Abra

Col Klink, I'm going to do brisket for the 4th. I've absorbed all of your posted wisdom, but there's one thing I can't find, and that's the recipe for the mop you favor. Would you share? Also, if you're serving a sauce on the side, would Mark's South Carolina Mustard sauce do the trick, or is there one that's better for brisket?

I brined a turkey in a lapsang souchong base (forget where I got the recipe, but a cooking magazine) and was really disappointed. The flavor didn't come through at all. It was good turkey, but I couldn't taste the tea.

It's fascinating to watch your progess from afar, so please keep posting as you settle in. The amount of work, and the stairs, sound truly daunting! Pictures would be wonderful, too.

How long would the picnic shoulder have to smoke? And does the smoke really penetrate the side that's protected by the skin?

Oh, lovely pictures! What nice markets you have. I always do an all butter crust, and it's not too tender. It's Nick Malgieri's recipe, from How to Bake. You're off to a great start.

That's a great-looking sandwich, Patrick! I think I'd have to special-order skin on butt too. But I had a nice thick cap of fat to start, and I think I might like it better that way, because the tiny bit of fat that was left on the meat after the rest had all melted away was black and yummy and nice to eat, whereas I'm not sure about eating the skin.

A bit off topic here, but I just wanted to say that I burned only firewood, no briquettes. With the wood, it wasn't keeping the temp up that was the problem, more like keeping it down. The wood, being in 16" lengths, is a bit harder to control all the way through the burn. Brisket for me next.

Peanut butter always makes me feel better; not having peanut butter always makes me feel worse. Ginger brings me up, as do chiles, and, strange to say, toast.

I just asked my butcher for bone-in. The butchers here take really good care of me, and cut anything I want. They're part of the former Thriftway group - Ballard Market is also in that group, so you might be able to get them there. It was probably more expensive than Cash and carry - $2.49 a pound. Leftovers, if I can resist eating them straight from the bowl with my fingers, will be eaten on the plate or in a tortilla (me) and in a sandwich (husband). But actually, I need to think beyond that box, since they'd be so good in so many things. The beans were a no-recipe quickie. I just cooked up a mess of Anasazi beans in chicken broth with lots of garlic. Then I sauteed onions and more garlic in a little lard, added some Trader Joe's Roasted Garlic Salsa, sauteed it all together, added the beans, and set them on the smoker, stirring them every half hour or so. I ate the last of them for breakfast. I love beans for breakfast. I've done cabbage quarters on the grill, but that recipe sounds scrumptious. I guess you'd not seal up the foil, so the smoke can get in?

Here's a little photo shoot of my first workout on the Smokin' Pro. Gorgeous, fun, and delicious! Next time, lower and slower. I'll have to look for some fire bricks. You put them in the fire box, or in the grill/smoker box? It's the same principle that I use in my oven by keeping the heavy pizza stone in there all the time, to even out the heat - don't know why I didn't think of that for the smoker. Behold my butt! Col Klink, thanks so much for your course - couldn't have done it without you. I'm going to feed the next iteration of this to a bunch of your old buds on the 4th. We'll lift a glass or two in your general direction before we get our faces all greasy.

Ok, my maiden butt voyage, as it were. It was raining, it was 7:00 a.m., but hey, anything for butt, right? I had no trouble getting the fire started, thanks to fatwood, one of the wonders of the fire world. I put the butts in the freezer when I lit the fire, but it got up to temp so fast that I don't think they were even in there for half an hour. And my two lovely pieces of bone-in butt had been brining, but only for about 10 hours, since I didn't get my act together earlier. So they were perhaps in a slightly sub-optimal state, but I forged ahead and set them on the grate. I babysat the fire like a mother cat for the first hour or so, learning how to keep it at 225, which is harder than it sounds. I was burning oak, with some hickory chips, and the occasional lump of mesquite charcoal, for a sort of eclectic flavor profile, also, it was what I had on hand. After one hour they were already looking edible After two hours, they were smelling edible After three hours, I was drooling a bit Meanwhile I was simmering some Anasazi beans, and waiting for the rain to stop, which it finally did. I had one butt that was half the size of the other, and I was expecting it to be done first. It was 4.5 lbs, and I thought it would take about 6 hours. I put it as far as possible from the firebox, sheltered by the 8.5 pounder, which I thought would take about 10 hours. Lo and behold, after 7 hours and 40 minutes they were both at 195 and looking righteous. I wrapped them in double layers of foil and tossed them into a cooler for a couple of hours to wait for dinner. Then, inspired (please do try this at home!) I put the beans into a cast iron skillet and set them to smoke for a couple of hours. Those beans...those were some of the best beans you ever imagined. I had the sense to realize that the two of us, however much we love butt, were not going to make it through almost 14 pounds of the stuff, so I called in an emergency back-up pair of transplanted Texans to share our bounty. When they arrived, I pulled beauteous butt. Now, here I should have a great shot of a plate full of butt, smoky beans, bread, Mark's really and truly fabulous mustard sauce, pickles, and a great green salad. Should have, but don't, because no one would stop eating long enough to take a picture. What a totally fun and satisfying day, and a kick-ass meal. I have a huge pile of meat in the freezer, another more moderate sized bowl in the fridge, and we sent plenty home with our friends as well. I really need to get rid of it so I can do this again as soon as possible! Next time I'm going to work harder to keep the temp from ever going over 225, and try to get another couple of hours on the cook time, and possibly smoosh a little more smoke into the meat. Not that I'm complaining, and there was a lovely smoke ring, it's just that it was, well, all over too soon.

Daddy-A, what do you have, international X-ray vision??? I didn't even post a single picture and you can see the mug of coffee resting on the smoker table? You've gotta tell us how you do that! My butts are now slowly climbing out of the stall. I'm so glad I read about that or I might be a bit freaked out. The rain has stopped, the butts are looking gorgeous, and the beans are simmering. More or less, all's right with the world.

Ok, I did a several hour dry burn last night, and phew, did it ever stink! I'm so glad no meat of mine was exposed to those revolting fumes. I rubbed the grates with lard at the end, just for good measure (and because I hadn't seen the Col's instructions not to bother). Now I'm in Hour Three of having 14 lbs of pork butt on the smoker, using oak, with some hickory chips for flavor, and the occasional chunk of mesquite lump charcoal for temp control. There's sure a lot of thermal inertia in the smoker! I've been trying to keep it within 25 degrees plus or minus of 225, but sometimes it's been running with the vents all the way closed and taken 10 minutes to cool down to 225, and other times I've tossed in a bit of charcoal to bring the temp up in a hurry. It's raining here, but I have the smoker under a big umbrella, so I'm not sure whether that's affecting the temp range or not. More likely, I just need to get a better feel for how much wood it needs at any given time. Right now I'm checking the thermometer about every 20 minutes. Sometimes it'll be holding steady at 225 the whole time, sometimes it rises or falls a bit. Any hints on temp regulation when burning firewood-sized logs will be gratefully received! Byu the way, I'm having a blast, even though it is too early to drink, and I'm getting rained on as well as smoke-infused.

After reading the Col Klink eGCI class (thanks, Luckylies!) I'm going with burning wood. My smoker is on her maiden voyage right now, with 14 pounds of pork butt. I'll post about my (hopeful) success on the Behold my Butt thread. Uh, it's pouring rain here, just to add to the general merriment.

Ok, my butt's on! I have 14 lbs of bone-in butt smoking away in the rain. My oak is really dry, so keeping the temp down is a bit of a challenge, but hey, I've only been at it for 41 minutes. I'm taking pictures, and will post tonight. I have one piece that's 8.5 lbs, and one that's 4.5, so I'm thinking the smaller one will be done a lot earlier. That's ok with me, since smoking is my whole plan for the day. I can see that burning wood takes a lot more attention than briquets would but I think I'll figure it out. All please send a silent lip-smack to the pork goddesses for me: Let my dinner be thrilling.

Dear, kind, Jim Dixon is shipping me some walnuts from his tree in Portland, because I can't make it down there in time for walnut perfection. Me too, I'm hoping for Lucy's recipe, but if not, I'll probably use the one you linked to.

Oh wow, homemade pastrami. If it's excellent, please post the recipe/method! Fortunately I decided to season the smoker. The smells of the various cruds burning off all the insides were appalling - I'm so glad those won't be on our food.

I always use those disposable aluminum pans when I do turkeys in the Weber, and I love them. Last night I did a turkey with beer in the pan instead of water. Yeah, I know, the beer should have been in me instead, but I got confused. The turkey is utterly delectable, although I'm not sure how much of that is attributable to the beer. That's a formidable course Col Klink put together. I'm hoping he'll come along and tell me if I really need to season the grill for hours before I get started. I'd go check it out for gunkiness right now, but it's thundering and pouring. I am really hoping to smoke tomorrow, but seasoning would mean that I have to put it off a day. I have a self-cleaning oven, but I'm pretty sure the grill grate is too big for my crummy Jenn Air to handle.

Whew! I've read the whole course, all these Q&As, the Behold my Butt thread, the brisket roll your own thread, I have a pile of oak firewood, and I have a brand new Char-Griller Smokin' Pro like the one pictured above. I've smoked on my Weber kettle before, and think I'm ready for the big time. One thing that I'm not clear on, having seen just the one reference to this - do I need to season the smoker before starting? I was going to smoke tomorrow, but if I have to spend several hours seasoning it, I'll need to change my plans, not to mention my menu. By the way, before I realized how much was already here, I started a thread specifically on the Smokin' Pro here.

Ok, oak I've got plenty of. I also have hickory chips, not chunks (just did a turkey on the Weber with those last night), and I also have mesquite lump charcoal. Between those, I ought to be able to make something good. Oh yeah, and two bone-in pork butts that I'm about to brine so's I can smoke 'em tomorrow, if it's not raining all day. Thanks, Susan - I'll hop over to the smoking class pronto. That was before my time on eG and I didn't realize that it was there. I know he's the master - too bad he had to leave Seattle before I got to taste his wares!

Thanks very much for the cake recipe - I think I can wing it from there. AP flour?

So, it's almost walnut time. What recipes is everyone using? Me, I'm waiting for Lucy's!

Wow, I missed this thread last week. I'm wondering what all the possibilities are for things to poach - like maybe fresh shucked oysters, or even stone fruits.

Interesting, Dave. I'll look forward to hearing about how you deal with the ash question. I usually don't use briquets, and it's been so long since Idid that I'd forgotten all about ash as an issue. I guess it's more of a hassle than with the Weber, since there's no place for them to drop out of the firebox. Hmm, I'll have to mull over the options.

When I do a turkey on the Weber, I pretty much always do brine it. I was just wondering whether the long, slow heat of the smoker, combined with the leanness of the turkey, would be making more of a jerky than one would actually wish for. I think I'll cook the turkey some other way and do a butt or two for my maiden voyage on the smoker, so as to be sure of success. I wish I knew about the wood vs. briquets thing for the firebox. The instructions clearly suggest that you'll be burning wood in it, but I'm wondering, after reading all of the above, if that's actually the best way, given the temp control issues.