Smoking Meat Questions and Discussion
- Thread starter Statefan515ISU
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I'm more worried about the power. I was watching some videos and the lower watt ones seem to spin REALLY slow
My two cents...the bigger the wheel, the better. The smaller wheels tend pull on the meat a lot more than the larger wheels - especially if the meat starts to get warm. If you are going to go small, make sure the meat is as cold as possible.
I made this bacon last winter, turned off the smoke and let it freeze. Sliced like a dream the next morning - pretty much completely frozen. Agree with dmclone that if you don't get a large enough motor, it might have trouble with frozen meat.
I lucked out and bought a 12.5" on Marketplace for $100, put $100 into it and now have a really amazing machine.
I made this bacon last winter, turned off the smoke and let it freeze. Sliced like a dream the next morning - pretty much completely frozen. Agree with dmclone that if you don't get a large enough motor, it might have trouble with frozen meat.
I lucked out and bought a 12.5" on Marketplace for $100, put $100 into it and now have a really amazing machine.
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Yea, I'm leaning the same way because that's all I would use it and probably keep it in the basement or garage. It would just be so handy for bacon, jerky, etc.
I've had a deli slicer that came from an old grocery store for about 7 years now. It works great, but it is super heavy to move around and a PITA to clean. I probably only use it once a year or so, but when I do it does make short work of a lot of bacon and the cuts are way more consistent than what you could do with a knife.
When I was in HS I worked at a grocery store, one of the more fun jobs during the evening shifts was cleaning down the meatroom. Had to take apart the big grinder, clean all the saws, the slicers. hose and scrub it all down, the floors. Oof. Nasty work.
Going to do pork belly burnt ends for a friends new bar christening this weekend.
If I remember right, their recipe is pretty close to what I've used. I use 4 lbs ground beef and 2 lbs sausage so we have enough for 4-5 nights, it's that good.
I used regular Worchestershire instead of the W sauce. I'm trying to decide if I should smoke some BBQ sauce on the side to pour over the top.
So once I get mine all mixed together, I put in the freezer for about 3 hours. When I take it out, I put on a coat of BBQ sauce and sprinkle some rub on it. Then when it's done cooking, I usually put on a bit more sauce and throw on the grill for 3-4 minutes to get a little more bite to the outside. F'ing amazing.
Do you do that in one loaf or multiple and how long is your cook time? I did a 3 lb'er a few weeks ago as a single loaf and it was almost 4.5 hours at 225. End product was awesome though.
Not sure why, but my cook times are consistently longer on my Rec Teq than most recipes call for. I have checked internal temp with a second thermometer and it is usually +/- 10 degrees of set temp.
I divide it into 2. I do 225 and it takes about 3 1/2 hrs to get to 162, then about 5 mins on grill to get to 165.
Man, I don't know what the hell is going wrong for me. I just looked at my notes from my last one (3 lbs, so right about the size yours would have been). I was at 138 IT after 3 hrs 10 mins, so I had to bump the grill up to 300 for another hour to get it to an IT of 165. Almost every cook since I've had this grill has gone that way - I'm always bumping the temp up at the end to finish even after I've accounted plenty of time for what it "should" take.
Buy a plain old oven thermometer and put in your smoker to see if you are getting a true internal temperature reading.
I've got a thermopro thermometer that I've stuck in the center of the cooking area on probably about 50% of my cooks and it usually reads +/- about 10 degrees from set temp. I've calibrated it using the ice water method.
Are you using a built-in thermometer for the ambient grill temp or something else? I ask because my Traeger's built-in reading is always about 10 degrees below my Signals reading.
Using this:
A Thermoworks unit is on my list of upgrades eventually, possibly black Friday.
