2016 Smokin' Grillin' and BBQ Thread

[Wrong]

*50+ degree weather this weekend has me itching to smoke something.

*Home Depot had this Kamado style Char Griller on Sale for $269 so I pulled the trigger a few weeks ago.

* I had lobbied for a BGE for year and no dice so this will have to do. I have only seasoned it so far so going to try some stuff on it.

*Also purchased one of these for chili.

 

[HymanKaplan_rivals48997]

Friend of mine that does competition/commercial BBQ gave me a big cabinet-style smoker that he's no longer using. Got it late in the year so I didn't get to play with it that much, but ima wear that thing out once warm weather gets here.

 

[BBdK]

Did a bone-in 'Pork Loin End Roast' last night. First time I've even seen/heard of one. Store didn't have any non-huge Tenderloins that weren't already pre-seasoned/marinated, which I stay away from...and saw it sitting over to the side.

3lb, $5.

Rubbed w/ Jerk & Smoked indirect on 350 for about 1:30 to 145, was moist and delicious...and pretty much the same as a more-expensive tenderloin, imo, and a perfect amount of meat for 2 over the course of a few days...

 

[Wrong]

Did a bone-in 'Pork Loin End Roast' last night. First time I've even seen/heard of one. Store didn't have any non-huge Tenderloins that weren't already pre-seasoned/marinated, which I stay away from...and saw it sitting over to the side.

Kroger(s) sometimes labels **** weird. I think they label a Boston Butt a Pork Shoulder Roast or something like that.

I also stay away from those pre-seasoned pork loins.

Watched a you tube of a guy that only got his pork loin to 130 which seemed way to low to me. He probably got Trichinosis.

 

[Get Buckets]

Watched a you tube of a guy that only got his pork loin to 130 which seemed way to low to me. He probably got Trichinosis.

Prolly rose some after he pulled it off but yeah FDA recommends a minimum of 145 I believe.

 

[Get Buckets]

I'm doing some breaded smoked wings and pizzas on the egg this weekend and next.

 

[WettCat]

Booker, let me know how that grill/smoker works for you. I intentionally bought a less expensive side smoker a couple of years ago not wanting to put big $ into something I may only use once or twice. It's making the process a lot harder than it should be, so will probably upgrade. But not sure I want to drop big money on an Egg as I still don't smoke that often.

TIA.

 

[drxman1]

Buy the Egg. It's worth it. And you will use it once you get going.

Let's be honest, you will blow the difference in price on some other stupid crap anyway. Marcus get the real deal.

 

[buckethead1978]

WSM is still the go to smoker for me.

$299 and I can do 28-30 lbs of pork butt if needed.

 

[BBdK]

Kroger(s) sometimes labels **** weird. I think they label a Boston Butt a Pork Shoulder Roast or something like that.

Yeah, but Pork End Loin Roast is actually a thing...several recipes for them online & BGE forums.

...and I didn't get it at Kroger. I get 90% of my smoking meats at Priceless (IGA) next door to my work. They are great at having "small" cuts, like little 3-4lb Boston Butts. I have no use for the Big Hoss cuts that Kroger sells, not to mention the $$$ savings.

I love my Egg, but I can't imagine it's any better/different than the other ceramics. The food doesn't taste any better than it did on my Weber Kettle, it's just a much easier cook w/ regards to maintaining temps, which kinds takes away the fun a bit in a weird way, imo.

The main thing that separates it from the others is that it's the most expensive & coolest one to have, which is why I got mine.

 

[55wildcat]

WSM is still the go to smoker for me.

$299 and I can do 28-30 lbs of pork butt if needed.

Same here on the WSM..

 

[Wrong]

Booker, let me know how that grill/smoker works for you. I intentionally bought a less expensive side smoker a couple of years ago not wanting to put big $ into something I may only use once or twice. It's making the process a lot harder than it should be, so will probably upgrade. But not sure I want to drop big money on an Egg as I still don't smoke that often.

TIA.

I still have a cheap offset smoker but its so damn inefficient and I have to constantly monitor it. Also there is no way to use it overnight.

There are tons of posts about on the kamado guru website. I pulled original gasket and placed a BGE gasktet on it to make it air tight but other than that nothing else.

 

[weused2luvhim2]

I'm going to pull the trigger on this Old Country this spring. Currently using the Akorn.

 

[RacerX.ksr]

Got two five pound butts going right now on the egg. Cooking them for someone that asked me to cook them for a party. They're going to be up against two that are going to be cooked in crock pots and two that will be cooked in an oven. It's not supposed to be a competition, but we all know it is.

Booker, good call on the dutch oven, don't know about the cooker. Looked at one today at Lowes and they are ceramic on the inside, but I don't think it is very thick though. I bet it cooks fine, but I would assume it would take more lump per cook.

 

[Wrong]

First cook tonight. Tried to sear steaks. I've always been ****** with steak. I can smoke pork, chicken and have had much luck with chuck roast. But no matter the method I suck at steak. I mean it was fine but just not good enough.

About the Akorn, so far so good. It got to 600 pretty quick. Also did not use so much lump.

First low and slow cook tomorrow.

 

[rodgerblue]

Got a Masterbilt electric smoker from my sister for Christmas. Curious to test drive some yard bird on it.

 

[RacerX.ksr]

Is the lid tight on the Akorn? Every one I've seen at Lowes has had a loose lid. I figured they just didn't tighten it much. If it performs as well as an egg I would have no problem with it.

 

[Wrong]

Is the lid tight on the Akorn? Every one I've seen at Lowes has had a loose lid. I figured they just didn't tighten it much. If it performs as well as an egg I would have no problem with it.

I had to put mine together so I made sure it was tight. Replacing the stock gasket with Nomex seems to really make it seal well.

 

[anthonys735]

If you suck at steaks you need an instant read thermometer. Ts.

 

[Get Buckets]

First cook tonight. Tried to sear steaks. I've always been ****** with steak. I can smoke pork, chicken and have had much luck with chuck roast. But no matter the method I suck at steak. I mean it was fine but just not good enough.

About the Akorn, so far so good. It got to 600 pretty quick. Also did not use so much lump.

First low and slow cook tomorrow.

What is that sucks about your steaks and what is your routine?

 

[RacerX.ksr]

What kind of steak are you starting with? You can't cook an awesome steak unless you start with an awesome steak. Some "Select" shoe leather from Publix isn't going to magically transform because you cooked it at home with lots of care.

 

[HeimdallrsGjallarhorn]

I'm going to pull the trigger on this Old Country this spring. Currently using the Akorn.

Aaron Franklin approves this setup...except he'd install a thermometer on lid. He shows how on his web stream vids the cool kids watch.

 

[WettCat]

I've actually had some pretty good steaks from Publix, all depends on how they are cooked. (And, yes--occasionally you just get a bad steak with a little more gristle. )

 

[RacerX.ksr]

Didn't mean to impugn Publix or the quality of their meat. Just saying if you want to get close to steakhouse quality, you need to start with a quality cut. I've eaten many a ribeye at work that was soaked in Dale's for about 15 minutes and slapped up in a George Foreman grill for 4 minutes. Thought they were great.

 

[jwheat]

Southern Kentucky special last night (pork shoulder) told them to light me up and my ******* is still on fire

 

[anthonys735]

-Buy decent steak I prefer NY Strip or Ribeye on the grill. Get grill very hot. Season with coarse salt and fresh cracked pepper. Cook to 127, I flip frequently since the fire is so hot. Pull, 5 minute rest.

-BGE isn't the end all, it's just the most popular/ most versatile. Going on 8 years with my large and its got years left.

 

[buckethead1978]

I can get the cast iron insert on the weber performer up to 600F. I've read it with an infrared gun.

 

[WettCat]

Wanted to do something a little different tonight, so....looked through an old magazine with grill ideas.....

1. hot subs molto style, basically a sub bun with capicola ham, genoa salami, provolone, prosciutto, red peppers, sweet peppers, grain mustard. wrap the whole thing up in tinfoil and put it on the grill. Not really sure what the grill does the oven wouldn't---but these things are very good, and easy. From Mario Batali. (If you have picky kids, let them make their own subs and then put them on the grill.)

2. goat cheese grits and a southwestern slaw with cabbage/jalepenos/honey/lime juice/red onion. (not on the grill, but sounded damn good) to go with the other sandwiches.

3. red chili marinated rib eye sandwiches. Small ribeye coated and marinated in hot chili powder, olive oil, garlic, black pepper/salt served on a bun with lettuce and either mayo or nothing. Thankfully steaks were on sale today cause this might be a waste of money---from Ray Lampe.

 

[PuffyNips]

buckethead or 55wildcat, either of you ever taken the barrel off your WSM and grilled a steak in a cast iron skillet just using the base with a grate on top? Maybe searing it on there and then putting the barrel & lid on with no water pan to finish it.

Considering doing it tomorrow.

 

[buckethead1978]

Not done it with steak but I have removed the barrel after smoking wings or a spatchcock chicken in order to crisp up the skin.

 

[PuffyNips]

Not done it with steak but I have removed the barrel after smoking wings or a spatchcock chicken in order to crisp up the skin.

Same here.

On second thought, I might smoke some wings tomorrow instead. I remove the water pan for that and "smoke roast" them.

I want to test out a new wing dry rub before I serve them for the Super Bowl next week.

 

[55wildcat]

buckethead or 55wildcat, either of you ever taken the barrel off your WSM and grilled a steak in a cast iron skillet just using the base with a grate on top? Maybe searing it on there and then putting the barrel & lid on with no water pan to finish it.

Considering doing it tomorrow.

Never done that or actually thought about it. Might have to try it. I also have a weber spirit gas and a weber performer deluxe with smokenator attachment..whenever I grill steaks or burgers I either use the gas or remove smokenator and use the charcoal performer, reason for smokenator is it's nice to use when you want to smoke a small amount of food and easier to clean versus WSM..Still have not smoked any brisket. gonna try that soon on low n slow..

 

[RacerX.ksr]

I take the fire ring out of my egg and place a custom cut cast iron grill on top of the coals. Let it get hot for a bit and then throw steaks on it. **** happens fast. Do about a minute on each side, in the flames, then pull them and put the fire ring and plate setter and finish them at about 500 or so.

 

[BBdK]

^ you should get the spider & cast iron grate, along with the adjustable rig setup.


Puts it right on the coals for searing, then way up top to finish (you can add the pizza stone to the spider for your "platesetter" & would eliminate having to remove your fire ring.

 

[WettCat]

2. goat cheese grits

3. red chili marinated rib eye sandwiches. Small ribeye coated and marinated in hot chili powder,red pepper, olive oil, garlic, black pepper/salt served on a grilled bun with lettuce, thinly sliced red onion and either mayo or nothing.

FWIW, both came out fantastic. It's certainly not traditional "steak and baked potato", but made for a great dinner...and leftover sandwich for lunch.

 

[anthonys735]

I put my steak right on the coals last night. First time I've tried it. Wanted a good char and grill flavor that I miss when using the Anova. Also, I've found the key to anova on the fatter cuts is getting closer to medium. Ran a strip at 132 yesterday for 2 hours, then 1 minute on the coals sear, best cooked version of sous vide yet.

Spider and adjustable rig are musts for the BGE. Make it 10x's more versatile. I use one or both on every cook.

 

[Ribsandwhitebread]

Ive been rather pedestrian with the Egg mostly because I dont have as much time to play around with it. Stuck with the basics and the basic setup but i've got a few accessories and those grilling blogs are addictive reading. Need to at least try some different things and if I ruin a meal or two- so be it.

 

[anthonys735]

Like I said, two musts are spider and adjustable rig.

Spider: Allows you to cook down inside the fire ring, great for searing. I use it to put a pizza stone on for indirect, thus eliminating the bulky plate setter and giving you much more room when smoking. I also have sat the dutch over right on it and a lot of people use it for woks.

Adjustable rig: Give you multiple levels of cooking, added grates, etc. I use it most for raised direct cooking on delicate items -> Fish, chicken and side items. shouldn't ever mess up chicken with it. Once you get used to them, they're mandatory and really easy to use. I use the half moon a lot as well.

 

[BBdK]

Ya, my setup is Spider + Pizza stone for indirect/smoking, props to Anth on that rec.

And keep my adjustable rig in there on top of my main grate at all times w/ one half moon on the top level, as shown above. Only had to use the extra grates a few times other than Spatchock, which I use one of the Rig Grates up high

....but just like having that moon there for Corn, resting things, etc.

-I feel like I'm ripping through Charcoal of late....currently on a bag of that Royal Oak from Lowes? Is that stuff garbage?

...also, my lid doesn't seem to close 'even' any more, although I've had zero issues with maintaining temps. Can't decide if it's a problem or not, but it bugs me.

 

[anthonys735]

Pretty much have a tin foil pouch full of either onions or shrooms on the half moon at all times.

Shitake + chopped garlic + a bunch of butter + dash of soy + dash of sirachi + salt/pepper = :smiley: