Hot & Cold Smoking

Could you be a little more specific about what recipes you want? Or are you hoping for a thread which ends up as a general smoking cook book for free?

Also it would help to know what kind of pit(s) you're using for hot and cold smoking respectively. Recipes can be very equipment dependent, as many cookers are very restricted as to temperature ranges they can hold steady for any given length of time.

For instance, I prefer to cook brisket at a steady 265F to 275F because it's low enough to be low; but high enough to (pretty much) avoid the stall; but a lot of pits can't hold that. Cold smoking is even more equipment dependent.

In the meantime, try this:



Shop, Trim, Marinate, Inject, Rub, Smoke, Rest, Carve, and Serve.

Shop:

Purchase a "packer cut" whole brisket, Choice or CAB if possible. At the very least try to get better than Select grade. If you've got a selection available to you try to buy between 9 and 11 lbs, with white fat, as marbled and pliable as possible. (After cooking, anticipate 40% waste of untrimmed weight.)

Trim:
(10 minutes)

If you've got a butcher you trust have him trim the fat cap to 1/8" to 1/4", but tell him not to trim down to red meat. If you're reasonably proficient with a large knife go ahead and trim yourself. Try and leave the thinnest possible, but fully intact fat cap. If that sounds like it might be too difficult, forget trimming the fat. Turn the brisket over, so the lean side is up. Check for large flecks of fat, or pieces of thin, gray-white membrane. Use a small knife to remove them completely.

Marinate:
(30 minutes - 24 hours)

In a pan just large enough to hold the brisket, make a marinade of 3 tbs each of red wine, Worcestershire sauce and extra virgin olive oil. Slosh the brisket around in the marinade, making sure all surfaces are moistened. Allow the brisket to marinate at least 1/2 an hour at room temperature, or as long as overnight in the refrigerator. During that time the marinade will mix with the beef juices and partially coagulate into a syrup. This is desirable. Turn the brisket over occasionally during the marinade period. Reserve the marinade while injecting the brisket.

Inject:
(45 minutes)

1 cup beef stock or broth
1 cup wine
2 tbs Worcestershire
6 cloves garlic, peeled and smashed, but not chopped
4 tbs salted butter, very cold, cut into 4 pieces. Or, substitute truffle flavored oil for some or all of the butter.

Reduce the stock by half. Add the wine, Worcestershire and garlic. Reduce by half again. Strain through a tea strainer or cheesecloth to remove any solids that might clog your injector’s needle, return to heat, bring back to a simmer and remove from heat. Add the butter 1 tbs at a time, whisking each piece in just as the previous piece has melted from the residual heat. Mixture may thicken as the butter forms an emulsion.
Fill an injecting syringe with the mixture and inject the brisket. Make many small injections, rather than a few small ones, as large injections will puddle rather than disperse. No matter how careful you are when you inject, the injecting fluid will squirt out from the meat in totally unexpected places. Hilarious but messy. Less clean up, if you clear a large area on your counter and work in a large sheet pan.

Rub:
(15 minutes)

1/2 cup Diamond kosher salt
1/4 cup sweet paprika
3 tbs coarsely fresh ground black pepper
2 tbs smoked paprika, or mild chili powder, or 1 tbs ground chipotle chili
1 tbs granulated garlic
1 tbs granulated onion
1/2 tsp dried sage
1/2 tsp dried thyme

Mix all thoroughly. Refresh the surface of the brisket with the reserved marinade. Cover the brisket generously with rub. If the fat cap is untrimmed, don't bother using rub on that side.


Smoke:
(12 to 20 hours)

Prepare your smoker to run between 225 and 275. I prefer 275, but your relationship with your smoker is what it is, and it will do what it will do. Don't make yourself nuts by trying to make it do something that's too much trouble for you. If you're using a small offset use water, a water-wine mix, or beer in the water pan. If you're using a WSM, use sand or some other dry material. If you have one, use a digital probe type thermometer, placed as close to where the meat will go to monitor cooking process.

When the smoker is prepped, place brisket in the cooking chamber, fat side down. If you have one, insert the probe from a digital thermometer to keep track of internal temperatures.

Smoke over red oak if possible, but nearly any of the usual smoke woods will turn out well.

Do not open cook chamber door for three hours. After three hours, flip the brisket over fat side up. If your cooker runs uneven temps from side to side, rotate the meat as well. Replenish the water pan. Continue replenishing water pan every three hours. If necessary rotate the brisket at those times.

Figure total cook time according to average chamber temperature and weight of brisket. 225 deg - ~2hrs/lb. 275 deg - 1-1/4 hrs/lb or a bit less. Stop adding smoke wood chunks or chips at one half of estimated time or when meat reaches internal temperature of 145, whichever comes first. If you're buring sticks or logs for heat, don't worry about it. You're cool.

Some people wrap when the meat hits 150. If not sure whether or not you should, you probably should. If so, wrap in aluminum foil. Before sealing packet add a little bit of the injection mix to the pack plus a rough chopped onion. (I don't wrap, but that's me). Return the brisket to your 'cue.

When the brisket hits an internal temperature of 185, remove the wrap and return the brisket to the smoker, continue cooking until brisket reaches an internal temperature of 195.

It's likely that during the cooking process, somewhere above 150, continuing until up to 185, the internal temperature increase will slow or stop. This is called "the stall." It's common with whole butts or picnics and almost universal with brisket. It's normal. Don't worry about, be patient. Temperatures will rise.

Wrap:
(5 minutes)

When brisket reaches 195 (or 190 if it's still stalling) remove it from the cooker, wrap it in saran wrap (not aluminum foil) and set it in an insulated cooler just large enough to hold it. Pack the cooler with wadded newspaper to fill the remaining air space. Cover the cooler and make sure the cover is closed.

Rest:
(2 - 6 hours)

Rest for at least 2 hours, and up to 6. The extended rest is part of the cooking process. Don't shortcut it.

Carve:
(20 minutes)

Separate the point from the flat. If you have a substantial fat cap, trim it. If the flat splits into two pieces with a layer of fat between them, separate the pieces and completely remove the fat. Cut one of the flats in half, cutting against the grain. Carve an interior piece, about 1/4" thick and taste it. If it wants to fall apart or is very, very tender you'll be carving thick slices. If it's tough, you'll be carving thinner slices. 1/4” is usually just right.

Carve the flat into slices between 1/8" and 1/2" thick, depending on tenderness. Always cut across the grain. If you're good with a knife, try a 20 degree bias to get some width.

Carve the point into slices across the grain as well. Plan on carving the slices roughly twice as thick as the slices you took from the flat. (The point may be so tender it falls into chunks. If so, mix the chunks with hot barbecue sauce and serve on buns as "sloppy joes." REAL SLOPPY JOES by the way. The point is substantially fatter than the flat.) Some people prefer the point, some the flat, some a mix.


Serve:
(chomp, mmmm, tchick, mmmm, nn)

Serve with your preferred tomato based barbecue sauce. Texas, Memphis, Cajun and Kansas City styles are good. Sauce Bordelaise is beaucoup hot. Carolina style sauces are not good partners.

Accompaniments can range from standard barbecue to rather high end. Generally, beef prefers savory companions rather than the sweeter ones which go so well with pork.

If you drink:
A full and fruity red like a Zin, Syrah or Shiraz is nice. Beer is never misunderstood.

Leftovers:
Don’t count on it.

Hope this helps,
Rich

PS. CT members may notice that it's not my current format; rather, it's an old one which I thought made sense awhile ago. Format notwithstanding, the recipe is original with me. If you like it and want to share it (but not for gain) with someone else, you have my permission on condition you attribute it to me, Boar D. Laze. I would consider it a kindness if you would also mention my eventually to be finished book, COOK FOOD GOOD, American Cooking and Technique for Beginners and Intermediates.

PPS. If you haven't done so recently, take a look at my blog on CT, ChefTalk Cooking Forums - COOK FOOD GOOD, Blogging BDL's Cookbook. Suggestions welcome.

Cheese is easy if you can keep the pit cool enough. Still good even if the cheese gets a bit melty, just not as presentable. No recipe required really, just keep the temps down.

I once saw a cold smoking setup for a covered grill using a NEW soldering iron and a clean metal can holding the wood chips. You use a new iron and tip to eliminate the risk of lead from a used tip and iron. Pretty cool trick and low cost, temps stay very low. Haven't tried it yet personally.

One thing I like to make occasionally is smoked salt. Great for adding a touch of smokiness to anything. As BDL pointed out, "NO PEEKING" :lol:

Has anyone smoked paprika? I would think they would smoke the dried peppers before grinding but has anyone smoked pre-ground paprika? Probably need to be re-ground to break up the lumps but could be interesting.

Yes, I've done salt too. Good stuff.

I hot smoke pablanos every season. I clean and freeze them for the winter. At the end of the season I also smoke some tomatos. I smoke brisket and pork for pulled pig the most. I wish I could say I had some great recipe but the BGE does all of the work. I season my meat the day before and smoke at 220. I usually do two 7-8# pork shoulders at a time. I average 22 hours on pork and 20 for brisket. The only "trick" if you could even call it that is I cook pork shoulders fat side up and brisket fat side down. One of the reasons I covet the BGE or other ceramic cookers is that you have the ability to actually smoke and not cook too fast. I did a lot of pork and brisket in the past at 275 and ten hours. The closer you can sustain a prolonged temperature at 220 the longer the conversion process will take and the more tender and flavorful the end product.
One mistake I think is fairly common is that many using a probe thermometer see the temp hit the 175-185 at 10-12 hours and think they are done. What happens as the conversion process starts the temperature drops and can stay lower for several hours. The longer the better. Once I see my temperature start to climb back up I know the conversion process is ending. I pull at 190, wrap in aluminum foil and put the brisket or pork in a cooler to hold for three hours. My cooler keeps the temp over 140. A polder thermometer is a great investment for smoking as it allows you to see your internal temperature with out opening your smoker. They only run about $30 and most will allow you to see your high/low temp as well as have a timer.
For cold smoking I have seen set ups where some connect a small BGE and run a smoke vent to a large. I haven't done that but it is an interesting idea for cold smoking fish or cheese.

I always smoked butts and brisket at about 225, until this last set I did in Sept. Two 7-8# butts for pulled pork and a 12-13# packer brisket smoked at about 275. I don't pull at a set temp but go my "feel", how easy a temp prob goes into the flat. On the butts I go by the feel of the bone, you can tell when it is ready to pull out clean. Anyway, the only difference was the time. May have to do it again.

An idea for the point is after it's smoked and you have separated the point from the flat, chop the point into about 1" cubes. Put the cubes in an alum foil pan, add more rub and keep smoke'n till more fat is rendered and you get a crisp "crust", as in burnt ends. Keep add'n rub, and taste'n, until they are how you want them. Can take a few hrs sometimes.

An idea for pulled pork is to smoke it again after it has been pulled. I put it in an alum foil pan, add more rub, and a "finishing sauce" of apple cider vinegar/apple juice. Just add a little sauce and rub at a time, mix and keep on smoker. Great way to reheat, too. Keep taste'n and mix'n until it is how you want it. Adds more smoke flavor and rub to all the meat.

Here is some pix of some brisket, pulled pork, ribs, salmon, and a fattie.
Pictures by lonefarm - Photobucket

Tasso? Now you've got my attention :) I'm going to be smoking a brisket this weekend (another birthday party :)). I was planning on adding some raw kielbasa to smoke. But now, now I've got to make some tasso ham for some Cajun cookin'.

I haven't done tasso ham before. I am thinking that 'm going to use a butt dredged in a salt cure for three hours. Then rinse, seasoned and smoked. But What temp should I smoke it to, for a sliced tasso ham? I'm thinking 190f.

Thanks Cape Chef!
dan

can't wait to try it :)

Thanks Cape Chef!


dan

No but I should have taken the pic that way. It would have been a lot easier than trying to move that darn thing with out it falling apart! :lol:
BTW Nice use of urn filters.

The tasso turned out great CapeChef, thanks for the inspiration!


:D,
dan

Personally I never bother brining pork shoulder or brisket. Both cuts have enough intrinsic fat, in my opinion, to stay moist during the smoking process. Poultry and pork loin, however, certainly benefit from brining.

mjb.

Nice looking pictures of any food here. Sounds more delicious and yummy!..I just to give it a try :)

My method is pretty basic. Pork butts I apply generous amounts of my HoosierQ rub, let them sit out for a while to get a bit closer to room temp. I've tried a mustard slather to assist in keeping the rub on, it didn't really seem to make any difference.

Put them in the smoker ( small offset ) at 230 - 250 F for about 6 - 8 hours, depending on size. When they come out of the plateau and the temp starts rising again, I spray them with pig sauce, basically a vinegar based Q sauce. It usually takes another hour or so to get them up to 190 - 195.

Off the smoker, more pig sauce, wrap in foil and let rest for an hour or two, then pull. Not sure about this picture, looks like there is hardly any rub at all on them, and the chimney extension is not in place:



Briskets get a different rub, the HoosierQ with extra salt, black pepper and garlic added. I use whole packers, smoke at 225 or so for 1 - 1.5 hours per pound, remove and rest when it hits about 185 - 190. Fat side up, fat side down, it is more a matter of how the thing gets flopped on the smoker, I don't really notice a difference.

Did some braised beef and mushrooms the other night for dinner, but now I'm wanting some brisket!

mjb.

I do a light rub layer, really rubbed in well. Then a mustard slather, then another layer of rub. Definitely different than when I just rub it with the spice rub.

I've also found I like the results better when the spice rub is finely ground. I've been doing a fine grind pass on my barbecue rubs with a cheap Mr. Coffee coffee grinder and think it's improved my bark and general surface texture. Certainly better color with that dark purpley brown bark.