mache

I separate the thighs and legs from the breast and smoke them all with four fist size chunks of cherry wood in my Weber Smokey Mountain Cooker (WSM) at 300F. I have an Automatic Temperature Controller (ATC) that maintains the temperature to within one degree F. I pull the breast at 155F and the thighs at 170F. Should take between one and a half and two hours for an unstuffed, fifteen pound turkey.

I am thinking of dry brining and then smoking my Thanksgiving turkey and wanted to know if anyone has experience with dry brining (the smoking part is something I have been doing for a long time). I have collected some dry brining recipies from the Internet that I have listed below. I would be interested in comments from folks that have already had some experience with dry brining. Here are some of the methods I am considering. NY Times 12- to 16-pound turkey, preferably a heritage or pasture raised bird 1/2 cup kosher salt, more if needed 1. Two days before serving, rinse turkey and pat dry. Rub all over with kosher salt, slipping salt under skin where possible and rubbing some into cavities. Use about 1 tablespoon per four pounds of bird. 2. Wrap bird in a large plastic bag and place in refrigerator. On second night, turn turkey over. A couple of hours before cooking, remove turkey from bag and pat dry. Place in roasting pan and allow to come to room temperature. LA Times 1. Wash the turkey inside and out, pat it dry and weigh it. Measure 1 tablespoon of salt into a bowl for every 5 pounds the turkey weighs (for a 15-pound turkey, you'd have 3 tablespoons). 2. Sprinkle the inside of the turkey lightly with salt. Place the turkey on its back and salt the breasts, concentrating the salt in the center, where the meat is thickest. You'll probably use a little more than a tablespoon. It should look liberally seasoned, but not over-salted. 3. Turn the turkey on one side and sprinkle the entire side with salt, concentrating on the thigh. You should use a little less than a tablespoon. Flip the turkey over and do the same with the opposite side. 4. Place the turkey in a 2 1/2 -gallon sealable plastic bag, press out the air and seal tightly. Place the turkey breast-side up in the refrigerator. Chill for 3 days, turning it onto its breast for the last day. 5. Remove the turkey from the bag. There should be no salt visible on the surface and the skin should be moist but not wet. Place the turkey breast-side up on a plate and refrigerate uncovered for at least 8 hours. 6. On the day it is to be cooked, remove the turkey from the refrigerator and leave it at room temperature at least 1 hour. Americas Test Kitchen 1 turkey (12 to 15 pounds), giblets and neck reserved for gravy, if making 3 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons kosher salt (see note above) 2 teaspoons baking powder For the turkey: Using fingers or handle of wooden spoon, separate turkey skin from meat on breast, legs, thighs, and back; avoid breaking skin. Rub 1 tablespoon salt evenly inside cavity of turkey, 1 1/2 teaspoons salt under skin of each breast, and 1 1/2 teaspoons salt under skin of each leg. Wrap turkey tightly with plastic wrap; refrigerate 24 to 48 hours. To roast the turkey: Combine remaining 2 teaspoons kosher salt and baking powder in small bowl. Remove turkey from refrigerator and unwrap. Thoroughly dry inside and out with paper towels. Using skewer, poke 15 to 20 holes in fat deposits on top of breast halves and thighs, 4 to 5 holes in each deposit. Sprinkle surface of turkey with salt baking powder mixture and rub in mixture with hands, coating skin evenly. Tuck wings underneath turkey. Using twine, loosely tie turkey legs together. Place turkey breast-side down in V-rack set in roasting pan and drape salt pork slices over back.

For the starch I would do a thai sweet potato mash. Roast peeled and sliced sweet potatoes on a sheet pan at 400F and then mashed and mix them with a lemongrass, coconut milk, kafir lime leaf, soy, fish sauce, chili sauce, honey. Not traditional at all but works great. For the veggie dish one could make a szechuan eggplant casserole. I would roast the eggplants first. -- Mache

For NYE, we did a sherry and nutmeg butternut squash soup starter, grilled kalbi LA style short ribs, szechuan eggplant, and baked sweet potato cubes in a coconut milk-based thai sauce for the main, and for dessert home made bourbon coffee ice cream on top of a brownie and garnished with candied pecans. -- Mache

For all the effort required for the Fatty Brisket, including a smoking temperature of 190F, I was not impressed. 190F is a very low smoking temperature and after 21 hours, the flat area of my 16.25 pound USDA Choice packer brisket had an internal temperature 150F. I had to pull it off of the the smoker, foil it, and finish it at 300F in my oven. The wet paste and the dry rub did not add anything distinctive to what I have experienced with other briskets. Also, the flat was tender but dry. In future I will smoke at 225F, foil the brisket with some liquid when I hit the stall, and let it go to completion (fork tender at the flat). The Fatty Brisket is definitely not a keeper. -- Mache

There is a community of folks that use Automatic Temperature Controllers (ATCs) like your Auber BBQ controller in conjuction with a Solid State Relay (SSR) to turn the power to an electric heater on an electric smoker on and off to maintain temperature to within 1-2 degrees F. You could use your Auber in the same way for sous vide. Place the pit probe of the Auber into a water filled crock pot and attach the 12VDC fan power as the control input to an SSR. Plug the crock pot into the power section of the SSR and the crock pot becomes a very effective sous vide system. Alternatively you can use this type of heater and a large cooler filled with water in place of the crock pot if you need a bigger water bath. I built my own BBQ ATC (called the HeaterMeter - HM) for around $200 and plan to do the same thing. Here is a thread that talks about controlling an electric smoker with the HM: http://tvwbb.com/showthread.php?46265-Electric-smoker Here is the HM project page: https://github.com/CapnBry/HeaterMeter/wiki Here is the HM forum for help: http://tvwbb.com/forumdisplay.php?85-LinkMeter-v2-Homebrew-BBQ-Controller -- Mache

I did the brussels sprouts with bacon and chilli (also posted by the New York Times) for Thanksgiving and thought it was great. I will probably rework it to cut down on the bacon fat but still feel it will deliver most if not all of the flavor. I am also going to do his Fatty Brisket. I want to branch out from the more traditional smoked briskets I have done and try more Asian flavors. -- Mache

I like Hugh Carpenter's books on Asian Fusion -- Mache http://www.amazon.com/Hugh-Carpenter/e/B000APUZ2S

Here in the San Francisco Bay Area its sand dab fillets dredged in egg wash and flour and pan fried.

J W Treuth & Sons is less than an hours drive from Annapolis, MD and is in Catonsville, MD. They have gotten good posts on some of the sites I have viewed. See http://www.jwtreuth.com/retail.php and http://www.yelp.com/biz/j-w-treuth-and-sons-catonsville. -- Mache

If you get an automatic temperature controller (ATC) you DO NOT need water in the water pan. You can foil it over, keep it dry and use it only as a heat diffuser. ATCs work by using a pit temerpature proble that runs a feedback loop feeding or starving the oxygen to the fire using a blower. In this way an ATC can keep the pit temperature constant to within 1-2 degrees F of your setting. That makes the most of your charcoal. In one cook, I had a brisket go close to 28 hours on a fully loaded ring of charcoal using the Minion Method. All you do is set it and forget. On my WSM I have an early BBQ Guru (Predator) and use a 10CFM blower. ATCs also have one or several meat probes so you only need to pull the lid off to up to baste and test for doneness. For me, it allowed me to go to sleep the night of those long cooks knowing that the temperature would always remain what I set it to. I makes you WSM work like a regular kitchen oven. Along with the retail ATCs I listed earlier, there are also a number of Do It Yourself (DIY) projects. Obviously way less expensive than purchaing a unit outright, you do need a talent for doing DIY electronics soldering and software on obsolete computer routers. The one I like is here: http://tvwbb.com/forumdisplay.php?85-LinkMeter-v2-Homebrew-BBQ-Controller). Hope that helps, Best, -- Mache

Congratulations! The pink in the pictures looks like you got good smoke. If we have gotten you addicted to BBQ, God help you. Work on the water pan driping and think about ditching it and the lack of sleep and saving up for either a BBQ Guru or a Stoker. Try a full packer brisket next. You are ready. Best, -- Mache

Let us know how it turned out. -- Mache

I have no comments on pan foiling as I never use water (I have a BBQ Guru so I don't need it). I always foil the empty pan inside and then put foil over the top. In this way things always stay clean. -- Mache

With the butt at 182 degrees F at T-3 I think you are a little behind the curve. Check again at T-1 to see where things are. I would assume you need to be greater than 190 degrees F to start to get into the done range where a fork or nail thermometer goes into the meat like softened butter. -- Mache

Sounds like things are going along well. Do try to limit the times you open the lid as it take a long time to recover the temperature and lengthens the cooking time overall. The next time you check on things, take an internal temperature of the butt in a thick part of the meat. That will give you an idea of where it is in the cook and how long it will be until its done. Use a nail meat thermometer. If you want to make this a regular thing, along with automatic temperature controllers (ATCs) like the BBQ Guru (http://www.thebbqguru.com/) or the Stoker (https://www.rocksbarbque.com/), I would look into an instant temperature read thermopen (http://www.thermoworks.com/products/thermapen/). -- Mache

I very much agree. Try to get stuff finished up before your guests arrive and then change clothes and shower. Typically, you get smoked as part of the process of doing BBQ on a WSM. -- Mache

I usually rest the ribs for at least an hour. Other folks may have other opinions. Some rest, than glaze and crisp them on the grill. Lots of variations. -- Mache

Sorry T - 8 -- Mache

I would put the ribs on at T - 2 which is 8 hours before 7 PM or 11 AM. -- Mache

I would strongly suggest you check the temerature and the water level every few hours to make sure things are on track. I think you will find that maintaining the temperature to keep close to 225 will be your biggest challenge. Also, heavy duty foil the water pan before use. Makes cleanup a lot easier. -- Mache

Meat only picks up smoke in the first few hours and then it does not take any more. You should not worry about over smoking the butt when you start up the ribs. Also, monitor the temperature throughout. You will probably have to adjust the dampers to maintain 225 or so. This is where the art of BBQ comes in. For me, I got fed up with damper adjustments and got a BBQ Guru (http://www.thebbqguru.com/) but you do not have the time to do that for this cook. -- Mache

I would set up a time line for when you want to eat and then work backwords. Also, you should also figure in 1-2 hours to rest the meats double wrapped in heavy foil, then wrapped in a dry towel, and then placed in a well insulated cooler to keep them hot. The cooler should keep things hot for 4-5 hours this way. So, for you I would suggest. 1. Use the Minion method. Well managed it should give you over 20 hours of 225 degrees F at the top grate. Read up on how to do this and how to set up the dampers. Assume you will use about 12 pounds of charcoal. 2. Fill the water pan with boiling water 3. Assume that your butts will take 10-12 hours and your ribs will take 6 hours at 225 degrees F. For ribs the done test is to jab the rib meat with a scewer and it should go in like it would with softened butter. For the butts the test is to insert a fork into an all muscle (not fat) area to check for the same softened butter feel. See the website for more information. 4. Get your WSM going and stable at 225 or so F top grate temperature, use a mercury oven thermometer and follow the directions on damper adjustment on the website 5. Oil up the bottom grate and put the butts on the bottom grate at T - 14 hours. Use whatever dry rub and baste you desire 6. For your first smoke I would go easy on the smoke wood and use either all fruit wood (4 apple or cherry fist sized chunks) or half friut and half oak. 7. Check the water bowl and refill as needed with boiling water. 8. At T - 8 hours put the rib racks on the oiled top grate. Add additional 4 fist chunks of smoke wood. Use whatever dry rub and baste you desire 9. Continue to check the water pan every hour or two 10. Periodically check meats for done. At T - 2 or a little before or after, everything should be done. Double foil all meat pieces in heavy foil, towel wrap them, and place them in a cooler to keep warm. 11. Relax and do other stuff until guests arrive. Do a reveal to the guests by unpacking the foil and setting up the meats for service.

Also, to be able to smoke a larger number of rib racks, folks typically roll them up using a screwer or two to secure them. See the pictures here: http://www.bbq-brethren.com/forum/showthread.php?t=93285 -- Mache

Regarding where to get pork butt and ribs, I would suggest going to Costco. They typically have good quality meat for a good price. I would not bother with paying a premium for organic meats for barbecue. Also you should look at http://www.virtualweberbullet.com/ they have a whole section on smoking pork butts and ribs (http://www.virtualweberbullet.com/cook.html#pork). The website also has the proper way to setup and use the Weber Smokey Mountain Cooker as well. See this area: http://www.virtualweberbullet.com/tipsfaq.html. Also for long cooks I would learn to use the Minion method mentioned in a earlier post - http://www.virtualweberbullet.com/fireup2.html#minion Good luck, -- Mache