Any Time is Grillin Time

[olbriar]

My butt turned out pretty good but not as good as normal. I prepped and smoked it as usual but this time my pork was a bit tough. Normally, the bone just falls out of the roast. This time I had to pull it out and with effort remove the pork from it.
The pork pulled with difficulty and the end product was inferior. I decided against sharing it with the new neighbors... it wasn't up to par. I've never experienced a tough Boston butt before. It tasted fine but took a bit more chewing.

Sometimes the magic works.. sometimes it doesn't

 

[olbriar]

Does anyone have any super grill plans for Superbowl Sunday? I had planned to smoke a turkey breast but my butcher has ribs on sale. It's a hard call. Both sound good.

 

[Unforgiven]

Does anyone have any super grill plans for Superbowl Sunday? I had planned to smoke a turkey breast but my butcher has ribs on sale. It's a hard call. Both sound good.

I'm making pulled pork. I don't like a big party when the home team is in the game. I prefer to watch the game without all the distractions (read: I'm not rewinding to watch a friggen commercial ).

 

[olbriar]

I'm making pulled pork. I don't like a big party when the home team is in the game. I prefer to watch the game without all the distractions (read: I'm not rewinding to watch a friggen commercial ).

That sounds good my friend. I do wish you luck in the big game.

 

[Unforgiven]

That sounds good my friend. I do wish you luck in the big game.

I My wife pulled an audible and decided I would make some wings on the Traeger for the game. Clipped, towel dried, and coated with salt and pepper. Ready to grill. Plenty of buffalo sauce, salt & vinigar, and a few other wet sauces to coat them with during the game.

Edit: Forgot the pic

 

[olbriar]

I My wife pulled an audible and decided I would make some wings on the Traeger for the game. Clipped, towel dried, and coated with salt and pepper. Ready to grill. Plenty of buffalo sauce, salt & vinigar, and a few other wet sauces to coat them with during the game.

Edit: Forgot the pic

I got out of the loop on smoking anything... bummer. Had some friends passing through and wanted to crash at the cabin.
So I opened the cabin and spent the night with them. Had a great time but spoiled my cooking plans. Meat and cheese platter straight from wally world is all I made... Party is at my son's place. I think he is pulling pork for dinner. And wouldn't you know it.... my butcher was having a sale on ribs...

 

[Unforgiven]

So I tried a new pulled pork technique today. I did what the instructions I had called a Texas Two Step and an FTC rest. So basically I smoked the butt at 225 until it reached an internal temp of 160. I then double wrapped it in aluminum foil and cooked it at 350 until it reached 200. I then let it rest using the FTC (Foil, towel, cooler) method. Basically, double wrap it in foil, or in my case since it already had two layers of foil, I just added a third so it was clean against the towels. Then wrap it in a towel and stuff it in a cooler. Fill the rest of the airspace in the cooler with more towels. I let it rest for nearly three hours and it was still 175 when I pulled it.

It still had a really good bark on it, and I could have pulled it anywhere from 6-10 hours after I started cooking it. Way better than a 15 hour cook. Or at least easier to plan a meal around.

 

[olbriar]

Home at the half. Sorry things aren't going that well for your team..,. so far. My son pulled pork. It was a 3.5 lb butt.
Smoked it two hours at 200 then two hour at 250. Double wrapped it and cooked it another two hours at 250. He said the temp when taken from the smoker was right at 200. He too put it in a cooler with towels to fill the extra space. He let it rest for two hours and pulled it. It was very tender and juicy... not greasy. He always smokes with the fat cap down through the entire cook.

My normal smoke is a 11-12 hour procedure which takes almost an entire hopper of pellets. His cook was six hours and was then pulled just before we were ready to eat. It was a smaller butt than I normally smoke. But there is a lot to say for the quicker cook and having it pulled just minutes before eating... and on your schedule. And, the end result was excellent.

Post game congrats! Your Pats made a great come back.

 

[olbriar]

I grilled a couple of amazing ribeyes tonight. Sometimes the stars simply align. It was my first opportunity to fix my sweetie her Valentines dinner. It was worth waiting for.

Tomorrow a complete cleaning of my Traeger is on the agenda. Not that it needs it.. much lol.
I am very guilty of grilling but not cleaning up much in the winter. No excuse tomorrow. It's supposed to be nice and the grill definitely needs a once over.

 

[olbriar]

I put the super clean on the Traeger as I should have. I've grilled out a couple of times since. Just burgers and dogs but tomorrow I'm doing some chicken thighs. They are boneless skinless so they cook well on the grill. I'm going to wrap them with some intensely peppered thick sliced bacon. There is a magic that happens when you add bacon to chicken.
I plan to mostly cook them on a shallow baking dish until almost done then finish them off directly on the grill. It saves messing up my clean grill. I have some fresh asparagus that I'll foil up with butter and Parmesan cheese to grill as well. Now that I've typed this.. I'm hungry.

 

[Unforgiven]

Now that I've typed this.. I'm hungry.

Me too

 

[Unforgiven]

Beer can chicken on the Traeger.

 

[olbriar]

Man that looks good!!

 

[Unforgiven]

Man that looks good!!

Oh, it was. And I had just enough left over to make chicken pot pie tonight. I may even cook it in the Traeger to see how it tastes being wood fired.

 

[Unforgiven]

I'm going to try making homemade corned beef for St. Patty's day. I've never tried it before, and it looks like 8-10 days of brining and prep, then cook them on the smoker. I'm going all in due to the spiace quanities I needed to buy, the fact that I am gong to fire up my grill fridge (the one I use for rubs, brining, storage, etc.) and it's empty. I'm doing 4-6 briskets in brine. I'll probably smoke a few and vacuum seal / freeze a couple.

I plan on cooking enough to both have a big feed and make some homemade corned beef hash on the weekend.

 

[olbriar]

One word... Rubens lol. That sounds like fun and very interesting. You will have to let me know how that works out. We do some corned beef for Patty's day.. always. But I've always bought the roast ready to bake.. or crock pot. I love corned beef... absolutely love it. Cooked with some cabbage.. on a sandwich... stand alone. It's wonderful. I'm very anxious to hear how your attempt fairs.

 

[Unforgiven]

One word... Rubens lol. That sounds like fun and very interesting. You will have to let me know how that works out. We do some corned beef for Patty's day.. always. But I've always bought the roast ready to bake.. or crock pot. I love corned beef... absolutely love it. Cooked with some cabbage.. on a sandwich... stand alone. It's wonderful. I'm very anxious to hear how your attempt fairs.

I just got the brisket. Tomorrow it goes n the brine.

About 15 pounds to insure some leftovers.

 

[olbriar]

Those look pretty. 15 pounds should just about do it What exactly are you brining with? Dang I'm anxious to hear of the final result.

 

[Unforgiven]

Those look pretty. 15 pounds should just about do it What exactly are you brining with? Dang I'm anxious to hear of the final result.

Sea Salt (Kosher Salt more or less), pink salt (I don't know the difference, but recipes), coriander, whole cloves, crushed red pepper, cardamom pods, and mustard seeds. It needs to soak for a weeks or so. Then a rub and on the smoker.

 

[olbriar]

Wow! Sounds way interesting! Pink salt is a new one on me as well as cardamom pods. Now I'm REALLY interested.

 

[olbriar]

I guess you have your briskets in brine by now. How's it going? Were you able to find the pink salt and cardamom pods? To my knowledge, I've never seen either.

I was curious as to the rub you were planning? Your entire cook has me excited.

 

[Unforgiven]

I guess you have your briskets in brine by now. How's it going? Were you able to find the pink salt and cardamom pods? To my knowledge, I've never seen either.

I was curious as to the rub you were planning? Your entire cook has me excited.

I held off on the brining until tomorrow as I had some conflicting information on brining for more than 5 days. Some claim the salinity will equalize so brining for 5 days is the same as ten, which was my premise on starting it earlier in the week. Others claim it would make the meat too salty. I didn't want to risk all that meat, so I'll put the brin together tomorrow.

I went to my local grocery store to find the spices. It was a real treat to find them in baggies as they were only $1-2 instead of $5-8 for little jars. As you can see top left, the pink salt is from McCormick, so it should be pretty easy to find. I had never heard of the Caramom Pods either, but they were right there with all the others. The rest of the spices I have in stock.

If you know someone with a mortar and pestle it will help with crushing the spices. Luckily my wife is a Pharmacist, so she was able to hook me up.

Here is the recipe I'm going off of. As usual, if it comes out OK I'll tweak to my own taste.
http://www.traegergrills.com/recipes/beef/corned-beef

Mind you, that recipe is for the meat packer sized brisket, 12-16 pounds. I'm doing two at once while my grilling fridge is empty (I just turned it back on after winter) and I have room for the weeklong brine. I'm going to smoke one right away, and cut the other into 3ds and vacuum seal and freeze them for later.

The steps aren't hard, it's more having room somewhere to keep it cold and let it brine.

Also, note at the end wrapping in foil, then a towel, then a cooler. I just discovered this technique for resting smoked meat. It's called FTC (Foil, Towel, Cooler) and you can keep food hot for up to four hours. I stuff the rest of the airspace in the cooler with extra towels and leave my remote thermometer plugged in. This help immensely for things like this or pulled pork where the end time isn't always predictable. Now I just plan to have them finish and hour or two early and keep it hot with it's own heat while I prepare the sides, and I can table the whole meal all at once without having to scramble.

 

[olbriar]

I went to my local grocery store to find the spices. It was a real treat to find them in baggies as they were only $1-2 instead of $5-8 for little jars.

If you know someone with a mortar and pestle it will help with crushing the spices. Luckily my wife is a Pharmacist, so she was able to hook me up.

The steps aren't hard, it's more having room somewhere to keep it cold and let it brine.

Also, note at the end wrapping in foil, then a towel, then a cooler. I just discovered this technique for resting smoked meat. It's called FTC (Foil, Towel, Cooler) and you can keep food hot for up to four hours.

Outstanding on the spices! I've only seen bagged spices at a specialty health food mart. ...and at no savings. I buy there occasionally. Their spices always seem more robust. Making me think they are likely closer to fresh.
I have a mortar and pestle I purchased years ago.just for crushing garlic for my canned salsas. Great tool for many jobs.

I haven't tried a Traeger recipe that did not turn out. They might not taste exactly as I thought... but good. A little tweaking the next time around makes it yours.

Having the space... that's the key. I'm envious of your designated bbq fridge. I brine in a huge cooler. It's fine for the over night brine but would take some attention for a week long brine. Last few times I brined I used a ten gallon ziploc. It saves me the effort of scouring my designated cooler.

My son used the pack and store method to retain heat for the pork butts he pulled for his super bowl party. First time I saw the trick and was wowed. I have not tried it yet but I will.

Well it looks like you are on course for some fun. I'm anxious to hear how it all turns out. I'll be doing my humdrum corned beef in the crock pot like always. After you brag up your end results, I'm sure the pressure will be on to attempt your cook. It sure sounds good... and fun.

 

[dontpanicbobby]

Chops. What about chops?

 

[olbriar]

Chops. What about chops?

No chops today. However, pork is on the menu. I'm smoking out some country-style spare ribs. It's just a boneless cut of the pork loin. I smoke them for a couple of hours then crank up the heat. Ultimately I end up with a smoked tasting grilled piece of pork.
I rubbed them prior to cook with my rib rub and will finish them off bagged up in foil with some honey and bbq sauce. Not chops but not bad.