BBQing Reefers - What's on your grill/smoker?

[homer1475]

Although you can't see much from being in a bag, this is day 1 of a 5 day cure for the pork belly/bacon.

 

[Brew12]

Meat is tough to find these days, well good meat.

Went to wally world yesterday, and they had huge racks of ribs, and some butts. Got a couple packages of both, and froze them. Beef and chicken was in very low supply. No real steaks, just some junk delmo's(had more fat then meat), and some 80/20 ground chuck. Chicken only thing they had was some legs and thighs.

Ended up having to go to an actual meat market(I typically go there for meat anyways) for steaks, and even their supply was running short.

Got a nice chunk of raw pork belly. Going to try my hand at making maple brown sugar bacon. most recipes call for 5 days in curing salt, and seasonings, then a low and slow smoke @125 for a couple hours. First time doing bacon, so I'm curious how it will turn out.

We are seeing the opposite with what meat is available. For the first 2 weeks of the lockdown about the only thing I could get as far as fresh meat was NY Strip and Ribeye. Chicken was completely gone and pigs feet were the only pork product. In 3 weeks I've been able to get 1 whole chicken, 1 pack of chicken wings and 1 pork shoulder. Otherwise it is all beef or frozen. Dying to find some babybacks!

 

[Empire]

Been busy these past few days with my new grill/smoker!!

tandoori chicken and cheerwine ribs

 

[Reef-junky]

Picked up some pellets to try. We’ll see if there’s a difference or if it’s just hype.

 

[homer1475]

Well found out I have a bad probe on my thermometer. God the butt up to 185 and it just sat there. Not wanting to open the smoker, I relied on the thermometer like I have hundreds of times. When it finally got to be like 12 hours in the smoker I knew something had to be wrong. Opened up the smoker, used my insta-read and I get 205! Way to HOT!!!!

Not my best cook, but certainly not my worst. Great flavor, just a tad dry. Add some BBQ sauce and it's all good. New probes ordered for the weber wireless. I guess it's time, after all it is like 10 years old now.

 

[southerntnreefer]

Today's sacrifice. Bringing up to temp over apple wood.

 

[Reef-junky]

Anyone use one of these?

 

[southerntnreefer]

Now to rest and then to pull. 12 hour cook time

 

[southerntnreefer]

Burp...

 

[joe0813]

cant wait to start learning how to use a smoker and not a propane grill. Been getting some good advice about different pellet smokers to buy.

 

[AbjectMaelstroM]

7 hours later.... My first run at ribs on the weber kettle.

 

[AbjectMaelstroM]

Next time I think I'm going to try wrap them, see how that works out. Also, need to make a longer snake or find a good way to re-fill it. Tonight I came up short by about an hour and half, but it did burn nice and steady at about 230-235.

Next, spatchcock chicken. Then another round of ribs... Or maybe pork shoulder.

 

[homer1475]

Ever hear of the 3 - 2 - 1 method for ribs?

Smoke for a solid 3 hours at 225 - 250, take off smoker and wrap in foil with liquid of choice(I like apple juice for pork ribs), then return to smoker for 2 hours in wrap. The last hour you remove from foil and coat in BBQ sauce, then cook for an additional hour to set the BBQ sauce.

 

[AbjectMaelstroM]

Ever hear of the 3 - 2 - 1 method for ribs?

Smoke for a solid 3 hours at 225 - 250, take off smoker and wrap in foil with liquid of choice(I like apple juice for pork ribs), then return to smoker for 2 hours in wrap. The last hour you remove from foil and coat in BBQ sauce, then cook for an additional hour to set the BBQ sauce.

I did come across it as it sounds familiar, but didn't dig too deep and I was already getting overloaded with all the newly aquired BBQ info.

I'm definitely going to back and take a look.

The ribs turned out pretty darn good, much better than I expected. Bark was great, but we both wanted more "off the bone" tenderness.

Deciding if I should stick with the snake method as it seems to do well for stability, but if the cook runs long refill is a pain or go back to standard dual zone with coals on one side meat on the other with a water pan.

 

[Reef-junky]

Man I want one of these hopper extensions!

 

[rolibr24]

Picked up some pellets to try. We’ll see if there’s a difference or if it’s just hype.

Those are my goto pellet. I love them. They produce minimal ash compared to other brands that I tried. They are a good clean pellet, not much dust in the bag.

Plus the price can't be beat, they can be had on sale for $10 for a 20# bag. You can also order directly from Lumberjack if you start a group buy in your area.
The last skid we bought came out to around $12 for a 40# bag.

 

[rolibr24]

For a Easter supper I am doing a Pineapple Bourbon Glazed spiral cut ham.

I used to hate ham until I tried this recipe at Christmas. Now ham is one of my favorite cuts of meat on a hog.

Pineapple Bourbon Glazed Ham - Grilla Grills

grillagrills.com

 

[Reef-junky]

Those are my goto pellet. I love them. They produce minimal ash compared to other brands that I tried. They are a good clean pellet, not much dust in the bag.

Plus the price can't be beat, they can be had on sale for $10 for a 20# bag. You can also order directly from Lumberjack if you start a group buy in your area.
The last skid we bought came out to around $12 for a 40# bag.

Hopping to taste a difference

 

[Reef-junky]

Today’s menu

 

[Reef-junky]

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