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Charcuterie 101 - The Silence you hear is the meat deliciousifying...

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Posts

  • darkmayodarkmayo Registered User regular
    bowen wrote: »
    you have to cook it

    typically you make it in the oven, but it's low/slow for sure

    yup low and slow, I have a dehydrator as well but after doing it in the smoker I haven't bothered with it again.

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  • FaranguFarangu I am a beardy man With a beardy planRegistered User regular
    darkmayo wrote: »
    Farangu wrote: »
    I am sad that the smoker has to reside in the garage until March/April

    unless you are getting a ton of rain or snow you can still smoke, coldest I have done it at was -15 Celsius with my WSM.

    Really? The metal feels too thin to really keep heat in, and I got a lot of temperature variation when it got quite windy on thanksgiving.

  • darkmayodarkmayo Registered User regular
    Farangu wrote: »
    darkmayo wrote: »
    Farangu wrote: »
    I am sad that the smoker has to reside in the garage until March/April

    unless you are getting a ton of rain or snow you can still smoke, coldest I have done it at was -15 Celsius with my WSM.

    Really? The metal feels too thin to really keep heat in, and I got a lot of temperature variation when it got quite windy on thanksgiving.

    Just did ribs 3/2/1 style so they were in foil for 2 hours of it. It wasn't a windy day when I did it at -15 so that helped too. You use more charcoal to maintain the heat but it works just fine, if it still needs some cooking toss em in the oven for a bit after, at that point they are about as smokey as they will get. Not sure I would want to do anything like a brisket in that weather unless I had modded my WSM with temp controller.

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  • Casually HardcoreCasually Hardcore Once an Asshole. Trying to be better. Registered User regular
    So I upped my smoke game from a couple of Terracotta pots to a Char Griller Akorn Kamado grill.

    I love this thing. Easy to bring to temp, easy to maintain temp, and it looks pretty good. Only problem being is 1) it was missing a latch for the ash try so I have to ghetto rig some zip ties to get a seal while I wait for the latch to come in the mail and 2) there's some leaks going on somewhere because it's taking a long ass time to extinguish the flame after closing the vents. 1 is no big deal and 2 can be fix with some RTF gasket material or nomex felt.

    One day I'll own a honest to goodness ceramic smoker but until then I'll enjoy this Akorn.

  • FaranguFarangu I am a beardy man With a beardy planRegistered User regular
    Question for you all - what basic guidelines do you use for how long to brine meat for? I have some pork loin that I want to brine and smoke for a work thing coming up in like three weeks, and the last time I did brining(corned beef) the meat didn't have pink salt penetrate to the center, because it was standard done-beef gray instead of that pink-salt-infused pink/red.

  • Casually HardcoreCasually Hardcore Once an Asshole. Trying to be better. Registered User regular
    When I brine corn beef I let it seat in the brine for 7 days.

    I imagine there's no real upper limit of how long they can sit in brine (well, besides the meat going bad) but I always had good luck with 7 days of wet brine.

  • darkmayodarkmayo Registered User regular
    Man when the desire to smoke large portions of meat hits me I just have to do it.

    Friend of mine gifted me a brisket last month, with the caveat that it might be freezer burnt. With the weather being ok this weekend I finally took it out and started to thaw it. From the get go it looked like it was hit pretty bad with the burn and after it thawed more I saw how much of it was ruined.


    All of it. Completely toast and freeze dried. :(

    Unfortunately I wanted brisket so I went out and bought a 9 1/2 pounds of meaty goodness.


    Salt and Cracked Pepper for the rub.

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    Thats just half of it.

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    Coals were still going strong by the time the brisket was getting close to done.. so I threw some ribs on as well and baked some bread (not in a smoker..)

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    while I love my WSM 18" I think I am going to have to drop some coinage on a serious offset smoker.

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  • Casually HardcoreCasually Hardcore Once an Asshole. Trying to be better. Registered User regular
    edited April 2017
    I don't know. If you want to smoke and nothing more then I suggest electric smokers.They're just easy. Set the temperature, get a smoke going, walk away. Doubly so if you invest in a pid of some sort. I'm tempted to find a mini fridge and drill a hole to fit in a heating element and have it be a dedicated smoker. I also wonder if I can outfit a square box thing with a window a/c unit and use it for cold smoking.

    Casually Hardcore on
  • darkmayodarkmayo Registered User regular
    I don't know. If you want to smoke and nothing more, then I suggest electric smokers.They're just easy. Set the temperature, get a smoke going, walk away. Doubly so if you invest in a pid of some sort. I'm tempted to find a mini fridge and drill a fit in a heating element and have it be a dedicated smoker. I also wonder if I can outfit a square box thing with a window a/c unit and use it for cold smoking.

    I have an electric as well, I mainly use it for poultry and other meats that I don't really care if there is a smoke ring or not, but it is never as good as my WSM, nor is it as fun. I'd like to move onto wood fueled heat but that is another level of challenge. Plus being in Canada we don't have the same wood that is in the south. I cant just get a cord of Mesquite or Hickory that easy, I do ok with getting wood chunks from the local BBQ specialty store but normally its wood chips.

    for cold smoking I use a little chief electric smoker that I got from a friend (its just a little younger than I am)

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  • breton-brawlerbreton-brawler Registered User regular
    darkmayo wrote: »
    I don't know. If you want to smoke and nothing more, then I suggest electric smokers.They're just easy. Set the temperature, get a smoke going, walk away. Doubly so if you invest in a pid of some sort. I'm tempted to find a mini fridge and drill a fit in a heating element and have it be a dedicated smoker. I also wonder if I can outfit a square box thing with a window a/c unit and use it for cold smoking.

    I have an electric as well, I mainly use it for poultry and other meats that I don't really care if there is a smoke ring or not, but it is never as good as my WSM, nor is it as fun. I'd like to move onto wood fueled heat but that is another level of challenge. Plus being in Canada we don't have the same wood that is in the south. I cant just get a cord of Mesquite or Hickory that easy, I do ok with getting wood chunks from the local BBQ specialty store but normally its wood chips.

    for cold smoking I use a little chief electric smoker that I got from a friend (its just a little younger than I am)

    A neat thing I learned about a local BBQ restaurant up here in New Brunswick is that they actually use Sugar maple. Local, readily available, and has a subtle flavor. I sampled some at their restaurant and found it was very good. I plan on trying some food experiments with the sugar maple over the summer.

  • darkmayodarkmayo Registered User regular
    darkmayo wrote: »
    I don't know. If you want to smoke and nothing more, then I suggest electric smokers.They're just easy. Set the temperature, get a smoke going, walk away. Doubly so if you invest in a pid of some sort. I'm tempted to find a mini fridge and drill a fit in a heating element and have it be a dedicated smoker. I also wonder if I can outfit a square box thing with a window a/c unit and use it for cold smoking.

    I have an electric as well, I mainly use it for poultry and other meats that I don't really care if there is a smoke ring or not, but it is never as good as my WSM, nor is it as fun. I'd like to move onto wood fueled heat but that is another level of challenge. Plus being in Canada we don't have the same wood that is in the south. I cant just get a cord of Mesquite or Hickory that easy, I do ok with getting wood chunks from the local BBQ specialty store but normally its wood chips.

    for cold smoking I use a little chief electric smoker that I got from a friend (its just a little younger than I am)

    A neat thing I learned about a local BBQ restaurant up here in New Brunswick is that they actually use Sugar maple. Local, readily available, and has a subtle flavor. I sampled some at their restaurant and found it was very good. I plan on trying some food experiments with the sugar maple over the summer.


    Alberta here.. we got pine.. and pine and spruce.. and pine.

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  • BouwsTBouwsT Wanna come to a super soft birthday party? Registered User regular
    darkmayo wrote: »
    darkmayo wrote: »
    I don't know. If you want to smoke and nothing more, then I suggest electric smokers.They're just easy. Set the temperature, get a smoke going, walk away. Doubly so if you invest in a pid of some sort. I'm tempted to find a mini fridge and drill a fit in a heating element and have it be a dedicated smoker. I also wonder if I can outfit a square box thing with a window a/c unit and use it for cold smoking.

    I have an electric as well, I mainly use it for poultry and other meats that I don't really care if there is a smoke ring or not, but it is never as good as my WSM, nor is it as fun. I'd like to move onto wood fueled heat but that is another level of challenge. Plus being in Canada we don't have the same wood that is in the south. I cant just get a cord of Mesquite or Hickory that easy, I do ok with getting wood chunks from the local BBQ specialty store but normally its wood chips.

    for cold smoking I use a little chief electric smoker that I got from a friend (its just a little younger than I am)

    A neat thing I learned about a local BBQ restaurant up here in New Brunswick is that they actually use Sugar maple. Local, readily available, and has a subtle flavor. I sampled some at their restaurant and found it was very good. I plan on trying some food experiments with the sugar maple over the summer.


    Alberta here.. we got pine.. and pine and spruce.. and pine.

    Alberta: If it's good enough for your car vent, it's good enough for your smoker.

    Between you and me, Peggy, I smoked this Juul and it did UNTHINKABLE things to my mind and body...
  • Casually HardcoreCasually Hardcore Once an Asshole. Trying to be better. Registered User regular
    Purchased one of these

    https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00UI018B2?psc=1

    and it's a god send. It holds temperature so goddamn well. Once it reaches the setpoint, it stays there. Before I had to constantly tweak the vents (and it gets frustrating when it gets windy) every hour or two. Now I can just turn off my brain and wait for my temp alarm to indicate that my food is cooked.

  • darkmayodarkmayo Registered User regular
    Purchased one of these

    https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00UI018B2?psc=1

    and it's a god send. It holds temperature so goddamn well. Once it reaches the setpoint, it stays there. Before I had to constantly tweak the vents (and it gets frustrating when it gets windy) every hour or two. Now I can just turn off my brain and wait for my temp alarm to indicate that my food is cooked.

    Nice, was looking into a comparable device for my WSM, lots of models and mods out there for remote temp control etc.

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  • darkmayodarkmayo Registered User regular
    Was a jerky sort of weekend.
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  • darkmayodarkmayo Registered User regular
    First time doing beef ribs yesterday. Salt and Cracked Pepper rub, smoker was around 225-250 for most of the smoke, used Mesquite. Put the ribs on at about 10:20am and they were done at around 2:30 (if I recall correctly) Ribs got to an internal temp of around 200 (same as I get my briskets to)
    Very rich, unlike pork ribs I could only eat about 3 before I was full of meaty goodness.
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  • CarpyCarpy Registered User regular
    So I picked up a big, 15lbs, brisket from Costco that I want to split and smoke one half on the Traegar this weekend. Problem i've run into is that after some cursory research i'm a little confused on how I should go about breaking it down. If i'm understanding it correctly I should be splitting the point and flat on the thick end of the brisket, where they are separated by a layer of fat and the grains go in different directions? I want to leave most of the fat cap on it, right? I would think that it needs the cap during a long cook.

    Any one have pointers/experience/a good video of breaking down a brisket?

  • m!ttensm!ttens he/himRegistered User regular
    @Carpy

    You've probably already smoked your brisket by now, but here are some pointers from my experience with cooking a few briskets from Costco (that price for USDA Prime beef almost feels like stealing!). Shave the fat cap down to ~0.25 inch (0.5 cm). You want a layer thick enough to keep the meat from drying out, but any more than that is just going to leave a gross blob of fat you have to cut off when its finished cooking and you'll lose any bark that formed if you slice the fat cap after cooking.

    You're right about the point and flat basically running in separate directions. There is a layer of fat in between the two muscles as well, but it doesn't run in a single plane. You'll need to make some smaller cuts and peel back as you work. This is a pretty solid video that shows the technique for breaking down the brisket into the point and flat:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=phKQH6te1OI

  • CarpyCarpy Registered User regular
    Hah, that's exactly the video I used as a guide.

    Costco was selling the prime packers cut for less than half the unit price of their choice flats. Felt like I was stealing or something.

    The smoke went great. Got up at 530, rubbed the meat down and had it on the grill by 545. Let it smoke for 8 hours, flipping it once halfway through. Then tossed it in in foil with about a quarter cup of beer and let it go for another 2 hours at about 225. Once it came out it rested in a beer cooler for about 45 minutes while I drove to the in-laws. Only issue I ran into was my foil ripped when I pulled it out so I lost all that delicious liquid. Going to use a light foil bake pan next time to avoid that.

    Here's the requisite pictures

    Post smoke pre-foil
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    Post cook
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    The business
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    Rub was basically this without the onion powder. I used chipotle and ancho for the peppers. My butchering wasn't as clean as i'd like but it's a pretty easy cut.

  • darkmayodarkmayo Registered User regular
    Carpy wrote: »
    Hah, that's exactly the video I used as a guide.

    Costco was selling the prime packers cut for less than half the unit price of their choice flats. Felt like I was stealing or something.

    The smoke went great. Got up at 530, rubbed the meat down and had it on the grill by 545. Let it smoke for 8 hours, flipping it once halfway through. Then tossed it in in foil with about a quarter cup of beer and let it go for another 2 hours at about 225. Once it came out it rested in a beer cooler for about 45 minutes while I drove to the in-laws. Only issue I ran into was my foil ripped when I pulled it out so I lost all that delicious liquid. Going to use a light foil bake pan next time to avoid that.

    Here's the requisite pictures

    Post smoke pre-foil
    6f0mjk95wpns.jpg

    Post cook
    9biz3yw6y22w.jpg

    The business
    ahbz13lh5t1d.jpg

    Rub was basically this without the onion powder. I used chipotle and ancho for the peppers. My butchering wasn't as clean as i'd like but it's a pretty easy cut.

    beauty

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  • FaranguFarangu I am a beardy man With a beardy planRegistered User regular
    Good brisket continues to elude me.

    most recent attempt yesterday I didn't cut enough fat off before the cook, and I believe I took it out too early as slices accordioned when pulled instead of separating.

  • darkmayodarkmayo Registered User regular
    edited August 2017
    So due to unavailable later day time slots, the beach party I am going to tomorrow starts at 9am and goes until 1pm.

    That means its late night brisket cooking!

    Picked up a 9.5 pound brisket, and separated the flat from the point so I have two decent chunks of brisket that fit nicely into my WSM.

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    Seasoned with cracked pepper and salt

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    Loaded my Chimney and the basin for my smoker and started it up. Meat went in at 9pm
    Note - I hate this type of charcoal but my wife bought me a big bag of it so I thought I should actually use this shit. Kingsford is my go to. Who knows what kind of bullshit wood went into this.

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    Its about 11:00pm now, temp is nice and stable at around 230F, added a couple of chunks of wood and will have a bit of a nap. Next check likely at 2:30-3:00am, when I will be putting 4 racks of ribs into my electric smoker.

    11:00pm Brisket
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    Also making some Asiago Focaccia too, that will go into the oven at around 7:00am.

    3:00am - Brisket at 200-197 across the chunks. Off they go into foil where they will rest until they need to be eaten. Little sooner than I was hoping, temp when I checked had only creeped up to about 230. Though with that being done I can skip the electric smoker and keep using the WSM for the ribs.

    I'm a bit sleepy so I didnt get photos of the rib prep and dry rub. But Ill be checking on the smoker temp in about 30 min to make sure it hasnt ramped up much.

    Cut a bit off the point, just an end bit so its a bit dryer than the rest of the brisket...

    g5jppvuzr1d6.jpg

    shitty coal was beginning to peter out so I moved the ribs from the WSM into my electric. It is now 5:40am

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    Didnt start cutting into everything until about 10:40am, which imo is far far too long after everything came off the smoker. Oh well. Everyone loved it.

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    got back home for 1:00pm... slept until 4:30pm now I am back out again.. oh the life of a social butterfly.. I hope my friends don't mind me falling asleep in their mashed potatoes.

    darkmayo on
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  • darkmayodarkmayo Registered User regular
    Oh shit he's at it again! 9.8 pound brisket, with a pork roast that will become pulled pork. Better yet, I wasnt up at 3:00am

    nr3g9b4zj3b9.jpg

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  • darkmayodarkmayo Registered User regular
    done and done
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    and no that is not a blue vibrator in the back of the last shot. Its sunscreen.

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  • ThegreatcowThegreatcow Lord of All Bacons Washington State - It's Wet up here innit? Registered User regular
    Hot damn that was some beautiful brisket!!

  • darkmayodarkmayo Registered User regular
    edited October 2017
    Did one more before the summer ended, this time was in Dartmouth NS, celebrating mine and my brothers Birthday (he was turning 40 and I turned 39)

    My bro has a Cabela Propane smoker and a Weber Charcoal Grill so I was using those to smoke a Brisket and Ribs.
    The Weber, did the ribs on this, didnt use much charcoal at all had to tweak so thinks to make sure the ribs were getting grilled. But I think it worked out ok.
    xcdhe5bdw9tl.jpg

    The Cabela with the slab of brisket. I had to do a fair bit of trimming on the brisket, was vac packed and had a fair bit of fat on it. Was still a pretty decent slab of meat but I probably trimmed a pound or two of fat off of it. No photos of the brisket before, it was 6am when I was trimming it and in no mood to take photos.

    nmuzb5wihiew.jpg

    Ribs and Brisket done
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    Didnt do too bad considering different altitude and equipment.

    Recently been making Cider, but that isnt Charcuterie so dont think I should be posting them here.

    darkmayo on
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  • CauldCauld Registered User regular
    1 for one would love to see Cider posts along with sweet delicious BBQ posts.

  • darkmayodarkmayo Registered User regular
    edited November 2017
    Me and my wife in the summer had picked a bunch of apples/crab apples from her parents trees. I ended up getting the brewing gear my brother had left at my folks place when he moved out to Halifax. Friend of mine borrowed her brothers big commercial juicer and we spent the afternoon juicing apples and then crab apples.

    Now I had read online that you really want to use a press and press apples etc and most tips people said was, don't use a juicer. But at the time it was all we had so we went ahead and juiced them.
    It was an absolute pain in the ass and I will never use a juicer again to do this. Luckily I have a press coming so next summer we will use that instead.

    Anyways, after hours of fighting with the juicer, cleaning the mesh filter on it over and over again we had about 5 gallons of apple/crab apple juice. Did a quick test for potential alcohol content with a hydrometer. I had bought some yeast (EC-1118 if I recall) and we transferred the juice into a sterilized carbouy and then added the yeast and slapped the airlock on it.

    Within a hour or so it was bubbling away and that was about it for a few weeks.

    After a few weeks I added some pectin enzyme to clarify the cider and then racked into another carbouy so we could bottle it (you want to separate it from the sediment which there was a fair bit because of the yeast and the bits that got through when we juiced the apples) once we had it in the secondary carbouy, we did another hydrometer reading and sampled some of it, was pretty dry which is what I like but we needed a bit of sweetness to it. At this point we used splenda to add a bit of sweet to the cider, you dont want to use real sugars as that would just get eaten by the yeast again. Now I also like my cider with some fizz, so you DO want to add some real sugar to the cider. Made a simple syrup out of brown sugar and added that to batch then gave it a stir.

    With that all done we popped in the auto pump and started to fill our sterilized Grolsch bottles (the ones with the flip top stopper) We had lost about a gallon from the sediment we left behind in the other carbouy but we had enough for about 36 500ml bottles.

    we gave it about 2 weeks to let the yeasts eat up the sugar to give the drink some fizz and sure enough the cider is fizzy (doesnt last too long though) and very tasty... and packs a punch.

    Currently have 6 gallons of pear cider from a kit in my carbouy that I will be bottling soon. The kit was stupid easy and we will see how it tastes soon.

    This is the pear cider that is going, I cant seem to find the photo I have of the apple cider when it was going.
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    Some secondary filtering of the juice from the juicer... total pain in the ass.. never again.
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    Crab Apples! We could do about 9 of them before we had to clean the mesh screen on the juicer... total pain in the ass.
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    This is still the charcuterie thread so here is a photo of my brothers duck prosciutto. Sadly he is in Dartmouth, and I am in Calgary.
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    The apple cider with its lovely little bubbles..
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    darkmayo on
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  • V1mV1m Registered User regular
    gimme some of that duck pls

  • Casually HardcoreCasually Hardcore Once an Asshole. Trying to be better. Registered User regular
    5 gallons?!!!!


    How many apples did you went through and how long did it took?

  • XaquinXaquin Right behind you!Registered User regular
    I've been charged with smoking a turkey breast for christmas this year

    I'm a bit worried about keeping the temperature steady. any pointers? I have a chargrill offset smoker that I've applied fire sealant to around all the cracks so it holds heat fairly well. I've read that adding a couple bricks in the bottom of the cooking chamber helps.

  • darkmayodarkmayo Registered User regular
    5 gallons?!!!!


    How many apples did you went through and how long did it took?

    About this many plus or minus a few

    u7skusgxsq8p.jpg

    The pears that went into it aren't show but there was only a bucket worth of those.

    The "Cider" is more of a Sparkling Apple Wine, quite dry and has a punch to it. Juicing them (which we will never ever do again) took a few hours, mainly from cleaning the mesh screen on the juicer. After that the rest of the process is simple, didn't pasteurize it just transfered it all into a sterilized Carbouy, added EC-1118 yeast, popped the air lock on and that was that. It certainly stayed in the carbouy longer than it needed to.


    Pear cider update. (Kit made)

    Tastes fine but its still flat, fizzes for about a sec then thats it, I moved the bottles to a warmer location as I suspect it was just getting too cold where I had them (damn winter) going to try another one in a week or so.



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  • darkmayodarkmayo Registered User regular
    Xaquin wrote: »
    I've been charged with smoking a turkey breast for christmas this year

    I'm a bit worried about keeping the temperature steady. any pointers? I have a chargrill offset smoker that I've applied fire sealant to around all the cracks so it holds heat fairly well. I've read that adding a couple bricks in the bottom of the cooking chamber helps.

    If its just a breast you should be ok, just becareful about it drying out, make sure you have a water pan, and I highly recommend brining the breasts.

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  • XaquinXaquin Right behind you!Registered User regular
    darkmayo wrote: »
    Xaquin wrote: »
    I've been charged with smoking a turkey breast for christmas this year

    I'm a bit worried about keeping the temperature steady. any pointers? I have a chargrill offset smoker that I've applied fire sealant to around all the cracks so it holds heat fairly well. I've read that adding a couple bricks in the bottom of the cooking chamber helps.

    If its just a breast you should be ok, just becareful about it drying out, make sure you have a water pan, and I highly recommend brining the breasts.

    I'm definitely brining it

    Good call on the water pan

  • ceresceres When the last moon is cast over the last star of morning And the future has past without even a last desperate warningRegistered User, Moderator mod
    darkmayo wrote: »
    5 gallons?!!!!


    How many apples did you went through and how long did it took?

    About this many plus or minus a few

    u7skusgxsq8p.jpg

    The pears that went into it aren't show but there was only a bucket worth of those.

    The "Cider" is more of a Sparkling Apple Wine, quite dry and has a punch to it. Juicing them (which we will never ever do again) took a few hours, mainly from cleaning the mesh screen on the juicer. After that the rest of the process is simple, didn't pasteurize it just transfered it all into a sterilized Carbouy, added EC-1118 yeast, popped the air lock on and that was that. It certainly stayed in the carbouy longer than it needed to.


    Pear cider update. (Kit made)

    Tastes fine but its still flat, fizzes for about a sec then thats it, I moved the bottles to a warmer location as I suspect it was just getting too cold where I had them (damn winter) going to try another one in a week or so.

    That apple sounds delicious.

    And it seems like all is dying, and would leave the world to mourn
  • CauldCauld Registered User regular
    Both of those ciders sound delicious. I would love to make ciders and smoke meats, but there's just no space in my apartment.

  • darkmayodarkmayo Registered User regular
    Smoking certainly needs some room, apartments don't really give you the space you need, maybe if you were top floor, corner and had a balcony, even then you are likely going to be impacting your neighbors with delicious smoke (which they may not find so delicious)

    Of course you can always cold smoke something then low and slow BBQ something. The Breville Smoking Gun for example, you can burn wood chips and it blows that smoke out through a tube, put your meat on a little riser tray to make sure airflow goes all around it then put the whole thing in a zip lock and pump in the smoke.

    Once it gets some flavor you can put in on a grill or in the oven at a fixed temp (perhaps add a tray of water in the oven too) then just do low and slow there. Might not be the exact same but you get the jist of it. You can also use smoking guns for cheeses and other non meat products (ice for example.. put a tray of ice into the ziplock, pump in the smoke and let it all melt, when its done melting, pour that water into ice cube trays and let it freeze (I suggest you keep them in ziplock, the smoke smell will get all over your freezer if you dont.. and those trays will likely be smokey for good if they are plastic) Once frozen you can pop them out and into various alcoholic beverages, I recommend Caesars or Old Fashioned.

    As for cider, you dont need much space to be honest. Just use a smaller carbouy if you dont have the room for 6 gallons and the bottles you will need to fill. A 2 gallon carboy would allow you to muck around and its still a fair bit of booze 2 gallons is roughly 15 bottles (500ml) (yea yea I am mixing measurements from Imperial to Metric ) The foot print of a carbouy (even a 6 gallon isnt much) then all you need is a bucket to rack the finished booze into after its done fermenting so arent bottling a bunch of sediment.

    You likely can find apple cider quite easily right now in grocery stores (depending on where you live) or farmers markets.

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  • FaranguFarangu I am a beardy man With a beardy planRegistered User regular
    Xaquin wrote: »
    I've been charged with smoking a turkey breast for christmas this year

    I'm a bit worried about keeping the temperature steady. any pointers? I have a chargrill offset smoker that I've applied fire sealant to around all the cracks so it holds heat fairly well. I've read that adding a couple bricks in the bottom of the cooking chamber helps.

    As long as you're not having temp swings of like 50 degrees and you can heat the meat out of the danger zone in time you're probably fine on that front. The brine will greatly help the turkey from drying out, however the couple of times I've added herbs and spices to the brine those flavors lost out to the smoke, so the moisture is it's main purpose in my view.

    Also unless you're going to finish it over high heat for a sear you might want to consider removing the skin if the piece of meat you're getting has it on still. The few times I've brined & smoked poultry the skin just ended in a rubbery mess, and was best removed.

  • darkmayodarkmayo Registered User regular
    edited December 2017
    No meats this time, but more cider.

    Saw these for sale at the Co-op and picked up a bunch as I dont have a press yet and I ended up with a few smaller carboys.

    0utlktbdqkfv.jpg

    Going to play with a blend, we got some different Juices.. and fucking POM which I think cost more than everything combined.... (kidding but not by much)
    cn4nucfh7he5.jpg

    From right to left - APPLE , CRAN APPLE, POM APPLE and CHERRY APPLE.
    vafvw9ah98a7.jpg


    Used EC-1118 yeast and added a bit of additional sugar to it. Hydrometer reading looks like we will hit an alcohol content of 10% so more like Wine again but ill drink it like its a cider. :D

    Currently bubbling away. Will update as things progress, started them yesterday so should be a week or two, likely will add Pectinase to them to clarify before I re-rack and bottle.

    Each one gallon should give me about 7 bottles (500ML bottles) low commitment and if they are terrible I am not left choking down 40 bottles of the stuff.

    darkmayo on
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  • darkmayodarkmayo Registered User regular
    Well this batch is done fermenting, I added some pectic enzyme to clarify, and I will be bottling them tonight. Should be ready to go when I get back from Xmas vacation. Will post pics when I bottle

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