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Any Time is Grillin Time

ocnbrze said:
i have not bought my treager just yet. i saw that home depot had the smaller one for $360......seems pretty cheap. should i get the small one or save up for the bigger bad boy? i really do not cook for large crowds any more. it is usually just my family and a few friends that come over every now and then.
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As @olbriar said, I have a 'Lil Tex (medium size) and a tailgating one. Both cook fantastic, but on the smaller one you are imited on the size of what you can cook, both in height and width. So the small one works great for camping, but if I was going to use one everyday, I'd definitely get the larger. In fact, if I was to do it again I would have purchased the largest one when I got the initial one. It isn't often I need the room, but it's noticible when I do. A good example of this is when I make pizzas. I can only fit two in at a time where I'd probably be able to fit 4 on the larger grill.
 
As they say, larger is better. :) I traded up from the medium sized GM smoker to the larger smoker. I was doing baby backs and wanted to do five. NO WAY could I get them on the smaller smoker. That made me long for the bigger unit. This weekend I did a very large pork butt and a large tin of kielbasa sausages, peppers, and onions. There was not room on my medium sized Traeger for both dishes. I grilled the kielbasa and smoked the butt. It was not a problem but if I had the cooking area I would have done both on the smoker.

It's very easy to cook small on a large cooker. It's impossible to cook large on a small cooker. FWIW When I first bought, I thought all of my cooks would be just for the wife and I. But as time has gone by, I've found myself doing larger cooks for more guests. Or I've cooked more than one dish at a time having smoked something for a dinner in the near future. And there is always that cook where you'd like to smoke some ears of corn or something similar along with your meats. The bigger smoker just makes all of that so easy. I would not go back to a smaller cooker.
 
I'm considering smoking pork chops or pork steaks out tomorrow. Football Sunday is so not the same without smoking something. :)
Yesterday I attended the funeral of one of my last remaining 1st cousins. Typical affair with dinner for the family following the ceremony. I opted for some of the prepared pulled pork from the buffet which proved to be a lack luster choice. I suspect the meat was slow cooked in crock pots with zero seasoning. It had no bark, greasy, and very stringy that ultimately upset my stomach. It's amazing just how superior the dish would have been if it had been smoked.
 
olbriar said:
Yesterday I attended the funeral of one of my last remaining 1st cousins.
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Sorry to hear about the cousin. I've only lost one 1st cousin so far, and that was to cancer. I'm on the younger end of the cousins, and I suspect the pace will unfortunately hasten. :(
olbriar said:
I opted for some of the prepared pulled pork from the buffet which proved to be a lack luster choice. I suspect the meat was slow cooked in crock pots with zero seasoning. It had no bark, greasy, and very stringy that ultimately upset my stomach.
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Until I learned I had no appreciation for the art of smoking. I tend to not eat faux smoked things while I appreciate going to a good smokehouse to eat.
olbriar said:
It's amazing just how superior the dish would have been if it had been smoked.
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The sad part is smoking 100# of pork shoulder is as much work as 5#, and buffet style it's perfect. You really wouldn't even have to pull it, just put the but out there with some bear claws and let people pull it off as they go.
 
Unforgiven said:
Sorry to hear about the cousin. I've only lost one 1st cousin so far, and that was to cancer. I'm on the younger end of the cousins, and I suspect the pace will unfortunately hasten. :(

Until I learned I had no appreciation for the art of smoking. I tend to not eat faux smoked things while I appreciate going to a good smokehouse to eat.

The sad part is smoking 100# of pork shoulder is as much work as 5#, and buffet style it's perfect. You really wouldn't even have to pull it, just put the but out there with some bear claws and let people pull it off as they go.
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My father was the baby of his family and my mother was next to the youngest in hers. Most of my cousins were like aunts and uncles to me for they were so much older. Most of what I thought were cousins were actually my cousin's children. Always sad to say goodbye.

Pulled pork is my go to meat when I'm hosting a large dinner. It's liked by most and feeds many for the effort to prepare. What I ate yesterday was a sad example of a bad cook. It was nice of the church to provide the dinner but with just a bit of effort the meal could have been stellar.

I landed some very nice looking pork blade steaks for my cook tomorrow. I plan on rubbing them down with some hot rub and just smoking them nice and slow. My wife is flying out this afternoon to visit our daughter in flaming California. I'm on my own so I can ramp up the heat on my rub and not suffer a verbal lashing. :) I'm going to smoke out some scalloped potatoes with the steaks. The leftovers will feed me Monday. :)
 
olbriar said:
My father was the baby of his family and my mother was next to the youngest in hers. Most of my cousins were like aunts and uncles to me for they were so much older.
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Same for me.

olbriar said:
What I ate yesterday was a sad example of a bad cook.
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I've had crock pot pulled port that was fantastic, but you have to trim the fat before the cook as there is plenty of fat in the cut already. There is no where for the fat to go when in a crock pot.

olbriar said:
I landed some very nice looking pork blade steaks for my cook tomorrow. I plan on rubbing them down with some hot rub and just smoking them nice and slow. My wife is flying out this afternoon to visit our daughter in flaming California. I'm on my own so I can ramp up the heat on my rub and not suffer a verbal lashing. :) I'm going to smoke out some scalloped potatoes with the steaks. The leftovers will feed me Monday. :)
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That sounds fantastic. I've got a couple pork tenderloins that have been marinating overnight in a bourbon sauce overnight that I plan on cooking a little later. I like tenderloins as they cook quick, so long as you prep them beforehand.
 
Unforgiven said:
I've had crock pot pulled port that was fantastic, but you have to trim the fat before the cook as there is plenty of fat in the cut already. There is no where for the fat to go when in a crock pot.
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I have had crock pot pulled pork that was extremely good as well. Fat cap was removed and it was cooked in Dr Pepper of all things. I've not tried to replicate the cook but it was very good and a must try cook.
Unforgiven said:
That sounds fantastic. I've got a couple pork tenderloins that have been marinating overnight in a bourbon sauce overnight that I plan on cooking a little later. I like tenderloins as they cook quick, so long as you prep them beforehand.
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Your pork tenderloins sound great as well. The bourbon sauce sounds very interesting, Would you share your brew?

Back when I was first married and extremely removed from disposable revenue, my wife bought a nice roast and cooked it with my treasured stash of Jack Black. She followed a recipe and all should have been one fantastic meal for poor folk. However, it turned out tasting terrible, near uneatable. Not only was a fine cut of meat ruined... it was ruined with my fine bourbon. Without choice, we ate it anyway but haven't used bourbon in a cook since.
 
It's simple, about 1/2 cup of bourbon, brown sugar, and soy sauce. A couple tablespoons of Worcestershire and mustard. A chopped onion and black pepper to taste (I honestly haven't been able to taste the pepper in any iteration from the first time I cooked this off a recipe, but YMMV).

Marinade at least overnight, but my experience is a couple of days is better. It's a grilled dish, not smoked, so cook at 400 or so until done to your liking, blah, blah, blah. Tonight's cook had a couple of off sized pieces. One was about 3/4 pound and one was 2+ lbs. so they didn't cook as evenly as I'd like. I let the big one get to 147ish and the small one was close to 160. Rested for ten minutes or so and they were both good. I'm on the "a little pink in the middle of pork is OK" side, so the larger on was good for me. This pic is the center of the larger one.
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Tonight I'm trying double-smoked ham. Basically, smoking a store bought ham with the same wood it was originally cured with. I never knew this was a thing, but I'm game to try new things all the time.
 
Unforgiven said:
Tonight I'm trying double-smoked ham. Basically, smoking a store bought ham with the same wood it was originally cured with. I never knew this was a thing, but I'm game to try new things all the time.
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And how did it turn out? Uncooked hams are rare around these parts. I never thought about smoking a smoked ham. Can't hurt.

My pork steaks turned out great. It's a good thing since I have to eat the other steak tomorrow night. :)
 
olbriar said:
And how did it turn out? Uncooked hams are rare around these parts. I never thought about smoking a smoked ham. Can't hurt.
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It was delicious, though I probably should have cooked on the regular way as a control. I could have just had a really good ham and simply didn't screw it up. :p
 
dontpanicbobby said:
That looks like grilling on a palace gate. How big is that and is there a woodlot behind that yard? Maximum Grill!
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I have no idea the size. I grabbed the pic from the net. The one I grilled on was three feet by five feet, just taking a guess. It was built very similar with a crank wheel at one end to raise and lower the grate. I remember that it was too wide to reach across but was built to walk around. It looks like the pictured one is sitting in someone's back yard. That's a lot of grill for a back yard. There is some sort of huge fryer or boiler in the background. I just can't imagine having that setup and that much cooking going on in someone's yard. Besides the cost of all that food, where do the eaters dine? The one I cooked on was on the patio that was attached to a big banquet hall designed to accommodate large rows of dinning tables. The place was located in the country with a small lake / large pond and lots of wooded surroundings. We utilized the facility two years running and then it was sold to the girl scouts.
 
dontpanicbobby said:
3x5 sounds about right for my Uncle's late 70's Cement Block Grill. Great food!
So much fuel though...
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True that! That much grill surface is only practical if you have the need to cook a lot of food in a short span of time. A small fire would get lost in that box.

I once attended a cookout / party that likely had 50+ adults attending. The host was grilling K-bobs. He had prepared his bobs beforehand but he was cooking them on a standard size grill.
We ate in waves :) By the time everyone had eaten one, a line was forming for a second bob. It was a fun night but the cook and dinner took too long. He could have put a larger grill or multiple grills to a good use. Size works both ways.
 
I just put some rub on a brisket point and letting it rest in the fridge over night. I'll smoke it up during the football games tomorrow. I've got all day so I plan on smoking it at 225° and wrapping it when it reaches an internal temp of 160°. My target temp for my point is 195°. I'll place it in a hot box and let it relax in it's juices for a couple of hours before carving.
 
i just put together a marinade for my beef short ribs. debating to either cook it late tonight or wait til morning to cook them. they are thin cut so the marinade should not take long to take.

here is what i used: i blended in"
1. 1x asian pear (if you can't find one, any good pear would work)
2. soy sauce
3. half an onion
4.3x clove of garlic
5. brown sugar
6. sambal (which is a chili sauce, you can substitute any hot sauce here)
7. juice of a lemon

just gonna charcoal grill it, no smoke
 
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