Grilling pales compared to smoking

In My Humble Opinion
1

We bought a smoker last week. We put it together on Friday night, and now it stands proudly on our back porch:

http://www.chargriller.com/smokinpro.html

Last Saturday we filled the side box with charcoal and threw a few hickory chips on top. Mr. E had fixed his own dry rub, and had marinated three racks of ribs overnight. I had a whole chicken, sprinkled with pepper and salt and paprika.

Once the smoker got to 180 degrees F, we threw the ribs and chicken in the main grill area and kept an eye on it for a few hours. The chicken took five hours and the ribs took seven. We knew the ribs were done when they broke when we picked them up with tongs.

The chicken was the best chicken I had ever tasted. Bar none. And I am a chicken connoisseur. The thigh meat was so soft and tasty, and so was the leg. The breast had a wonderful smoke flavor although it was a touch dry. Next time I am going to take the manual’s advice and inject the breast with garlic and oil.

The pork ribs were fantastic. I’d never had ribs before, but they tasted like the best firm basted ham. Mmm-mmm! Next time we are not going to do the dry rub, but will baste them at the last minute with http://www.citybarbeque.com/ sauce.

Since Saturday, we have had pulled chicken bbq sandwiches and leftover ribs. I haven’t had to cook a new dish yet. It’s been heaven.

Next Saturday we are going to grill again. We have two large racks of beef ribs, but what I’m really looking forward to is the whole turkey that I’m going to smoke. If you’ve never had smoked turkey, well, you might want to because it is so flaky and tender it fairly melts in your mouth. It makes great leftover sandwiches, too.

Who wants to party this weekend? You can have a place at my table, with the corn-on-the-cob and biscuits and baked beans, as long as you bring a huge stack of meat :smiley:

Oh, and beer. Can’t smoke without beer. And you may be asked to mow. But it’ll be worth it, believe me.

2

The only drawback to smoking is the time factor, otherwise it is fantastic.
7 HOURS! I’d need two meals waiting for that one.

3

I am so jealous. I want a smoker. I love smoke-cooked barbeque.

4

What’s wrong with the time factor? We get up in the morning and start it, and go and do other chores around the house. Since it’s football season, that generally means sitting in front of the television and cheering and booing when appropriate. Also we do lawn work.

If you put the ribs on at 10, you’ll have dinner ready by five. And if you have people over to watch football, or you’re not planning on going anywhere, I don’t see that there’s a time issue involved. And the payoff is mmm mmm good! :chops-lickin’ smiley here:

Lissla, I don’t know if you have a Lowe’s up there, but that’s where we bought it. It was really cheap, under a hundred dollars! Of course, with the side box and grill cover and brushes and two bags of fragrant wood and whatever else Mr. E threw in the cart, it came to 200, but still. That’s about what we spend on good barbeque in the average year anyway. Actually a bit less.

5

I make my sauces from scratch based on recipies from Barbecue! Bible : Sauces, Rubs, and Marinades, Bastes, Butters, and Glazes.

6

Oh, I’d get one in a second, Elysian, only I live in an apartment with no patio or balcony. :frowning: I don’t think my landlady would be impressed by indoor meat-smoking. It’s too bad.

7

This is redundant. :smiley:

Barbeque means slow-cooked, with varying degrees of smoke. Anything else is just grilling.

8

I do not smoke, but I have a friend who does, and he has a highly-lucrative 50/50 deal going on. You bring him a hunk of meat, he smokes it, and he gets half. I consider it a good deal. His smoked salmon was great, his beef jerkey was awesome, but the turkey? Oh my God. My half of that turkey was the best turkey I’ve ever eatem. Forget the smoked turkey slices you get in the deli at your supermarket - this was superlative. I can’t wait for Thanksgiving.

My friend also smokes his own cheese. Home-smoked sharp cheddar –

swoon

9

Now why did you have to go and start talking about smoked turkey. I love smoked turkey. How do you smoke turkey? Just thaw and throw it on the smoker for a day or two? If it’s that easy and good I may be morally obligated to buy a smoker. Keep me updated.

10

How I smoke turkey is more like how I WILL smoke turkey. I never have before.

What I’m going to do is take this big turkey that’s sitting in my fridge and put it in my smoker for seven or so hours until the internal temperature is 180 degrees F. I will probably shake some salt, pepper and paprika all over the outside and inside the cavity. It’s a Butterball turkey, so I probably won’t inject it with anything. If I had bought a free-range turkey or an off-brand, I would probably inject it with oil or saline, with a bit of garlic and pepper.

I will let you know how it comes out :slight_smile: I am really looking forward to Saturday.

11

Oh gosh, forgot to mention the trussing. I always truss chickens or turkeys before I cook them. All that involves is a bit of kitchen twine. Just tie the legs together and there you go. You don’t even have to tie the string around the bird to keep the wings in if you don’t want to – although I usually do anyway.

Cooking turkeys is a lot easier than it sounds. Kind of like bread. Everyone thinks it’s so hard to cook this stuff. No, it’s not hard, it just takes some time. Most of that time is sitting watching football and drinking beer. You don’t really have to do anything.

Everyone, run out right now and buy a smoker!

12

Smoking birds, either turkey or chicken, is far and away the best way to prepare them. Same for brisket and ribs. But don’t forget the grill side, 'cause sometimes you need a burger or brats.

13

(bolding mine)
Oh my. Um. Do NOT, repeat, NOT inject it with anything.
We have a smoker. The effect of a smoker on a turkey is to essentially “shrink-wrap” the skin around the turkey meat. This occurs within the first hour of cookage, so all the juices stay in the turkey. You don’t need to inject it since it’s going to keep all the juices inside. I’ve never had more juicy, tender turkey meat than smoked.
However, the one time we did a Butterball, since they already have butter injected under the skin, it was like a flood on our cutting board when we went to carve it. My advice: poke a couple holes in it over the sink or something before carving. Otherwise you’ll be cleaning up melted butter from every-freaking-where.
We no longer buy Butterball turkeys at all, since it’s just waaaay better to have a smoked bird than a regular old “stick-it-in-the-oven” kind of turkey, and quite honestly the Butterball was just a bit too juicy.
Your Smoker May Vary, of course, and all that. This is just our experience.

14

Mmmmm, smoked meat!

We were given a nice smoker by my in-laws when they moved out of state. My wife decided that she would smoke a turkey for my side of the family’s Thanksgiving dinner. It was a large bird, so the plan was to start smoking the bird the afternoon before T-giving day and let it cook all night. While I was at work my wife prepared the bird and stuffed it with apples. She cut up more apples, oranges and spices in a pan of water. She fired up the smoker on our open on 2 sides carport and added cedar chips. The bird went on the top rack, the pan of fruit and spices right beneath it. She then left for a few hours to run some errands.

I got home from work before she returned from her errands. The first thing I noticed was that the smoker was not smoking. Oddity #1. I put my hands near the smoker and felt no heat. Oddity #2. I figured maybe she changed plans and decided to oven roast the turkey. I opened the smoker and saw charcoal, cedar chips, the fruit and water pan, and a 99% raw turkey. Oddity #trey.

About that time my wife drove up. She got out of the car yelling “Why did you open the smoker? You’ll let out all the heat!”. I replied "What heat?"She came over to the smoker, observed oddities 1 - trey, and immediately went into panic mode. “The turkey will never get done on time for dinner! It’s too late! The whole family will be without turkey on T-giving and it’ll be all my fault!” I calmed her down somewhat and suggested she throw the bird in the oven while I try to figure out what went wrong, 'cause that’s what guys do.

As I was inspecting the smoker for something, anything, that may have caused the coals to extinguish, my grandfather walked up. See, we moved in next to my 90+ year old grandparents a few years ago to be nearby in case they needed any help. It’s not unusual for him to walk down when I’m outside just to see what I’m up to and offer to help. I figured this was the case.

Our conversation went like this:

GF: What’s that thing?
Me: It’s a smoker. We were smoking the Thanksgiving turkey for tomorrow.
GF: Oh. You’re gramdmother noticed alot of smoke coming from your house this afternoon. Since y’all weren’t home she sent me to check it out.
Me: Oh, yeah?
GF: Yeah. I walked around the house and finally figured out that the smoke was coming from that thing.
Me: Oh, yeah? What did you do?
GF: I opened it to see what was wrong.
Me: Did you see the turkey?
GF: Yep. and some other stuff, too.
Me: That would have been the spices. Did you close it back up?
GF: Yeah. After a while.
Me: A while?
GF: Yeah. After I walked around the house again and made sure there was no more smoke. [reader, please note: at 92 years old a walk around the house takes some time]
me: Oh. Thanks for checking on it for us.
GF: No problem! Can’t wait to taste that turkey tomorrow!
Me: Yeah, me too.

I waited until much later that night to relay the story to my wife. It wouldn’t do to have a Thanksgiving Eve murder to deal with, 'cause then I’d have to finish the turkey by myself while my wife rested up in jail. Besides, the media would make her look silly for strangling a 92 year old man with her bare hands.

She did manage to get the bird done, even though she had to use the microwave to finish it off. It was still good, but it just wasn’t the same.

15

You dont’ understand.

I want ribs.

AND I WANT THEM NOW!!!

16

Zebra,
Look it’s like this. You can go get inferior ribs at many a restrauant. Get them now, and maybe they will have a flavorful sauce.
Or you can make your own taking anywhwere from 5 to 7 hours. the meat will be so tender, it will fall off the bone. The flavor without sauce will be beyond any thing you have ever tasted. with sauce the flavor is even better. After properly made ribs you will never eat them in a restrauant again.
But hey it’s your call, shit food now, great food in a few hours.

Elysian try brining your chickens, and turkeys for 12-24 hours before smoking.
Basic brine
1C kosher salt
1/2 C brwon sugar
1 Gallon water
soak bird for 12-24 hours in fridge. remove, rinse, and cook till breast meat is 160 degrees. let stand 20 minutes before carving.

17

I’m so sorry for your loss, Dr. Jackson! What a terrible thing to have happen on Thanksgiving. Microwaves and turkeys just don’t go together, especially during the holidays. I hope you got your wife flowers.

Zebra, you are just going to have to wait until Saturday at about 5:00. If you can’t wait until then, you can content yourself with nasty limp flavorless chewy gelid restaurant ribs. Drown it in hot sauce so you can’t taste it.

Rick, I don’t know about soaking my turkey in brine. I don’t know that I’m that adventurous enough yet. I haven’t even smoked my first turkey! I will certainly keep your suggestion in mind, though. What does the brine do to the taste of the turkey?

We bought some nice fresh hoagie buns tonight. I can’t wait to cut that turkey breast into thick slabs and pile it on the bread. Mustn’t forget the bbq sauce! We have also been happy with http://www.montgomeryinn.com/ sauce. It’s a local place, based in Cincinnati, and the sauce is wonderful. Maybe in a few months we will be experimenting with our own sauce.

I keep salivating whenever I open this thread! It’s evil, evil I say! And I started it!

18

Well how about starting with a chicken instead then. What a brine does is to force moisture into the meat, along with any flaovoring in the brine. Make the brine I mentioned, soak a whole chicken in it for 12 hours or so, the cook your normal way. It will be the best chicken you have ever eaten I promise.

19

I live in NYC.

I can’t use a smoker as it is that I do not have a backyard, nor a frontyard for that matter. Also ‘BBQ places’ in the city can not smoke their food as the ammount of smoke is over some sort of legal limit. So none of your soolutions will work. I could fly someplace like Memphis or Kansas City to get some smoked ribs or you could smoke some, pack them in dry ice and mail them to me.

20

Hey, I’ll do this for you if you pay for the meat and the shipping! Mr. E can vouch for the tastiness of leftover ribs. He ate his last 1/2 rack for lunch yesterday and he says “Oh yeah” they were good.