Rib Eye with Bordelaise Sauce

[Threeteas]

I bought a Brinkmann offset wood/charcoal smoker. Nothing really fancy.

The turkey gets brined. I saw a great brine recipie on Good Eats a few years ago that helps keep the turkey moist through the smoking process (and makes it darn tasty). Beef and pork get a dry rub.

I find the key to taste is the right combination of wood and meat. I keep experimenting with woods but so far I've found that mesquite is best for smoking. I like apple and cherry for pork. Mesquite and Hickory so far for beef.
Dinner when I BBQ is an all day process, a minimum of 10 hours to about 14 hours... but the results are usually worth the wait.

Here's a tip...oak and pork are awful, very acrid and bitter.

So you have analogue smoke do you?
I've got a digital bradley smoker...wonder if the pixellated smoke makes any difference?

Now here's the big question, hot or cold smoke?
I cold smoked gouda cheese with applewood...that's great
But hot smoked dry brined salmon, (salt and brown sugar 50/50) and that turned out good too. Bradan Rost style.

Meats have been hit and miss. I've mapled chicken...so, so.
Not done any beef or a turkey yet (what's that brining recipe you have?). I bought a butchered pig and a sheep. Ruined a ham, but salvaged ribs with hot hickory smoke.

I do have one cured ham air drying...it should be ready to be eaten as proscuitto in March/April.
Oh and bacon, proper bacon with the eye of meat, dry salt brine, then into mollasses, before smoking cold with applewood.

 

[JCABRANES]

Here's a tip...oak and pork are awful, very acrid and bitter.

So you have analogue smoke do you?
I've got a digital bradley smoker...wonder if the pixellated smoke makes any difference?

Now here's the big question, hot or cold smoke?
I cold smoked gouda cheese with applewood...that's great
But hot smoked dry brined salmon, (salt and brown sugar 50/50) and that turned out good too. Bradan Rost style.

Meats have been hit and miss. I've mapled chicken...so, so.
Not done any beef or a turkey yet (what's that brining recipe you have?). I bought a butchered pig and a sheep. Ruined a ham, but salvaged ribs with hot hickory smoke.

I do have one cured ham air drying...it should be ready to be eaten as proscuitto in March/April.
Oh and bacon, proper bacon with the eye of meat, dry salt brine, then into mollasses, before smoking cold with applewood.

Are the Bradley smokers the ones that use the wood disks? If they are I almost bought one but didn't because I didn't want to be dependent on the manufactured disks. I smoke the meat at between 180 and 220. The temp is regulated by a small opening with a piece of metal which slides laterally opening or closing the the air opening depending on whether you want more or less heat. Exact temp is a little hard to control, it's more of a feel.

Beef, specifically brisket is the most forgiving of meats. DO NOT buy a brisket that has been trimmed of the bulk of its fat. You need that fat to keep the brisket moist during the 12 or so hours it's going to be in the smoker. If you can't find a nice brisket with a big chunk of fat on one side at your supermarket go see a butcher and tell him you want an untrimmed brisket. When you are done some of the fat will have melted off and the rest can be easily removed.

As for cold smoke... haven't tried it yet... I'm considering making my own bacon from pork belly which requires cold smoking so I'm trying to figure out temps and times. I'll get back to you when I figure it out.

Here is a simple brine recipie which I have used for poultry.

1 cup kosher salt
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1 gallon vegetable stock
1 tablespoon black peppercorns
1/2 tablespoon allspice berries
1/2 tablespoon candied ginger
1 gallon iced water

Combine all brine ingredients, except ice water, in a stockpot, and bring to a boil. Stir to dissolve solids, then remove from heat, cool to room temperature, and refrigerate until thoroughly chilled.
Early on the day of cooking, (or late the night before) combine the brine and ice water in a clean 5-gallon bucket. Place thawed turkey breast side down in brine, cover, and refrigerate or set in cool area (like a basement) for 6 hours. Turn turkey over once, half way through brining.

Remove bird from brine and rinse inside and out with cold water. Discard brine.

Smoke the turkey.

If anyone is interested lets start a BBQ Thread so we don't hijack this one.

 

[hlothery]

Hold the sauce

A proper French sauce does not alter the flavor of the steak, it will complement the flavor. The fine steak flavor will remain, a follow up or finishing after taste is added. Whole different game than the common flavor altering Barbecue sauce and like additions.

Motard

I realize YMMV, etc......

The only aftertaste I am interested in with my steak is the oak from a fine cabernet.

 

[Threeteas]

Are the Bradley smokers the ones that use the wood disks? If they are I almost bought one but didn't because I didn't want to be dependent on the manufactured disks. I smoke the meat at between 180 and 220. The temp is regulated by a small opening with a piece of metal which slides laterally opening or closing the the air opening depending on whether you want more or less heat. Exact temp is a little hard to control, it's more of a feel.

Beef, specifically brisket is the most forgiving of meats. DO NOT buy a brisket that has been trimmed of the bulk of its fat. You need that fat to keep the brisket moist during the 12 or so hours it's going to be in the smoker. If you can't find a nice brisket with a big chunk of fat on one side at your supermarket go see a butcher and tell him you want an untrimmed brisket. When you are done some of the fat will have melted off and the rest can be easily removed.

As for cold smoke... haven't tried it yet... I'm considering making my own bacon from pork belly which requires cold smoking so I'm trying to figure out temps and times. I'll get back to you when I figure it out.

Here is a simple brine recipie which I have used for poultry.

1 cup kosher salt
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1 gallon vegetable stock
1 tablespoon black peppercorns
1/2 tablespoon allspice berries
1/2 tablespoon candied ginger
1 gallon iced water

Combine all brine ingredients, except ice water, in a stockpot, and bring to a boil. Stir to dissolve solids, then remove from heat, cool to room temperature, and refrigerate until thoroughly chilled.
Early on the day of cooking, (or late the night before) combine the brine and ice water in a clean 5-gallon bucket. Place thawed turkey breast side down in brine, cover, and refrigerate or set in cool area (like a basement) for 6 hours. Turn turkey over once, half way through brining.

Remove bird from brine and rinse inside and out with cold water. Discard brine.

Smoke the turkey.

If anyone is interested lets start a BBQ Thread so we don't hijack this one.

Yep, the Bradley briquettes are a bind, but there are perfectly acceptable alternatives at Costco and Home Depot.

I'll try that recipe for the turkey as soon as the snow has gone from the decking. Thanks.

Also, a culinary thread, why not?

 

[rkasal]

BBQ (almost wrote BBW) is a hobby of mine. And love cold smoked anything. There's an Iowa pork producer who is now putting out some pretty impressive meat that is almost impossible if not impossible to tell apart Serrano ham or Jamon Iberica. Don't know how they do it - must have an acorn supply.

But their meat is going to CA and NYC. And it's priced decently.

May have to put up a Pacific NW Indian recipe I've made for smoked salmon. Uses juniper berries and it is good.