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Temp: 250°
Time: 5/6 hours
Prep ribs - remove membrane, rub light layer of yellow mustard for binder, cover in favorite rub (chipotle rub for this one).
Place on smoker - 3 hour
Wrap in foil with some butter, more rub, and some brown sugar. Place back in smoker - 1.5 hours
Unwrap and cover in sauce of choice - 30 minutes to 1 hour
When your butcher has fresh stock you get what they suggest. I’ve done short ribs before but gave these full plate ribs a go. The giant dino bone is really impressive for presentation! Went with BBQ Pit Boys SPG for seasoning and just let it go on the GMG. So tender and flavorful.
Temp - 275°
After about 2 hours add a probe to start keeping track of internal temp. (Took about 4 hours)
Cook until an internal temp of 205°
Remove from smoker and let sit for just 15 minutes before cutting.
I often want brisket but do not want the time commitment to make it or I don't want to deal with such a large piece of meat with only a couple people eating. When either instance is the case I turn to this.
Season chuck roast with SPG and smoke until an internal temp of 165°. Once it hits that internal temp wrap it in foil and place back on the smoker until a temp of 195-205° (205 for slicing & 195 if planning to make burnt ends with it). Remove from smoker, wrap the foil wrapped meat in a towel and place into a cooler for 45 minutes. At this point, if slicing, take out slice and enjoy… if making burnt ends, take out & cut into cubes. Place cubes in aluminum tray with some butter, BBQ sauce, and brown sugar (all to your liking) and place back on smoker for another hour.
Smoker Temp: 225°
Time: all internal temp related 5-7 hours likely
It has been awhile since I have done anything new on the smoker. This was an overall success, with just a couple small sections of the ham being a little dry. I also made a brown sugar glaze (recipe at the end of this post). Will certainly be making ham this way in the future!
10 pound smoked spiral ham:
• 225° for 1.5 hours - ham directly on smoker grates.
• 300° for 2 hours - ham in aluminum pan, with 1 cup vegetable stock, and covered tightly with aluminum foil. At the end of the 2 hours remove the foil and remove access liquid (saving the liquid for a future soup of some kind, and only leaving a small amount in pan for the final step)
• 350° for 30 minutes - with glaze, basting every 10 minutes (I also added 1 can of sliced pineapple to the pan, with the liquid from the can being previously used in the below glaze)
Brown sugar glaze:
Combine the following and simmer on low until fully incorporated. Then let cool and thicken slightly.
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup honey
• liquid from 1 can of sliced pineapple
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1.5 teaspoon chipotle seasoning
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
Pork belly, skin on (size that will fit in air fryer)
Slice, meat side, half way through (about 1 inch thick)
Boil for 10-15 minutes
Dry completely
Place sauce on meat side, including inside of slices
Place on foil meat side down & fold up edges to leave only the skin exposed
Dry skin again & use fork to heavily poke the skin with holes (dry one more time after poking holes)
Cover skin in thick layer of salt (about 1 cup)
Air Fry 375° for 30 minutes
Remove from fryer and clean off the salt
Place back in fryer, skin side up, without the foil
Air Fry 400° for 20-30 minutes
Remove from fryer and let rest for 10 minutes before cutting into bite size pieces.
Sauce:
1 tablespoon each of the following
Hoisin sauce (garlic hoisin if possible, just omit garlic below if used)
Oyster sauce
Soy sauce
Fermented bean curd
Diced garlic
White pepper (to taste)
This is something great to do when time is a factor. With only a couple simple steps they are ready for a short 1.5 hours on the smoker! Whole chicken wings are given a coating of garlic herb seasoning (light coat), salt/pepper/brown sugar brisket rub (light coating), and chipotle rub (heavy coating). They are then placed on the 300° smoker for 1 hour (flipped half way through). Once the first hour is up the smoker temp is raised to 400° and they wings go for 20-30 minutes, to crisp up the skin. Finally, they are taken off the smoker and give a good coating of your favorite wing seasoning (in this case Weavers Dutch Country Southwest Dust).
Temp - 300° for 1 hour. 400° for 30 minutes
Time - 1.5 hours
After some trial and error I have landed on a way that works really well,though the steps seem a little odd. To start the corned beef is actually simmered for 1 hour, with water covering the meat and the juice & seasoning packet from the corned beef added (I know. Boiling meat? Really? Just bare with me). After the hour of simmering the beef is dried off and seasoned with your favorite brisket rub (in my case that is a salt/pepper/garlic blend). The next step is throwing the beef on the smoker, at 275°, for 1 hour. Next, the beef is wrapped in foil, with either butter… beef broth… or beer, and put back into the smoker for 1 more hour. Finally, once done on the smoker, everything is wrapped in a towel and left to rest for at least 30 minutes (longer is better).
Temp - 275°
Time - 3.5+ hours
Results - Best corned beef I have ever had!
These are one of my favorite things to make due to their wow factor in presentation and taste. To prep the belly is cut up into 1.5 inch cubes and seasoned on all sides with our favorite chipotle rub and a whatever butt rub we happen to have at the time. These seasoned cubes are then placed on a rack and smoked for 2 hours. The next step involves placing all the cubes into a foil pan with a stick of sliced up unsalted butter and approximately 1/4 cup of brown sugar and/or honey. The pan is then covered with foil and smoked for 2 more hours. Once the time is up the foil covering is removed & half a bottle of the BBQ sauce of the day is poured into the pan (some of the liquid in the pan can be removed prior to adding the BBQ sauce, depending on how thin you want the end result and how much liquid is present). Finally, they are put back on the smoker for another 15 minutes or so, uncovered, to warm the BBQ sauce and get a slight caramelization going. The end result is best described as meat candy!
Temp - 300°
Cooked by time but pieces checked to ensure they made it over 145°
With Thanksgiving just a few weeks away it was time to try out Turkey on the smoker. While I have done whole chicken many times, this was my first attempt at a whole (15 pound) turkey. For prep I spatchcocked the bird and patted the whole thing dry then seasoned the inside with a garlic based poultry seasoning. Once the inside cavity was seasoned I flipped it over, injected it with a Creole Butter injection, and seasoned it heavily with the same garlic poultry seasoning followed by our favorite chipotle rub.
Temp - 300°
Smoked until an internal temperature of 165° was reached in the breast. (Only about 4 hours)
This turkey was as moist as any I have ever fried and the skin came out much better than I expected (after years of frying a turkey this was where I expected this one to fall short). In the end it was a success but now I am wondering how it would go to smoke it whole for a couple hours then finish it frying like we normally do… a best of both worlds kind of situation… I guess, more to come!
What do you do when someone tells you they have a local rub that is simply amazing that they then send to you? First you get curious… then you receive the rub and you bust out some 1.5 inch thick Porterhouses… finally you eat the porterhouse and become rather jealous that the rub is not local to YOU! For this I followed the same steps I normally do for my Tomahawks and they turned out so so good.
Temp - 300°
Smoked until an internal temperature of 120°
Once the internal temperature was reached I took it over to the propane grill, which was as hot as it would go, and did a quick sear on each side.
After searing it was left to rest for about 15 minutes before cutting.
This might be the most flashy thing I have done so far on the smoker. The shear size (3.5 pounds) of the steak makes this a show stopper and it is rather straightforward to make. After dinner the wife made a comment that I am never allowed to make a steak any other way from now on… it is hard to argue with her!! For this one I used Weavers Dutch Country Steak Dust seasoning:
Temp - 300°
Smoked until an internal temperature of 120°
Once the internal temperature was reached I took it over to the propane grill, which was as hot as it would go, and did a quick sear on each side.
After searing it was left to rest for about 15 minutes before cutting.
These are now my favorite things to make on the smoker and they also happen to be one of the absolute easiest things to make. Surprisingly quick and very hands off once they are on! Seasoning on these is great because it is a store bought rub that really works out great. Rub was simply a heavy coating of Weber Sweet Cracked Pepper Dry Rub seasoning & an additional coating of coarse black pepper.
Temp - 260°
After about 2 hours add a probe to start keeping track of internal temp.
Cook until an internal temp of 205°
Remove from smoker and let sit for just 15 minutes before cutting.
For this one I had the butcher cut & prep the rib roast by cutting off the bone and having the bones tied back on. Seasoning of the roast was butter mixed with garlic pepper seasoning and salt. This was much more simple than I expected and one of the best things to come off of the smoker yet!
Temp - 250° until an internal temp of 115°
Boosted temp up to 400° to help set up the bark
Cooked to internal temp of 125° & let rest, covered in foil, for half an hour.
Used a modified 2-2-1 method for these but wanted them done a little quicker than normal. Used simple rub of Quaker Steak and Lube Chipotle seasoning:
Temp 325°
2 hours on smoke
1 hour wrapped (brown sugar, butter, and additional rub added)
30 minutes unwrapped with sauce
Garlic Kielbasa thrown on the smoker during the last hour just because there was space available!
Since I have found Smoking/Grilling as hobby I find myself trying many different ways of doing things. The downside to always experimenting like that is losing track of how I did certain Smokes. To remedy that issue I am going to attempt to post each of my successful meals here, along with the how of the cook. Hopefully this will create a repository that I can reference in the future and share with others, so they can give things a try!
Serj Tankian fits so well with this, one of my new favorite tracks!
I've seen a number of people posting about concerns they have regarding the recent media focus on DNSChanger. The media keeps posting about how this malware will kick "thousands" off the internet come Monday and everyone needs to check their computer. While it is true that any computer infected with this malware will be unable to gain access to the internet come Monday there are important things to point out.
1. The malware has been known about for some time, giving security companies plenty of time to roll out fixes, so if you have run a virus protection program recently you should be just fine.
2. This issue has been addressed by Microsoft and they have even sent out an update to help fix this problem months ago, so as long as you allow Microsoft updates you should be just fine.
3. The total number (worldwide) of infected computers is only about 280,000 with just 65,000 in the US. With over 250 MILLION computers in the US alone that means there is a .03% chance your computer is infected, so you should be just fine.
4. Even if your computer IS infected the FBI has controlled the servers the malware points to for some time, so there is no major danger to your computer. Worst case you can't access the internet come Monday and you have a computer-literate friend come over and change what DNS server your computer points to.
If you are still concerned just visit the following site and run one of the quick checks they suggest: http://www.dcwg.org
Did I mention.... you should be just fine, the media has blown this out of proportion to gain readership!
Terror. Pure, unadulterated terror. Let's talk about this. Some people have perfect 20/20 vision. Others require slight correction in the form of light glasses or comfortable contact lenses. Others... Well... Others are blind as fuck without either glasses, contacts, or both. I, unfortunately, am one of those. Perhaps legally blind, without site-assistance such as glasses or contacts.
One time, I tried to drive a car with only my own eyes. This was about 15 years ago, mind you. I made it about one block before I ran my car up over a curb, not because I didn't know the curb was THERE, but because I thought I was pulling into a driveway. Yeah, not so much. I'll never forget the chest-clenching sound of metal grinding against concrete as I tried to maneuver my car over a massive curb that I thought was a fucking driveway.
Point is, I can't see a fucking THING without my glasses or lenses. This is particularly important and relevant to the feeling of terror. Let me explain.
This morning, for example. I get up, reluctantly, after snoozing the alarms on my phone for 15 minutes, and I stumble blindly to the bathroom without bothering to put my glasses on. I set the shower curtain in motion with one irritated swipe of my arm, but instead of seeing the unmarred cream colored porcelain of the bathtub, what I see INSTEAD is a large and completely indistinguishable black blob that is NOT SUPPOSED TO BE THERE!!!
Clearly there is some foreign fucking OBJECT in my bathtub, and it is probably nasty and has many legs. And I have no fucking idea WHAT it is, because I can't fucking SEE.
That's terror, let me tell you.
You stand there in mute panic, staring blindly at the large and completely indistinguishable black blob as your mind runs wild with possibilities. This does not become any easier to deal with when the large and completely indistinguishable black blob begins to MOVE.
So, in self-defense, you swish the shower curtain shut again so you don't have to see it at all. You KNOW it's still there, of course, but the terror of having absolutely no idea WHAT is there is paralyzing. It could be anything. Anything at all. A killer cockroach. A mutated spider. A radiated stink bug. How the fuck are YOU supposed to know, unless you go running down the hall and scramble madly for your glasses? And once you GET your glasses, you are so panicked that you DROP the fuckers and have trouble FINDING them, due to your total myopic blindness.
By the time you get back to the bathroom with your glasses firmly secured to your face and the world again in focus, you are terrified to open that shower curtain and face the creature behind it.
So slow your roll, Turbo...... You gently sneak up on the shower curtain... You reach out with slightly trembling fingers.... You touch the vinyl.... You pull it back slowly...... Holding your breath the entire time... And....... YOU SEE IT!!!!!! THERE IT IS!!!!!!!!!
This is when you scream, do a spastic little jig around your bathroom, and get goosebumps all over your body.
Funny thing though... You STILL don't know what the fuck it is. You got a bare glimpse of it before turning into a squeamish schoolgirl. You STILL don't know what sort of adversary you're up against.
So you go at it again...... Reach for the curtain, but with more authority this time. Some little voice inside is telling you, "This is YOUR house. This interloper is NOT welcome here. YOU are in charge here!"
So you pull the curtain back with more enthusiasm this time and you face the creature, which turns out to be a big hairy mammoth of a spider. The mother of all spiders. And it scurries across the tub, coming RIGHT AT YOU, and you scream again, but you also feel some relief. You have faced your fear. You have confronted the creature in the bathtub. And yeah, it's not good, but it could be worse. The fucking thing could have WINGS, for example, and it could come FLYING RIGHT AT YOU at any given moment. But no... Not today. Today it's just a spider. A big hairy nasty one, yes, but still just a spider.
That's terror, my friends. When you know there is a threat, but you have absolutely NO idea what it is, and you WON'T know until you find the courage to look. This experience is a good lesson in life.
But what did I do with the spider, you ask? Well, I didn't kill him. He was too big to smash with a paper towel. The only thing that would have sufficiently knocked THAT fucker out would have been a hardcore squash with a foot wearing a big boot. And I was barefoot at the time. I suppose I COULD have put on a boot and smashed him, but I was thinking about the NOISE it would make... This god awful CRUNCHING noise... and the mess it would leave... It was a fucking big spider, man. It would have fucking exploded.
So what I did instead... I got an empty butter container and put that over my spider. I then went about my business and left for work. I spent all day wondering if he got loose and was now somewhere in my HOUSE, where I would happen upon him unaware and piss my god damned pants... But my worries were unfounded, as usual. He was right where I left him, in the tub, under the butter container.
I slipped a piece of paper under there, flipped the container over, and took him outside. I put the butter container on the ground and watched him scurry away to the safe haven of the weed-strewn jungle of the vacant house adjacent to mine. I named him Pedro, in honor of Cinco de Mayo. And as I stood there watching my new Spidey Friend escape into a new life, I said softly, "Run, Pedro, Run..... Be free......"
This is a special guest article from my good friend Fritz, be sure to check out his great blog by following the link at the bottom of this post!
I'm not as big a gamer as I used to be. I used to buy just about every big name game that came out and play them pretty much non-stop until I had them beat. Now I usually buy only a few games a year and they last me months, so there are plenty of games that just fall through the cracks that I completely miss. Every once in a while, I go back and buy one of those games if I hear enough good things about them. About a week and a half back, I bought Saints Row 2. It might be the best $20 I've ever spent on a video game.
I never played the first Saints Row since I didn't have an Xbox 360 when it first came out and all I ever heard about it was that it was a Grand Theft Auto ripoff. And I didn't have any interest in the sequel since GTA 4 had come out by then and why buy a ripoff of a game you already own. Except Grand Theft Auto 4 got really boring, really quickly. GTA is always at it's best when it wasn't taking itself too seriously, which is all that GTA 4 did. I'm all for trying to tell a mature story about a former killer looking for redemption but it rings a little hollow when your character spends five minutes complaining about leaving that life behind and then goes out and kills 50 people for 5 grand because somebody asked him to. They changed the physics engine and made it more realistic, which made driving around town a lot less fun. There was also nothing really to do when you weren't doing a mission. I got about halfway through the game and just stopped because it just wasn't fun to me. Not to mention I wanted to shoot Roman in his stupid face.
Read the rest HERE
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