I ‘heart’ My Smoker

I really do need to do a better job of updating my blog as I’ve logged three more smoking sessions in the month that has elapsed since my last post. I like to think that with each subsequent smoke, not only has the ‘degree of difficulty’ increased, so has the overall lip-smacking deliciousness of the final product. Allow me to review and highlight the finer points of my recent adventures with charcoal-fired cookery.

Smoke number two was a relatively simple undertaking consisting of a 5lb pork shoulder roast (picnic end) and a chicken.

Tasty smoke billowed out of the top of the smoker as it came to life on that glorious and sunny winter day in early February that provided nearly perfect cooking conditions – steady temperatures in the low 60s with no wind. I treated the shoulder a bit like a smoked ham in that I submerged it in brine laced with pink salt (more on that in an upcoming post). While the results looked appetizing enough, the problem with this ham was that the brine was way too salty and the pork spent way too much time in it.

I was pleased that the ham did pick up a nice amount of sweet smoky flavor (I used 100% apple wood for this smoke) and was cooked well – I pulled it out of the smoker when the internal temperature reached 150 degrees F.  While the ham was somewhat of a disappointment, the chicken was the exact opposite.

I’m inclined to never roast another chicken in the oven after smoking this chicken at 225-230 degrees for a little under 3 hours. It was tender and juicy and well worth the extra effort. Oh yeah, I also brined it for a few hours before smoking it, so that probably helped keep it moist, but I suspect I would’ve achieved similar results results without the salty bath.

The best part about my second attempt at smoking was that unlike during my first cook, there were no wild temperature spikes. The temperature inside the smoker never rose above 235 degrees F during the entire 5 hour duration that it I had it fired up. Encouraged by this, I decided to take on a whole bunch more pork for my third smoke – 14lbs in total! I did another small ham (4lbs), a small bone-in loin roast (2lb) and a rather portly 8lb picnic shoulder.

Total cooking time for all three cuts was about 6 and 2/3 hours (not everything was cooked at the same time). As with my second cook, I was able to lock in the 225-230 degree cooking range pretty easily for this cook. I applied a different brine to the shoulder this time around (and didn’t treat it like a ‘ham’) and was very pleased with the final results, as I was with the bone-in loin that was brined in the same solution as the shoulder (albeit for a much shorter time period). For the ham, this time I used an actual ham roast (if we recall our pig anatomy lessons, the back leg of a hog is the source of fresh and cured hams) and changed both the percentage of salt and sugar in the brine as well as the length of time that the ham actually spent in the brine. While the results were better than my first attempt, I was still not totally pleased and went back to the drawing board.

In addition to really wanting to nail my ham recipe, I also wanted to do something different for my fourth smoke. I had some friends visiting town and they had heard all about my new smoker and put in a request for ‘Texas style BBQ’ brisket. That seemed like a good challenge for me – it would be my first attempt at cooking beef and I had also heard from some smoking aficionados that it could take anywhere between 6 to 12 hours to smoke even the smallest section of a brisket.

One of the best things about working in a butcher shop is that I have immediate access to lots of great, high quality meat. Almost every week, we receive a few whole briskets. I won’t get into too much detail here but basically every cow has two ‘brisket’ muscles sourced from the front of the animal, essentially right above the front legs. Each brisket weighs approximately 15lbs and consists of two parts – the ‘flat’ and the ‘point’. The point sits on top of the flat and two can be separated by using a sharp knife and exercising a bit of patience. Many sources on the internet told me that flats (owing to their flatter shape) tend to cook more evenly and quickly than points but that ‘the best’ BBQ brisket should come from the point because it is fattier (hence, more flavorful) than the flat. I try to take what I read on the ‘net with a grain of salt, but after separating the two parts of the brisket at work on a slow afternoon, I can see some sense behind that statement.

Here is the 5lb brisket ‘point’ in its entirety. It represented one third of the total weight of the brisket.

The night before cooking, I applied a secret spice rub to the brisket. I won’t divulge all of my top-secret ingredients but I will say I toasted and ground some dried ancho and New Mexico peppers, cumin, coriander, black pepper and added a few other things here and there. Here’s the brisket right after it came off the smoker, a mere 7 hours and 40 minutes (at about 225 degrees) after I put it in the smoker.

A funny thing happened during the cooking process. The brisket’s internal temperature slowly but steadily rose until it basically ‘topped out’ at 155 degrees F. My internet research warned me that I could expect a pretty consistent rise in temperature up to this point but that things would slow down considerably between 150 and 170 degrees and that after passing through this middle range, the temperature should begin to increase more steadily until reaching the ultimate goal of 205 degrees. Even after reading about this phenomenon, I was still surprised by the stubbornness of my brisket to climb out of the mid-150s. I got impatient after its temperature increased by only four degrees in about an hour and half and it was getting close to dinner time. I decided that higher heat in the smoker combined with wrapping the brisket in heavy-duty aluminum foil (to protect the meat from the higher heat and prevent it from drying out) would be the best way to accelerate and finish its cooking. I was able to increase the temperature in the smoker to 290 degrees without adding additional charcoal by opening up all of the vents on the cooker and another two hours later, the brisket was finally done. I pulled it off the smoker and let it rest (while still wrapped in foil) for 30 very long minutes before slicing.

In the end, it turned it to be much less ‘Texas style’ than I was aiming for – it was quite peppery and spicy – but not being one to shun such flavors in any dish, I didn’t complain. Overall, it was pretty tender and didn’t seem any worse the wear for being finished in a higher heat environment as opposed to being allowed to finish cooking unfoiled at 225 degrees. Next time I cook a brisket, I’ll be sure to allow for a longer cooking time to try out that method, though I do like being able to take an occasional short cut if I have to. And how’d the ham come out? Pretty damn good, I must say. It went so quickly I forgot to take pictures of it. I’ll do a write up of it the next time I make it.

I truly do <heart> my smoker. I only wish I had bought it sooner – all this time I could’ve been enjoying smoky meaty goods. Oh well, better now then never. With St. Patrick’s Day not too far away I’ve already got plans on revisiting my experiment with pastrami from a few months ago – I’ve got a 5lb brisket ‘flat’ sitting in brine as we speak just waiting to be turned into perhaps my favorite of all the smoked meats.