Anyone for Smoked Meats?

[HomeBrew2]

... a brine to smoke salmon and I've lost the recipe. I know it included water, salt, brown sugar, lemon juice, and Worchestershire sauce, but can't remember the ratios. ...

1 c. salt, 1 c. brown sugar per qt of H2O ... any other additives just "romance" the meat (which is perfectly fine)

 

[LarryD]

I do like smoked salmon, but quite a few years ago, I barbecued a whole one with barbecue sauce, wrapped in foil, on the grill.

OH NO...not BBQ sauce.

When I was stompin' around Texas many years ago, I had some very tasty smoked meats at the chilly cook-offs. I seem to recall that giving a brisket a long bath in peanut oil opens the poors and lets in a lot more of the smoked flavor. I know when the meat was cut, you could see a big difference in how far the "red color" of the BBQ sauce penetrated the meat.

Now back to the salmon, I think that any BBQ sauce would overpower the flavor of the fish. It a delicate meat and needs a delicate enhancement. Alder smoked is a favorite around here with a brine like HomeBrew2 suggested. I chip up a few alders every spring (sans the bark, adds a bitter flavor) and would be more than happy to ship you enough try a little northwet salmon feast. Let me know.

 

[Bird]

OH NO...not BBQ sauce.

I'm inclined to agree with you. I only did it once and was surprised when neighbors liked it well enough to do it themselves later.

 

[LMTC]

The red, or pink, ring around a smoked meat that is visible when you slice it is actually the smoke ring, and indicates how far the smoke penetrated. Smoke penetrates meat only up to a certain temperature (I really don't recall....maybe about 150* or so) and once the meat has reached that temp it continues to cook of course, but no more smoke penetration. That's why "Low and Slow" is the motto of most smokers. We try to keep our smoker temps between 225 and 250 ideally. The finished meat needs to be around 170-200 depending on what it is.

 

[Bird]

Well, my new smoker arrived via UPS about 3 p.m. Our outside temperature was 30 degrees, we had a pretty stout north wind, and I didn't have the heat turned on in the shop, but decided to go ahead with the assembly anyway. They did include very good instructions, assembly was easy and I only dropped one lock washer that disappeared. However, I have plenty of lock washers on hand, so that was no problem. Of course everything was wrapped in cardboard, paper, and plastic. Nuts and bolts were in little plastic bags labelled A, B, C, etc. Last step was installing the thermometer or temperature gauge. Two pins on the back of it go through two holes in the door and are then held in place with two "push nuts". I look everywhere; no push nuts. Figured I'd go to Home Depot in the morning. Then later this evening, I decided to go back out there, cut up or tear up all the cardboard so it would fit into a garbage bag, and go through everything very carefully to see if those two push nuts might be there and I had overlooked them. Sure enough, they were wrapped in clear plastic, then in pink plastic that was stapled shut, then taped into a corner of one of the plastic bags. Even after I found them, I had to get my utility knife out to cut them free. But now it's ready when we have some decent weather.

 

[shaley]

Here is good pork BBQ recipe. We know a little bit about pork up here in Smithfield. I've tested this many times and it has a really good mix of spices, feel free to improve upon it. Just share it with us.

 

[HomeBrew2]

That looks really good Steve! I tried a Virginia pull pork recipe once ... it was pretty vinegary. I like your use of ~1/2 apple juice, ~1/2 vinegar. Also, think fennel and corriander are way underappreciated and underused ... great addition.

 

[Wesdor]

Just a long shot here, but we have a lot of Texans on this board.

Several years ago I attended a BBQ at the Jax brewery in San Antonio. They had the most fantastic BBQ I've ever eaten. It had no BBQ Sauce, but was a dry rub.

Anybody out there have a recipe for this? I think it would go well in a smoker.

Thanks in advance

 

[shaley]

HBREW:
I know BBQ has a lot of regional taste. You get use to what you grew up on. We were down in Charleston last spring at a wedding and they smoked a split pig for 8hrs over oak charcoal, no rub, no sauce. The locals raved, and it was mighty good but my wife and I kept looking for the vinegar sauce to dip it in. I think North Carolina has more awareness of the importance of BBQ and has festivalls and cook -offs. I'm actually ashamed at the lack of BBQ in my area of VA. You would think with Smithfield Foods HQ right here you could find a good pork BBQ place. You have to drive 50 miles down to NC to get anything good. Now, if you want Ham... man we got Ham.

Bird: Please post some pics of the assembled smoker and a review of how well it works. Tell us more about Texas BBQ.
I think we need to have a TBN covered dish get-to-gather.

 

[Bird]

I know BBQ has a lot of regional taste.

Yep, that's a fact. Awhile back, I watched a TV show (documentary type) that showed BBQ in two areas of North Carolina (pork only), Memphis, Kansas City, and Texas (beef brisket). They supposedly took BBQ from each place, flew it to California and had some "real cowboys" taste and rate it. If I remember right, they ranked Memphis number one.

For my taste, the absolute worst I ever ate was BBQ beef ribs in what was supposed to be one of the best restaurants in Williamsburg, VA. They used so much syrup in the sauce they drowned the ribs in that it was so sweet it was almost inedible for me. But obviously someone must like it.

Texas BBQ? I'm not real sure there is such a thing since we have so much variety, but basically, I guess Texas BBQ is beef brisket. No one that I know puts any sauce on it until after it's cooked, but beyond that, everyone is different; some use nothing, some only salt and pepper, some use rubs of all kinds of concoctions. Most do cook it slow at 200 to 250 degrees, slice it cross grain, and eat it with or without sauce.

I have Robb Walsh's Legends of Texas Barbecue" cookbook and it has too many recipes for me to ever get around to trying them all.

 

[shaley]

I can understand the disappointment with BBQ in Williamsburg. We don't have much experience with beef around here. Pork, chicken, and seafood. I've never had beef brisket but it sure does sound good.
I'm going to be flying through DFW tomorrow en route to Tucson for a vacation. Do you know of any Texas style BBQ places in Tucson or is it a waste of time.

 

[Bird]

Steve, the only time we've been to Tucson was when we spent the month of January 1990 there in the Voyager RV Resort. We thoroughly enjoyed our time there, visited a ski lodge on Mt. Lemon for lunch one day, visited Davis-Monthan AFB, the International Wildlife Museum, the Arizona Sonora Desert Museum, the Pima Air & Space Museum, Old Tucson which has since burned, then been rebuilt. The dinner and show at the Triple C Chuck Wagon Ranch Supper with the Sons of the Pioneers was both a fine show and a good meal.

If you get the impression we liked Tucson, you're right. But as to your question, I don't know.

But right now, I have a beef brisket in the smoker, and just for experimental purposes, there's also a little turkey breast roast and a small pork loin in there, too.

 

[shaley]

Thanks for the Tucson tips, it is my first time.
If you're having Collard greens with that we can take a cab over on Sat afternoon, no need to pick us up. You know Collards are the VA state flower.

I maybe off the computer for the week so I hope your smoker works well. I'm thinking of getting one myself.
Y'all take care

 

[BB_TX]

If you are a fan of old western movies, especially John Wayne, you might consider Old Tucson. You may well recognize some of the movie sets.

Edit: Oops. I missed that in Bird's post.

 

[jinman]

I'm going to be flying through DFW tomorrow en route to Tucson for a vacation. Do you know of any Texas style BBQ places in Tucson or is it a waste of time.

Well, Tucson and DFW Airport are a long way apart, but if you were to take a cab to the north side of the airport, there is a town named Grapevine that has a pretty darn good BBQ place called Bartley's. It's in a little strip shopping center at the corner of Business 114 and Dooley street. It's "no-frills" so don't come dressed up. Their brisket is pretty darn good and their ribs are okay most of the time (sometimes great and sometimes so-so). It's one of those places with a serving line where you choose your meat and then help yourself to to a couple of about 10 different kinds of side dishes. They used to be on the main street of Grapevine, but the city wanted their location for a new city hall, so they had to move.

There's lots more in Grapevine, but I'll just mention that the Gaylord Texan hotel and convention center is a place to visit also. If you had half a day to kill, you could do it there very easily...or down the road at the BassPro shop.

 

[Bird]

Bird: Please post some pics of the assembled smoker and a review of how well it works

OK, the first picture is assembled and ready to use. The next one is loaded and already starting to smoke when I opened it to make the picture, and the third one is closer look at the meat.

Today is the first experimental day. That's just a big untrimmed cheap beef brisket, one of the 3# turkey breast roasts, and a very small pork loin. After looking at lots of recipes, I just took those ingredients that seemed to be a part of nearly each of them and made up a dry rub last night, sprinkled it on the meat, patted and rubbed it in, and put it in the refrigerator overnight. I used:

3 parts non-iodized salt
1 part cumin
2 parts garlic powder
2 parts paprika
2 parts red pepper (cayenne)
2 parts brown sugar

I have already taken the turkey and pork loin off and tried them, and it just doesn't get any better. No sauce needed. The brisket will go awhile longer.

 

[DieselPower]

Ummmmm, that's lookin prety tasty. What time did you say dinner was tonight. I just might have to get one of those.

 

[Bird]

Dinner will be about 6:30 p.m.; at least that's when our daughter and son-in-law said they'd be here. The brisket got done and the flavor is very good, but it's just a little bit tough to suit me. It's possible that cooking it slower might help, but I think I'll have to either (1) use the trimmed, more expensive briskets, or (2) smoke them awhile, then finish them in the oven.

 

[rlk]

Bird, what is in the bottom tray with the tinfoil? Is that some kind of wood that creates the smoke flavor?

Bob

 

[LMTC]

Bird,
Oven brisket can of course be very good, but smoked...well.... I have smoked whole briskets (10-15#) and moderately trimmed flats (4-7#). Even the flat alone seems to want 12+ hours on the smoker to be tender. The whole brisket takes 15-18 hours. I have found that wrapping the brisket loosely in foil after app. 3 hours (don't want to wrap until it's taken in a good bit of smoke) for about 2-3 hours lets me finish one in 8-10 hours and it still seems tender (3 hours smoke, 2-3 in foil, 2-4 to finish). I've only done two like this, so I can't say it will be consistent, but I intend to try more like that this year. 18 hours on the smoker interferes with my snooze time on one end or the other.