Head's Red BBQ wrote:Jim you stil messing with the WSM? if so just throw a brisket on it at night as that wsm (set up properly) will burn all night with out much fiddling with vents that thing was made for all nighters

yes, probably my last weekend of testing out the WSM, it has been alot of fun, but I am actually looking forward to wheeling the offset out of the garage, and firing it up again.

thanks for the tip on the brisket.

last weekend ??!! then you owe it to yourself to see how well that thing burns overnight..

Head's Red BBQ wrote:last weekend ??!! then you owe it to yourself to see how well that thing burns overnight..

we shall see what is available meatwise tomorrow on my Friday afterwork, bbq supply grocery run.

I would then just have to convince the wife I wont burn the deck, and the house attached to it down.

as one who typically avoids Jewel, I wasnt aware of a sale they are having on spare ribs until a friend on a bbq board posted about it.. $1.49/lb. I do believe I will swing buy, and picl up a rack or two of these, or perhaps one rack, & a couple lbs. of snow crab they have on sale for $4.99/lb for a different version of a surf & turf off the smoker tomorrow.

also smoking some ABT's, and some beans.

grabbed a nice 4+ # slab of St. Louis spares, trimmed the last little bit to make em' K.C. spares. going to use the trimings in my smoked, baked beans, and maybe a little in my ABT's.

my ABT's this time will be poblano peppers, cream cheese w/ smoked garlic, bacon, and maybe some smoked pork scraps.

Other than that the baked beans will be put on the smoker, sauteed bacon, pork scraps, brown sugar, diced oninion, smoked garlic.

ribs are rubbed, and cut into 2 smaller slabs, and ready to go.

heading out in about 30 mins to get the smoker going.

jimswside wrote:grabbed a nice 4+ # slab of St. Louis spares, trimmed the last little bit to make em' K.C. spares. going to use the trimings in my smoked, baked beans, and maybe a little in my ABT's.

my ABT's this time will be poblano peppers, cream cheese w/ smoked garlic, bacon, and maybe some smoked pork scraps.

Other than that the baked beans will be put on the smoker, sauteed bacon, pork scraps, brown sugar, diced oninion, smoked garlic.

ribs are rubbed, and cut into 2 smaller slabs, and ready to go.

heading out in about 30 mins to get the smoker going.

Sounds great! Now that I'm back home from my vacation, that Texas brisket taste has been whispering in my ear. I'm thinking of getting a brisket in the next day or two and doing a long smoke. Problem is, everyone up here sells only those darn points and not full packers...

I always thought St. Louis was the trimmed down cut from a full spare, I wasn't aware of there being a KC cut. So what gets taken off the St. Louis?

BTW: what exactly is and ABT?? I keep thinking of the appliance store every time I see you type that!

abf005 wrote:Sounds great! Now that I'm back home from my vacation, that Texas brisket taste has been whispering in my ear. I'm thinking of getting a brisket in the next day or two and doing a long smoke. Problem is, everyone up here sells only those darn points and not full packers...

I always thought St. Louis was the trimmed down cut from a full spare, I wasn't aware of there being a KC cut. So what gets taken off the St. Louis?

BTW: what exactly is and ABT?? I keep thinking of the appliance store every time I see you type that!

welcome back for your trip burt, from the posts on your blog it looked like a good time.

The K.C takes the spare one step further, squaring off each end of the rib uniformly. I am smoking the bonelss trimmings to add to the beans, and maybe the ABT's

ABT = atomic buffalo turds. cream cheese or other items stuffed inside traditionally jalapenos & smoked, but I am doing poblanos today, and have used aneheims in the past. soon to try habaneros.

jimswside wrote:

abf005 wrote:Sounds great! Now that I'm back home from my vacation, that Texas brisket taste has been whispering in my ear. I'm thinking of getting a brisket in the next day or two and doing a long smoke. Problem is, everyone up here sells only those darn points and not full packers...

I always thought St. Louis was the trimmed down cut from a full spare, I wasn't aware of there being a KC cut. So what gets taken off the St. Louis?

BTW: what exactly is and ABT?? I keep thinking of the appliance store every time I see you type that!

welcome back for your trip burt, from the posts on your blog it looked like a good time.

The K.C takes the spare one step further, squaring off each end of the rib uniformly. I am smoking the bonelss trimmings to add to the beans, and maybe the ABT's

ABT = atomic buffalo turds. cream cheese or other items stuffed inside traditionally jalapenos & smoked, but I am doing poblanos today, and have used aneheims in the past. soon to try habaneros.

Thanks for the explanation.

Had a version of those ABT's in New Mexico, but they were bacon wrapped... they were very good!

Yes we had a great time!! Had the best BBQ on the planet at Blacks in Lockhart, TX. Also outstanding hits included Louie Mueller, Taylor Cafe, Kreutz, Southside Market... its a long list.

We also stopped in KC & Memphis on this trip. The KC BBQ was decent, but it was more like going to a deli for sliced smoked meats. And I will never look at Memphis with any degree of repect after this trip, it was big disappointment and the family & I just thought it to be downright bad Q.

I have some post oak burning in the smoker right now to season it for my rendition of Texas Brisket, now if only I could find that full packer brisket...

abf005 wrote:
I have some post oak burning in the smoker right now to season it for my rendition of Texas Brisket, now if only I could find that full packer brisket...

surprinsngly I found full Excel packer briskets @ my local Super Wal-Mart,

heres what I turned out today:

spare pre-rub:


spares rubbed:


me and the spares mid-smoke:


finished spares:




also did beans, and ABT's, ABT's, on the ABT thread. thanks for looking.

damn, I wish I was firing up the smoker this weekend. Brookhaven has spares on sale for $1.49/lb. Last time they were trimmed at that price.

This will be the first weekend, other than when I was in Florida, that I have not smoked some meat at least once on a weekend since the last week of March if I remember correctly. I have had a damn good run imho.

Back to my offset next weekend, gotta get a new probe thermometer this week. Some ribs and ABT's will be smoked for sure next Saturday..

Thinking Outside the Butt

Country-style "ribs" (cut from the shoulder/butt) were on sale. Also had a small piece of pork belly. Cured both for a few days in a modified Canadian bacon cure. Reconstructed the butt using the cured "ribs", sandwiching the cured pork belly deep inside. Why would I do that? If you have to ask .....

There is a little movie on my blog showing the reconstruction process.



Smoked it most of today, just until tender, not so much as to be pullable:



Re-deconstructed butt:

surprinsngly I found full Excel packer briskets @ my local Super Wal-Mart,

Was it graded - lots of time Wal-Mart will sell select instead of choice brisket. I believe I've even seen non-grade brisket there as well.

just got some chicken wings in a buttermilk brine, using Gary's as a base, but adding, some chopped fresh green onion, and some crushed garlic to the brine. I also used Shark bran Sriracha as opposed to a Texas Pete style sauce.

Should be good, going to use my Weber kette grill for this batch settign it up using the KISS method in Low and Slow. Still havent rolled my offset out fo the garage. I didnt get around to buying a new probe, and I wont use the offset without it.

Also going to do some Italian sausages while the grill is set up, and after the meat is done I will crank up the heat, and grill the first batch of local(Newark, IL). sweet corn that I have seen this year. Also doing a creamy cucumber salad using a bunch of local grown cukes I got from a new friend.

good results from the buttermilk brined chicken. I also smoked some Italian Sausage in the Weber, and had some fresh local sweet corn. Served the above with a creamy dill cucumber salad with local cukes, and onions.

wings in buttermilk brine:


rinsed, and rub applied:


kiss setup for kettle:


q-view:


finished wings:




Sausage:




creamy dill cucumber salad:


my plate - wings, celery, italian sausage sandwich with green peppers, onion, and marinara:


corn not pictured, corn on the grill is corn on the grill. it was the best corn I have had since last year.

I also was actually pretty impressed with how the Weber Kettle did on this innaugral smoke, once again follow Gary, and his proven methods as spelled out in Low and Slow, and life is good, and pretty easy..

thanks for looking at my pics.

That all looks great Jim, really great. I like looking at your pictures, however I'm now hungrier for smoked wings and italian sausage than someone should be at 8:15 am.

brandon_w wrote:That all looks great Jim, really great. I like looking at your pictures, however I'm now hungrier for smoked wings and italian sausage than someone should be at 8:15 am.

thanks.

I understand the being teased by pics thing all to well. THe threads about the great places people are going for lunch each day while I am typically stuck in my windowless office eating pretzles are torture.

Nice stuff Jim.

I'm still skeptical as to whether a brine really does all that much for chicken, especially small pieces, it's sort of an effort vs outcome thing. I've done it both ways myself and can't seem to reach a solid conclusion. I think my olive oil and bbq rub seems to give me equal results as far as moisture goes with far less effort.

I know that Gary's are good, and the two times I tried his they seemed fine, but we did end up discussing the difference in saltiness between the two tastings.

One thing about using that WSM, your gonna get a nice crispy skin since your pretty much cooking on a raised grill. When you bring out the old heat leaker & probe your gonna have to adjust!

Speaking of the old offset, when you gonna make us a Big ol' butt or brisket on it?? This past week I did a brisket & ribs (picts are on up my blog), this week its time for some pulled pork at the wife's request. I only hope I can make one like out resident expert, Heads Red. That one he made at the comp was really something.

abf005 wrote:Nice stuff Jim.

I'm still skeptical as to whether a brine really does all that much for chicken, especially small pieces, it's sort of an effort vs outcome thing.

I know that Gary's are good, and the two times I tried his they seemed fine, but we did end up discussing the difference in saltiness between the two tastings.

Speaking of the old offset, when you gonna make us a Big ol' butt or brisket on it?? This past week I did a brisket & ribs (picts are on up my blog), this week its time for some pulled pork at the wife's request. I only hope I can make one like out resident expert, Heads Red. That one he made at the comp was really something.

thanks Burt, as for brining I can kind of tell a difference on the smoker. but I can really tell a difference when deep frying them. I do use less salt in my brines than many recipes call for.

For the record I am not uisng a WSM anymore, but I used my Weber kettle, and set it up for smoking. worked surprisingly good.

As for my offset, I am not looking forward to going back to it. I have to buy a new probe(I broke mine somehow), and get the offset back on the deck.

I know I will catch some crap for the following statemt, but I am looking seriously at a propane fired Brinkman cabinet smoker for cooler weather smokes.. . I cant afford a WSM, and I am not going to want to be sitting out in cold weather playing with the vents on my current offset once football season starts.

As for a brisket, a butt or a shoulder.. I like pulled pork, and brisket, just not as much as I like ribs.

abf005 wrote:I'm still skeptical as to whether a brine really does all that much for chicken, especially small pieces, it's sort of an effort vs outcome thing. I've done it both ways myself and can't seem to reach a solid conclusion. I think my olive oil and bbq rub seems to give me equal results as far as moisture goes with far less effort.

Buttermilk brine not only helps keep the wings juicy, but imparts a slight tang to the chicken flesh that I enjoy. Not to say I don't ever go simple and do an olive oil/BBQ rub wings, just that, to me, the two methods produce very different results, both tasty.

abf005 wrote:I know that Gary's are good, and the two times I tried his they seemed fine, but we did end up discussing the difference in saltiness between the two tastings.

The second time was with Dave Raymond at Sweet Baby Ray's when I was showing them my method for to use in competition. I brought a batch ready to go and Dave made a batch loosely following my method. Don't really remember the "salty" conversation, but salt content is easily adjusted by amount of salt and length of brine.

Enjoy,
Gary

.

G Wiv wrote:The second time was with Dave Raymond at Sweet Baby Ray's when I was showing them my method for to use in competition. I brought a batch ready to go and Dave made a batch loosely following my method. Don't really remember the "salty" conversation, but salt content is easily adjusted by amount of salt and length of brine.

Enjoy,
Gary

That was probably because of Dave's fine Bourbon, good bbq ribs from Sweet Baby Ray's, chicken done at least 5 ways, and then followed up by some excellant pizza! I cant remember where I packed all that food!!

jimswside wrote: thanks Burt, as for brining I can kind of tell a difference on the smoker. but I can really tell a difference when deep frying them. I do use less salt in my brines than many recipes call for.

For the record I am not uisng a WSM anymore, but I used my Weber kettle, and set it up for smoking. worked surprisingly good.

As for my offset, I am not looking forward to going back to it. I have to buy a new probe(I broke mine somehow), and get the offset back on the deck.

I know I will catch some crap for the following statemt, but I am looking seriously at a propane fired Brinkman cabinet smoker for cooler weather smokes.. . I cant afford a WSM, and I am not going to want to be sitting out in cold weather playing with the vents on my current offset once football season starts.

As for a brisket, a butt or a shoulder.. I like pulled pork, and brisket, just not as much as I like ribs.

You wont get crap from the electric guy!!

How much is a Brinkman gas'r going for? Ever taste Q from one? I haven't.

I would think that the price difference between one of those and a small WSM or even an electric would be pretty close.

abf005 wrote:
You wont get crap from the electric guy!!

How much is a Brinkman gas'r going for? Ever taste Q from one? I haven't.

I would think that the price difference between one of those and a small WSM or even an electric would be pretty close.

I have tried some bbq from a gasser, and it was pretty good, I wouldnt have known taste wise it was off a propane fired smoker unless I knew ahead of time.

The price for the Brinkman unit I am looking at is $142 @ Home Depot. Most of the Electric units are over $300, and so is the WSM when its all said and done with tax, etc. . My interest is more of a steady temperature thing. But I am kind of wary about needing to keep an eye on a propane tank vs just having extra bags of lump on hand.

In the end Ill probably stick with a charcoal burner at the end of the day. maybe just a better offset.

Huzzah! This time tomorrow, I'll be the proud owner of a (gently used) WSM 18.5", and there are some flash-frozen chickens coming from a friend's sister's farm (not sure of the delivery date on those, actually). I'm ready to get back to Lesson 2 of Gary's Method

JoelF wrote:Huzzah! This time tomorrow, I'll be the proud owner of a (gently used) WSM 18.5",

nice.... congrats on that find.

jimswside wrote:

abf005 wrote:
You wont get crap from the electric guy!!

How much is a Brinkman gas'r going for? Ever taste Q from one? I haven't.

I would think that the price difference between one of those and a small WSM or even an electric would be pretty close.

I have tried some bbq from a gasser, and it was pretty good, I wouldnt have known taste wise it was off a propane fired smoker unless I knew ahead of time.

The price for the Brinkman unit I am looking at is $142 @ Home Depot. Most of the Electric units are over $300, and so is the WSM when its all said and done with tax, etc. . My interest is more of a steady temperature thing. But I am kind of wary about needing to keep an eye on a propane tank vs just having extra bags of lump on hand.

In the end Ill probably stick with a charcoal burner at the end of the day. maybe just a better offset.

Unless your comparing bbq from a 30 year old seasoned Texas Pit to that of a typical home smoker (of any type), 99% of people out there can't tell the difference from what type of smoker it came out of. In other words, it's either good bbq or it's not. Generally its not entirely the cookers fault. Much like cheap golf clubs don't necessarily make for bad golfers.

The only thing I can say, is that steady temp control and the ability to withstand the harsh Chicago winters seems to come in at the $300-400+ price point. The thicker gauge steel walls of those smokers or the units with better insulation, not only give you better results from a control standpoint, they also are impervious to the outside temps which for long smokes is a critical factor. Not only do better built units cook more even and steady, you also end up using less energy and fuel over time.

Last year I saw a nice looking gas unit at Sams Club (under the Members Mark label) that looked pretty solid with stainless wall construction and high temp insulation sandwiched in between the shell and interior cooking chamber for good thermal heat retention, cant remember the price.

If you get that gas unit, I'd be interested in tasting your famous ribs at next years Marseilles in May, maybe we can even set up side by side and offend all the WSM'rs!!

Burt, all good points.

I think I have heard somewhere "the the cook not the smoker".

Hey Jim one more thing:

Be sure to check out Craig "Meathead" Goldwyn's grill & smoker review section on his Amazing Ribs website, there is lots of good information on outdoor cooking equipment there.

JoelF wrote:Huzzah! This time tomorrow, I'll be the proud owner of a (gently used) WSM 18.5", and there are some flash-frozen chickens coming from a friend's sister's farm (not sure of the delivery date on those, actually). I'm ready to get back to Lesson 2 of Gary's Method

my yard looks empty with it gone Joel..guess I need to buy another Backwoods to fill in the space
anyway it was great meeting you and I hope you get a ton of good cooks on it..they are great little cookers

jimswside wrote:I have tried some bbq from a gasser, and it was pretty good, I wouldnt have known taste wise it was off a propane fired smoker unless I knew ahead of time.

Wow, all the arguments that go around about lump vs briquette and someone who bbqs a bunch admits that they can't tell BBQ was made with propane

Jim, Amazon has the WSM for $274 (free ship/no tax) right now, which is a bit below the average price.