Brined an Atlantic salmon filet in deliciousness for 8 hours. Doing a hot smoke on it, a bastard child of cold smoking & baking to accommodate a weekday evening meal. Also throwing a 72 hour brined turkey breast on the smoker for some turkey pastrami.
Smoking my first pork butt on the Traeger tomorrow. It’s 4.25 lbs bone-in. Any ideas on how to cook? There are varying opinions out there and I’d love to know what works best on the wood pellet.
I will diamond hands Uncle Ben’s wild rice until my last breath. Air-fried asparagus & hot smoked salmon with a chipotle hollandaise. I need to figure a way to plate this better as this is one of the best meals I have had in the past 6 months and is not translating well to photo.
When it hits 200, check it in a couple spots. It's a small butt, so it'll likely be done. Take it off, wrap it in some foil, rest it for an hour, go to town.
It's more work for sure, but individual portions will look very sharp on the plate. If you're going for a plated gem, that's what it's gonna take. Cooked salmon just doesn't slice cleanly.
What'd you brine with? And then salt and pepper before smoking? We've been eating a lot of salmon, but have just been doing it on the stove.
1/4 cup dark brown sugar, 1/4 cup coarse kosher, 1 cup soy sauce, 1.5 cup water, pinch of crushed rep pepper, pinch of ground ginger. yes, s&p after removing from brine and spending a little time on the drying rack.
You got a recipe for this it looks delicious. I’ve made the verde posole and it was delicious but this looks even better
It is this recipe heavily modified. https://www.daringgourmet.com/wprm_print/47307 The butt is smoked with this marinade after being coated with coarse s&p. https://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/ancho-pasilla-sauce-14146 I either smoke or oven roast the hominy after rinsing it and sending it through the salad spinner. It is nice having a slightly different texture than mush. Basically add the smoked butt in at the time you add the “shredded pork” in the recipe. I add roughly a whole squeezed lime and/or some cider vinegar at the end for balance as needed.
The tri tip was delicious. I went into the store knowing that's what I was gonna grab for dinner but I saw these half chicken breasts for .97/lb and picked up a pack. Here they are after being on the smoke at 250* until they hit 158* internal. Let them rest for about 20 minutes and then gave them the broiler treatment for skin reasons. I'm going to make chicken salad for the wife and some sandwiches for me.
So I am lazy when it comes to the coals being mostly lit I just throw the food on and trust that it will come up to temp. That took a long time today. Once you get up to temp it stays mostly steady. I think it may create different temperature zones than normal because the dome temp is significantly higher than the grate temperature, so I imagine the cold air is just sucking the heat out like a vacuum.
It takes longer to warm up the ceramic and your firebox wont last as long since you have to use more energy to heat up the cold air. The worst is when you have major temperature swings throughout the day. Ive done a few teens/20’s cooks and use quite a bit more charcoal compared to 60’s+ for similar length cooks.
Luckily I've only had to adjust once. Temp has stayed very steady. If it starts to drop I'll just pull the plug and finish in the oven. I'm not even relying on this for dinner, just to have around for leftovers.
I pulled the plug and am finishing in the oven. It's important that I get the cover back on in case we get more weather. It's going to be below zero in a couple days and I don't want it covered in ice Yes I put some apple juice box in the foil pan
Never thought about quantity used. My biggest issue in cold weather is wind. Talking 10-15 mph plus in 20-30 degrees, if you’re opening the lid often and adjusting vents it can be a nightmare. Everything just takes significantly longer to warm up and cool down.
What did you use for seasoning? Or recipe? My first attempt at bacon was a year ago or so and it came out super salty
After pulling out of the brine, did you rinse / soak it thoroughly? If not, that was most likely the issue.
As far as recipe goes, what type of salt did you use? I use a mix of kosher salt and curing salt (Prague powder #2). Additionally I use brown sugar, black pepper, mustard powder, pinch or two of cayenne, and that’s basically it. Quantities to mix, I just look up a recipe online. The only trick is to plan ahead. I cured that pork belly for two weeks before smoking / slicing up. Make sure you have the refrigerator space to cure it for that length of time. Also, flip it once a day. I smoked it with a hickory / apple blend which is what I smoke all my pork / poultry with. Temp at ~180 degrees for as long as it takes. You want to pull it when it gets to 155. For any hand slicing that’s worth a fuck, I strongly suggest letting it chill in your refrigerator for a couple hours before attempting to slice. Otherwise, you’ll end up with inconsistent slices that are way too big anyway.
one more thing. Portion into ~1 lb vacuum sealed freezer bags for storage. I use a food saver. I wouldn’t attempt to make bacon yourself without a vacuum sealer. That particular belly yielded a little more than 13 lbs of bacon so storage is critical. Make sure you have the freezer space ahead of time as well.
Buddy of mine bought a welding blanked from Harbor Freight and puts that over his grill in high wind situations to try and keep the heat in and he says it works great.