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

[Winemaker]

https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/good-eats-roast-turkey-recipe-1950271

This is the best ever brine for turkey, by Alton Brown.

I just put 2 ham halves into the smoker, using hickory, apple and plum woods.

 

[GravitySucks]

A busy week for the old Weber feeding friends and family.
Beef short ribs over mesquite.
Uncurred pork belly over pecan.
Pork spare ribs over apple.

It all turned out tastey but not pretty enough for pictures.

Not happy with the bacon. Without the pink salt it didn't soak up the peppers and sugars as I didn't want it to spoil so it only sat in the rub 3 days. Pink salt would have killed one of my guests though....

Sent from my LM-Q850 using Early Retirement Forum mobile app

 

[audreyh1]

Fresh pork belly cooks up great from what I’ve heard. Lots of recipes- it’s used in various cuisines.

 

[GravitySucks]

Fresh pork belly cooks up great from what I’ve heard. Lots of recipes- it’s used in various cuisines.

It does. I was making the bacon for my nitrate intolerant sister, but grilled up enough for a couple of sandwiches that will probably eventually send me to the cardiac Cath lab.
Worth it.

 

[Winemaker]

Last Friday was our annual feast of turkey/ bacon sammiches on sourdough bread, slathered with Dijon mustard, washed down with well chilled Chardonnay. Home made bacon from our annual hog, One ham I smoked yesterday.

 

[Trooper]

Last Friday was our annual feast of turkey/ bacon sammiches on sourdough bread, slathered with Dijon mustard, washed down with well chilled Chardonnay. Home made bacon from our annual hog, One ham I smoked yesterday.

All I can say is YUM.

 

[TripleLindy]

BBQ Chicken Thighs

We’ve had a spectacular day here in DFW, with temps in the mid-50s, blue skies and hardly any wind. After spending the day raking leaves, I decided to grill some chicken thighs. I didn’t have too much time, so I only dry brined for an hour or so. Dried off the thighs, coated them with a very thin layer of olive oil, and dusted them with flour seasoned with Lanes Scorpion Rub and R Butts R Smokin Cherry Habanero rub. The flour, along with cooking high in the dome on the extension grate, was intended to crisp up the skin, which it did. But I ended up saucing them with Sweet Baby Rays Sweet and Spicy BBQ Sauce. Cooked indirect at 450° - powered by Revolver Blood and Honey Texas Ale. Turned out great - nice and juicy!

 

[audreyh1]

Big surprise for me today. HEB had Duroc heritage breed super thick bone in pork chops. These are two bones wide and weigh about 1 1/4 pounds each.

I have never seen heritage breed pork at HEB let alone Duroc. Wow!

I now know what I’m smoking for New Year’s Day! Got 4 of them.

Ha ha they are bone-in, not boneless. Sign is not quite right. They have short bones and are 3 inches thick.

 

[braumeister]

HEB continues to impress!

 

[audreyh1]

HEB continues to impress!

No kidding! We are lucky that this particular HEB Plus convenient to us carries an extensive array of top quality ingredients. It’s across the interstate from a very large wealthy neighborhood so I expect that helps.

They even have white asparagus right now! Not the thicker stalks one would prefer, but very fresh.

 

[Trooper]

I now know what I’m smoking for New Year’s Day!

Those bad boys would be a perfect candidate for a reverse sear!
So jealous of you Texas folk having access to HEB for your meats.
I'm on a Traeger forum and there are many a post about HEB's great meats.
I was on a dive boat in Cozumel once and a woman from Austin was talking about much she loved the grocery store where she worked. I said "It must be HEB!"

 

[audreyh1]

Those bad boys would be a perfect candidate for a reverse sear!
So jealous of you Texas folk having access to HEB for your meats.
I'm on a Traeger forum and there are many a post about HEB's great meats.
I was on a dive boat in Cozumel once and a woman from Austin was talking about much she loved the grocery store where she worked. I said "It must be HEB!"

Yes, I do plan to sear after smoking, thanks!

 

[Stormy Kromer]

Big surprise for me today. HEB had Duroc heritage breed super thick bone in pork chops. These are two bones wide and weigh about 1 1/4 pounds each.

I have never seen heritage breed pork at HEB let alone Duroc. Wow!

I now know what I’m smoking for New Year’s Day! Got 4 of them.

Ha ha they are bone-in, not boneless. Sign is not quite right. They have short bones and are 3 inches thick.

This is one of my favorite cuts to grill. I get half a loin like this and slow cook it on my pellet grill til its about 135, let it sit and slice it between the bones.

Duroc is lean meat. If you ever get a chance to buy Berkshire it is more marbled. (I grew up raising hogs and was on the FFA judging team).

 

[audreyh1]

This is one of my favorite cuts to grill. I get half a loin like this and slow cook it on my pellet grill til its about 135, let it sit and slice it between the bones.

Duroc is lean meat. If you ever get a chance to buy Berkshire it is more marbled. (I grew up raising hogs and was on the FFA judging team).

I will brine these first as recommended by Jess Pryles.

I had access to Berkshire when I was staying at DF’s house. Great stuff although I wasn’t in a position to smoke any! Not available here though, unfortunately. BTW that meat market would cure and smoke their pork chops and it was good stuff although a bit too sweet.

Interestingly Malcolm Reed/BBQ Done Right seems to mostly use Duroc for some reason.

 

[folivier]

DW is picking up a butt or 2 today for Saturday get together with her siblings. I'll smoke it on Friday then reheat it Saturday. Her sister who is hosting said she'd put a butt in the crock pot for pulled pork sandwiches. I offered to smoke it and it will be much better.

 

[Stormy Kromer]

DW is picking up a butt or 2 today for Saturday get together with her siblings. I'll smoke it on Friday then reheat it Saturday. Her sister who is hosting said she'd put a butt in the crock pot for pulled pork sandwiches. I offered to smoke it and it will be much better.

I am going to try a hybrid method on a butt for New Years. I will put it on the pellet grill on low with a smoke stick to add even more smoke for 4 hours, then put it in a crock pot for another 8 or so.

Its just too cold this time of year to smoke a butt to the right temperature.

 

[audreyh1]

When using a smoke stick on the pellet grill - it’s fine to put it right on the grate?

 

[aja8888]

When using a smoke stick on the pellet grill - it’s fine to put it right on the grate?

I put mine (filled with lit pellets) on the grate with the lit end propped up an inch or so with a flat rock. I put it on the end farthest from the chimney. I use a smoke tube.

 

[audreyh1]

I put mine (filled with lit pellets) on the grate with the lit end propped up an inch or so with a flat rock. I put it on the end farthest from the chimney.

Thanks!

 

[audreyh1]

OK, finally the New Year’s Day meal! Double thick heritage pork loin chops brined, smoked, then reverse seared. Came out super juicy and very nice flavor. We went for traditional southern sides including the required New Years Day black-eyed peas.

 

[folivier]

My butts turned out great. I injected them with an apple juice mixture with garlic cloves the day before, I leave the apple juice/garlic in the fridge. Rubbed and smoked with apple pellets in my Carpathen smoker tube for 9 hours to 195ºF, pulled off at 150º to wrap with butcher paper. Very moist and tender, flavorful. The in-laws and out-laws were amazed how good it was.
We had black eye peas with some bits of ham, cabbage casserole, pulled pork yesterday for our traditional New Years day meal. The rest will go into vacuum bags and in the freezer for later.

 

[pacergal]

Audrey and folivier--those look and sound wonderful!

 

[TripleLindy]

OK, finally the New Year’s Day meal! Double thick heritage pork loin chops brined, smoked, then reverse seared. Came out super juicy and very nice flavor. We went for traditional southern sides including the required New Years Day black-eyed peas.

Fantastic looking NYD cook, complete with the requisite black-eyed peas! I so wish HEB would open a store closer to me. They finally made it to the DFW market, but are still 25 miles away from where I live.

 

[audreyh1]

Fantastic looking NYD cook, complete with the requisite black-eyed peas! I so wish HEB would open a store closer to me. They finally made it to the DFW market, but are still 25 miles away from where I live.

If you have a Central Market closer it seems like they would have the premium meat cuts.

 

[FreeBear]

OK, finally the New Year’s Day meal! Double thick heritage pork loin chops brined, smoked, then reverse seared. Came out super juicy and very nice flavor. We went for traditional southern sides including the required New Years Day black-eyed peas.

Wow! That looks great!


Boneless chicken beast and boneless pork loin chops from Costco have been our staples. Have been experimenting with lemon juice. Slather meat in olive oil and fresh-squeezed lemon juice. Dust as desired. Last time it was dried rosemary, powdered garlic, black pepper, maybe paprika. Will sub oregano for rosemary and add extra lemon juice for Greek style.

The lemon add complexity to the flavor. May keep the meat from drying out, or it's just my imagination. Thinking of trying other citrus like lime or orange, whatever we have too much of in the fridge.

Smoke at 220F for 30-45 minutes on pellet grill, then crank grill for reverse sear. I can't get grill hot enough, fast enough for a true sear, but the meat gets some color and flavor. Good enough for now, but have been thinking of a gas searing station or grill for a harder sear.