Head's Red BBQ wrote:i dont mind a few mesquite chips on the coals when grilling steaks but for low and slow I avoid it at all costs..I call it the Devils Ass Crack as it can just impart a nasty smell and flavor to your meat if you are not careful with it

hilarious, and true.

Darren72 wrote:Does anyone have experience with other oak-based charcoals from Berger Brothers? Anyone else tried Lazzari?

I think Berger Bros. has 2 types of oak lump - the Nature-Glo and a generic bag (People's Woods?). It's been a year or two since I've gotten it there, but they have definitely carried two types in the past. This is it on the left:



I agree that the Nature-Glo has been a little spotty lately. A couple weeks ago I found a fairly large piece that wasn't fully carbonized. It's the first time that's happened to me, and I suspect it may just have been a bad run. The rest of the bags were fine and good as ever.

jimswside wrote:

Head's Red BBQ wrote:i dont mind a few mesquite chips on the coals when grilling steaks but for low and slow I avoid it at all costs..I call it the Devils Ass Crack as it can just impart a nasty smell and flavor to your meat if you are not careful with it

hilarious, and true.

Agreed, I've had the same experience w/Walnut too

Head's Red BBQ wrote:i dont mind a few mesquite chips on the coals when grilling steaks but for low and slow I avoid it at all costs..I call it the Devils Ass Crack as it can just impart a nasty smell and flavor to your meat if you are not careful with it

Interesting - thanks for the tip. I hadn't experienced this before. I will note that the mesquite flavor that comes from the charcoal is way, way milder than what you get from adding a raw mesquite wood chunk to the fire.

changed up a little

- got the slab of bb ribs for $2.99/lb.
- picked up a bone in 4# pork butt
- got 10 jalapenos
- picked up some fresh mozzerella for the ABT's
- picked up some capicola for the ABT's
- also going with a version of the beans recipe upthread(I always gotta doctor things up). gonna try the apple pie filling in the beans, and cook them on the smoker vs the oven.

couldnt find any rice paper for the vietnamese springrolls, some other time for sure.

Ill be firing up the smoker around 9:00 a.m, using hickory. beers will start flowing around 11:00.

Ill help keep this thread alive with some food pics...

butt about to come off the smoker:


pulled:


beans:


ribs:




another crappy "summer" day, rained all day, but still turned out some good lookin' food imho.

pulled pork was real good, ribs were the best I have done(seem to hit a new plateau each week.) beans with the apple pie filling was intersting, but as anyone would do i filled up on pork, corn, and ABT's.

thanks for lookin at my pics.

jimswside wrote:thanks for lookin at my pics.

You magnificent bastard. Everything looks great; thanks for sharing the pics!

DeathByOrca wrote:

jimswside wrote:thanks for lookin at my pics.

You magnificent bastard. Everything looks great; thanks for sharing the pics!

thanks Andy, its a great hobby

its been a long day, the butt took 8 hours, I guessed 6 by weight. 8 hours in the smoker, another 45 minutes double wrapped in foil, and a towel, and then put in a cooler waiting for the ribs to finish. but in the end it was all worth the effort as bbq always tends to be.

jimswside wrote:but in the end it was all worth the effort as bbq always tends to be.

Amen.

Good looking food! Especially the pulled pork, nice to see you going for a big piece of meat!

I see you cooked it 8 hours, how many pounds was it? And was the bean pan also used as the drippings pan since in the pict you seem to have it under the butt.

abf005 wrote:Good looking food! Especially the pulled pork, nice to see you going for a big piece of meat!

I see you cooked it 8 hours, how many pounds was it? And was the bean pan also used as the drippings pan since in the pict you seem to have it under the butt.

thanks burt..

it was a small but 4# bone in, my estimate was 1.5 hours per lb.

I had to open the moker a few times to put the abt's in and out, as well as fill the water pan a few times, and put the ribs in, I imagine that added to to time as the smoer held 240 for pretty much the whole 9 hours.. The beans went in about an hour after the BB ribs. Before that there was a pan in there catching the drippings.

jimswside wrote:Ill help keep this thread alive with some food pics...

butt about to come off the smoker:


pulled:


beans:


ribs:




another crappy "summer" day, rained all day, but still turned out some good lookin' food imho.

pulled pork was real good, ribs were the best I have done(seem to hit a new plateau each week.) beans with the apple pie filling was intersting, but as anyone would do i filled up on pork, corn, and ABT's.

thanks for lookin at my pics.

looks good Jim - I agree rain sucked as I was teaching a BBQ class at Carmicheals Steak House in the city..one lesson they learned was that as soon as you light the grill or smoker plan on it raining
Nice to see you broaden your horizons a bit and cook some pork butt..looks perfect

thanks heads red, the pork butt was really easy, and turned out good. ribs are still my favorite thing to do, but I could see doing some more pulled pork soon.

Sunday lunch was some smoked shrimp served over linguini alfredo. also smoked some chicken wings while the smoker was going

I brined the shrimp in kosher salt, brown sugar, and garlic powder for 30 mins, then patted them dry, sprinkled both sides with rub, and put a few pats of butter in the tin for the 20 minute smoke. lots of flavor, next time I will get bigger shrimp so I can put them directly on the grate of the smoker. Served over a basic linguini with some alfredo, . The wings were taken out of my buttermilk, sririacha, and egg bath I had for the fried chicken, I rinsed them, rubbed & smoked until done.











good lunch, but just a teaser for the waffles and freid chicken wings we had for supper. I posted pics of that under a seperate thread:
viewtopic.php?f=16&t=25497

thanks for looking.

gonna throw my jerk rub together tonight, and get the 2 cut up chickens in there. I also see pork country ribs on sale($1.29/lb) @ Brookhaven so I may jerk these as well.

I am going to smoke the chicken, and possibly the pork tomorrow over hickory, and maybe work some of the allspice into the smoke to account for the missing pimento.

Also doing ABT's, cream cheese, kosher dog of some sort, and bacon. I will also be doing (1) habanero ABT for a test run.

Serving the above with some pan fried plantains, and some black beans and rice. Should be a smokin meal.

SUnday looks like another pork butt(probably 6 lbs this time). Brookhaven has the bone-in butts on sale for $.99/lb. Probably do some pulled pork sandwiches, potato salad, and local corn on the cob for a simple sunday supper.

either way the smoker will be going most of the weekend, and the weather finally looks good. Pics possibly to follow.

slainte

smoked some mussels in some beer, adn topped with homemade garlic butter. These were frozen mussels on the halfshell, and took about 30 mins.







plump, garlicy, tender. brilliant.

Set my alarm for 3:30 a.m. yesterday, and got up, and got the smoker ready. I had a 7+ lb. pork butt already rubbed with mustard, and a rub with 3 tsp of cherry kool-aid added(I know, make fun of me... however it was a great adder). GOt the butt on @ 4:00 a.m., and alse made a mopping sauce with cider vinegar, apple juice, oil, and some rub. Smoked the butt at temps between 230 & 250 degrees. I waited 3 hours in to mop for the first time, and mopped one more time @ the 6 hour mark. The butt had a real nice fat cap, so I just applied rub from then on out, and allowed the fat cap to melt down. Turned out to be a good plan. The butt was @ 185 degrees @ 11 hours, so I left it in the smoekr for 1 more hour, and the then pulled it and wrapped it in foil fat side down with some honey, 2 tbsp apple jucice and some rub. I the wrapped the foiled butt ina towel, and tossed it in a closed cooler for 45 minutes. Came out great, bone pulled right out, decent smoker ring, moist flavor, tasty bark, and easy to pull. I ate my pulled pork on one of those Hawaiian rolls, topped with Melindas XXX sauce, Jug bbq sauce, and a mound of slaw. Some of the best pulled pork I have done, or eaten. Turned out to be a long day, but a nice hot summer day out west.

butt after 12 hours - pre foil:


butt after foiling:


pile o' pork:


c-up:


my sandwich:


thanks for looking

jimswside wrote:Set my alarm for 3:30 a.m. yesterday, and got up, and got the smoker ready. I had a 7+ lb. pork butt already rubbed with mustard, and a rub with 3 tsp of cherry kool-aid added(I know, make fun of me... however it was a great adder). GOt the butt on @ 4:00 a.m., and alse made a mopping sauce with cider vinegar, apple juice, oil, and some rub. Smoked the butt at temps between 230 & 250 degrees. I waited 3 hours in to mop for the first time, and mopped one more time @ the 6 hour mark. The butt had a real nice fat cap, so I just applied rub from then on out, and allowed the fat cap to melt down. Turned out to be a good plan. The butt was @ 185 degrees @ 11 hours, so I left it in the smoekr for 1 more hour, and the then pulled it and wrapped it in foil fat side down with some honey, 2 tbsp apple jucice and some rub. I the wrapped the foiled butt ina towel, and tossed it in a closed cooler for 45 minutes. Came out great, bone pulled right out, decent smoker ring, moist flavor, tasty bark, and easy to pull. I ate my pulled pork on one of those Hawaiian rolls, topped with Melindas XXX sauce, Jug bbq sauce, and a mound of slaw. Some of the best pulled pork I have done, or eaten. Turned out to be a long day, but a nice hot summer day out west.

Sounds fantastic Jim! Ill bet you had a Hawaiian shirt to go with those rolls too!

Now humor me with one thing; why the kool aide??

abf005 wrote:
Sounds fantastic Jim! Ill bet you had a Hawaiian shirt to go with those rolls too!

Now humor me with one thing; why the kool aide??

thanks burt, glad somebody liked the pics.

I sure did have a hawaiian shirt on. it was a scortcher yesterday, I guess global warming is true...oh wait its August its supposed to be hot, and Chicagoland just set a record for the coldest July in 60+ years.

The cherry kool-aide is an adder I had read about on the bbq site I belong to, and skoffed at silently. Well, since my other bbq has taken off to new levels with the help of that site, and others, I decided to give it a try. I also have decided to being more open minded about bbq, and techniques.

The impact was minor, as I used only 3 tsp with my rub(& a little sugar since the koolaid was unsweetened), it gave just a slight tang to the rub, and to the mop(made the mop taste a little like cranberry juice actually). I think it just added to the whole flavor profile of the butt. I guess it could impart the flavor of spraying the butt with cherry juice, or using a cherry wood. I think the sugar also helped with the browning, and crust.

I will be trying it again this weekend when I do some ribs.

jimswside wrote:The impact was minor, as I used only 3 tsp with my rub(& a little sugar since the koolaid was unsweetened), it gave just a slight tang to the rub, and to the mop(made the mop taste a little like cranberry juice actually).

Maybe next time try 1 TBSP and see if that changes anything

Jamieson22 wrote:
Maybe next time try 1 TBSP and see if that changes anything

good one,

I think 3 tsp(or 1 tbsp) is just enough, dont want to overpower the rest of the rub/mop. Just adding/trying something different. BBQ scientists like me are always tinkering.

jimswside wrote:

abf005 wrote:
Sounds fantastic Jim! Ill bet you had a Hawaiian shirt to go with those rolls too!

Now humor me with one thing; why the kool aide??

thanks burt, glad somebody liked the pics.

I sure did have a hawaiian shirt on. it was a scortcher yesterday, I guess global warming is true...oh wait its August its supposed to be hot, and Chicagoland just set a record for the coldest July in 60+ years.

The cherry kool-aide is an adder I had read about on the bbq site I belong to, and skoffed at silently. Well, since my other bbq has taken off to new levels with the help of that site, and others, I decided to give it a try. I also have decided to being more open minded about bbq, and techniques.

The impact was minor, as I used only 3 tsp with my rub(& a little sugar since the koolaid was unsweetened), it gave just a slight tang to the rub, and to the mop(made the mop taste a little like cranberry juice actually). I think it just added to the whole flavor profile of the butt. I guess it could impart the flavor of spraying the butt with cherry juice, or using a cherry wood. I think the sugar also helped with the browning, and crust.

I will be trying it again this weekend when I do some ribs.

I cant slam it as I've never tried it, but my instincts are screaming "Burt, don't do it!!"

I guess when I think of pulled pork, I want to taste the pure essence of just hickory & apple wood smoke intermingled with a light BBQ rub seasoning bang in the bark, tempered by some other sweet tone like honey or apple juice.

I saw you had quite a few steps and ingredients listed in there, which is much more than I use these days. I guess I'm back full circle now and just doing the very basics: a light rub applied as a paste, no mopping, but just a full water pan with apple juice to intermingle a flavored moisture with the smoke in the cabinet until the ready time at 190.

I did do the foil (crutch) on my last one since I was going to be leaving it in the smoker while I ran some errands and didnt want risk it drying out. So I used some apple juice & honey inside the foil wrap. It turned out really good, however I'm not gonna foil the next one.

Thanks for sharing, nice work Jim.

abf005 wrote:
I did do the foil (crutch) on my last one since I was going to be leaving it in the smoker while I ran some errands and didnt want risk it drying out. So I used some apple juice & honey inside the foil wrap. It turned out really good, however I'm not gonna foil the next one.

Thanks for sharing, nice work Jim.

its all good,

I figure as long as a person takes the time to cook bbq low and slow than all is good. Its not like I threw my pork butt in a crock pot, sprinkled it with liquid smoke and called it bbq pulled pork.

3 day weekend coming up, Ill be on the deck all 3 days doing the following(especially with the burrito crawl taking a day of smoking away next weekend)

Sat:
- BB ribs(Un"enhanced" BB's on sale @ Caputos for $3.49/lb)
- moinkers - cheese rolled in ground chuck wrapped in bacon

Sunday:
- Meatloaf on the smoker(finally have a good recipe to try)

Munday:
- fauxstrami ( first one was good, this one will be great), Ill soak the corned beef brisket for 24 hours before rubbing, and smoking

other sides will be tbd based on what looks good at the store, and my creativity level for the day.

weather looks good, menu looks better imho.

Sounds great. Just don't post the "stock photos" this time, OK?

DeathByOrca wrote:Sounds great. Just don't post the "stock photos" this time, OK?

hilarious, thanks for the tip...

I'll also make sure not to share my meatloaf, rub, moinker, fauxstrami recipes/techniques either.

jimswside wrote:I'll also make sure not to share my meatloaf, rub, moinker, fauxstrami recipes/techniques either.

Just go ALL CAPS WITH THE FAMILY SECRETS DISCLAIMER* and we'll understand how serious you are.

*Bonus points for listing overpriced ingredients

I just got a 8lb brisket (flat) at Sam's Club for a Friday smoke.

I normally hate doing flats, but this one had a nice fat cap on it and the tip end looked pretty thick, so I figured what the hell??

I already made up the rub: used roughly 1/2 cup kosher salt, 1/2 cup fresh cracked pepper (very course) and hint (maybe 2-3 tablespoons) of my Bad 2-Da-Bone BBQ rub. Gonna keep it real simple and smoke it at about 250 with 6 cups water in the pan until its tender (185-190) with Texas Red post oak, should take around 10-12 hours I'd guess. Not sure if I want to or should do a crutch, I'll see how it looks at the 6-8 hour mark and decide then.

I used to do flats all the time Burt since thats pretty much the easiest to find around here. Sams used to carry nice flats that were uniform thickness about 2-3 inches thick across..thats rare nowadays..never had a need to foil them but your mileage may vary
meanwhile im going into a two day bbq marathon..filling the backwoods up with butts for product demos and then tommorow will be throwing more butts on as well as briskets for the Sat evening BBQ..then Sat afternoon will be grilled hot wings and loukaniko,

Im hoping Restuarant depot has some good briskets today as i forgot to take the one i had out of the freezer

sounds good heads red, and burt. Its good to see some other folks smoking some meat around here & posting about it.

A couple years ago I used to drive to Dekalb Super Walmart for the full brisket as that was the only place I could find them in the 'burbs. I saw some in there (Crystal Lake) a couple of months ago, so I assume they still have them. They ran .99 lb pretty often and are about 15 lbs.