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Smoking & Grilling Thread-2015 Edition

Any of you sous vide things rather than dealing with a long cook on a grill?

I essentially sous vide steaks to get the temp up before I flash sear it at super high temps. Allows me to keep it medium rare edge to edge and charred on the outside. Read about it on the green egg forums, they call it hot tubbing.
 
Yeah there's no better way to do steaks.

I've been thinking about doing something that takes much longer than 45 minutes in the water though like some sort of roast or pork shoulder or something. Wondering if anyone had tried it.
 
Been looking at an anova precision cooker for a bit. Highly recommended by some big time chefs.

Butter knife and paper towel it takes 30 seconds to pull the membrane. Makes a big difference. Much quicker then trimming them.
 
Yeah there's no better way to do steaks.

I've been thinking about doing something that takes much longer than 45 minutes in the water though like some sort of roast or pork shoulder or something. Wondering if anyone had tried it.

I've used one with a friend to do turkey breasts for a ton of hot browns at a party. The meat was delicious, but the texture was more or less like deli meat rather than roasted turkey. Assume roasts would turn out somewhat similar - I think that a lot of deli meat is made like that if I remember an old 'Modern Marvels' episode on meat packing.
 
I've been doing ribs on the BGE for about a year. I go 3 hours at about 270, then a fourth hour at about 250/260.

I used to wrap on my previous smokers but I don't wrap on the BGE. I put a water pan on the diffuser plate, I do my best to keep the lid closed for the entire cook unless I'm spritzing with liquid (apple juice,brown sugar/butter)

They turn out really tender and moist every time, baby back or spares.

As far as the membrane goes, it's hit or miss depending on the ribs. Some come off very easy, some need a little extra work....and some are damn near impossible to get off. When that happens, I score them and they turn out fine.

For a great brisket, the above poster is correct, be patient through the stall. I've had stalls for an hour, some for 3 hours. Once I began waiting it out no matter what, the brisket got better and better. 195 internal temp on the brisket is the magic number. I run the egg at 225/240 until I've passed the stall and hit 195 internal. Usually takes me between 18 and 22hrs. It's long but totally worth it. Best part of the BGE is that I've gone past 20 hrs without adding wood. On my old grills, I'd be adding coals or wood frequently.
 
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I've been using the igrill2. Holds four probes, bluetooths to a phone app, pretty decent for the phone app so I can monitor while in other parts of the house. First remote probe system I've used, used to use a digital therm pen, it worked fine but got the igrill as a Christmas gift. Works well enough.
 
Love my Maverick. I got a pretty cheap, like $20, one probe thermometer at Lowes or something like that. Not sure what the brand is off hand. It is digital and unlike the Maverick doesn't have the wireless transmitter. However, it now comes in handy if I am smoking two things at once. Allows me to have the maverick in the meats and then the cheaper one, which is still pretty accurate, measures my temperature.
 
^ that's the one I was looking at, bucket. The fact it's bright yellow was my only holdup. Color is very important for thermometers imo

You can get different colors. I got a black one. I think I actually used e-bay and mine came with a set of bear claws.
 
Oh, that's another thing I need, a grate-picker-upper tool. I loathe picking up those things and getting gooey shit all over my hands, and considering you have to remove the damn grate on the BGE to do pretty much anything, that's money well spent.
 
Oh, that's another thing I need, a grate-picker-upper tool. I loathe picking up those things and getting gooey shit all over my hands, and considering you have to remove the damn grate on the BGE to do pretty much anything, that's money well spent.

It's a necessity. Makes a big difference.
 
I followed directions from Meathead on the amazingribs.com site for Boston Butt. He was all over it. The meat did stay at 165 for hours, got it to 203, took the butt off. It was perfect and no trouble pulling. I used his Memphis Rub recipe but added a little Cayenne and Chili powder. Was fantastic. I cooked it at 225 for about 14 hours, using Applewood chips and rub only, other than 50/50 of Apple juice and water in the little water container for the smoker. Best pulled pork I have ever smoked, and have smoked at least 50 in the past.

This weekend I will do ribs and maybe some whole chickens if time permits.
 
I use the Maverick ET-733. It is $60 on amazon.com.

Keep the directions because it can get confusing to program. Hasn't failed yet on me. Very handy for long cooks. 2 probes.

Just be careful to not let the probes get too hot. I accidentally left a probe attached to my grate after opening up the vent and daisy wheel all the way and it crapped out once it got somewhere above 500 degrees. If I plug it in now, it constantly reads 167 degrees. The probes were almost as much as a whole new unit so I just bought another one to have as a spare and use one of the probes from it now.
 
Just be careful to not let the probes get too hot. I accidentally left a probe attached to my grate after opening up the vent and daisy wheel all the way and it crapped out once it got somewhere above 500 degrees. If I plug it in now, it constantly reads 167 degrees. The probes were almost as much as a whole new unit so I just bought another one to have as a spare and use one of the probes from it now.


I burned a probe wire beyond recognition like that. Luckily you can buy new probes separately.
 
So, how hot have you all gotten your eggs? And how do you measure it?

I think I was in the 600 range for a few steaks, but I don't actually believe the thermometer on the grill, and I wasn't really interested in frying my more expensive probes.
 
I've gotten mine to what appeared to be about 1200 degrees. Wasn't really intentional, I just had it wide open one day, and it was windy.
 
It was from the dome, and I have a large. And 1200 is really just a best guess. It went all the way around back to around 200ish.
 
I use the ash scrapper to pick up my grates.

If you can't cook a pork shoulder correctly, sell you smoker and buy a microwave.

Was this aimed at me ? If so, what I meant was I tried a different rub and over all method because it was a new smoker I had never used. I do just fine, and no microwave for me. It sucks trying to drink beer using microwave cooking, end up drunk in a short period of time and lose interest in smoking.

Interesting idea , instead of Gyerolympics, a smoking / grilling competition would be a nice dick flopping idea for all the pro grillers and expert foodies. Some of the contraptions people would wag in would be the best part.
 
Don't remember the intent or direction. Possibly.

Just saying, pork shoulder is the grilled cheese of smoking/grilling. If you f*ck it up you are awful. I actually like it braised more than smoked if I'm being honest.
 
To all the posters in this thread, I've enjoyed all the post. Not much of a griller myself. Just bought a new Weber and ready to try it out as soon as it is delivered. My old one just crapped out.
 
-Wife got me a pork belly for my birthday to smoke this weekend. I have never done one. Anyone have any tips.

-Bucket- did you get the Webber PERFORMER® DELUXE 22” yet?
 
I typically don't use a ton of sugar in smoking but find a recipe that calls for brown sugar on top of the fat cap. Hopefully the skin is already removed. If not that'll take some patience. Score the cap into diamond shapes and use brown sugar, salt, pepper, a nice amount of chipotle(if you like sweet vs heat) and some mustard to hold it on the meat. When I'm using hot pepper I mix my season together first and taste rather than adding straight to the meat to avoid over seasoning. Coat the entire piece of meat but heavy on the cap. IIRC I was in the 225 range for a few hours, internal should be 160ish. I think you'd be fine going up to 170 if you think it needs more time. Use fruit wood.

It tasted really good that day, the little chrispy diamonds on top are like little sweet delicious bit of heaven. However, it didn't hold well. Reheating for leftovers was not enjoyable. Be really good with some type of cole slaw to offset that real sweet and savory flavor.
 
Anyone tried this rub? Trying it out on some steaks tonight.

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I typically don't use a ton of sugar in smoking but find a recipe that calls for brown sugar on top of the fat cap. Hopefully the skin is already removed. If not that'll take some patience. Score the cap into diamond shapes and use brown sugar, salt, pepper, a nice amount of chipotle(if you like sweet vs heat) and some mustard to hold it on the meat. When I'm using hot pepper I mix my season together first and taste rather than adding straight to the meat to avoid over seasoning. Coat the entire piece of meat but heavy on the cap. IIRC I was in the 225 range for a few hours, internal should be 160ish. I think you'd be fine going up to 170 if you think it needs more time. Use fruit wood.

It tasted really good that day, the little chrispy diamonds on top are like little sweet delicious bit of heaven. However, it didn't hold well. Reheating for leftovers was not enjoyable. Be really good with some type of cole slaw to offset that real sweet and savory flavor.


Did you slice it or was it pulled? I honestly have no idea because this is the first time I have made it.
 
J. Kenji on how to properly grill a steak. Interesting stuff in there. Seems he prefers reverse sear as well.

Don't forget lex peeps can get prime beef from Malones or dry aged ribeyes from Wilson's. I prefer Wilson's. Cincy peeps can go to Ruby's for prime and I'm sure they have some great butchers in a town that size.

Critchfield has a new setup and had a massive brisket asking to be cooked last weekend.
 
Unless it flank, skirt or flat iron my steaks are seasoned with a healthy dose of kosher and black pepper. If I'm feeling crazy maybe a little garlic or cayenne. That's it. Anything else on a good steak is a waste.

Booker. I sliced. It's not rendered enough at 160 to pull.
 
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