Mad Science Experiment - Spam

[Jeff_in_KC]

With all due respect, Chris, that's five minutes of my life I'll never be able to recover. :twisted: :lol:

 

[bigabyte]

With all due respect, Chris, that's five minutes of my life I'll never be able to recover. :twisted: :lol:

Yeah, sorry about the verbosity (is that a word?). But there is so little information out there on smoking Spam that I really wanted this to be thorough. Now, if I could video-record it I would so as to help the next brother out when they undertake such an endeavor, but I have no camera operator or good lighting, etc. So just basic pictures will have to suffice to document this ham/pork food smoke fest!:wink:

 

[Rick's Tropical Delight]

i'll have the spam, spam, spam, and spam. :biggrin:

 

[Bbq Bubba]

.....and the press for that real rib look.

Ya, but how do you apply the fake grill mark's???

 

[Divemaster]

What if you did the whole shaping thing and then stuffed popsicle sticks inside:?: Maybe even have the sticks poking out a bit so you can cut off each rib and hold it:!:

If you chill it they would be Spamsicles...

Sorry, I think I just threw up a little in my mouth... Time for a JD rinse...

 

[keale]

Nothing wrong with spam! Can't wait for the pics and report.

 

[bigabyte]

Updated the original post in the thread with the before pics. The Spam are sitting in the rub in the fridge overnight to get happy. I'll hit them with some more rub tomorrow before they go in.:wink:

 

[Mitch]

I grew up in Hawaii and Spam was the king of food. I still eat it fried and grilled. m-m-m-m-m-

 

[Divemaster]

Spig Candy... The results...

OK, I had a small can of Spam in the pantry and decided to take up the challenge of making ‘Pig Candy’ using it….

I sliced it into roughly ¼ inch slices…

I put the slices on my BGE… The temps were lower than I would have normally used (about 235*) since I already had a butt cooking from this morning…

I let it cook until it had a solid ‘crust’ or surface on it. It didn’t brown much but it felt solid to the touch (about 2 hours). I then put a mixture of ½ cup of dark brown sugar, ¾ teaspoon of cyan pepper, and ¼ cup of maple syrup on top and let it cook down. This amount would have easily coated 3 to 4 times the amount I cooked.

I pulled one while the coating was still soft and the rest once it had cooked down.

I must admit, it was IMHO mighty good. Things I would do different would be to cut the Spam not only into slices but sticks (same thickness but half as wide). I would also increase the cyan to one full teaspoon rather than the ¾ teaspoon I used this time…

Final determination: I would do it again not only because it’s good, but to also freak out some of my buddies… In fact I’m thinking of a party coming up in a couple of weeks that this is going to go to!!!

 

[bigabyte]

That actually looks like it woudl be pretty good. Oh man. What in the world have we done? Why do I have the feeling I'm going to go buy more Spam so I can try this?

 

[Westexbbq]

Chris,
As usual you have come up with a most unusual, creative and original post/thread that could be a classic. (kudos to divemaster for the follow up.)
I'm cracking up and saving to try soon and reckon if there is a word for verbose, then verbostity works for me despite spell check red lines.

 

[JimT]

Welcome Bill!

I hate to spoil the party gentlemen, but you cannot make spam ribs. Spam is clearly an extoskeletal creature and therefore has no ribs.

Now get on over to Cattle Call and introduce yourself!!!

(Not to me, ya' old fool, to the group!)

JimT

 

[Irrad8]

Great Thread. My wife might hold it against you though.:biggrin:
She always gets that look in her eye when I get out SPAM (that getting ready to puke look that is).

 

[deez20]

Just the thought of eating spam freaks me out. :icon_sick

 

[bigabyte]

The Spam is on! I hit them with some more rub just before putting them in.:biggrin:

 

[bigabyte]

One and a half hours in and the Spam is 145 internal. I wrapped one of them in foil with a little apple juice, butter and brown sugar.

 

[bigabyte]

After an hour in the foil, all of the Spam were at 195 internal!!! So much for cooking to 165! I unwrapped the foiled Spam. All of the rub had washed off into the liquid! It looked good though. I set it on the smoker to firm up whatever was left on it for 15 minutes, then pulled them all off. They had reached 198 when I pulled them.

The cold smoked one underwent an accident while transporting from the cooker. It decided to fall to the ground and it quickly became dog food. The dog ate it right up and wanted more. So it couldn't possibly have been too bad.

Here is a pic of the 3 cooked Spam. The one on the right is the foiled one.

I chopped up one of them, sprinkled with more Salt-Free rub and put back on the smoker.

I sliced the other two. A lot of bark fell off of the unfoiled one, but I was delicate enough to keep enough on for the photo. Here is a photo of the slices.

The first one (no foil) was the first one I tried. It was good. Actually, it tasted pretty much identical to smoked bologna. The meat took on the smoke flavor, and the bark that was on there had a nice flavor.

The foiled Spam was just as good, but also had a little extra flavor from the foiling. The bark was not really there, but the flavor was pretty much the same except for the extra bit that the apple juice and brown sugar added. It was a hint more sweet. I would say it was the better of the two.

I actually ate about 3 whole slices of each. It tastes so much like Smoked Bologna that I think I will try this again someday side-by-side with Bologna to see how much of a taste difference there is.

 

[Irrad8]

Great results! It sounds pretty good.

 

[K I N G P I N]

Dude>>>you Rock>>>

 

[bigabyte]

The Spam burnt ends are done. Here's a photo.

They are crunchy on the outside and still moist and tender on the inside. It tastes pretty much the same as the Spam from before but with a lot more bark.

So what have I learned from this Spam experiment???

1. Dogs love cold smoked Spam.
2. I like smoked Spam.:icon_blush: (much to my surprise)
3. Foiled Spam with goodies added (in this case Apple Juice, Brown Sugar and Butter) is even better than non-foiled Spam.
4. Salt-Free rub does not stick to Spam very well.
5. Based on my time and temps, the ideal foil times for Spam at 300 degrees is 1:15-50-25, or an hour and 15 minutes with no foil to absorb smoke, 50 minutes in foil, and 25 mintues out of foil.

As for sodium content....well....I have been drinking a LOT of water today!!!