Cheap Pork-

My daughter got a package of pork at a good discount, under six bucks for eight good sized pieces an inch and a half thick. I looked at them and decided to do a short smoke followed by a sear and rest before serving.

I rubbed the meat with vegetable oil and seasoned it with a zesty barbecue blend from the Dollar Tree. This sat for about an hour in the refrigerator while I cleaned and prepared the grill. My grill is a Char-Broil Silver Smoker, and I have enjoyed it for about a year and a half. I have had no failures with this grill, and a lot of successes that exceeded any skill I may actually have in the art.

I loaded a starter chimney of charcoal and started it using rubbing alcohol in a clean tuna can. This is clean and gets a good start every time. I use the 91% alcohol, as it starts easily and burns pretty hot. The charcoal is the Kingsford Competition grade briquettes, purchased at a very good price at Costco. I soaked some Mesquite chips for the burn, as I like the rich flavor of the smoke.

Fire going, vents at about half both top and bottom, I loaded the meat in the center of the cooking chamber and inserted my thermometer probe into the piece farthest from the fire. I checked the fire after twenty minutes, noting that the meat internal temperature was going up faster than I had anticipated. I dropped the vents to a quarter top and bottom and threw on some chips to get the smoke going.

After another twenty minutes I added ten briquettes to the fire and dropped the vents to fully closed. The meat was already at 120 degrees internal, and cooking too fast for my taste. I was concerned that it would become dry. Cutting the air intake slowed the cooking considerably. After another twenty minutes I added the rest of my wood chips to the fire and opened the bottom vent a notch.

I had estimated a two hour burn for this meat, and at just about that time the thermometer alarm indicated that we had reached 165 degrees internal, which was my target. I set my cooking grate into the fire box and put the meat on to sear for a couple of minutes per side. Then a ten minute rest and then serve.

I found the meat to still have enough juice to avoid being called dry, and I thought the flavor was very good. The family had their fill and still I had two good pieces left over. These I planned to eat as sandwiches over the next two days, and so I did.

For the sandwiches I just chopped the meat fine and mixed it with barbecue sauce, sour cream, some coarse mustard and a bit of Sriracha. I have become very fond of the Thai sauce Sriracha, more so than any other hot sauce I have used. The heat is there but does not overwhelm the flavor of the peppers, which is distinct. This meat and sauce blend I spoon onto a slice of bread, fold it over and consume with great pleasure.

Dill pickle slices add a bit of interest to an already delicious sandwich. I did not have any cheese at the time or I surely would have added that, as well.

For the future I have in mind, should I again have such nice slabs of pork to cook, to sear first and then slow cook the meat. Also, since most of the pieces were relatively lean, I would add a bit of bacon or fatback to each piece to add more flavor and perhaps reduce the drying. As I said, the meat had remained reasonably moist but was just beginning to dry when I pulled it off of the fire and served it up.

Another option would be brining the pork before cooking. I have yet to try brining, but my research says it would be a very good idea.

The use of discount and cheap meat is something I like to do in barbecue. Getting good eating out of the smallest expenditure is part of the tradition of barbecue. This is not eating high off the hog, but it is eating well on what you can get.

Once again I failed to get photos. One of these days I will correct this chronic oversight. Until I do I rely on your imagination and personal experiences to fill in the gaps between my blog and the real life experiences I attempt to share.

Good eating!

Tri Tip Steaks-

Linda had purchased some nice tri-tip steaks. Everything I had read recommended a marinade, but I wanted to see just how the smoking process might affect a nice cut of meat without any preparation.

I got the fire up and running. The smoke chamber was at around 200 degrees when I introduced the meat. I really do want a better chamber thermometer, since this one is a small dial with color divisions and really does not provide much information. Anyway, as best I could tell I was starting at 200 degrees or so.

The new digital thermometer is a single probe. I have read of dual probes, but was not aware of them at the time Linda ordered this one. So, I selected a piece of meat in the midst of the others, and inserted the probe. I set the temperature for 165 degrees, as recommended by the thermometer manufacturer.

I maintained the fire by adding charcoal. Again, a mix of lump and biscuit charcoal. My smoke was produced by chunks of mesquite. My estimate based on the volume of meat and the thickness of the cuts was about an hour and thirty minutes to two hours.

After the hour and thirty minutes I found the temperature inside the meat was about 135 degrees. I turned the meat and stoked the fire. After another ten minutes I noticed the temperature was not going up. I added some more charcoal and applied a hair dryer to the air intake. Over the next fifteen minutes I achieved the target temperature and took the meat out.

On the whole, it was good. Not especially good, but good. I found the meat to be adequately juicy, but not especially so. I had done nothing to the meat, and the results were consistent with what I did not do.

In the future, I will definitely do a marinade. If I don't have time for that, I will definitely coat the meat with olive oil, and add salt, pepper, and some spices in a rub. Either of these will add flavor and improve the juiciness. I may also look for a bit more fat in the meat, as this was quite lean. It did prove quite tender, however.

I also plan to find a way to introduce more air at a steady rate. I saw a device made using a computer cooling fan that might just do the trick.

Another practice I will adopt is to light the next batch of coals in my chimney before introducing them to the fire box. I think I was losing some consistency in temperature by introducing cold charcoal to the fire box.

Until I can get some good wood to try charcoal/wood fires I plan to use the chips rather than the chunks. I get better smoke and have more control with the chips.

So, a learning experience, and another good meal. I hope to make the next tri-tip better than good. I want to shoot for fabulous.

Oh, and I really need to make sure I have some beer. For the cook. It is an important ingredient, and would have helped a lot.

I may buy a second thermometer like the one I have to use to monitor the chamber temperature. Together they would cost no more than a dual probe thermometer, especially since I already have the one.

The paint continues to burn off of the outer surface of the smoke box. I may have to get some high temperature paint to protect the outer surface from oxidizing. I may just use the fire bricks I saw in one YouTube video about barbecue in a Silver Smoker. I need to explore modifications that will aid in getting good barbecue consistently.

So far, I am very pleased with what I have learned, and look forward to the next adventure.

Smoked Beef Roast-

So, today we did a four pound round top roast from Safeway Select. It was a very nice looking roast, but I was not sure if it might not be too lean for smoking. However, being a novice has its advantages. I rubbed it down with garlic salt, salt, and pepper. I racked it on a v-shaped rack that sat nicely in a drip pan. Ready to go. I put it in the refrigerator for about an hour and a half, since it was too early to begin.

I planned for four hours. I prepped the Silver Smoker and got the fire going. For this one I pulled the food grates and set the roasting pan on the fire grate in the cooking chamber. This placed the racked meat in the center of the cooking chamber; not too high, not too low. I was just guessing that this would make any difference, but it seemed right.

The cooking chamber remained at 200 degrees pretty consistently over the four hours. I actually was wanting a bit more heat in the chamber, to get the center of the meat up to temperature. However, even with the vents opened all the way I only got up to 230 degrees at a few points.

I am measuring temperature at the grate, in the center of the cooking chamber. It is a simple dial thermometer, and I think I really will want to replace it one day with something more accurate. However, I think it will do for now. I still have a lot to learn, and going nuts buying equipment will not make me a better cook.

Or maybe it will. What do I know?

Anyway, it came out looking reddish brown, with a rich chocolate brown at the ends. I got it upstairs and we were ready to eat, so I cut into it. It was very nice inside. Juicy, with a bit of a smoke ring. It was done about a medium rare. There was some connective tissue that remained a bit tough to cut, so I cut around it. The dog liked the chewy bits just fine.

Oh, it was really good! The chips I had for smoking were mesquite, introduced from time to time along with a bit more fuel. They added a good flavor. I hope to experiment with other woods, both chips and chunks, over time. The mesquite was quite satisfactory.

As I wrapped up the left overs (about half was left after three people had their fill) I set aside some of the end bits to chop up. I made a mess of chopped beef and put it in a sealed container with a bit of soy sauce. I shall see how this is tomorrow. It is waiting in the refrigerator, hopefully getting better with time.

Thyme. I threw a bit of that in the water at the bottom of the drip pan. I didn't know if it would help, but it seemed a good idea. Just remembered that.

So, my second adventure went well. On the whole, this has been quite satisfying.