Smoking Meat Questions and Discussion

Agclone91

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Picked up some baby backs at Sam's club this morning. One of the racks has two sets of bones (it's not two racks stuck together). Google leads me to believe they were cut wrong and it's part of the backbone. First for me.

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dmclone

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Tried some beef jerky in the oven today. Our oven has a dehydrate mode, which worked well.



Eye of Round from Costco 5lbs

Freeze 2 hours before slicing

Slice against the grain on 1/2

PS seasoning.

Mix in non metal bowl. Make sure to flaten out so no folds

then ziploc for 24 hours


Saturday 160 for 4 hours in oven

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Agclone91

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Riblets, they're like knuckles I think?? they don't go all the way through, teeth breakers.
They were probably 1/2" long. Talked to a buddy who's dad owns a locker and he they are part of the back bones and the person on the band saw just cut too wide. Sounds like it's not uncommon in baby backs. I usually do spares so I just hadn't run across it before.
 

IceCyIce

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They were probably 1/2" long. Talked to a buddy who's dad owns a locker and he they are part of the back bones and the person on the band saw just cut too wide. Sounds like it's not uncommon in baby backs. I usually do spares so I just hadn't run across it before.
Yep - teeth breakers, hate it
 

mkadl

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They were probably 1/2" long. Talked to a buddy who's dad owns a locker and he they are part of the back bones and the person on the band saw just cut too wide. Sounds like it's not uncommon in baby backs. I usually do spares so I just hadn't run across it before.
Worked with meat inspectors at a packing plant for 6 years. Every hog is no cookie cutter size, although they try very hard for a uniform product. If when cutting the carcuss in half the are off by a bit one half will be larger than the other. Thus one backbone on one half of the carcuss will be wider than the other. Then when the half hog is broken down, when placed against a fence on a saw to cut ribs part of the back bone is left. Also it could be the size of the animal itself, or the inspectors found something wrong with the carcuss and the bad parts removed making cutting perfect impossible. Or it could have just been a new person on the job.
 
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cydnote

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HyVee had pork butts on sale for 99 cents last weekend and we ended up buying a whole case of them (72 lbs).

Made about 30 lbs of breakfast sausage and 10 lbs of brats (regular and garlic chili). Saved the rest for pulled pork.

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Missed that sale but I've always thought Boston butts were the best eating for the money. I usually cut a few steaks from them and use the remainder to mix with venison for brats or for polish sausage or ring baloney on the smoker. I keep thinking when their value is realized the price will go up much like chicken wings or brisket--two items that were at one time of little or lesser value until marketing interfered.
 
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mkadl

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I have reverse seared our last 4 meals that included steak. 3 ribeyes and one top sirloin. Put them in the electric smoker with salt and pepper only ( no smoke). Set it at 150 degrees and let em cook until they are 115 degrees. Remove and place on a cool plate so the cooking stops. Then grill them when it is about time to eat. The slow cook doesn't drip any juices and the quick sear is too fast to loose juices before plating. It worked with ribeyes we tried a sirloin last night and it was wonderful. Some times sirloins will dry out, this was steakhouse quality. My next experiment will be taking them to 115 then wrap and refridgeraterate overnight, then bring to room temperature then searing them 24 hours later. A quick steak after work is the goal. I could wrap them in foil and place on my driveway with a meat thermometer today!
 
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baller21

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I have reverse seared our last 4 meals that included steak. 3 ribeyes and one top sirloin. Put them in the electric smoker with salt and pepper only ( no smoke). Set it at 150 degrees and let em cook until they are 115 degrees. Remove and place on a cool plate so the cooking stops. Then grill them when it is about time to eat. The slow cook doesn't drip any juices and the quick sear is too fast to loose juices before plating. It worked with ribeyes we tried a sirloin last night and it was wonderful. Some times sirloins will dry out, this was steakhouse quality. My next experiment will be taking them to 115 then wrap and refridgeraterate overnight, then bring to room temperature then searing them 24 hours later. A quick steak after work is the goal. I could wrap them in foil and place on my driveway with a meat thermometer today!
I’ve been wanting to try this myself. Is 115 indirect and then about a minute sear per side good for a medium steak?
 

Agclone91

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I have reverse seared our last 4 meals that included steak. 3 ribeyes and one top sirloin. Put them in the electric smoker with salt and pepper only ( no smoke). Set it at 150 degrees and let em cook until they are 115 degrees. Remove and place on a cool plate so the cooking stops. Then grill them when it is about time to eat. The slow cook doesn't drip any juices and the quick sear is too fast to loose juices before plating. It worked with ribeyes we tried a sirloin last night and it was wonderful. Some times sirloins will dry out, this was steakhouse quality. My next experiment will be taking them to 115 then wrap and refridgeraterate overnight, then bring to room temperature then searing them 24 hours later. A quick steak after work is the goal. I could wrap them in foil and place on my driveway with a meat thermometer today!
This sounds like a bacteria nightmare.
 
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cycloner29

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I got three pork butts at Hy-Vee last week too. Brining all 19 lbs for buckboard bacon. Deboned them and have six chunks in the fridge. Prague Powder, kosher salt, and maple sugar. First time using the maple sugar. Twelve more days to wait yet.
 
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AgronAlum

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Missed that sale but I've always thought Boston butts were the best eating for the money. I usually cut a few steaks from them and use the remainder to mix with venison for brats or for polish sausage or ring baloney on the smoker. I keep thinking when their value is realized the price will go up much like chicken wings or brisket--two items that were at one time of little or lesser value until marketing interfered.

I agree. They have the perfect amount of fat content for making sausage. I wanted to make some Italian sausage but I don’t think anyone in our house would really eat it besides me. Coarse ground the brats and ran the sausage through an extra time to make it a little more fine textured.

Also, just so people are aware, Fareway sells seasonings from the behind the meat counter. A packet of the seasoning they use to make their case breakfast sausage was like 6 bucks and makes 50 lbs of sausage.
 

clone4life82

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I got three pork butts at Hy-Vee last week too. Brining all 19 lbs for buckboard bacon. Deboned them and have six chunks in the fridge. Prague Powder, kosher salt, and maple sugar. First time using the maple sugar. Twelve more days to wait yet.
Snap pictures and discuss the process please! This is the first I’ve ever heard of bbb but your post has me intrigued enough to dig into it. I might give it a try but am a tad concerned with the length of time and having to try and schedule life around it with three active kids.
 

cydnote

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I agree. They have the perfect amount of fat content for making sausage. I wanted to make some Italian sausage but I don’t think anyone in our house would really eat it besides me. Coarse ground the brats and ran the sausage through an extra time to make it a little more fine textured.

Also, just so people are aware, Fareway sells seasonings from the behind the meat counter. A packet of the seasoning they use to make their case breakfast sausage was like 6 bucks and makes 50 lbs of sausage.
I've made the Italian sausage before and although good for breakfast we used it primarily on home made pizza. I used to stuff my brats but find it's less work just to make bulk--you can "roll 'em up" before cooking for brats or simply make patties. My go to for seasonings has been Curley's Sausage Kitchen in Fairbank IA
 
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AgronAlum

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I've made the Italian sausage before and although good for breakfast we used it primarily on home made pizza. I used to stuff my brats but find it's less work just to make bulk--you can "roll 'em up" before cooking for brats or simply make patties. My go to for seasonings has been Curley's Sausage Kitchen in Fairbank IA

I actually stuffed the brats into casings with the intention of either leaving the ends open or taking the casing off before cooking because it’s a PITA. Having the casing on the outside saves time though by not having to throw them in the freezer before vacuum packing them skin off similar to the Tiefenthaler brats.

I left a couple pounds of them out of the casing for patties but they’re not my favorite. I might throw some on the smoker and get them fully cooked so they can just be microwave ready.