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

[Gumby]

If they are in the shell, how would you get any smoke flavor? The shells are somewhat permeable as the allow air exchange, but still.

Thanks, I don’t think I’ll try that either.

My brother-in-law had never done it either, but he heard about it, so we gave it a try. I'm pretty sure he won't do it again either..

 

[braumeister]

I smoked some sea salt last week over apple wood, and it turned out really nice. Milder than I expected, so next time I'll smoke it longer. This time was a bit less than two hours, so I'll go four next time.

I've been enjoying the applewood smoked sea salt I bought in Maine last year, so I just had to try it myself. Mine didn't get as much color as what I bought, so it seems as if you can probably judge the smokiness by how dark it gets. Smoked salt is a marvelous addition to scrambled eggs.

 

[audreyh1]

D’Artagnan occasionally has free shipping usually around the major holidays. I ordered a heritage pork belly from them this week. This monster was 16 pounds!

I trimmed some of the pure fat on the edges and top (skin side) which I will render for lard as needed. Cut remainder in half for making bacon.

 

[audreyh1]

FWIW the free shipping from D’Artagnan is still on until midnight tonight.

 

[pacergal]

Making a rack of ribs today. I slow cook on low in the oven, then DH finishes on the BBQ for a quick carmelized glaze with the sauce.
Our local Safeway had first rack $0.97 per pound yesterday with the app purchase! Approx.
$16 rack reduced to $3. Good deal.

 

[skipro33]

Caught a bunch of Rainbow trout last week. Grilled some at camp, froze some in the RV's freezer, and smoked some when we got home.

 

[skipro33]

Caught a bunch of Rainbow trout last week. Grilled some at camp, froze some in the RV's freezer, and smoked some when we got home.

 

[audreyh1]

Very nice! That’s exactly how I do my smoked whole trout after brining. DH loves it that way.

But the only trout you can fish for here are salt water. So mine are store bought.

 

[skipro33]

Very nice! That’s exactly how I do my smoked whole trout after brining. DH loves it that way.

But the only trout you can fish for here are salt water. So mine are store bought.

I brine overnight in a kosher salt/brown sugar mix 1/2 cup each in 1 gallon water. Same mix works with a dry rub brine in a tupperware container, but for me, that draws out too much moisture from the fish. Wet brining produces a moister product. I smoke with maple wood for 3 hours at 190 degrees, NEVER over 200 or it's just cooked. I'll do it at 160 degrees if it's fresh fish that day, but this fish was in the fridge for 2 days, so wanted to run with a hotter smoke to be sure.
Once finished, I let it rest on the counter, then wipe inside with a paper towel to absorb oils. Then place in individual vac seal bags, but don't seal, place in freezer for a few hours to harden up the fish. Then vac seal. That way the fish isn't crushed. I serve it mixed with cream cheese as a spread for crackers. Everyone loves it and goes great with a nice light white wine. When we invite friends over, they hope we put out some smoke trout spread and crackers. They bring the wine to pair. Ha!

 

[audreyh1]

Yeah, I do wet brine overnight - sounds similar. Have been using alder pellets, but I have an unused bag of maple.

Good tip on freezing before vacuum sealing. If we freeze any it’s usually after it been cooled in the fridge.

While the whole trout is still hot from the smoker, a few minutes cooling, I’ve gotten good at deboning and then having the smoked trout flesh plus skin. Still some small pin bones left in of course. But they fold nicely.

 

[Winemaker]

skipro, when you freeze your whole trout , do you freeze it plain or in water? I trade wine for steelhead and walleye with my DBIL, and they say the water prevents freezer burn. I tease him about #s of fish to gallons of wine, and threaten to water down my wine!

 

[skipro33]

skipro, when you freeze your whole trout , do you freeze it plain or in water? I trade wine for steelhead and walleye with my DBIL, and they say the water prevents freezer burn. I tease him about #s of fish to gallons of wine, and threaten to water down my wine!

I use a vacuum sealer. I first put the fish in the vacuum seal bag, place in freezer for a few hours so it gets hard, then I vac seal so it doesn't get crushed.

Before vac sealer, I used the paper milk cartons. Place fish in an opened milk carton, fill with water and freeze. A lot less space used now that I have a vac sealer.

 

[RobbieB]

Got a rack of St. Louis style spare ribs, my fav, gonna smoke 'em inna egg as usual. Been a long time since I smoked a rack of ribs, looking forward!

 

[folivier]

Tried to smoke a couple butts in the Oklahoma Joe charcoal smoker last week. Unfortunately up here at 9400' charcoal just couldn't get past 160ºF in the smoker and had to finish them in the oven. So I ordered a propane burner that should fit inside the burner box. Got a couple rib racks ready to go.

 

[braumeister]

Tried to smoke a couple butts in the Oklahoma Joe charcoal smoker last week. Unfortunately up here at 9400' charcoal just couldn't get past 160ºF in the smoker and had to finish them in the oven. So I ordered a propane burner that should fit inside the burner box. Got a couple rib racks ready to go.

Have you done them before?
It's very common for butts to spend hours in the 160-170 range before finally moving higher. It's called the stall.

Sorry if you were already aware of that, but I thought you might not be.

 

[folivier]

Yes I've done many before and well aware of the "stall". I'm talking about the smoker temperature never getting above 160. Just not enough oxygen here at 9400'.

 

[street]

Last Friday went to celebrate my son's birthday. He smoked a Tri Tip and was out of this world delicious!!! I never had that cut before that I know of, but I know I never had it smoked (Traeger) before.

 

[audreyh1]

Last Friday went to celebrate my son's birthday. He smoked a Tri Tip and was out of this world delicious!!! I never had that cut before that I know of, but I know I never had it smoked (Traeger) before.

Yes, it’s nice, it’s a fairly lean cut, so you have to be careful. I used my oily rub on it and it’s did smoke up nicely. I finished it with a reverse sear.

I usually cook Tri-tip to rare, slice thinly, and serve with chimichurri sauce.

 

[GravitySucks]

8 lbs of pork belly smoking over cherry wood in the Weber kettle.
Cured 8 days with maple syrup and brown sugar.
2 lbs separated and added garlic and peppers to try something different.
DGF said she liked the homemade bacon much better than the store bought, it's really not much work so....
Planning on burnt ends for dinner.

 

[audreyh1]

Cool!

I soak and rinse my bacon very well before smoking to get rid of excess sugar and salt from the cure, and this pretty much gets rid of any other flavors I’ve added. So I end up pretty much with “smoked cured meat” flavor which is fine with me!

 

[RobbieB]

I'm doing chicken wings on the egg tonight again. We have hit on a really good combo when the jumbo artichokes are on sale which has been frequent this year.

The wings get their usual soy-teriyaki-garlic-blackened marinade, yeah I just mix up a bunch of stuff that smells good, and the jumbo chokes get an hour on the steamer.

All finger food and messy finger food too, works perfect! Alternate between wings and drumsticks for variety -

 

[GravitySucks]

Cool!

I soak and rinse my bacon very well before smoking to get rid of excess sugar and salt from the cure, and this pretty much gets rid of any other flavors I’ve added. So I end up pretty much with “smoked cured meat” flavor which is fine with me!

I rinse it well and can still taste the sweet. This time I brushed maple syrup I'll find out soon how that worked.
The peppers and garlic marinated chunk picked up a lot of flavor and kept a little heat. Instead of syrupy burnt ends I just grilled tge cubes of pork. Friends said it the best I've ever made.

 

[GravitySucks]

I'm doing chicken wings on the egg tonight again. We have hit on a really good combo when the jumbo artichokes are on sale which has been frequent this year.

The wings get their usual soy-teriyaki-garlic-blackened marinade, yeah I just mix up a bunch of stuff that smells good, and the jumbo chokes get an hour on the steamer.

All finger food and messy finger food too, works perfect! Alternate between wings and drumsticks for variety -

Here happy hour oysters are cheaper than wings, so I haven't ordered buffalo wings for a year. I'll have to give this a try.

 

[audreyh1]

I’ll be smoking up another batch of chicken wings this weekend!

 

[GravitySucks]

Having a few friends over for beers and hot dogs tomorrow so ran to Aldi. Picked up 24lbs of pork ribs for $1.10 lb.
Menu change!