theTastyCat
Full Fledged Farker
- Joined
- Mar 11, 2014
- Location
- Nashvill...
Hey all. Had to put this little guy down yesterday morning and my heart absolutely broke.
But I tried a few things on the smoker the day before and it's good for me to take my mind off things - so I'd love to share the results with you all.
Things are ready to go!
The guests of honor:
I've always thought those little bacon-wrapped filets are gimmicky, but they sure are cheap and were excruciatingly tasty. I did a dry salt brine on them after accidentally *breaking* one in half trying to see if the middle was thawed yet. It was. The bacon came off during thawing (in cold water) but no biggie.
My first try at ABTs! Of course I used cheap bacon which wasn't really in solid strips all the way across, so of course they look like crap. Will buy good bacon next time.
Used RO lump with hickory chunks in the old NB offset. Lovely sight!
Tried my first reverse sear on the steaks. Because they were so small, reached temp very quickly - I was really caught off guard! I threw them over the coals but they didn't get hardly any sear at all - should have left them on longer. My charcoal basket is 7 inches tall - I'm sure it would be better if the meat were closer to the coals.
Just before searing the steaks:
The plate!
For someone who can't cook I thought it turned out pretty darn well overall. The corn was a little dry, so I'm going to try to husk, butter, then rehusk next time and hope the smoke still gets in there.
The steak was incredible. Plowboys Bovine Bold was an incredible win, and it was neat to have a steak with a smoke ring! I wanted to drink the juice on the plate.
The ABTs were very interesting. I took the first two off after 45 minutes or so, and they almost killed me. If I didn't have a gallon of milk in the fridge I would probably be dead. I left the rest of them in the smoker during dinner, and they weren't nearly as hot, nor were the peppers as uncomfortably "crunchy" as the first ones. I'm thinking if they spent longer in at lower temp hopefully the cream cheese could neutralize the jalapenos a bit more and soften everything up. Gotta figure out a better wrapping method; the cream cheese came shooting out when bitten into. Maybe toothpicks? And I wonder if I should cut them up into two or three pieces to be bite-size? Heck if I know. Here are the only three survivors.
Lessons learned:
(probably old news to most of you - but new news to me!)
1. Smoked foods truly benefit from a cooling rest before eating.
In this cook especially I realized that unlike grilling, when the sooner I eat it the happier I am (though I force myself to wait a bit for steaks to rest), when I do that with the smoker it's just too much. I think the combination of the food being hot and having smoke flavor just seems to make what I can only describe as a too-spicy combination. Twice now I've gone after the leftovers after the fact and been really delighted; I thought things were oversmoked the first time when it fact they were too dang temperature-hot to be enjoyable. So I don't mean any kind of "redistribute the juices" kind of thing by "rest", just that they often need to cool off before they are pleasant to eat.
2. Controlling temps with the size of the fire is better than relying on closing the intake.
I filled the charcoal basked maybe 2/3 full and put 2/3 of a lit chimney on one side. This was altogether too much fuel. Cooking grate temp stayed near 275 for much of the cook, though I had intended to cook much lower. I initially started closing the intake but was shortly greeted by thick, white smoke, which I fretted over for a few minutes before I decided to put the intake wherever it needed to be for thin blue. When I would open the intake, the smoke *instantly* went to thin blue. Seeing as how it didn't matter much (this is not a brisket, folks) I just ran with it and kept thin blue regardless of temp. So next time I'm aiming for a much smaller fire; I'd love to run the intake wide open.
3. The Maverick is a godsend.
Seriously, how did you all do this before wireless thermometers? I could take it inside and not have to panic about what was happening to the temp. A casual glance outside every now and then would confirm thin blue...so easy.
I have so much to thank you guys for! This forum is literally the best thing about the internet. Thanks for looking!
But I tried a few things on the smoker the day before and it's good for me to take my mind off things - so I'd love to share the results with you all.
Things are ready to go!
The guests of honor:
I've always thought those little bacon-wrapped filets are gimmicky, but they sure are cheap and were excruciatingly tasty. I did a dry salt brine on them after accidentally *breaking* one in half trying to see if the middle was thawed yet. It was. The bacon came off during thawing (in cold water) but no biggie.
My first try at ABTs! Of course I used cheap bacon which wasn't really in solid strips all the way across, so of course they look like crap. Will buy good bacon next time.
Used RO lump with hickory chunks in the old NB offset. Lovely sight!
Tried my first reverse sear on the steaks. Because they were so small, reached temp very quickly - I was really caught off guard! I threw them over the coals but they didn't get hardly any sear at all - should have left them on longer. My charcoal basket is 7 inches tall - I'm sure it would be better if the meat were closer to the coals.
Just before searing the steaks:
The plate!
For someone who can't cook I thought it turned out pretty darn well overall. The corn was a little dry, so I'm going to try to husk, butter, then rehusk next time and hope the smoke still gets in there.
The steak was incredible. Plowboys Bovine Bold was an incredible win, and it was neat to have a steak with a smoke ring! I wanted to drink the juice on the plate.
The ABTs were very interesting. I took the first two off after 45 minutes or so, and they almost killed me. If I didn't have a gallon of milk in the fridge I would probably be dead. I left the rest of them in the smoker during dinner, and they weren't nearly as hot, nor were the peppers as uncomfortably "crunchy" as the first ones. I'm thinking if they spent longer in at lower temp hopefully the cream cheese could neutralize the jalapenos a bit more and soften everything up. Gotta figure out a better wrapping method; the cream cheese came shooting out when bitten into. Maybe toothpicks? And I wonder if I should cut them up into two or three pieces to be bite-size? Heck if I know. Here are the only three survivors.
Lessons learned:
(probably old news to most of you - but new news to me!)
1. Smoked foods truly benefit from a cooling rest before eating.
In this cook especially I realized that unlike grilling, when the sooner I eat it the happier I am (though I force myself to wait a bit for steaks to rest), when I do that with the smoker it's just too much. I think the combination of the food being hot and having smoke flavor just seems to make what I can only describe as a too-spicy combination. Twice now I've gone after the leftovers after the fact and been really delighted; I thought things were oversmoked the first time when it fact they were too dang temperature-hot to be enjoyable. So I don't mean any kind of "redistribute the juices" kind of thing by "rest", just that they often need to cool off before they are pleasant to eat.
2. Controlling temps with the size of the fire is better than relying on closing the intake.
I filled the charcoal basked maybe 2/3 full and put 2/3 of a lit chimney on one side. This was altogether too much fuel. Cooking grate temp stayed near 275 for much of the cook, though I had intended to cook much lower. I initially started closing the intake but was shortly greeted by thick, white smoke, which I fretted over for a few minutes before I decided to put the intake wherever it needed to be for thin blue. When I would open the intake, the smoke *instantly* went to thin blue. Seeing as how it didn't matter much (this is not a brisket, folks) I just ran with it and kept thin blue regardless of temp. So next time I'm aiming for a much smaller fire; I'd love to run the intake wide open.
3. The Maverick is a godsend.
Seriously, how did you all do this before wireless thermometers? I could take it inside and not have to panic about what was happening to the temp. A casual glance outside every now and then would confirm thin blue...so easy.
I have so much to thank you guys for! This forum is literally the best thing about the internet. Thanks for looking!
