Brisket

Haven't updated in quite a while, have done quite a bit of griiling and roasting on my smoker but didn't get around to taking any pics, I did make a top round roast that I couldn't believe how good it turned out, never thought top round could be that good.

Well, finally time to try a Brisket, supposedly the holy grail of BBQ, so picked up a 13 1/2 LB'er and time to get to work, researched quite a while on this, people telling you to marinade, inject, fancy rubs, but everytime I read what a real Texan said it was basic bub and smoke it, so got out the Bourbon and lemon lime soda and time to get to work, eating at 2:00 Sun, fired up the smoker at 9:30 Sat night.

trimmed some excess fat off and left 1/4 layer of fat across the top side, mixed up salt, pepper, garlic powder, & onion powder and rubbed it down, put it in smoker at 10:00
















Checked about an hour later and temp is holing steady where I want it, back in the house, more bourban and watch TV, fell asleep and didn't wake up until 6:30, here's what it looked like
















stuck my remote thermometer in it that the girls gave me for my birthday and just ignore it till it beeps at me, this thing is so sweet, don't know how I got along without one
















never set the time on it, really about 8:00 here

Well about 1:00 it started beeping, pulled it off, wrapped in foil and into the cooler chest for an hour to rest (not to cool, to keep warm)

look how much it shrunk from the top picture, barely fit in pan earlier
















invited Rocky and Laurie over because they have been to Texas a couple times and had the real thing, wanted to know how it compared, they said it was perfect, Heater just got back from Boise and drove down just in time to get in on it
















Now I'll be sacriligeous, I don't see what the big thing is about Brisket, it was good but I like Beef medium rare, would rather buy a good quality roast and cook it that way, now pork is another story, but now I can say I did a brisket and was successful, gonna go make another brisket
sandwich now

Spare Ribs

Last weekend Aubree was home for Heather's shower and she warned me I better smoke something for her, had a turkey in freezer so gave it a try, it was a 25Lb'er, would take forever to cook, so I cut out the breasts and thigh and leg portions, forgot to take pic's so can't see what it looked like, everyone that tried it said it was really good, I thought it had too much garlic, thought I was going really light with seasoning, next time no garlic, but was still very tasty

This weekend time for some spare ribs I got a good deal on a while back, was gonna do 'em Sat but went with Spud to car shop (we found a sweet one) so cook 'em on Sun. rubbed 'em down Sat. night and in the smoker Sun morning.

here they are ready to cook



threw 'em on and smoked 6 1/2 hrs.



then thew em in roasting pan, slathered em with sweet bay ray's and trew em in oven at 170 til dinner, made a greek salad that we are making for Heather's wedding to see if it's any good, and baked potatoes


invited Gene and Linda over for dinner, ribs were perfect, salad was very good,

My 1st Fatty

Been reading about fatty's on all the BBQ sites and wanted to try one, all a fatty is a LB of sausage flattened out and rolled around whatever you feel like filling it with, then smoke it, I got the Idea of a breakfast fatty, I'm sure it's been done before, but I haven't seen any and like to think it's an original idea, everything I read they were stuffing em with peppers and onions and cheese and stuff like that, I'm putting scrambled eggs, ham and cheese in mine

here's what it looked like before smoking it



and here it's done, smoked for 3 hrs with apple pellets



now slice it up and enjoy



I think the ham was a little overkill, a meat wrapped in a meat is kinda weird, and didn't put enough cheese in, next time no ham, more cheese and maybe some green peppers or something if I can sell that to Lynn, if not maybe green onions

but , all in all, another successful BBQ adventure

1st real test

Lynn invited everyone over for Pulled Pork Sunday for my birthday, 1st extended smoke on the new smoker, got 2 7 1/2 lb pork shoulders, trying a new recipe, gonna inject em'



injected em' Sat afternoon and let em' sit in fridge all day, took em' out of fridge at 8:00, rubbed em' down, and let em' come up to room temp,started the smoker at 10:00, got the temp where I wanted it and threw em in, watched it pretty close for about an hour and looks good, temp staying right where I want it, this is too easy, no more checking it every 1/2 hr, I set alarm for 2:00 and went to sleep, wanted to check again just to make sure temp was holding steady, still looks good so go to sleep and let em' cook

when I woke up, temp still holding steady and looking good



up to temp at noon, took em out to rest for an hour before shredding



Mom, Dawn and little dude, Erik, Bonnie and Wayne, Dennis and Sue and their little dude, Andrea and her boyfriend (sorry I forgot his name again) Shawna and Spud, Heather, Lynn and me all present,

pork turned out good, lots of other good food to be had, this is by far a more pleasant smoking experience, almost seems like cheating, I got all sorts of things I wanna try now, so expect your food to taste smokey whenever you eat at our house.

got my new smoker

Been quite a while since my last post, Haven't really done any smokin lately, had a few grilling adventures but never got around to putting 'em up.

But I'm starting a whole new era in my BBQ adventures, been looking at the Traeger pellet smokers for about 3 yrs. but just too expensive, when I bought my smoker earlier this year I was really wanting a Traeger, well thanks to the lady that hit me in Walmart parking lot and state farm insurance, I got me a bonus for my new birthday present to myself, this is what $2646 worth of damage looks like now a days















it actually looks worse in the picture than it really does, well the car is getting close to 200,000 miles and drives fine, sooooooo, that's our new buddy YB, had to get in the picture.

Well, started investigating where I could get the best deal on my new Traeger and discovered Louisianna Country Smokers, pellet smoker like the Traeger but made with heavier guage steel, and will get to higher temps so you can grill on it too, plus about $400 cheaper. needless to say, I got one.

here's a couple pics of it






Didn't really have time to try it out, 1st big test this weekend, 15 lbs of pork shoulder. but did have to cook something, a 4lb prime rib in the freezer just screaming to get out, they say this thing smokes, roasts, sears, grills and bakes, let's see how well it roasts I guess

Here's the roast, I cut slits in it and stuffed with about 10 cloves of garlic



Put a rub on it and threw it on the smoker



slow smoked it for 2 hrs. then turned up the heat and roasted for another 2 hrs. Here's the finished product





Also roasted a couple ears of corn and some garlic bread on it and was one of the best meals I've had in quite a while, didn't have to turn on oven and heat up house, roast was moist, tender and flavorful,

another complete success,

Shawna's B'Day

Shawna wanted some BBQ for her birthday dinner, had to work Sat, so we'd have to do it Sun, Just Shawna, Spud, Lynn and I gonna be here, so don't need much, found some Beef short ribs on sale, decided to give em a try.

Worked Sat. night so when I get home, time to fire up the smoker, gonna cook em a little early and let em sit til we are ready to eat.

threw potatoes on the gas grill an hour before time to eat, baked potatoes was what she asked for her meal, Lynn made a Strawberry shortcut cake,

the ribs turned out way too smokey, need to smoke them less time with milder wood I think, this is my 1st time smoking beef so will do it different next time, but they were edible and we had a good time.

no picture of this wild party

Chicken

Well we had the 2 weeks after mothers day BBQ 1 week late, Chicken on the menu, had to work Sat night, got to sleep about 4:00, set the alarm for 8:30 to get the chicken in brine and plan too sleep a couple more hours, but once I woke up couldn't get back to sleep, fired up the charcoal at 10:00, 10:30 took the chicken out of brine and seasoned with paprika, seasoned salt, garlic powder, and cayene

















BBQ up to temp, threw on the chicken, put in some hickory chunks for smoke and let her cook a couple hours, then smeared em down with BBQ sauce and let em smoke anothe 1/2 hr















Mom, Dawn, and little dude, Buzz, Erik, Andy, Heather, Shawna, Spud, Lynn & me on hand for the festivities, threw a couple burgers on the Weber for people that didn't want chicken, this got nowhere near the rave reviews of my pulled pork, but was very tasty, nice smoke flavor, when I do it again will remove the skin, it kinda get leathery with the slow smoking, all in all, another successful attempt.

not sure when I'm gonna fire it up again, but gonna have to try a brisket someday, not really a BBQ cook if you can't do a brisket they all say, and I really gotta do ribs again to make up for my first mistake, so much food, so little time

Spud's Big Birthday Blowout

Ok, so it wasn't big, Spud, Shawna, 3 of his friends and their girlfriends, me and Lynn, Gene came later on. I was going to take pictures but, ....................

I had put the rub on 3 aprox. 5 1/2 Lb pork shoulders before I went to work, I did get a pic of them before I put em on

















I got home from work at 3:00 am and got my fire started, boy maybe this wasn't such a good idea, at 3:30 fire was up to temp, threw in some hickory chunks for smoke and threw the meat in, watched it pretty close for about 1/2 hour to make sure the temp stayed where I wanted it, getting pretty tired by now so into the house, set the alarm for 1/2 hour to check em again, kept setting alarm for 1/2 hr and checking them, but after a couple times, couldn't go back to sleep, kept adding more wood chunks and charcoal as needed til 9:30, I have read that about 6 hrs of smoke is all you need, so I cheated and wrapped em in foil and put em in 220 degree oven, went to sleep, about noon checked temp and still really low, reached the right temp at 3:00, threw em in cooler chest, they will keep warm for hours this way, I'm learning all the barbecue tricks.

after everyone arrived, got the drinks pourin', shredded the pork and started serving sandwiches, everyone raving how good it was, even the girls getting seconds, gambled and drank for a couple more hours, then they all went bar hopping, me and Gene sat around for a few hours, talking Sports, computers and everything else we could think to argue about, he said this is best food he has ever at BBQ at my house, and he's ate here a lot, another total barbecue success.

here's a picture of the left overs the next day, can't believe I never got my camera out during the party
















the next test will be for my annual 2 weeks after mothers day barbecue, it's gonna be a week late this year cause Lynn and I are going to Boise to see Aubree and Hazen and the new house. We are gonna be smoking bone in chicken breasts, this should be an easy one, won't be up all night, only need a couple hours for these, and then throw em on grill for a little while to finish em up, will also have Hamburgers and hot dogs

2nd Times a charm

Finished the modifications to my grill, think I figured out why I got too hot the first time and fixed it, Gonna try pulled pork for my next attempt, Spud wants me to make some for a birthday party, so better practice, got a 5 LB shoulder roast, put a rub on it the night before, wrapped in saran wrap and in the fridge the night before, got up early and got my fire going, here's the roast before going into pit

















now just sit back, keep it burning at 220 degrees, add hickory chips about every 1/2 hr. os so. 7 1/2 hrs later, up to temp, wrap in foil and let sit 1/2 hr, shred the meat, drizzle with Carolina pulled pork sauce I found recipe for, put on hoagie rolls and enjoy
















Heather was here, so her and Lynn were the guinea pigs, we all loved it, I consider this adventure a total success, Smokey, moist, tender, delicious, if I do say so myself (they did too)
much better than first attempt, got some left in fridge, gonna have another sandwich right now

1st attempt

Been using the gas grill for years now, time to try making real BBQ, bought an offset smoker, reaserched this for quite a while and think this is the way to go.














Beautiful day for a BBQ huh, not supposed to snow in April, I have a few modifications to do, but can't wait to try it out, I did add the 2 thermometers on each side to watch temp more closely.

filled the fire box with lump charcoal














fired up a chimney of lump charcoal on my turkey cooker base, then dumped it into fire box and got it up to 225 degrees














I chose baby back ribs for my 1st attempt, actually got St Louis ribs, didn't know the difference, (this is my 1st time) put a rub on em and threw on grill for 3 hrs, following a recipe I fould online, smoke for 3hrs, rap in foil with 1/2 cup apple juice added for 2 hrs, then unrap for 1hr to crispen up, adding BBQ sauce last 15 mins,

here they are after 3 hrs, looking good to me















rapped em in foil, added the apple juice















here's where the trouble starts, spud came over and we started drinking, I don't know what happened exactly but not watching fire close enough, after I added more charcoal, I watched til I thought it had regulated but must have got hot after I went in house , when I unrapped the foil after 2 hr bottom side was burnt, (why you will see no more pics)
we ate around the burnt part by then my day was ruined, they did taste good though, tender, falling off the bone, and Chops loved the burnt part, will keep working at it and good Q' will be had sooner or later