Posts Tagged ‘smokenator’
Pork Belly Burnt Ends
Pork Belly Burnt Ends
Today we are going to make a porky version of the brisket classic – burnt ends. These little super tender cubes of deliciousness are some of the best bits of a beef brisket. For this version we are making it from pork belly instead. Read on to see how this new experiment for pork belly burnt ends turned out.
Pork belly burnt ends on the smoker
Picanha (Sirloin Cap)
Picanha (Sirloin cap)
Today we are going to be trying a somewhat different cut of meat than what is normally done smoked on a bbq. This is going to be picanha, or sirloin cap, which you normally find served in Brazilian grills and steakhouses. There it is usually pushed onto a large metal skewer in a “C”-shape and roasted directly over a fire. This lets the thick fat cap render and keep the meat lubricated. This will not work over the lower temperatures used in low and slow bbq cooking. Read on to find out what we did differently to make this cut of beef turn out great.
Picanha (sirloin cap) on the cooker
Smoked Leg of Lamb
Smoked Leg of lamb
Due to work commitments there has been very little BBQ action happening recently as weekends have been spent writing. This finally got done in early June, so the first weekend afterwards it was time to make up for last time and try out something new. Today were are going to try out a smoked leg of lamb. Back in the UK, lamb is much more common than it is in the US but in the UK you don’t get a chance to do BBQ very often (at least not in the dry). So I was keen to try a smoked version of something I don’t get very often and kinda miss. Read on to see how it turned out.
Rubbed leg of lamb ready to go on the smoker
Beef Short Ribs with Dalmation Rub
Today we are doing the somewhat badly named Beef Short Ribs. These rib bones are about 6″ long and can be up to 2″ thick and can weigh over a 1 lb each. They also need a long slow cook to get all the fat and connective tissue to melt and soften up and become tasty. Read on to see how they turned out after the long cook.
Ribs smoking in the Weber Kettle
Beef Brisket Flat
Brisket Flat
Today we are doing what many consider the quintessential barbecue cook, beef brisket. Since a whole so-called packer brisket, is a whole heap of meat for one person to be eating, this time we are cooking just the brisket flat (this sits on the bottom of a whole packer brisket under the point muscle and produces the long thin slices that people generally think of when say “brisket”. It is much leaner than the point with a lot less intramuscular fat so it can be hard to stop it drying it out in the long cook). Cook times for briskets can range anywhere from 8 to 16 hours depending of how big it is and how low a temperature it is smoked at. Read on to see how it turned out after this long cook.
Pulled Pork/Pork Butt
Pulled Pork from Pork Butt
Today we are doing Pulled Pork made from a long, slow smoked Pork Butt (which is not from the back of the pig but from the shoulder for…reasons…)
Rubbed Pork Butt ready for smoking
Lamb Shoulder with Black Sauce
With predicted temperatures into the high 70’s F today in our bit of Southern California, winter seems to be over so why not get the BBQ out of the shed and fire it up ? If even more of excuse were needed, this weekend is the Superbowl and all across the country people will be firing up grills and smokers and cooking barbecue. Today we will be doing a somewhat less common meat for this country (it is far more popular in my original home country of Britain) and cooking lamb shoulder.
Lamb shoulder after the application of the rub paste
Smoked Turkey Breast
Smoked Turkey Breast
For the last day of the year in this first year (well eight months really so far) of starting these adventures in BBQ, we will be finishing the old year and ushering in the new with a Smoked Turkey Breast. Since there is only one of the household eating it, we went with a smaller turkey breast rather than trying to cook a whole bird. The smoked turkey breast will be done Central Texas-style with a simple salt and black pepper rub – the so called Dalmation rub (because its just black and white see…). Read on to see how it turned out.
Hot Oak Smoked Salmon
Hot Oak Smoked Salmon
Being a half-pescatarian (or as a friend of mine once put it: “Occasionally I’m a bit naughty with fish”…), half-meatarian household, fish, especially salmon, is a fairly common feature and that is especially the case around the Christmas holidays. Today we are venturing into the brave new worlds of fish cooking and wet brining by brining and then cooking some oak smoked salmon. (Note that this is hot smoking not the cold smoking process that produces the smoked salmon you see in packets in stores and (if you are smart) you put on bagels with cream cheese. Cold smoking is a much more difficult process which needs very careful control over lots of things to avoid ending up with dodgy microbes in your food – the FDA has lots of scary information on this but if Meathead at Amazing Ribs says it’s not a good idea to try, that’s more than good enough for me to steer well clear…). Read on to see how our (hot-) smoked salmon turned out.
Smoked salmon cooking on the grill
Pork Tenderloin
It may be the end of Daylight Saving/Summer Time in the US and it may also be the start of November, but here in our part of California we’re still getting temperatures over 80 F (nearly 27 Celsius in those more sensible units) so summer grilling season continues on ! Today we are trying a new cut for me, pork tenderloin, which I’m going to be smoking over peach wood and then it will be getting a cherry preserve glaze.
Pork tenderloin on the grill.