goEMAW.com bbq, smoking, grilling, etc. thread!

[Bqqkie Pimp]

Grass fed sucks tho.

 

I take it you've never lived outside the "city limits"...

Generally speaking, the beef at a supermarket is "feedlot" beef.  Meaning, basically its cattle that have done nothing but stand in their own muddy crap for most of their lives and have eaten little but dry grasses and the cheapest of grains.

Farm, pasture raised beef is also fed grain typically.  However, they graze on fresh grass at their leisure while being fed higher quality grains as well to help "fatten them up" to provide the tasty marbling. 

HTH

Take it easy there Jump to Conclusions Mat guy...I'm well aware, probably more than you apparently, about the beef industry.

When I say grass fed, I was speaking to the certified organic beef that is fed 100% grass it's entire life.  I have bought a side of beef of that variety that I didn't care for.  I'm all on board with grass fed and grain finished.  FWIW, I've never seen a calf in a feed lot.  Typically heifers and steers are either sold to feed lots to be finished, or they pay a fee to have a lot finish them, and afterwards they are sold to market.  No grain fed cow has spent even the majority of its life in a feed lot.

BP and emo having a beef

Well played.

 

[tdaver]

Grilled chicken thighs with a spice rub and honey glaze.  Sliced on a salad with mango, avacado, red onion and cilantro lime vinaigrette.  Washed down with Lagunitas Little Sumpin Sumpin.

Good eats tonight

[AST]

oooh, that looky good tdaver

[BW]

It's gonna be a great summer...

I can't freeze beef anymore.  Just can't do it.

I don't either.  That said, I would guess pretty much all of what is bought at your avg Price Chopper has already been frozen.

Beef in overwrap or lidstock trays at grocery stores is never frozen. Price Chopper, Hen House, and Hy Vee (lidstock not included) in KC are cut in store, fresh.

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[kim carnes]

It's gonna be a great summer...

I can't freeze beef anymore.  Just can't do it.

I don't either.  That said, I would guess pretty much all of what is bought at your avg Price Chopper has already been frozen.

Beef in overwrap or lidstock trays at grocery stores is never frozen. Price Chopper, Hen House, and Hy Vee (lidstock not included) in KC are cut in store, fresh.

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Sure buddy

[Cire]

I'm smoking a chuck this weekend.

going to cook til done and then foil until it fall apart.

have not decided on rub.

bbq or taco?

[BW]

It's gonna be a great summer...

I can't freeze beef anymore.  Just can't do it.

I don't either.  That said, I would guess pretty much all of what is bought at your avg Price Chopper has already been frozen.

Beef in overwrap or lidstock trays at grocery stores is never frozen. Price Chopper, Hen House, and Hy Vee (lidstock not included) in KC are cut in store, fresh.

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Sure buddy

Usually, the only things that have been frozen in the fresh beef case are further processed stuff like corned beef. Read the label, if it says "previously frozen," it was. Beef in the self serve case is usually USDA select and behind the counter is choice or Certified Angus (or similar brand). Problem with grocery store beef is that it's too fresh, likely only a week to ten days from harvest. This is for color reasons (bright red). Good for ground beef, bad for steaks as 30-45 days of age is best  for flavor.

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[AST]

I'm smoking a chuck this weekend.

going to cook til done and then foil until it fall apart.

have not decided on rub.

bbq or taco?

BBQ TACO FUSION

[Tobias]

[Cire]

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[Cire]

Chuck roast with taco rub salt and pepper.  This was 3 hours in.  Going to foil with some broth and steam till fall apart

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[jtksu]

Had some duck and pancetta sausages from the Douglas Avenue Chop Shop.   rough ridin' amazing.

[AST]

looking good Cire

[Cire]

It was really good.  Foiled with some onions and a little broth.  Pulled with corn tortilla onion cilantro lime and guac.  It was delicious

[Bloodfart]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turnspit_Dog

A dog bread to cook meat. 

[pissclams]

It was really good.  Foiled with some onions and a little broth.  Pulled with corn tortilla onion cilantro lime and guac.  It was delicious

did it taste like a spicy pot roast?

[asava]

Alright, so need some protips here. On Saturday I fired up the big green egg to smoke some wings. They turned out well, but I had a very hard time with temp management and consistency. In fact, I had to move the second batch into the oven for finishing because I had lost too much heat in the egg, and was unable to regain it. I'm under the impression that I must be doing something wrong, because I know this is supposed to be one of the strong points of a ceramic cooker when doing indirect cooking.

What I did:

1. Soaked the smoking wood for about 45 minutes.
2. Started the lump coal in a chimney. Waited until it was good an hot.
3. Put the hot coals in the cooker, followed almost immediately by the smoking wood.
4. Closed the egg, opened up the top and bottom vent.
5. Brought the egg to about 350 (target cook temp was at 325).
6. Started to try and get a consistent temp via vent control at 350.
7. I don't have the big green egg issued contraption for indirect cooking, so I used 4 bricks to give enough height for the second rack, and placed a drip pan with a little water inbetween the two racks. Closed the egg and attempted to maintain a steady temp before adding on the wings. Got it to about 330 and held it there for about 10 minutes. At this point the vents are maybe both halfway to 75% open.
8. Put the wings on. Opened the vents all the way and was only able to get the temp to 310. Never able to close the vents at that point. Was able to hold that temp for the about the 2 hours needed to cook the wings at that temp. Once I opened it to take the wings out, I was unable to regain any where near the 300 degree mark (around 225) and pretty much had to move the next batch into the oven to finish cooking after getting some smoke.

I will also say that the thing was not really smoking too well after about the 30 or 40 minute mark. So wtf am I doing wrong? I really want to do a long cook next Saturday (either pork shoulder or brisket), but am hesitant if I can't figure this out. Was considering a few problems, like maybe I just straight up don't have enough coal or fuel to maintain a burn for that long. The other thing I was thinking is that maybe the bricks I'm using provide too much mass, or are blocking the air flow of the egg so much that it isn't providing the coals with enough oxygen. I know that typically the vents are not opened more than a little bit to control the temp, but if I did this, I feel like the temp would drop drastically and may not even maintain a fire. I live at elevation, so I figured it would require a little more oxygen, but having the vents pretty much wide open the whole time to maintain a good temperature seems crazy. TIA for any input, I definitely appreciate it, and I need help.

[Cire]

It was really good.  Foiled with some onions and a little broth.  Pulled with corn tortilla onion cilantro lime and guac.  It was delicious

did it taste like a spicy pot roast?

tasted a lot like chipotle barbacoa, but not as salty, had a good crust.

[CNS]

I used to have an off brand 7-in-1 type bullet that used gas or charcoal.  Back then I had always read that similar smokers should have wood soaked prior to use.  However, I have never done that.  It would make sense to me if it was really small shavings or something, though.  I have a Weber Smokey Mountain now and still don't soak anything(lump wood or shavings). 

Should I be?  I bring all this up because I would guess that putting wet wood on charcoal is probably why Asava's temp issue existed.

I have never used an BGE though and am only 6mo into this whole serious smoking thing. 

[Cire]

the little tiny chips are supposed to be soaked or they burn up too fast.

[tdaver]

I don’t have a BGE but something very similar.  Here are my suggestions based on a few years of practice.
 
Don’t use a chimney.  Load cold lump.  Use a lot.  Load it up past the air holes on the side of the firebowl.  Mix your wood in with the lump as you load.  I prefer chunks of wood rather than chips, so I don’t soak mine.  Two or three baseball sized chunks are plenty of smoke for a brisket or pork butt.  Put a BGE or similar firestarter in the middle and light that.  I will use two firestarters spaced out if doing poultry or something in the 350-400 F range and three if I’m doing steaks at 600F+.  You could probably dump hot coals from the chimney onto the pile if going high heat.   Leave the bottom vent and the lid wide open until the firestarter burns out.  Close the lid and slowly close down the vents over the next 20-30 minutes as you approach your target temp.  Try not to overshoot because it’s harder to bring the temp back down.  I’ve killed the fire trying to do that.  Put the meat on once the temp as stabilized and the heavy smoke as died down.   You may have to open the vents back up a little after adding the meat but you shouldn’t need to make any major adjustments from that point on, just a little tap one way or the other now and then.
 
I recently moved to a higher elevation and have noticed that the vents need to be a little further open than before to maintain the same temp.  I was able to go 18 hours on one load of lump this weekend while cooking a pork butt.  I’m at around 4700 ft.

[Institutional Control]

Had some great burnt ends at lunch today.

[pissclams]

Alright, so need some protips here. On Saturday I fired up the big green egg to smoke some wings. They turned out well, but I had a very hard time with temp management and consistency. In fact, I had to move the second batch into the oven for finishing because I had lost too much heat in the egg, and was unable to regain it. I'm under the impression that I must be doing something wrong, because I know this is supposed to be one of the strong points of a ceramic cooker when doing indirect cooking.

What I did:

1. Soaked the smoking wood for about 45 minutes.
2. Started the lump coal in a chimney. Waited until it was good an hot.
3. Put the hot coals in the cooker, followed almost immediately by the smoking wood.
4. Closed the egg, opened up the top and bottom vent.
5. Brought the egg to about 350 (target cook temp was at 325).
6. Started to try and get a consistent temp via vent control at 350.
7. I don't have the big green egg issued contraption for indirect cooking, so I used 4 bricks to give enough height for the second rack, and placed a drip pan with a little water inbetween the two racks. Closed the egg and attempted to maintain a steady temp before adding on the wings. Got it to about 330 and held it there for about 10 minutes. At this point the vents are maybe both halfway to 75% open.
8. Put the wings on. Opened the vents all the way and was only able to get the temp to 310. Never able to close the vents at that point. Was able to hold that temp for the about the 2 hours needed to cook the wings at that temp. Once I opened it to take the wings out, I was unable to regain any where near the 300 degree mark (around 225) and pretty much had to move the next batch into the oven to finish cooking after getting some smoke.

I will also say that the thing was not really smoking too well after about the 30 or 40 minute mark. So wtf am I doing wrong? I really want to do a long cook next Saturday (either pork shoulder or brisket), but am hesitant if I can't figure this out. Was considering a few problems, like maybe I just straight up don't have enough coal or fuel to maintain a burn for that long. The other thing I was thinking is that maybe the bricks I'm using provide too much mass, or are blocking the air flow of the egg so much that it isn't providing the coals with enough oxygen. I know that typically the vents are not opened more than a little bit to control the temp, but if I did this, I feel like the temp would drop drastically and may not even maintain a fire. I live at elevation, so I figured it would require a little more oxygen, but having the vents pretty much wide open the whole time to maintain a good temperature seems crazy. TIA for any input, I definitely appreciate it, and I need help.

what the eff
oh crap. 

what are you talking about two racks?  i think i know what you did but before i make too much fun of you i need a better description of what was going on in your egg. 

draw a cutout pic in ms paint of your set up and lets talk turkey (pun?)

[pissclams]

I don’t have a BGE but something very similar.  Here are my suggestions based on a few years of practice.
 
Don’t use a chimney.  Load cold lump.  Use a lot.  Load it up past the air holes on the side of the firebowl.  Mix your wood in with the lump as you load.  I prefer chunks of wood rather than chips, so I don’t soak mine.  Two or three baseball sized chunks are plenty of smoke for a brisket or pork butt.  Put a BGE or similar firestarter in the middle and light that.  I will use two firestarters spaced out if doing poultry or something in the 350-400 F range and three if I’m doing steaks at 600F+.  You could probably dump hot coals from the chimney onto the pile if going high heat.   Leave the bottom vent and the lid wide open until the firestarter burns out.  Close the lid and slowly close down the vents over the next 20-30 minutes as you approach your target temp.  Try not to overshoot because it’s harder to bring the temp back down.  I’ve killed the fire trying to do that.  Put the meat on once the temp as stabilized and the heavy smoke as died down.   You may have to open the vents back up a little after adding the meat but you shouldn’t need to make any major adjustments from that point on, just a little tap one way or the other now and then.
 
I recently moved to a higher elevation and have noticed that the vents need to be a little further open than before to maintain the same temp.  I was able to go 18 hours on one load of lump this weekend while cooking a pork butt.  I’m at around 4700 ft.

chimney starters work great and that's not the problem here

[pissclams]

you should be able to get 10 pounds of lump between the bottom fire grate (located at the bottom of the fire box) and the top of the fire ring which is where the plate setter rests.

what were the bricks resting on and what was your drip pan resting on?