Cathy2 wrote:HI,

I am reluctantly obligated to cook a 12-pound turkey today. It's brined in buttermilk with Old Bay's seasoning and been air drying for 24 hours. I can roast it or I can smoke it.

I saw where Ms. Ingie smoked a 23-pound turkey in 5-1/2 hours. Is it possible this smaller turkey will take 3 hours?
Regards,

Have you considered spatchcocking it? That would certainly cook in 3 hours.

jimswside wrote:just some ribs, and wings i did for a competition Saturday:
















competition was fun, I didnt win or place, but, I made all my turn ins, I was happy with the food I did, I got lot of sun, I met alot of cool folks, and got to spend the day with my family.

With that said probably my first competition was my last, Im too old to be lugging my smoker, coolers, food, tables, etc. all over the place. Took a bit of the fun out of the actual bbq for me, Ill stick to the backyard

is this the comp they have up in Harvard every year?

Attrill wrote:

Cathy2 wrote:HI,

I am reluctantly obligated to cook a 12-pound turkey today. It's brined in buttermilk with Old Bay's seasoning and been air drying for 24 hours. I can roast it or I can smoke it.

I saw where Ms. Ingie smoked a 23-pound turkey in 5-1/2 hours. Is it possible this smaller turkey will take 3 hours?
Regards,

Have you considered spatchcocking it? That would certainly cook in 3 hours.

Most of my smoked turkeys are about 12-14 lbs and take about 2 1/2 to 3 hours without spatch cocking- you can always run your smoker a tad on the hotter side as well if need be...- (275-300)
Whatever you did- it sounds like it must have been delicous!

There's a five minute window in setting up smokers when intense rain can screw up the proceedings. When the cookers are open and loaded with fresh charcoal just before adding lit charcoal from the chimney starter. I had a waterpan out and, in less than five minutes, it filled 1/2-gallon. Charcoal soaked, cook soaked, charcoal chimney snuffed like a candle in the wind. Only the second, maybe third, time I've had to start again.

Just before the deluge, light rain presents little problem.



Day turned out nice, ribs and sausage tasty, but if you heard loud cursing coming from the northwest side of Chicago Sunday morning you can bet it was me.

that looks great G WIV.

i have a brisket on trying it hot & fast.
going to have burnt ends .
3 racks of bb's also & family pack of chicken thighs

all for a family party today

G Wiv wrote:

Gary, nice looking spread, looks familiar.

Is that the Moo and Oink Turkey links, and the Uncle Johns links or something different?

Im going to try to get something smoked this weekend(wings, salsa ingredients, and maybe a hanger steak) and may give the 22.5" a run.

jimswside wrote:Is that the Moo and Oink Turkey links, and the Uncle Johns links or something different?

Jim,

There are three types of links pictured. The three links on the Big Green Egg are Moo and Oink pork hot links, the two links on the WSM are Moo and Oink turkey hot links and the four links in the bottom picture on the WSM are Uncle John's hot links.

Moo and Oink links are tasty, Uncle John's, especially hot off the smoker, magical.

Enjoy,
Gary

Jim, what were the first round of links that we had at the Pig Roast?
They weren't as hot and were more savory.
They were really delicious.

irisarbor wrote:Jim, what were the first round of links that we had at the Pig Roast?
They weren't as hot and were more savory.
They were really delicious.

The first ones out I believe were the ones from Peoria Meatpacking, then the Uncle Johns off Garys WSM.

I personally think prefer the Peoria & Moo and Oink Links I have tried to Uncle Johns links, but I think I need to do more research/tasting.

G Wiv wrote:

jimswside wrote:Is that the Moo and Oink Turkey links, and the Uncle Johns links or something different?

Jim,

There are three types of links pictured. The three links on the Big Green Egg are Moo and Oink pork hot links, the two links on the WSM are Moo and Oink turkey hot links and the four links in the bottom picture on the WSM are Uncle John's hot links.

Moo and Oink links are tasty, Uncle John's, especially hot off the smoker, magical.

Enjoy,
Gary

thanks for the clarification . I still have maybe 3 or 4 lbs of Uncle Johns now in the freezer to use up. Not a bad situation to be in.

What are you smoking/cooking this weekend Jim...I need inspiration!

razbry wrote:What are you smoking/cooking this weekend Jim...I need inspiration!

I have been in a cooking rut for a couple weeks now(since the bbq competition I did, and then the pig roast the weekend after that). I havent cooked anything since 6/5.

This weekend I hope to bust out & I will be grilling: (Sat: ny strips, and shrimp skewers/ Sun: chicken wings, and hangar steak

Depending on how much lump I have on hand I may smoke the wings, and some ingredients for a salsa I am doing.

I am having a craving for some pulled pork, and I do have about 20 lbs of bone in butts in the freezer, those might get done 4th of July weekend.

Im sure whatever you do will be a hit.

First smoke of the year. Doing about a 8lb pork shoulder for the family coming over for dinner. Went on at about 9:30am, should be done around 6:30-7.

Sides are baked beans, pickled red onions & N.C slaw from "Low and Slow" and watermelon.

4 hrs



5.5 hrs

NICE... Great day for your first smoke of the year. No rain and not to hot out.
Let us know how it turns out and post up some pics. if ya can. Menu sounds great! ENJOY.
And....Happy Fathers Day to ALL.

nice looking pork butt.

based on the weight I would figure 12 hours if you were not going to foil it and take it over 200.

typically I give the butts a few hours extra just in case. I few hours foiled in the cooler once it reached 200 degrees is all good.

good luck.

Decided I had enough lump to do some wings on the small WSM. No water pan, wanted to have crisp skkins on the wings, and to get the flavor of the drippings falling on the heat.

Brilliant, tossed with my Korean BBQ sauce, and sprinkled with some extra toasted sesame seeds.

amish chicken from Ultra Foods:



In the slaughterhouse brine:



plump from the brine:



my rub:



on the WSM:



done(crisp and nice color imho):



sauced:



thanks for looking

results .... prolly could have left it on another 1-1.5 hrs as the center mass was a bit chewy (ends were beautiful) but it was 7:15 and the family was getting restless. Still super tasty, however. There is NOTHING better than homemade barbeque !

tem wrote:results .... prolly could have left it on another 1-1.5 hrs as the center mass was a bit chewy (ends were beautiful) but it was 7:15 and the family was getting restless. Still super tasty, however. There is NOTHING better than homemade barbeque !

looks good...
yea butts can take awhile to get to the right stage for pulling..always good to put them on as early as possible (espcieclaly if you are shooting to have it for dinner) ..better to have them done early and hold them in a cooler for a few hours vs. having to take them off too early..

tem wrote:results .... prolly could have left it on another 1-1.5 hrs as the center mass was a bit chewy (ends were beautiful) but it was 7:15 and the family was getting restless. Still super tasty, however. There is NOTHING better than homemade barbeque !

Looks good, very tasty. Is that the pickled red onions from Low & Slow?

G Wiv wrote:Looks good, very tasty. Is that the pickled red onions from Low & Slow?

yes ... they were ! The NC slaw was great as well.

Had leftovers reheated in the apple juice/cider mix on Friday and it worked out superbly.

Used the WSM yesterday to smoke some spares from Zier's over a combination of lump and apple wood. They cooked at around 225 for just under 4 hours . . .


Spare ribs, St. Louis cut



Really fatty and juicy, nice tug

I almost always opt for baby backs but decided recently that I need to stray from my routine a bit more, so I chose spares. I'm happy that I did. They were really delicious, with a lot of great fattiness. The (whole) family loved them, too.

=R=

Lookin good Ronnie..and personally id take spares over babybacks anyday

Some rib tips I did up awhile back, this is my first post with photos from my private stash.


Old Char Griller 7 + years old all original no mods or anything replaced, stored mostly out doors year round with chezzy cover. Those marks on the top of the grill are some beer i poured on top and to the right are grease stains from where i prop up my smokin' tools.


I was trying to fill the bucket up with tips but keep chowing em down!

Me and the old dogg had a good night watching the smoke rise in the night and smelling those sweet tips cooking! They were great light dry rub no sauce and lots of hickory.

Head's Red BBQ wrote:Lookin good Ronnie..and personally id take spares over babybacks anyday

Thanks, Bill. This experience had me feeling the same way.

Cbot wrote:Some rib tips I did up awhile back, this is my first post with photos from my private stash . . .

Nice looking tips, and I love your cooker.

=R=

I did a few batches of chicken legs yesterday. Nothing fancy, a basic Memphis rub smoked over a mix of Apple and Cherry wood for about 3 hours. It should have been 2 hours but then this happened:



The craziest part was that it stayed sunny the entire time. In the end everything turned out just fine.

Head's Red BBQ wrote:Lookin good Ronnie..and personally id take spares over babybacks anyday

I wholeheartedly agree!

Cbot - rib tips look great..i could eat those daily I think..BTW I beleive thats a a Boxer in your pic...mine likes to stand guard over the smoker as well..ever since i dropped a whole pork butt on the ground taking it off the cooker

Atrill - the pic of the raining pouring on all those cookers is a classic

For my 35th birthday on Sunday, I celebrated with a birthday brisket. Started it at 1 a.m. in the morning after finishing up a wedding shoot:







It was a full packer cut, but on the small side, about 11.5 pounds. I trimmed maybe another 3/4 lb fat off it, so the weight at cooking was under 11 lbs. I also rendered the trimmed fat in a slow cooker, and got some nice tallow and cracklings for later use. I went a little more complicated than my usual salt-and-pepper rub, adding some cumin, coriander, onion powder, and red pepper flakes into the mix.

I set it, closed all the lower vents by a third, and went to sleep.

At 9:30 a.m.:



It was completely finished when I woke up. Nice little wobble to the meat, thermometer went in without resistance and read in the upper 190s. Done. Way earlier than I planned for. The meat wasn't going to be eaten until about 2 p.m. So I wrapped it in foil, placed it in a small Coleman cooler, and went about my day.

Me cutting the brisket, many hours later:


Crappy cell phone photo of the brisket:


Much to my shock, the brisket actually held pretty well for being four hours in the cooler. It did lose some moisture, but was still juicy. I sliced the flat and chopped the point. Interestingly, there was hardly any smoke ring on the meat, but the brisket was perhaps the smokiest I had made to date. (I did have about 4 fist-sized chunks of oak, and 4 of hickory in the WSM.) Somehow, the myoglobin-carbon monoxide reaction that forms the ring didn't quite get a chance to happen. Also, this was the most stress-free smoke I've ever had. From when I put the meat in to when it was finished the next morning, I never touched the meat or the smoker. (edit: This is not quite true. I did awake from my slumber at 6:00 a.m. and topped off the water pan through the side panel of the smoker. The meat was left undisturbed.) The coal ring of the WSM was barely half burnt at 8 hours of burn time. When I left for my parents' at 1 p.m. (almost 12 hours), there was still at least another two hours' worth of coals on the smoker.

Mom made some cold borscht (chlodnik), potato salad, and tomato salad, my cousin (UniAddict) came over with the bestest birthday gift ever, a bottle of 2009 Sam Adams Utopias, and what better way to celebrate the transition into a new demographic?

Binko-I never had an issue holding brisket for four hours in a cooler..if anything it was better after resting for a time.
BTW your brisket looks great

Happy 35th Binko! And nice job on the stress free, hunk of beef!
Cook time was about 8 1/2 hours, what temp was she running at and did ya flip her or move it around at all?

Head's Red BBQ wrote:Binko-I never had an issue holding brisket for four hours in a cooler..if anything it was better after resting for a time.
BTW your brisket looks great

Good to know. I just assumed four hours was pushing it. I've kept it in a cooler for 1-2 hours before (I always let my brisket rest about 45 minutes to an hour anyway). The texture did change a little bit in the flat (I chopped off a bit for myself before putting it in the cooler, so I have a point of comparison), but still remained moist.

Cbot wrote:Happy 35th Binko! And nice job on the stress free, hunk of beef!
Cook time was about 8 1/2 hours, what temp was she running at and did ya flip her or move it around at all?

Thanks! No idea on the temp. I was actually expecting it to run a little bit cooler than usual (the usual being 250F) because I was reaching the end of the bag of lump hardwood and the coals were becoming quite compacted with little pieces and coal dust. Usually, the bottom of the bag tends to run on the low side of the 200s, around 225. The water was boiling in the water pan, so it was at least 212 in there. My guess is anywhere in the 225-250 range.

I didn't touch or flip the brisket at all. Just smoked it fat cap up and let it sit that way the whole time. Actually, it looks like my reporting wasn't quite accurate in my previous post. Although I didn't touch the meat, I did access the smoker, so allow me to edit that. I briefly woke up at 6:00 a.m., so I sauntered outside in a half-sleep daze just to have a look at the smoker and make sure she was still going good, and I topped off the water pan. The meat was left undisturbed.

Oh, by the way, those rib tips you have upthread from your CharGrill look pretty damned awesome: nice and barky, and plenty of smoke.