Smoking Sept 26th 2021 Post Surgery

 

I’m 3 weeks post-surgery for Left Distal Bicep Tear Repair. Being on Short Term for 3 months is the perfect time for some amazing smoking of meats and vegetables.

Today’s menu is a family pack of chicken thighs, a pork shoulder blade 10lbs, a boneless beef chuck roast 5lbs, 5 at Hot Italian Sausage Links that had been frozen, 6 potatoes and 7 ears local sweat corn that were husked and frozen.

We thawed the sausage and corn.

We started at 8:00 am by putting up our pop-up canopy, because it is raining in Northern Arizona. At 8:30 we started un-packing the first items to smoke.

I saw a guy in Texas using mayonnaise to hold on seasonings. We haven’t done a mayo base in a long time, so it was a no brainer.

The beef and pork roasts got a quick rub of Best Foods mayo. Then the pork got Pit Boss Pulled Pork Rub, the beef got Pit Boss Kansas City BBQ Rub and the chicken got just BBQ Spot Rub Some Burger Dead Cow Rub that needed to be used up.

 At 9:00 am we had the Masterbuilt 30 inch Electric Smoker loaded, 2 trays of Smokehouse brand Alder Chips. I know there is no fish in the smoker but we will be doing corn on the cob. We set the digital control on the smoker to 220*F and 12 hours with vent open. Even with the canopy I put my repurposed dishwasher side panel over the smoker to make sure the control doesn’t get wet.

At 10:00 we put another tray of Alder Chips.

At 11:45 I pulled the Hot Italian Sausage Links and on the bottom put in the Potatoes (poked all over with a fork), raised the temperature to 225*F and added a load of Alder Chips. Bumping the temp and opening the door forces the electric element to come on getting a bunch of smoke. We closed the vent to trap it in. It’s lunch time so one of the sausage links disappeared right after the picture was taken.

At 12:42 we pulled the chicken thighs.

 

A change of plans we invited our amazing friends that are like family over for dinner at 5:00 pm. The chicken (when cooled) and sausage went into a glass covered baking dish that was put into the refrigerator. At 4:00 we popped the baking dish into the inside oven at 250*F because the smoker is full of roasts and vegies now. The Corn on the Cob was put into the smoker at 5:00 pm. The wind cooled the smoker when the door was opened and the electric element came on filling the smoker with smoke. Perfect timing.

We pulled everything else at 5:44 pm.

The pork and beef were perfect with a nice bark that yielded a moist tender falling apart inside packed with flavor.

We shredded the pork roast with added hot BBQ sauce and sliced the beef.

The potatoes were amazing smoke flavored and fluffy inside ready for butter.

We drizzled melted butter over the corn on the cob. You would never had known they came out of a freezer.

We pulled the chicken and sausage out of the oven. Everything was delicious and finished at 6:00 pm as planned.

Smoking Easter Dinner 2021

 

I have had a few requests for an electric smoking that has bark on the meat. I like smoking at lower temperatures for sausage, ribs, mushrooms and potatoes.

In order to get bark you need to set the temperature at 250*F to 300*F. You will also need to use larger pieces of meats so there is plenty of volume of water content.

In this day before Easter smoke we are using a beef brisket cut to fit one rack and the remained on the next one down. To fill that rack we are also smoking a pork loin. We just sprinkled “Pit Boss – Lone Star Brisket” seasoning. I have done yellow mustard, mayonnaise, ketchup and honey with very good results.

  

We put the two racks of seasoned meat into the smoker before turning it on. Later we will be putting a rack of chicken thighs into the smoker.

  

We opened the vent, added two trays of Gambel's Oak, set the temperature at 250*F and the timer to 9 hours at 9:00 am. We also cleaned out the drip tray so we can harvest some liquid smoke part way through the smoke.

The outside temperature is unseasonably warm at 60*F, so it will be easy to get to the cooking level easily. At 11:30 am we added one more tray ok oak.

Then at 12:30 we added the chicken thighs and one more tray of oak. Opening the door and adding the cool chicken gets the last oak chips to smoking great. I left the skin on the chicken to hold in the moisture and did not put any seasoning on.

I closed the vent at 3:30 to keep the moisture in the smoker.

Then at 6:20 pm we pulled all the meat.

There isn’t a missing thigh. We had 2 packages of four.

I grabbed the small end of the brisket and sliced a few moist falling apart pieces of fabulous tasting beef. We could have easily turned it into pulled brisket, but decided it would in would better to reheat it tomorrow for Easter Dinner.

The chicken was moist and falling off the bone delicious.

 

Smoking One Week After Hospital Stay October 9th 2020

No, I did not get a facelift, have cancer or have the Covid like President Trump. God Bless America and God Bless Trump. I had an ablation to fix a genetic heart rhythm issue. The cardiologist said I had no plaque on my vessels anywhere he went. He was quite amazed at my physical condition and was wanting to know about my diet: Low fat, low sodium and low carbs. He liked that I am not diabetic, I do not drink and I do not smoke or chew tobacco. He was glad I have nothing to do with this whole marijuana health craze. He did tell me that he is seeing lots negative marijuana side effects in patients with cardiac issues. Number one for health is getting lots of exercise. 

Below is me a week ago October 1st 2020. 

The no bending over and 5 pound lift limit is over. I BBQ’d beef and elk steaks last night. Today it only made sense to get some of the meats in the freezer rotated. We put in the refrigerator to thaw: pork shoulder ribs, a pork loin and sweet Italian sausage. Fresh from the store: potatoes, mushrooms, a couple salmon filets and chicken thighs. We picked up Safeway Foods brand Organics Kansas City Style Smoky sauce.

We basted the top side of the pork ribs and loin, and the chicken with the sauce. We added no seasoning to anything else.

We started by putting all the filled racks in the smoker, putting 2½ trays of apple wood chips, set the temperature at 170*F and left the vent closed because of a fly. What is up with the fly on Pence’s hair and another trying to get into my smoker. What is up with the shit-eaters attacking real American’s. It is like BLM having riots, looting, destroying historical landmarks and burning down properties owned by real law-abiding tax paying American’s. They are idiots tearing down the Frederick Douglass monument. They obviously don’t care about civil rights and are against the teachings of Martin Luther King Jr..

After one hour into the smoke we added a mixed tray of Gambel oak and maple wood chips and opened the vent ½ way.

After four hours we opened up the vent and bumped the temperature up yo 180*F.

At seven and one half hours we raised the temperature to 200*F, pulled the salmon and mushrooms. We put the potatoes on another rack back into the smoker. The salmon was removed from the rack with a long spatula turned over on a plate and the skin easily lifted off.

The mushrooms were flavored all the way through and cooked to a perfect with a tender moist inner.

At nine and one half hours we pulled the ribs. I usually do ribs at higher temperatures which lets them be pulled sooner. A couple hours at 200*F had the outsides right and the centers moist. We put the pork loin back in. 

We pulled the final pork loin, chicken and potatoes at ten and one half hours.

The next day we made salmon and cream cheese spread for crackers or bagels. We also made some of the potatoes into refries. 

And all of this is good for your heart. Lean meats that the fats cooked off, low in sodium and most important there was no margarine or shortening used. My cardiologist was happy that I did not use anything hyper-processed like almond milk, vegan butter substitutes, High Fructose Corn Syrup, “light” or “heart healthy”. Canola oil A.K.A. rapeseed oil that contains toxic erucic acid and is really bad for you if it spoils like most of the bottles still in the grocery store shelves. My Cardiologist said my smartest thing I do is stay away from fast food. He was glad when I told him I would eat a 7.5 oz can of Deming's Red Sockeye with some low salt crackers.

Father’s Day 2020 Smoking

As the modern usual, we have a Fire Ban Issued for Yavapai County. We never needed bans until the hordes of city folks flooded in from the west fleeing oppression from bad politics. Now we have Covid, looting and Antifa that are causing the cities, towns and AZ Governor Ducey to mandate rules for dumb people. Not looting and wearing masks should be done because people are good and respectful. The idiots with Coexist or PETA bumper stickers are almost guaranteed to not wear a mask, try to intimidate old people or carry posters with the initials of Bureau of Land Management. I was asked to sign a de-fund the Yavapai County Sheriff’s Department. I told the young thug that if the Sheriffs Dept were de-funded, it would be open season for bad cops to kill thugs. They threw their paperwork in the garbage.

  

Today’s smoke is starting with a tray and one half of Maple wood chips, ½ opened air vent, 200*F with no pre-heat.

9:00 AM We put in 8 pounds of pork spare ribs sprinkled with Pit Boss – Lone Star Brisket rub that took one rack.

9:05 We put in the chicken thighs with the Lone Star rub.

9:10 We put in a half rack with 10 Brats from Denmark Foods in Peoria, AZ. They use only fresh high quality ingredients. The gap will be used for the salmon ends and some mushrooms.

At 10:15 we put the 2 Salmon filets on the counter to “pellicle” (dry a little on the surface). This seals the surface just enough to hold in the moisture but still allow the smoke flavor to soak in perfectly. I have not been salting the salmon because it dries it out. If I needed to store the salmon I would use the salt as a preservative, but this meat will all be eaten this week.

Now to prep the Mushrooms – wash, trim the stems and they are ready to smoke.

11:10 We put in the 10 Mushrooms and the Salmon. Note – the Mushrooms were added wherever there was room.

We added 1½ more trays of Maple wood chips, opened the air vent on top all the way and raised temperature to 225*F. Raising the temperature will cause the electric element to get hot again and start the fresh wood chips to smoke. Opening the vent will allow the excess moisture to escape so the salmon will remain sealed.

 We chose Maple wood for today’s smoke because it was on top in the bin of wood chips bags. It has a sweet smooth flavor that is not over powering. Alder, apple and cherry are also good choices for fish and poultry. Mesquite is a bit strong when smoking fish or chicken. Mesquite works great on a BBQ because there is less time the meat is exposed to the smoke and less smoke because of the higher temperatures with hot coals. Pecan and oak are really good on pork, beef or game meat smoke. My local oak varieties are Gambel's, scrub, live white and live blackjack.

2:00 PM pulled everything and turned off the smoker.

Notice how easily the skin just peels off the Salmon. I just turned the tail end and laid it on the other, and lifted the skin right off. That’s how all the rest went too.

A Fathers Day Feast for a King. The other 2 mushrooms never made it to the photo. Oh well, they are so good.

Let’s See What This Reverse Flow Does.

This is the first time cooking anything in the Oklahoma Joe’s Highland Offset Reverse Flow Smoker and BBQ.

I was given a couple of 18 inch Rainbow Trout caught last night. At Safeway we bought 10 pounds of pork bone-in sirloin steaks for $10 and a ¾ pound beef New York strip for $6.

I harvested a 5 gallon bucket of dry dead mesquite wood from the yard.

I started the fire with my electric starter in the offset fire box. It worked really well. I made sure the handle was not above the flames and to the side.

At 5:40 PM the meat was on. I sprinkled my 3 equal parts black pepper, onion powder and garlic powder on the beef and pork steaks. I needed to smoke the fish so I was trying something new. 300*F smoking. I used the Scientific Kentucky windage that saw when I seasoned the smoker the other day. I put mostly twigs in the offset to get a lot of heat and smoke fast. 20 minutes into the smoke the smoker temperature was 300*F and the offset needed some bigger pieces of wood to stabilize the heat. I left the smoke stack vent all the way open and regulated air flow at the intake vent.

My 30 year old wood tending rebar never needed a hook on it before, but it does now. I welded a piece of horseshoe on it to hang it on the smoker while I was waiting.

To get a constant temperature you’ll need to not open the firebox door or the smoker door. You’ll have to go on the thermometer on the lid and one in the meat and rely on times from previous successful smokes. If you’re doing it for the first time use the best data that you can find for the type of food you’re smoking. Opening a door can let so much heat out that it takes 10 minutes to recover. You will have to add more wood during the smoke when you see the thermometer needle going down. If you added too much wood close the vents part way to lessen the oxygen. This may put a lot of extra smoke into the chamber, so watch the wood.

At 6:20 I pulled the trout and the beef steak. Because the steak is smoked using the offset it doesn’t look like your standard BBQ’d steak. It is basically a baked smoked steak medium rare all the way through. There was no bark like you get from BBQ grilling.

I should have oiled the grills where the trout what put. The skin glued itself to the grill and was a pain to get it off. The trout was perfect, tender and juicy.

At 7:00 PM we pulled the pork steaks after 1 hour and 20 minutes at 300*F of smoking baking. It was strange to see red on the outside of the meat with an internal temperature of 196*F. I have seen this with smoking at lower temps like on a ham in a low oxygen environment. After resting for a half hour the color changed to brown.

The pork will be made into other dishes like green chili (verde carnitas). My goal was to smoke infuse the meat.