A barbecue adventure, the saga unfolds.

Flatiowa said:
Same, for really big meat cuts I put some large (baseball-softball sized) smooth rocks into the water tray, they keep it from getting too hot as they heat up, then give back the heat as the coals burn down. It really helps regulate the heat, added plus is the dripping fat smokes off and gives it added flavor. I started using rocks about 20 years ago when I just had a Weber kettle and would stack it high with split hardwood, let it get burning good then put a big 1” thick slab of stone on top and when it burned down enough to put the grill on cook a 3-4 pound top round beef roast. Did that most every Saturday evening in my bachelor years, Sunday morning it was done and “cured” so I could just put it in the fridge on a cutting board and cut off a piece throughout the week like a summer sausage if I worked late or didn’t feel like cooking.
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That’s a great idea. There is no shortage of smooth large river rock here left over from the days of hydraulic gold mining.
 
That is how the Navajo herdsmen cooked "cornbread" When out in the desert with their sheep or goats more than 75 years ago. Described by an Army buddy in 1956, who had done that as a kid. I think he spread it about a quarter inch thick. The hot rock was greased with a slice of bacon, which was eaten with the cornbread. The batter was simply cornmeal cooked with water in the morning for breakfast, and part saved for the evening. The cornbread was broken into quarters, and 3 of them saved for the next 3 days supper. Supper usually included boiled cut up dried goat or sheep strips with local vegetation to make a stew, with the cornbread .

He stayed out for two weeks, then his brother came out with a fresh supply of food, and he went home. 2 more weeks, and his turn again.

He was one tough individual, and I was very happy to call him "Friend", and that was mutual.
 
I got the idea from remembering when I was a very young child and stories I had heard from a man I talked to about once a week. He was a Native American well into his 90’s, and said multiple times he was the last of the mesquaki tribe (he had a different name for it) born in a teepee. They left the land they owned that is now the mesquaki reservation and were at a yearly fall camp they had at eagle lake to gather acorns and waterfowl for the winter when he was born. I learned a heck of a lot from him, practical and philosophical, I still have an “all purpose hammer” he gave me made from a rail road spike.
 
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Gary Ward said:
Fired up the smoker again at 5:30 am this morning. Put another small pork butt in the bottom and St louis style ribs on top. Hopefully be ready for lunch.
Trying some new ideas that I learned here, thanks.
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Sounds like it’s going to be a great day. St Louis trimmed spares are what the majority of competition teams will cook. They are uniform size and shape and will cook evenly, have fun with it.

I woke up this morning thinking, “When’s my next chance to cook?” With Thanksgiving, family travel, and recent weather, it’s been tough to schedule.

I got a text from my brother. I got him into judging a while ago. He’s working the contest in Plant City, FL today.
 
I managed to score a "personal" one bone prime rib. I plan on grilling it later as an oversized ribeye. I really hate it when they cut the bone off and retie it back on. It's small enough I can just cut it off myself thank you. I might just cook the bone separately.

Oh and boneless chicken breasts.
 
asicer said:
Isn't that just a steak?
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Sort of, a very thick one - thick enough to be a roast. But, I think in retrospect I'm going to put the coal holders to use and just cook it standing on the grate indirect, e.g. poor man's smoker. The chicken too.
 
Trying my first ever prime rib. No specific recipe, just kind of a mix of things I’ve seen, done, and know over the years. Father-in-law loves a local tavern’s prime rib, but they only do it on Thursdays and they are closed. Here we go…

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455 Bravo Uniform said:
Trying my first ever prime rib. No specific recipe, just kind of a mix of things I’ve seen, done, and know over the years. Father-in-law loves a local tavern’s prime rib, but they only do it on Thursdays and they are closed. Here we go…

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This post made me flash back to a couple specific childhood memories and have a craving for club clackers and steak tartar.

(4th of July’s when I was very young my grandfather would have a party, his ten children and their multiple children all coming back “home”. He would usually have a steer processed and most of it would go into the big trailer smoker one of my uncle had, but the prime cuts were done on a handful of webers while the grown ups enjoyed the kegs. Playing horseshoes, croquet, bad mitten, and a buffet of food people brought. Afternoons had competitions of skeet shooting and long range rifles. I fell in love with black powder and muzzleloaders there and I still am an aficionado of it).
 
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I signed up to judge 3 more contests next year. That puts me up to 6. There are 4 that I normally do that haven’t started sign-ups yet, so I might hit 10. Some of those might conflict, and I might have to work around some vacation travel, there’s a pretty good chance I will have to cancel out of a couple. Some judges do 30-40 contests a year. That’s too much work for this old man.
 
Matthew said:
I woke up this morning thinking, “When’s my next chance to cook?” With Thanksgiving, family travel, and recent weather, it’s been tough to schedule.
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I don't compete, but my next cook will be smoking the larger of 2 turkeys for Friends-giving this Friday. I used to take the meat off the bone and tie the quarters:

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This year I found a video suggesting (and demonstrating) to bone and tie the thighs together as a single roast, and I'll be giving that a try
 
DJTorrente said:
I don't compete, but my next cook will be smoking the larger of 2 turkeys for Friends-giving this Friday. I used to take the meat off the bone and tie the quarters:

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This year I found a video suggesting (and demonstrating) to bone and tie the thighs together as a single roast, and I'll be giving that a try
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A guy from my bbq team is cooking for about 25 family members. He/we have connections with a restaurant manager. The mgr was able to get some higher end food service turkey roasts. Basically, boneless breast tied together and boneless leq quarters also tied together. They don’t take up as much oven space and when they are finished, all you have to do is slice.
 
Brined a whole breast the smoked it at 275 until it hit 162, resting brought it up to 165. Not dry at all, despite the high temp.

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The small stuffing is smoked oyster stuffing for something new this year; not my favorite. Sauce is a commercial razzpotle that went well.

Happy Thanksgiving, y’all.
 
Matthew said:
A guy from my bbq team is cooking for about 25 family members. He/we have connections with a restaurant manager. The mgr was able to get some higher end food service turkey roasts. Basically, boneless breast tied together and boneless leq quarters also tied together. They don’t take up as much oven space and when they are finished, all you have to do is slice.
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I boned the breast and tied both halves whole. I should call that something... "Sweetheart"?

The thighs I was able to get off the backbone and remove the femurs, but only a stretch of skin connected left and right. I couldn't see a way to tie them together that made sense -- so I just tied them individually. I'll be monitoring internally temps since they are so much smaller than the breast roast.
 

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I forgot to get a money shot, but last night's fare was smoked tri tip and turkey. Smoked that is. Not just smoked turkey, but smoked wild turkey. I didn't ask where he got it, but I suspect our man was strolling the river parkway with a shotgun.

It was actually pretty good and tender. The spices removed any gameyness that might have been there.
 
I knew a couple of guys that needed to smoke all day. One grew up on an army base in Korea, the rest were just salesmen.
 
I used our smoker last weekend and yesterday again.
Still just doing small boneless pork shoulders and baby back ribs.
I have been prepping them more carefully by removing most of the fat and letting them rest with seasoning before smoking them.
I used thin string to hold the shoulder together after fat trimming.
Sorry no pictures of the results.
One of these days I should try something different than pork.IMG_6103.jpeg
 
Gary Ward said:
I used our smoker last weekend and yesterday again.
Still just doing small boneless pork shoulders and baby back ribs.
I have been prepping them more carefully by removing most of the fat and letting them rest with seasoning before smoking them.
I used thin string to hold the shoulder together after fat trimming.
Sorry no pictures of the results.
One of these days I should try something different than pork.View attachment 148470
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I almost always do bone-in pork butts. I do trim most of the fat cap and pull and trim out the membrane in that muscle nearest the bone. That opens it up for more rub, and I can fold it back together when it goes on the smoker. I found a package of hot dogs in the back of the freezer, I will probably toss them on for lunch.
 
I forgot That I put these leftover cheddar dogs on last night I found in the fridge.
I forgot to eat one also. This is this morning. I bet the dog would eat one. I don't like wasting food. Bad deal.
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It’s likely I will finish the butts in the kitchen this afternoon. WX tomorrow isn’t going to be amenable to being outside and cleaning up. After the butts get wrapped, there’s no reason to use the smoker anymore, so I will probably move them into the oven, shut down the smoker, and have the chance to clean it and put it away tonight.
 
5 hours in and the butts are around 155F. I put a pack of hotdogs on about 30-45 minutes ago, they take about an hour to get hot and smokey.
 
Just finished vacuum packing the leftovers.

16.7 lb pre-cooked.

I packed into 1/2 lb bags. For us, that’s 2x4oz servings.

After cooking I got 15 bags, so 7.5 lb. 5 of us ate dinner last night, so maybe 2-ish lb for dinner last night? That makes maybe 9.5 lb after cooking. That’s about a 60% yield. That’s about right from my experience.
 
Got a vac sealer yesterday. Rubbed a lamb rack with Kinder’s Cowboy Seasoning on a mustard binder.

In she goes at 225 to 120.

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Off the smoker as the griddle comes up to the temperature of the sun.

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We got a 1st place in a contest for lamb chops. Did a reverse sear: smoke until done, then get a nice color in a blazing hot cast iron skillet.

Somewhere there are pictures.
 
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