Anyone here smoke?

[Goatnapper'96]

I am not talking about tobaccy or that stuff that resulted in an Enos experience for me as a 15 year the night before I went to do baptisms for the dead, but I am talking authentic bar-b-q?

I just spent a few moments looking thru this site and I think I will enjoy discussing with serious meat afficianados the good things in life.

I bought a Weber Smokey Mountain Smoker this past spring and have done quite a few pork butts or ribs this summer. That piece of bar-b-qing mastery is one of the greatest inventions of mankind since the breast implant.

I have used it for both grilling over indirect heat as well as smoking. I will post some of my recipes later, but one I will mention is I did a RACK (I just love that word) of lamb grilled over ID using charcoal and apple wood that I used a curry based dry rub and finished it off with a raspberry bar-b-q sauce that was nothing short of exceptional.

I am not a fan of pork, but a pork butt that has been smoked for 8-10 hours over a maple/hickory mixture and then drizzled with some sauce makes a man's nipples hard.

I doubt nothing will take me away from by love of tri-tip, but a RACK of baby-backs that are falling off the bone could cause me to commit adultery in my heart.

Good find Brethren and look forward to together increasing our collective buttcrack cleavages thru the years.

[Jeff Lebowski]

Yes, I am a fellow smoker.

I would love to see some of your recipes. And I would be happy to share mine.

[Jeff Lebowski]

I am about to throw 20 lbs. of pork cushion roast on the smoker to do some pulled pork for a big party tomorrow night. I put a rub on it, smoke it for an hour or two and then cook in the oven over low heat overnight.

[Goatnapper'96]

Originally Posted by Jeff Lebowski

I am about to throw 20 lbs. of pork cushion roast on the smoker to do some pulled pork for a big party tomorrow night. I put a rub on it, smoke it for an hour or two and then cook in the oven over low heat overnight.

I don't know what type of smoker you use, but some dude named Minion who has a WSMS uses a method where he puts about three chimneys of coals in the smoker and then lights about 20-30 briquettes and puts them on top. Throw smoke wood on lit briquettes and give your smoker about 50% of its max air flow and it will smoke for about 16 hours. That said, if your pork roast is 20 lbs, you will need about 30 hours of smoking so perhaps an oven is the only reasonable option.

I tried it but was too slow in assembling my cooker, this led to too many briquettes being lit when I cut off the air flow, so when I came out the next morning, the butt was mostly cooked. I threw it in the oven for an hour or two and it was pretty good, but the middle did not render real well and more like roast than pulled pork.

I used that curry based dry rub, it was for my wife's birthday and she loves both pulled pork and curry (did her mission in England) with a double dosage of turbinado/brown sugar. The bark was excellent with the curry and sweetness of the sugar.

[ute4ever]

For rub, find a Mexican grocery store (living in SoCal, it's easier done than said for me) and buy some adobo.

[YOhio]

It's about time I started the smoking habit. This weekend I plan on smoking some babybacks as we sustain our new PSR. I'll start out simple with a basic rub and some Sweet Baby Rays for a few minutes on the grill.

Yesterday Matador on CB had a great post on his smoking adventures.
http://www.cougarboard.com/noframes/...tml?id=3630782
I'm looking forward to trying some fun things this summer.

[Clark Addison]

I have a WSM, and it workds great. I had an old Brinkman bullet smoker years ago, and the Weber is far superior in temperature control. I use the Minion method, and have had stuff cooking overnight. The temperature keeps remakably constant, I come out in the morning, and it is within a couple degrees of where I left it the night before.

I'm in North Carolina, so I usually do Pork Shoulder. it's more difficult to get a good brisket out here (with all the fat on it), and my wife doesn't much like ribs. When we are on the late schedule at church, I'll often wake up early and start it going. When we get home from church, it is ready to go.

I need to work on my rub. Usually I just throw together a bunch of what is in the pantry. Even with no rub, it turns out awfully good, but a good rub can really kick it up a notch.

What sort of wood do you use? I have a friend that has a lot of good trees, so whenever they do some trimming, I pick some up. Mainly I get Apple, Peach, and Pecan. I like them better then the wood I get at Lowe's or whatever.

[YOhio]

Clark, you sound like an old pro. I'm new to smoking, so I have nothing of value to say on this topic. I just wanted to get the conversation started again.

What's the Minion method?

[Clark Addison]

Originally Posted by YOhio

Clark, you sound like an old pro. I'm new to smoking, so I have nothing of value to say on this topic. I just wanted to get the conversation started again.

What's the Minion method?

I'm far from an expert, but living in NC does give plenty of opportunity to taste and create BBQ.

Goatnapper mentioned the Minion method earlier. Basically, instead of starting the fire and continually adding charcoal through the process, you start out with a large pile of charcoal, then you light up a small amount and put them on top of the pile. the charcoal will slowly burn through, giving you many hours of burn where the fire doesn't need to be tended at all. The disadvantages are:

• I think that it only really works with the Weber Smokey Mountain, where you have a tightly sealed smoker with good air control.
• Some people feel strongly that all charcoal added to the smoker should already be started, or it will give an unpleasant side taste to the food. I don't notice this.
• Since lump charcoal burns quicker, if you want to do a long, unattended burn (like more than 6 hours or so), you are better off using briquettes. For some purists, using briquettes is only slightly better than smoking up a turkey loaf. I'm not a purist, so I use briqettes more often than not when I am smoking. Not only can you leave them unattended for longer, but they burn more consistently and at a lower temperature, so they are easier to control. I've gone well over 12 hours without adding any charcoal, and I've never had the charcoal go cold overnight or while I'm away at church.

How about temperature? Has anyone done any real experimentation here? Most places I see say to keep it around 220 degrees. I like to keep it a little cooler, usually around 200 to 210, but I haven't done enough testing to see what difference it makes to do it at 190 vs. 210 vs. 240.

[YOhio]

I smoked a whole chicken yesterday while I did some yardwork. I brined it overnight, put on some Famous Dave's rub, and then smoked it in Hickory laced with Apple. Delicious. It shredded very nicely and we had some great sandwiches. Smoking is a lot of fun. It's interesting to see all the different ways man, in a gender neutral sense, has devised to cook meat.