What We’re Smoking (or Grilling, or Curing)!

I learned something the other day. For the first time I blew some dough on a "heritage breed" pork shoulder from D'Artagnan. Never believed it would be worth it but wanted to give it a try.

I am now a believer. Best pulled pork I've ever made, and now I see why people buy it. I've ordered more.
Great! They do have good products. When in GA shipping was very cheap because they have a distribution center in Macon GA very close. Unfortunately shipping to home here is quite expensive as it’s coming all the way from NJ.
 
I learned something the other day. For the first time I blew some dough on a "heritage breed" pork shoulder from D'Artagnan. Never believed it would be worth it but wanted to give it a try.

I am now a believer. Best pulled pork I've ever made, and now I see why people buy it. I've ordered more.

I grew up on a farm in the 1960's and we raised hogs. Nothing like the big outfits of today, we raised them outside and they ran loose in a barnyard. We had mixed breeds such as hampshires, berkshires, spotted polands and other colorful little pigs.

They were great eating.

Today pork farming is a very efficient operation and the pork product isn't the same as it was years ago. The breeding has developed pork to be very lean. (you could say the same about chicken).

Now that I'm back on my farm I would like to raise a few Berkshires and have them processed at the local meat market. You can't buy pork like that anymore.
 
I've been an occasional reader on this thread, so excuse me if this is a repeat....

My BIL showed me this Webber brisket cook method.from Cook's Country/ ATK.

In order to get a long cook time in a Webber, they employ a charcoal briquette "snake" that burns from one end to the other. They also employ a tin of water.

https://youtu.be/8PE3-p0wNiU
 
6 AM tomorrow 10 lb pork butt 14" WSM. Hickory,and some fresh cut apple wood. As opposed to minion method, I use the torch, EGO blower method. I may have invented it not sure.
Oldmike
 
Another one of these awesome D'Artagnan heritage breed pork butts. The difference is so noticeable that even DW, who is nowhere near as much of a meat eater as I am, says it's way better than ordinary butts.
 

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I've got a couple dozen of the reddest, ripest jalapenos from my garden in the smoker today to make chipotles (smoking with pecan wood). Sometimes, I pressure can them in adobo sauce, but today I will put them in the dehydrator for about a day and then vacuum pack them. When we reach the end of our existing chipotle powder, I will unseal them and grind them with the spice grinder.

Another one of these awesome D'Artagnan heritage breed pork butts. The difference is so noticeable that even DW, who is nowhere near as much of a meat eater as I am, says it's way better than ordinary butts.

Yummy! I like pig butts and I can't deny it.
 
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Another one of these awesome D'Artagnan heritage breed pork butts. The difference is so noticeable that even DW, who is nowhere near as much of a meat eater as I am, says it's way better than ordinary butts.

Get some Berkshire if you can. They haven't been bred to get lean and big. Just good old pork.
 
For me, the purpose of a smoker is to convert cheap meats into something tasty without a lot of effort. In that regard, I mainly do Boston Butt's and sausages. Occasionally a whole chicken. A while ago, I began to experiment with pork loin, not tenderloin. I buy a big slab on sale - cut into 1 -2 pound chunks and freeze them. Leave one out for immediate use.

I began brining them in salt water overnight before smoking to 155 degrees. Recently, I marinated them for 2 days in apple cider vinegar and sugar. Getting to 155 took about 2 hours. Wonderful. Any other pork loin suggestions? I only do easy, simple things.
 
I'm a believer in smoke tubes. I think I have three. But if you want more smoke, why run at 225deg? 175deg will give you more time.

180 deg is my only lower option, but I’ve had difficulty with that staying lit in the past (different model). This smoker has been pretty reliable as long as I keep the fire pit clean, so I probably should try it. I wish they had a 200 deg setting as an option.

OK, I finally got to try this again. Smoked the tri-tips at 180 which is the lowest setting. That did the trick! Great flavor.

That lowest setting is a bit finicky because the smoker fire can go out. So I have to keep an eye on it. If the grill temp drops much below 160 I have to check and make sure the fans are running higher to increase the temp again otherwise it might go out. I have a temp alarm.
 
Glad your tri-tips came out great. Did you sear them to finish? I love tri-tip that way.

I'll have to watch my pellet smoker (Traeger Ironwood) to make sure it doesn't go out at low temp. It can go as low as 165, but I don't think I've had it that low.
 
Glad your tri-tips came out great. Did you sear them to finish? I love tri-tip that way.

I'll have to watch my pellet smoker (Traeger Ironwood) to make sure it doesn't go out at low temp. It can go as low as 165, but I don't think I've had it that low.
Yes, did the reverse sear. They were super yummy and juicy. I’ve been using a Santa Maria seasoning rub.

Right, mine is a Traeger too.
 
BBQ

3rd place chicken and 5th place ribs I think 29 teams. We were assigned an awesome Military Vet to our team. It was a fun day.

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@steeler75 If you make your way to the Midwest your welcome under our tent anytime.
 
3rd place chicken and 5th place ribs I think 29 teams. We were assigned an awesome Military Vet to our team. It was a fun day.

Great work! I'm a CBJ and have enormous respect for BBQ teams.

I notice that you tried to attach a couple of pictures to your post, but they didn't come through because it looks like you tried to use two methods at once. Here's the procedure for doing that:

How to add photos to a post
Click reply and scroll down to bottom of text box.
Click "go advanced" add text to message window and then scroll down.
Click "Manage attachments" or the paperclip icon on the editor tool bar. A separate window will pop up.
Click "browse" Then select the file to be uploaded. Be sure that the photo is appropriately sized. 1600 x 1600 pixels (or smaller) and no more than 2 megs. Forums software will automatically reduce the size, but smaller size photos will upload much faster. You may select several photos to upload at the same time by repeating the last step.
Click "Upload" After pics have loaded close the pop-up window
Click "submit reply" to mount the text of your message - photos will automatically appear at the bottom of your post.

How to embed an image stored on another site:
You can do this by using image tags. Upload the image to a service like imageshack and then copy the URL of the image and put that between tags. That will work well, as long as the host site stays in business and doesn't disable your image for overuse of bandwidth etc.

To do this: Paste the url of the image into your post. Then add the following code on either side of the url (with no extra spaces):

[IMG]url here

The image will appear where the url was in your text.
 
Took a bit of a break, and finally back to making bacon. The flavor is just so superior.
 

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And for this Thanksgiving I decided to smoke a whole turkey. We’ve done several turkey breasts with bone in, and they are delicious, but I was ready for some dark meat too.

It’s brining now. This is a 12 pound turkey. I’m smoking it tomorrow as a strong cold front comes in on Tuesday. We actually don’t care which day of the week we start eating turkey, ha ha.

I didn’t even think of the option of using a cooler for the brining and even thawing, and I have an electric cooler that would have been perfect for this and just fit the bird. Won’t have to make space in the fridge or worry about the weight. Next time!
 

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OK - smoked the Turkey today. Came out great! Photos: turkey ~2.5 hours into smoke, then done around 3 3/4 hours.

Do you know how to properly truss a whole turkey? We learned this method today. Worked well.

 

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Acquired a 36" Blackstone to complete the outdoor kitchen. The smoker station and grill base base are built, stainless steel doors and drawers procured, trying to decide what stone veneer would compliment the deck and patio. A winter project.....
 
That’s very nice sounding. We have hookups for an outdoor kitchen, but have never put one in. I seem to be content with my rolling smoker and rolling gas grill which store along one short wall.
 
I'm doing a 16 pounder in the Orion Cooker. That's about as large as the standard Orion can handle. Using a standard Orion might not be optimal, but I've modified mine, adding propane to fuel it rather than just charcoal. The charcoal cooks too hot and runs out too soon, whereas I can control the temperature with propane. The Orion is different than a traditional smoker in that it's a sealed cooking chamber with a few wood chips for flavor. The fuel is on the outside. You can look up my propane mod on YouTube if you're so inclined. It's faster than regular smokers and the meat stays moist because it's kind of steaming and smoking at the same time.
 
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