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

[imjustawarrior]

Smoking a chicken right now. It probably has been 15 years since I have smoked a chicken. I hope it turns out well or dinner will be just corn and salad.

I usually do brisket, pork loin, and pork shoulders. I'll do ribs a few times a year also. Chicken is so fast, I thought it would be nice to start doing them again.

I went really simple. I spatchcocked the chicken and threw it on. No seasoning, no brining, no nothing.

 

[aja8888]

Smoking a chicken right now. It probably has been 15 years since I have smoked a chicken. I hope it turns out well or dinner will be just corn and salad.

I usually do brisket, pork loin, and pork shoulders. I'll do ribs a few times a year also. Chicken is so fast, I thought it would be nice to start doing them again.

I went really simple. I spatchcocked the chicken and threw it on. No seasoning, no brining, no nothing.

Nice, I have a Prime brisket going on the smoker Friday morning. Texas style with just salt and pepper rub.

 

[imjustawarrior]

Nice, I have a Prime brisket going on the smoker Friday morning. Texas style with just salt and pepper rub.

My Costco use to carry prime briskets. I bought one a couple weeks ago and it was choice. It still was good. Lately, I have liked my paprika based rub. I'm from Tx, so I appreciate the simplicity of salt and pepper.

How did your brisket turn out? Our chicken was good, but I think I prefer grilled chicken.

 

[aja8888]

My Costco use to carry prime briskets. I bought one a couple weeks ago and it was choice. It still was good. Lately, I have liked my paprika based rub. I'm from Tx, so I appreciate the simplicity of salt and pepper.

How did your brisket turn out? Our chicken was good, but I think I prefer grilled chicken.

Rained out Friday. I have it on the smoker right now and it should be done by tonight when DD and her husband come over.

 

[audreyh1]

Glad to see this thread pop back up. I’m getting ready to brine and smoke a whole turkey soon. I find brined poultry for smoking so flavorful and juicy that I never skip that step.

Just took some home smoked duck out of the freezer - yum! I spatchcock and dry-brine the whole ducks.

Personally I prefer non-prime briskets. To me the whole point of a long low temperature smoke is to break down a tough cut of meat. I don’t need any extra marbling and to me the non-prime beef is more flavorful. I also buy non-prime ribeye steaks (usually grass finished) - they are already plenty fatty/marbled and I find them more flavorful.

 

[aja8888]

Glad to see this thread pop back up. I’m getting ready to brine and smoke a whole turkey soon. I find brined poultry for smoking so flavorful and juicy that I never skip that step.

Just took some home smoked duck out of the freezer - yum! I spatchcock and dry-brine the whole ducks.

Personally I prefer non-prime briskets. To me the whole point of a long low temperature smoke is to break down a tough cut of meat. I don’t need any extra marbling and to me the non-prime beef is more flavorful. I also buy non-prime ribeye steaks (usually grass finished) - they are already plenty fatty/marbled and I find them more flavorful.

I have tried Choice briskets from H.E.B. and I like those a lot. They even sell partially trimmed ones.

 

[audreyh1]

One thing I discovered at Costco that is that a lot of the repackaged beef they sell (not the stuff in the original Cryovac) is “tenderized” via deep pokes with metal prongs - they have a machine. I prefer not to have that as it makes meat less safe if you are cooking it to rare/medium rare. It’s fine for beef cooked to higher temps such as beef ribs. But it annoys the heck out of me that they do it to the tri-tips which I like to smoke for a couple of hours and then reverse sear to rare center. So I’m buying my tri-tips from HEB these days.

 

[Lawrencewendall]

Have some country ribs with Sriracha rub over mesquite right now

 

[aja8888]

Brisket now about 4 hours in with the smoke tube finished.

 

[imjustawarrior]

Y'all are making me hungry for some BBQ. I may have to do some ribs this week.

 

[audreyh1]

Yeah, ribs are so easy and our HEB Plus! carries some really nice whole spare ribs.

 

[Lawrencewendall]

Ribs are done. You're missing out!

 

[aja8888]

Ribs are done. You're missing out!View attachment 50937

Looking great!

 

[TheWizard]

I'm a fan of baby back ribs (pork).
I typically mix a heaping tablespoon of Walkerswood jerk seasoning with a little Italian marinade to thin it down and then spread it on top of the rack a bit ahead of time.
Then toss it on the gas grill, low heat, for 45 minutes or so, turning a few times.

The ribs don't need to be fall off the bone tender like some silly restaurants advertise. I have actual teeth...

 

[aja8888]

I'm a fan of baby back ribs (pork).
I typically mix a heaping tablespoon of Walkerswood jerk seasoning with a little Italian marinade to thin it down and then spread it on top of the rack a bit ahead of time.
Then toss it on the gas grill, low heat, for 45 minutes or so, turning a few times.

The ribs don't need to be fall off the bone tender like some silly restaurants advertise. I have actual teeth...

Falling off the bone rib meat is over done.

 

[TheWizard]

Falling off the bone rib meat is over done.

Perhaps, but I suspect those places might boil the ribs first before putting them on dry heat with an overly sweet sauce...

 

[TheWizard]

Perhaps, but I suspect those places might boil the ribs first before putting them on dry heat with an overly sweet sauce...

Actually, it takes moist heat to get really tender pork, as in pulled pork or Chile Verde. But those are different cuts of meat.
With baby back ribs, in my unfortunate experience, dry overcooking on the grill gets you something closer to charcoal...

 

[aja8888]

Brisket is at 175 F and stalled, but not much longer before I wrap.

 

[CardsFan]

I'm a fan of baby back ribs (pork).
I typically mix a heaping tablespoon of Walkerswood jerk seasoning with a little Italian marinade to thin it down and then spread it on top of the rack a bit ahead of time.
Then toss it on the gas grill, low heat, for 45 minutes or so, turning a few times.

The ribs don't need to be fall off the bone tender like some silly restaurants advertise. I have actual teeth...

A quick story about "fall off the bone ribs" (I probably said this here before)

We were at Rendezvous in Memphis with some friends. The other wife asked if the ribs fell off the bone, without missing a beat, the waiter said "Well, you have to use your teeth". Her husband and I both broke out laughing.

That was the best quick come back from a server I had ever heard.

BTW, the ribs were great.

 

[imjustawarrior]

We went to Rendezvous a couple years ago. I was not a fan of their ribs. I liked Central BBQ ribs a lot more.

I'm a fan of low and slow ribs done on a smoker. The meat should pull off clean but not fall off. The connective tissue needs to convert to gelatin. That is what makes BBQ special to me. I usually finish my ribs on a really hot grill to char up the outside.