July15 Summer is half over contest! Patrick is the juddge

Big Poppa

Administrator
Summer is half over but the contests are going to keep going yearround!

First place $25 Credit to Big Poppa Smokers
Second Place $15.00 Credit to Big Poppa Smokers
Third Place $10.00 Credit to Big Poppa Smokers

Everybody else that enters gets $5 credit to Big Poppa Smokers.
 

Patrick_CT

New member
I hope to see a lot of things to judge... Even my wife is starting to look at the threads and show more interest!
 

squirtthecat

New member
Brer Rabbit Dumpster Butts.. (on a Thursday night, no less)

The cafeteria lady asked on Wednesday if I could smoke up a couple butts for lunch on Friday. (we had been on vacation and I just got back to the office)

Sure! I run into Sam's a little before 8AM yesterday morning and grab a 20 pound bundle of porcine love.

Here we go.

The players...

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Slathered/rubbed and smokin'. You definitely want to put some gloves on for this step.

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Rich, Full flavor. :D

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(yes, I mowed the yard after that shot - it looked awful)


Into the Traeger at 5:15PM yesterday and they will be ready around 5:15AM Friday (this) morning. Will do a quick FTC for transport to the office, and we'll probably pull them around 10:30 or so - between the Breakfast and Lunch shift.

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5:40AM, I run out to grab them while the car is idling in the driveway. Check out that bark..

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At the office...

Here they are resting in FTCSNA&TCP/IP.. ;)

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Pulled them around 9:30.

(quick & blurry cell phone shot from the kitchen I'm not supposed to be in - lots of steam coming out of that pan and griddle going and dishwasher running behind me..)

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Lunch time is upon us..

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Let's eat! (another marginal cell phone shot)

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shelly

New member
smoked butterflied turkey step by step

I thought that I would show how I butterfly my turkey before smoking on my DB. The term spatchcock is often used as well but I think of that as a method of cooking a butterflied bird using weights on top to push on to the grates. I may be wrong though.

After washing the bird inside and out, I start from the bottom with my poultry shears. You could also start from the top although there are thicker bones up there to get through so it's more difficult. If I were to start from the top, I would use a chef's knife instead of shears.

I cut up one side and then the other. When I get near the top of the neck area, I switch to a small cleaver to gently break through the bone there..

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I then remove the back bone and will use it later to roast for soup stock to make gravy.

Next I remover the breast bone. Many folks just crack it so the bird can be flattened but removing it allows for much more meat exposure to the grate. This gets charred and a great smoke flavor which would be left on the breast bone if not removed.

I start at the cartilage at the bottom of the breast bone and slice both sides and underneath it a bit. the it's simple slice and scrape on one side and then the other until all the meat is removed. As you continue to do this, you keep pulling up on the brast bone to help clear it from the already cleaned part.

Now getting the whole breast bone out takes some time and the final pull of it out takes some strength but all of our members should be capable of doing it.

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Once it's removed, you could also slide a small knife under the ri portions left to make slicing easiest. But I leave them as it's the cook's teat to eat them so I remove them after the cook before slicing.

Now it's time to apply a rub on the bottom meat side and under/on the skin on the top side as well. I no longer concern myself about crisping the skin during a smoke as I remove it before slicing and crisp it in a counter top toaster oven on a rack on a foil lined pan. You'll be amazed at how much fat renders out and how crisp and flavorful the skin gets this way.

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I cook the turkey on an extra oven rack which goes on top of the standard racks of the DB as this makes removing it much easier. I cook at 225° for 4 hours. The IT of the thickest part of the breast reads 160° and usually rises to 165° after a rest. I don't measure the IT of the thigh as there is so little thigh meat on turkeys these days and it always cooks perfectly along with the breast.

Once the turkey is ready for carving, I just cut straight through the middle, separating it into two parts. Here's one half of the turkey showing the delicious under side full of smoke and crispys.

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As you can see from the next photo, slicing is a breeze.

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And my lunch today was a garden salad vinaigrette with smoked turkey, topped with cranberry relish made with pineapple, mango, Fuyu persimmon, apple and celery.

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Shelly
 
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Susan

New member
Viable Veggies ala Sugar Maple Pellets
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Vidalia onions were dusted with Hasty Bake Rub n Spice, zucchini squash seasoned with lemon-pepper and the corn sprinkled with BP’s seasoned salt and I used Annie’s Garlic EVOO used as the glue for all.

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Here is everything getting very happy with some smoke.


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The money shot. This was a delicious vegetarian dinner. I cooked the vegetables slowly over a medium fire that married the smoky flavor with the delightful freshness of the local produce. I got a big thumbs up from my vegetarian house guest for this cook.
 

Deb

New member
Quick Saturday dinner

Threw some chicken drummies into a bag with some lemon juice, hasty bake greek seasoning and oregano. Let that get happy for a couple hours. Tossed some partially steamed cauliflower florets with more of the hasty bake and some annie's roasted garlic oil. All on the pellet grill with a couple ears of corn
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I was playing around with the corners of the grill and was able to get some color on the chicken and corn :)

The plate chicken , corn, cauliflower & some cucumber (tossed in cider vinegar, dill , salt , pepper and a tiny bit of stevia).

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383inTheD

Member
What's better than a smoked butt?

Two smoked butts of course!

I got to work from home on Friday so my day started early firing up the M2SG at 3am. I prepped a couple of butts the night before ...



I did the first 2 hours on smoke and then bumped it to 225 until IT hit 165. Then increased temp to 275 until finished with IT of 195. It took 10 hours total runtime. Thank you PelletBoss.

Only I knew which bowl was A and which bowl had the B glue and seasonings... Nice a blind taste test. Both were very good and I can't decide which I liked better.

Did sandwiches Friday night and made some tacos tonight. Topped it with smoked cheese of course :)



Hope your cooking was fun too.
 

ht01us

New member
My first brisket

If you have a pellet smoker and have been worried about doing a brisket, my advice is "dive in". I hesitated, hemmed, hawed and finally took the plunge.

I've posted most of this epic in the lounge and don't know how to link them to the contest. So, I'll provide a brief summary here.

I picked up a 9.5 lb full packer:
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Did my best to trim it to 1/4" of fat; did I say it was my first attempt at this? At this point I've also injected it with beef broth.
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The rub is Meathead's Big Bad Beef Rub; it's very peppery; not much chili powder as I'm used to using.

Rubbed and on the MAK. Oak BBQérs Delight pellets. The plan was
  • Smoke 1 hour
  • 225* until IT of 180
  • Wrap in foil; add some beer and cook at 200* until IT of 195

What really happened was
  • Smoke for an hour
  • 225* for about an hour then bump up to 230* (should have been higher). Cooked for 12 hours.
  • Remove water pan and place on lower rack for another 2 hours
  • Foil per plan but bump the temp to 250* (instead of 200*) because the IT dropped to 176.

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That's a chunk of lemon with a smoker probe plugged through it. Two temp probes; I'll probably get confused. Like Lewis Carroll said "a man with 1 watch knows what time it is; a man with 2 watches is never really sure". It took a long time to cook. 7:30 at night until noon Sunday. The temp was 15 - 20 degrees cooler on the upper grate than the built in probe measure.
8:30 Sunday morning the IT was 163* so I removed the water pan and moved the brisket to the bottom shelf.
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At 10:00 it hit 180 so I put in an aluminum pan with some beer and put back in the smoker until it hit 200, which it did at noon.
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After 4 hours of FTC it's ready for slicing
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Dinner is served. Carla is up in Victoria with her sisters so I dined alone.
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The end of the flat was a little tough but still good. The point and the other parts in the interior were like buttah if I do say so myself. I waited til I was on my own so if I ruined dinner it would only be me who suffered. But it was nice enough I took a plate to the neighbors.

Cooking on the upper grate over a big water pan really adds to the time I think. Like I said above, I need to either use a smaller water pan on the side and keep it all on the lower rack or bump the temperature up to around 240 or so in order to get more heat at the top of the smoker.
 

ACW3

New member
I have been waiting to try this dish, only done on my MAK. In June 2009 I was in Portland, OR and I had a meal that still sticks in my mind. I had short ribs in a chocolate sauce with mashed taters and grilled baby Walla Walla onions. It was wonderful! I decided that I would give it my spin by smoking some short ribs for four hours on my MAK after coating it with some Annie's Garlic EVOO along with some LL w/ BP. I used Perfect Mix pellets for the smoke. After smoking the short ribs, I put them in a pot and braised them in a mole sauce until the meat fell off the bone. I then put the pot in the refrigerator to allow the grease to coagulate for easy removal. Next I removed the grease, made up some mashed taters, sliced up some green onions, and plated the meal. To start the meal I served up some homemade gazpacho with a little wedge of lime. My wife loves my gazpacho and insists that I make it as soon as we can get fresh veggies to make it. The only thing I would do differently next time; smoke more short ribs! Good eats! Enjoy the pictures.
Art
Getting ready for the grill.
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In the MAK and “smokin’”.
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A little gazpacho to start the meal.
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Plated and ready to eat.
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TentHunter

Moderator
The Mrs. & I finally had a whole weekend off together after three months, so we went took off and went camping this weekend. Our kids each got to bring a friend and they requested their favorite camping breakfast, Breakfast Burritos.

This trip the burrito filling ingredients were: Chicken Breakfast Sausages, Apple wood pellets for smoke flavor, Eggs, Salsa & Sharp American Cheese.
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The Sausages were seasoned with some little Louie's & black pepper, then put on to hot-smoke with the Pellet pouch of Apple Pellets.
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I cut most of the sausages into pieces (I sneaked a bite... Mmm-mmm :p).

After the sausages were finished & cut up, I took advantage of the campfire and put the eggs in a dutch oven to start cooking.
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The chopped sausage and some salsa were added into the eggs.
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Cheese added, melted... and done!
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Served with some of the remaining sausages & some fresh fruit. They disappeared quickly!
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The sun peaked through the trees to light this shot perfectly :). What a great little weekend get away

Thanks for looking!

Cliff
 

CarterQ

Moderator
Country Style Ribs

Every time I go to my local supermarket they have a huge amount of Country Style ribs, they must be really popular around here as they have them plain and pre seasoned with two different rubs. I always avoid them though, my mom and dad used to make them and they weren't the greatest thing I remember from the family recipe book (Mom boiled them till tender and then my Dad would finish them off on the grill with some homemade sauce). So today I broke down decided to give them another try on the smoker. Here we go-

Started with this

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Hit it with the Yardbird and let it sit for couple hours in the fridge

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Onto the MAK running at 225

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After about 4 hours

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Tossed some corn on for the last hour or so of the cook

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Hit them with a little blend of Blues Hog and Big Bob Gibson Red

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Looks ready to me

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Off the grill

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Corn is done

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Served up with the corn and a little summer salad

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These came out pretty good, definitely much better than the ones from my youth! They had great flavor and were very tender. I would like to play with these some more but it was a nice change up.
 
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bflodan

Member
Beer Brined Pork Chops

I picked up some nice Kurobuta Pork Chops at the local butcher and decided to try a beer brine with them... Used some dark beer, kosher salt, brown sugar, molasses and some water and ice cubes...Let it brine for about 5 hours.
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Used a little garlic evoo and some desert gold and little louies...The one on the left is not a Kurobuta, its for my 3 year old...He hasnt graduated to the good stuff yet..
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Also sliced 3 different types of potatoes and a vidalla onion and tossed with some garlic evoo, desert gold and little louies... Also added some fresh grated parm and gruyere cheese...Topped with a few pats of butter and onto the MAK
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The potatoes went on about an hour before the chops at 325, the added the chops till they hit 135 then into the box to hang out till we max out the MAK! Then onto the grill grates to finish them off..
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Plated with a fresh salad and an ice cold MC!!
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Came out great!!!
 
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CarterQ

Moderator
Blueberry Cobbler

Needed a little dessert tonight so I went with my grandmas recipe for blueberry cobbler-

Start off with about 6 cups of fresh blueberries

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Add it a cup of diced fresh peaches, flour, sugar, lemon zest and juice

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Mix it up good (added a little water to help moisten it up)

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Put the filling in a cast iron skillet

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Top with the crumble made with flour, brown sugar, and butter

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Onto the MAK running at 375

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Looking good after about 45 minutes

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Let it cool just a tad

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Served it up warm with a nice scoop of vanilla ice cream

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Delicious!
 

TentHunter

Moderator
Cube Steak Sandwiches with
Cheddar & Blue Cheesy Bacon Tots.


We got home yesterday afternoon from camping and had some cube steaks we'd picked up that we decided to cook up for supper last evening.

These are simple to make and delicious! :)

I was going for more of a Tex-Mex flavor profile so I seasoned the cube steaks with some Smoking Guns 'Sweet Heat' rub and made a Mesquite pellet pouch.
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Again, keeping it simple, the Mrs. seasoned a bag of tater tots with some Little Louie's and we put them and the steaks on the smoker along with the Mesquite Pellet Pouch.
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Part way through the cook we added some Sharp Cheddar & Bacon to the Tots and some Gorgonzola Blue Cheese to half (Yum! I love blue cheese & bacon :)).
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Some cheese piled on the steaks...
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Cube Steak Sandwich served on a toasted bun with Sautéed Onions & Roasted Red Pepper along with the Cheddar & Blue Cheesy Bacon Tots.
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Thanks! :)
 

Patrick_CT

New member
Ok... this is a lot harder than I thought it would be... (I think that everyone says this)

I like to see different ideas that make you think of new ways to cook so
#3 ACW3, Those short ribs look really good. I have been cautious about buying them and keep them far down the list. (might need some more info on your recipe.
#2 Susan, Those veggies look awesome. I have some vegetarians in my family and I always struggle to cook for them. I think I would have a hard time getting rid of them if I served that plate to them!
#1 Carter: Those country ribs look great and the corn also (I am curious what you put on it to give it the color) The thing that pushed it over was the blueberry cobbler as well. That looked great and I may be stopping for blueberries on my way home! I still have not dared to do a dessert.

Shelly, the work you did on the turkey would have taken me days... and the salad looked very good.
As an easy meal I have not thought about using cube steaks on the grill, but I always love them. and cheese on tater tots!!! Awesome!
HT , for your first brisket it looked really good!

I do not need to rehash everything, even thought I want to, but it was all amazing and I am getting addicted to this diverse group of people that share their experiences from all over the US (and Canada, Eh'). And of course to BP for letting us hand out his money ;)

Good job to everyone and thanks for filling my head with more ideas!
 
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