Nice. Have heard you don't want to get them too hot as they take a long time to cool back down. They are pretty heavy, aren't they?
Traeger vs. Weber grills
- Thread starter cyinne
- Start date
Nice. Have heard you don't want to get them too hot as they take a long time to cool back down. They are pretty heavy, aren't they?
Live in Ankeny so I'm a Sams guy, I'll have to make the in-laws pick some up for me. Any thoughts on the quality?
I have done quite a bit of homemade bacon, and the Traeger works great for that.
Plan on curing anywhere from 7-10 days, and flip the belly every day in the fridge.
I did a bourbon flavored one last fall and it was way, way too strong. I've really had good luck with peppered, maple flavors.
Plan on curing anywhere from 7-10 days, and flip the belly every day in the fridge.
I did a bourbon flavored one last fall and it was way, way too strong. I've really had good luck with peppered, maple flavors.
I've found Costco has some of the best cuts at the most reasonable price. I bought a smaller belly at B&B Deli downtown Des Moines. 5lbs for about $30. It was super fatty, still had the skin, and just wasn't a good cut which was partly my fault. Costco's are skinless, even cuts, with excellent marbling. I bought a full belly last night, 10lbs for $28.
I've tried a few different cures. I've found it really doesn't matter too much what spices you use for cures because you're going to end up rinsing it off once you've finished curing anyways. I put my spices on when I actually smoke.
Cure:
- 1/3 cup kosher salt
- 3 tablespoons freshly ground black pepper or cracked black peppercorns
- 2 teaspoons pink curing salt, such as Prague Powder #1
- 1/3 cup brown sugar, granulated sugar, maple sugar, freeze-dried sugar cane juice (Sucanat), or a mixture of these sweeteners
I coat the belly, vacuum seal it, put it in the fridge and flip it every day for a week. If you don't vacuum seal it in a bag, make sure you massage it every day so the liquid doesn't gather in one place.
Smoking:
I try to hit between 180 and 200 on my smoker, I've only used Apple and Pecan chips to keep a mellow smoke. Then it usually takes me about 4 hours for a 5lb belly to hit 150 internal temp. I wrap it, throw it in the fridge overnight to cool down, then I slice it the next day. I part time at a restaurant so I've been lucky enough to be able to use their commercial deli slicer to slice mine up.
Turns out something like this:
As long as you're watching your thermometer as the temp rises, it's not too difficult to adjust one way or another. It's just something you kind of learn to do the more you use it.
Even the medium is pretty heavy since they're all ceramic. They're definitely quality pieces of equipment.
Every cut of meat I've picked up at Costco has been good quality. I assume their pork bellies would be pretty solid.
I'm actually curing a pork belly from Costco right now, with plans to smoke it Sunday on my Weber Smokey Mountain. I did half black pepper & the other half is Maple syrup/brown sugar. Need to look into getting some maple sugar.
www.virtualweberbullet.com has a lot of great information for smoking w/ a Weber Smokey Mountain.
I'm planning on smoking a 15 lb Brisket in the near future. Anyone have any advice (besides low & slow)?
www.virtualweberbullet.com has a lot of great information for smoking w/ a Weber Smokey Mountain.
I'm planning on smoking a 15 lb Brisket in the near future. Anyone have any advice (besides low & slow)?
Mine would be make sure it fits. No joke, if you have an 18.5" like I do, some of the bigger briskets you have to fold an end to make it fit. I've been very close to not being able to do it as one piece because of this. Luckily, I made it fit and after 2-3 hours it will shrink enough that you're in the clear.
Also, very basic seasoning IMO. Salt, pepper, and I like a dusting of cayenne pepper.
Lastly, it will be done when it feels like jello and a toothpick (or thermometer probe) goes into it like
butter.
Yeah, I do have the 18.5" WSM. I'm a fan of Aaron Franklin style bbq, I've been reading his book lately. He only seasons with Salt & Pepper. Cayenne sounds like a good addition. What wood do you use? I was planning on using Oak.
I've mainly used Pecan. But to be honest, when I've used fruit woods (apple/cherry) I really couldn't tell the difference.
My wife got the Franklin BBQ book last year and it's amazing. It's my go to before I try anything new. I always start there and then tweak it as I see fit.
I've also watched a lot of his stuff on YouTube as well when I first started out.
Agreed 100% I was too lazy at first and it's gotten very dirty before (the thing is still coated in grease, it needs DEEP cleaning).
I didn't even think of foiling the grease slide pan until I saw someone else doing it. That is a huge clean up time saver, and helps prevents flare ups if doing something more fatty.
I also recommend vacuuming out the fire box as well as the floor of the grill every so often. I've had the fire box overfill with ashes a few too many times which often leads to smoke/fire going back into the hopper, and the occasional giant fire (last week I was smoking some bacon when this happen, had to get going to a family event so turned it up a bit, result was a spectacularly huge fire with 4 foot flames coming out of the grease shoot when the lid was closed).
Fat side down. Don't foil, buy pink food butcher paper. It will help you retain bark.
Interesting. I bought a Green Mountain Grill and love it. I looked at the Green Egg but went with the pellet. I like my pellet grill a lot. Mainly cook ribs and pork loins and have done roasts and prime rib as well. The Green Mountain is almost idiot proof.
Green Egg probably requires a bit more management in cooking.
How long do you cook your brisket and at what temp? What temp do you take the meat to? Do you use the Texas Crutch to cook through the Stall on a brisket?
I see someone already mentioned smoking fat side down. I've done both and I prefer fat side up. Some recipes actually have you start with it up, and then flip it after wrapping. If you are a fan of Franklin's he always does fat side up.
I'd check out his book or YouTube videos (talks about the stall as well in this one). Also if you just go to a sites like Traeger's you can read through all of their different brisket recipes. When I started doing brisket I've experimented with a lot of these different recipe's until I found out what I liked and worked best for me.
Brisket can be expensive to experiment with, but the reward is SO worth it.
My tips would be to definitely use butcher paper over foil. Also if you are following a recipe, go for the ones that have the longer cooks if you have the time. If you are doing fat side up, you need to be careful when smoking it for a really long period of time unwrapped as the bottom can become hard.
All this BBQ talk, I'm going to have to smoke a brisko this weekend. Sounds amazing.
I don't use sauce when I do brisket at home either, has plenty of flavor itself. I'm a big fan of Texas style.
I don't use sauce when I do brisket at home either, has plenty of flavor itself. I'm a big fan of Texas style.
Start fat side down and flip it half way through it. I find that it helps with making it more flavorful.