, fruit woods are popular, Oak, Apple, Cherry, as well as mild woods like Oak. Hickory is stronger and I think you have to be a little careful with it. Mesquite is gross IMO. Typically if I want heavier smoke flavor I add more wood chunks. I don't know what your options is with the Traeger, I assume there's a setting. Otherwise, if you were using something like Oak I would step it up a level to apple, and remember that this will have a stronger effect on chicken or ribs so be careful there. Too smoky is inedible.

I hear you here. When I bought the smoker, the man I was working with recommended mesquite. It's very popular among locals, it's the only one of these woods which grows locally, but it isn't a good choice for pork. I will try apple or cherry next time. I do think that I had a picnic shoulder, which I bought because I could find a single piece ~9 lbs. In the future I will get Boston Butt, but it would have to be like two 4 lbs. pieces because I couldn't find a single large piece.

Local wood is good and it influences what gets cooked. I second guessed myself a bit on mesquite since it's in TX, and it turns out I've been to a couple places there that use it, and it was very good (it was also mostly beef). My personal cooking experience with it was pretty bad but that's just that.

For picnic it can work just about as well you just want to make sure you slice up the stringier muscle sections and mix it in. Butt is just a little easier.

It is weird that's all that was available, since I can't really find it here. Costco usually has butts only, sometimes whole shoulder, but never just picnic. No idea why.

Also, adding a little sauce and a vinegar based slaw and making a sandwich out of it is great. My local place used to use it as a base for Cuban sandwiches a couple times a year and it was awesome.

Last thing on this, it can be hard to eat it all. Putting ~1 pound in a freezer bag, getting the air out, it'll keep for months in the freezer. You can reconstitute it pretty easily and well compared to other meats.

Good ideas. I have been doing a lot of reading and I note that many people are saying that the Traeger pellets do not produce as strong a smoke as some other brands. I will have to experiment and see what we like over time.

Gonna try to smoke a whole turkey this weekend, not sure what I'm doing but I figure practice will help.

You best be spatchcocking that bitch don't burn all the trees (5) off your "island".

I will neither spatch nor cock. This is the recipe I'm using: https://www.traeger.com/recipes/smoked-turkey

I do need to get some poultry shears though.

Fat Cat wrote: ↑Fri Dec 10, 2021 9:01 pm I will neither spatch nor cock.

Dude you say that everytime on your way to the bar and then every damn time....

Grandpa's Spells wrote: ↑Wed Dec 01, 2021 3:47 am

Fat Cat wrote: ↑Tue Nov 30, 2021 6:28 pm Shape, I bought a smoker. I thought long and hard about the Big Green Egg, but then I flipped the switch on a Traeger cause I ain't no bitch. I'm coming for the title and I wanted you to know.

My first sexual experience was with a pork butt.

No doubt

Gentlemen...and i use that term only to be polite...I have added another device to the team. My wife bought me that big, fat-ass Blackstone Griddle you dirty bitches. I just got it on Thursday. Seasoned it up Thursday night and did some burgers on it and this morning I did a traditional b'fast of bacon, hash browns and eggs. Next up...chicken/shrimp fired rice.