Home Made Sausage, Cured, and Smoked Meats

[otc]

Top piece finished first. It went over well but I thought it was a bit dry. Took it out when internal temp hit 194 and rested for a bit.

Bottom piece came off at 192. Was noticeably a little harder to pull, but the meat was more moist.

I wonder what happened. I suppose the bottom one was in slightly lower heat (the smoker was between 225-250 the whole time, getting up to 250 at the end since I needed them done) and was getting dripped on by the fat from the top.

I trimmed a fair amount of fat, but that's what the stuff I read online said to do--the fat would just melt off and would take all of the rub with it, so trim it down to no more than a 1/8" cap.

There was water in the pan when I started, but I did not refill it...no mopping or basting of the shoulders either. Maybe I will keep the water pan topped off next time.

 

[Piobaire]

My Cookshack is electric and does not need a water pan. I can remember using a propane one with water pan and moisture was easily sapped from the meat (this sentence might be just for CG to comment on...).

 

[otc]



My Cookshack is electric and does not need a water pan. I can remember using a propane one with water pan and moisture was easily sapped from the meat (this sentence might be just for CG to comment on...).

My electric Masterbuilt has a water pan (although it is functionally more of a drip pan...).

Much of the online commentary however, seems to suggest that the water pan serves more as a heat stabilizer and heat shield to keep temps from spiking right over the heating element. In fact, a lot of people do things like fill it with sand to have a heat sink that wont evaporate.

Still though...might help to keep the meat moist.

 

[itsstillmatt]

The amount of drying from dry atmosphere in a piece that size will be minimal once you get inside the first few millimeters of crust. It is certainly negligible when compared to the amount of interior drying caused by cooking the meat to such a high temperature.

 

[otc]

Go lower then?

All of the pulled pork stuff I was reading online was pushing the temps that high (some were even going to 200+ if the meat was still tough). Would certainly cut down on the time...started at 6AM and they didn't come off until 8 or so.

 

[itsstillmatt]



Go lower then?

All of the pulled pork stuff I was reading online was pushing the temps that high (some were even going to 200+ if the meat was still tough). Would certainly cut down on the time...started at 6AM and they didn't come off until 8 or so.

Not necessarily. If you cook it to a lower temp, you need to cook it longer to give the collagen a chance to melt. The collagen softening is what gives long cooked barbecue its moistness, but it is at the expense of cooking to a really high temp, which squeezes out all of the juices. Dry meat is just kind of the deal with barbecue, so maybe just get a fattier piece next time or something.

 

[otc]

A couple racks of spare ribs in the smoker in preparation for the Game of Thrones premiere (also have a bottle of the collab blonde ale in the fridge...so if piob's prediction comes true, it will be the perfect beverage).

I might be having a few more people than expected, so I didn't give them the St Louis trim...left everything attached in hopes of increasing yield.

 

[otc]

Ribs were fantastic...although I would rather have trimmed them (just not a big fan of chewing away at rib tips). Done without foiling at any point, just in the smoker at 225 for the duration with a bit of applewood smoke at the beginning.

Served them with cornbread using the jalepeno skillet cornbread recipe from the Commander's Palace cookbook...best cornbread I have ever made. I am 95% sure I will use this recipe every time I make cornbread (although I would drop the peppers if necessary). Slightly more involved since you have to separate the eggs and beat the whites to stiff peaks and fold it in to the batter with diced butter, but it made an epic, fluffy, cornbread.

 

[otc]

Smoked a brisket and brought it over to my buddy's BBQ a little while ago:

First time throwing beef in there, thought it turned out quite nicely.

 

[tom153]

Nice man! How long did you let it go for? I've smoked mine for about 12 hrs each time and they've been really good. Beter than some BBQ competition winners who catered one of our corporate parties... Only thing I've been smoking lately have been shoulders... think I need to smoke a couple of duck breasts again.

 

[Piobaire]

Looks good, otc. Was that a packer's cut or just a flat?

 

[tom153]

Piob, have you been doing anything interesting lately? I've only made some breakfast sausage and that's it...

 

[Piobaire]

Most interesting thing I've done lately is lamb bacon. Here's my last batch which was two full bellies seasoned with maple syrup and I put about three hours of hickory smoke on them.

 

[tom153]

Did you get yourself a chamber vac, or are those foodsaver bags? Hard to tell on my phone. What are lamb bellies like? Where do you get them?

 

[Piobaire]

Just plain old food saver bags so I could toss them in the freezer. Lamb bellies are very thin, so use less kosher salt when seasoning and only let them sit in the fridge for three days vs. the seven usual for pork bellies. You should be able to get them ordered in from a good butcher shop.