Turkey Legs and Chicken Quarters Brined>Smoked

Posted on by February 18, 2018

May 14, 2016 – Saturday
Ambient temp is in the mid 70″s and humidity is 90%+. Line of thunderstorms rolled through about 4 PM.

Bought four small turkey legs and a tray of small chicken leg quarters at Fiesta. About noon, after cleaning up the chicken, put the turkey legs and several quarters in a large plastic container and the rest of the chicken quarters in a smaller container. Covered the meat with a half-recipe of this brine that a poster said many at SMF use.

Slaughterhouse Poultry Brine By Tip Piper of Hillbilly Vittles
1 ½ Gal Water
½ C Salt – Kosher
½ C Dark Brown Sugar
2 tsp Garlic Powder
2 tsp Onion Powder
2 tsp Cajun Spice (Louisiana Cajun Seasoning)
2 tsp Celery Seed

5 AM, Sunday, May 15 – I had shuffled the meat in the brine containers three times yesterday afternoon and evening. Noted the chicken seemed mushy and did not bounce back when pressed. SMF posts said that could happen with a long brine like these that have been in the brine for 17 hours. Dumped the brine out of the chicken container and rinsed lightly. Left three leg-quarters in the turkey brine to compare with those brined longer when smoked.

Noon – Turned on MES to prewarm. Poured brine off turkey legs with three quarters. Pulled back skin from turkey legs and all quarters and sprinkled with Simon and Garfunkle. Pulled skin over that and sprinkled with coarse ground black pepper.

1:00 PM – Put the quarters and legs on the top two racks with MES (that was hot and smoking from pecan in the full chip tray. MES was set at 210°. small thigh near the window got the Chef Alarm internal probe and read 44° IT. Coasted up to 225 and I reset the MES to 225. Chips in tray are making medium white smoke from the pecan.  Air probe on clip under 1st grate is reading 188°.

3:30 – Thought the chicken would be done as the IT with the ChefAlarm read 160°. Began pulling it and checking with the fast-read and they were 150-156. Put them back on the grate and inserted the ChefAlarm and it read 160-probably in a different thigh.

4:30 – Removed chicken quarters at about 160° and turkey legs were on 145°. Added Apple chips to tray.

4:45 – Raised MES setting to 250°.

5:30 – Biggest leg was 160° IT so pulled them all.

6:00 PM – I had a medium-size turkey leg. It was done but not falling apart tender. Could almost say it was tough but it was nicely moist. Could taste the salt from the brine but none of the spices were evident.

This smoke began with pecan chips in the tray and the last half was pecan in the tray and apple chips in the AMZNTS.

 

First Salmon in the MES40

Posted on by July 29, 2016

May 12, 2016 – Mary bought a farm raised fillet at HEB. I rubbed with APL’s Four Seasons plus black pepper. Pre-warmed the MES set at 250° and added apple chips to the tray before starting. With the element on for a long time to pre-warm there was a good smoke from the vent. Temp rose to 285° but fell to 265 when I opened the door to insert the fillet. Put the fillet on the second grate from the top, sprayed with Pam, skin side on the grate.

15-20 minutes later it was down to 250. Smoke level had also fallen. Could smell it but could not see anything in the window. The element has not been on for 30 minutes or so.

About 30 minutes later there is no evidence of smoke so put apple chips in the AMZNTS with foil spacers and lite with torch. Good smoke, not too heavy, for a while but then not obvious from vent or visible in the window. Opened and saw there was smoldering chips in the tube so closed it. The chips in the tube do not seem to burn consistently likely due to them being different sizes and so the air spaces are different.

After an hour the meat looks smoked but was not flaky when I touched it in the thick part. Raised the set temp to 270°. The air probe on the grate has been reading about 15 degrees less than the MES.

After 30 minutes more it was somewhat flaky but seemed too moist. Turned it off and left the fillet to dry and get a little more smokey although that is not too likely with it off.

About and hour later pulled it and it was great. As it was skin side to the grate it slide of easily with a long spatula onto a baking sheet. Still moist inside but had a slight crust. Will eat tomorrow night.

Melting Potatoes

Posted on by September 28, 2016

First made this on Mother’s Day, May 8, 2016 based on the recipe in the Adam Perry Lang book. It was great and a good accompaniment to the Rib Roast cooked like a steak.

  • 1T Butter
  • 1T Olive oil
  • 1T fresh rosemary
  • ~6 garlic cloves, peeled and chopped fine
  • 1T fresh cilantro parsley
  • 1T fresh thyme
  • 1C chicken stock
  • juice of 1/2 lemon
  • water as needed
  • salt and fresh black pepper to taste
  • 3 potatoes sliced into 1/2″ thick rounds. First time we made it was with thin skinned white potatoes and left the skin on.

Put the olive oil and butter into a cast iron skillet large enough to hold the potatoes as one layer. Add the potatoes and cook until brown on one side and flip, salt and pepper the browned side and brown on the other side.

Push potatoes to the edge. If too dry add olive oil then the fresh herbs in the center well. Cook until fragrant. Add the chicken stock–and water if needed. Cover and cook until potatoes are just tender.

Remove lid and reduce liquid to almost none. But, do not overcook the potatoes.

The original recipe said to add “butter at the end”. Mary did not but it was great anyway. She agreed she is “kinda anal that way”.

Salmon on the Grill ToTry

Posted on by June 4, 2017

By DirtSailor at SMF – “One of my favorite ways to do salmon is whole. When I was fishing for a living I always got the just legal keepers while my customers got all the hogs. Which isn’t a bad thing because I really think those smaller fish are the best. I have a method of filleting the fish that removes the bones, but leaves the two fillets attached by the back skin. As a disclaimer this cook could be done with a whole gilled and gutted fish or,just fillets or steaks too.”

“Lay the fish skin side down on a good sized chunk of foil. Big enough to wrap the fish in. Season the fish with fresh dill, tarragon, CBP, garlic, very thin lemon slices. On one side add pre-cooked bay shrimp and Dungeness crab meat. Lay pats of butter on top of shrimp and crab. Top that with more lemon, tarragon, and dill. Capers are also another good option too add. Place second fillet on top skin side up (meat touching all the stuffing). Wrap fish tightly in the foil. Before closing all the way add a 1/4 of white wine, not cooking wine, something you like drinking.”

Place on the grill. Timing is a bit tricky do to varying cooking temps but figure 10-15 minutes per side. You need to flip the packet once.

When unfoiling save the drippings. Use as is as a simple pan sauce or use to make a white sauce.

“One of my favorite ways to eat salmon, and I ate a lot of it when I was fishing and we had the seasons.”

Cucumber Tomato Avocado Salad

Posted on by September 28, 2016

Ingredients

1 lb Roma tomatoes
1 English cucumber
½ medium red onion, sliced
2 avocados, 1/2″-3/4″ chunks
2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
Juice of 1 medium lemon (about 2 Tbsp) – Mary used “lots more”
¼ cup (1/2 bunch) cilantro, chopped – Mary used more that this
Kosher salt and fresh ground pepper until it tastes right.

Tom bets this would be good with boiled shrimp.

May 2, 2016 – First time and it was great. The English cucumber was quite different from the standard cucumber.

Rib Roast Like A Steak like AP Lang

Posted on by September 30, 2016

Mothers Day, Sunday, May 8, 2016

Below is Adam Perry Lang’s recipes as we prepared them to celebrate Mother’s Day. Ambient Temp was in the 70’s and humidity was 50% or so.

This actually started on Friday before when I brought home the two-bone rib roast and dry brined it with Kosher salt. Then Saturday afternoon cut it between the ribs and salted the newly exposed sides.

Ingredients

Southern Baste – As we only had a 2-bone we made 1/2 the amounts below. His recipe is on line here.

Makes approximately 3 cups (if using the acid component)

Ingredients for Fat Baste
1 1/4 cups extra virgin olive oil
10 tablespoons (1 1/4 sticks) unsalted butter
1/2 cup rendered fat from the meat being cooked (optional) — did not add
1 teaspoon soy sauce — did not add
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon dark brown sugar – did not add
2 tablespoons grated garlic or garlic mashed to a paste
1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves
2 tablespoons grated yellow onion – he called for a Spanish onion.
2 teaspoons sea or kosher salt
2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes

Ingredients for Acid Component — forgot to make and use
1/2 cup cider vinegar
1 tablespoon ketchup
1 tablespoon yellow mustard

Directions – Combine all the ingredients for the fat baste in a 2-quart saucepan and bring just to a simmer; remove from the heat. For the best flavor, refrigerate in a tightly sealed container for 1 to 2 days (reheat over low heat to melt the butter before using).

****Adjust if necessary —-For recipes that use the optional acid component, whisk it into the fat baste before using, or reserve it to add later, as specified in the individual recipe.

Beef
1 2-bone rib roast
1/2 recipe of his Four Seasons Blend – Below is his recipe but we made it without the salt as the meat was dry brined.  Should have also reduced the garlic salt.

Four Seasons Blend Ingredients
MAKES ABOUT 1 CUP
1 cup coarse sea salt or kosher salt
2 tablespoons freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons garlic salt
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper

2 tablespoons coarsely ground black pepper

Board Dressing

3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 tablespoons finely chopped flat-leaf parsley
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
Grated garlic, Cilantro and red pepper flakes

Preparation

This loosely followed Lang’s process cited here.

Set up the Weber with a full chimney of ashed over briquettes, the cooking grate and a large brick on either side. Laid a cast iron grate from the gas grill between the bricks and one across the two bricks to create an elevated grate. Added three small chunks of pecan wood to the coals. A light white smoke rose through the grates throughout the cook.20160508_180017

Seasoned the beef all over with Four Seasons Blend (but forgot to add more pepper as he prescribed), then worked seasonings into the meat with my hands that were wet. The meat was shiny and tacky from the dry brining.

Put beef on the un-oiled upper grill grate and cooked for 1 minute. Turn them over to grill for another minute then repeated that 3 times. Even though did not oil the grate the meat did not stick to create the scruffing he wants.

Put a foil-wrapped brick on the upper grill grate to steady the meat standing on its side the brown the 2″ wide sides. Turned roasts and repeated until all 4 sides have cooked for ~3 (he said 4) minutes each20160508_182425.

Removed brick and elevated grate. Move roasts to the cutting board and let rest for at maybe 5 minutes. Continued cooking roasts on lower grate closer to the fire, turning every 2-3 minutes and basting the top of the beef using a silicone brush with the Southern baste each time they were flipped and the meat was hot. Kept flipping and basting until an the RC600 inserted into the thickest part registered 120°. (He recommended 105°).

Transfer roasts to cutting board and should have let rest for 5–10 minutes. But, began slicing into 3/8″-1/2″ slices after cutting it away from the bones. (APL said 1/4″ slices) Put the bones back on the grill.

Spooned the Board Dressing onto the board and drug the meat through it. When the meat was sliced flipped the slices in the board dressing that now has a lot of meat juices in it.  Piled it onto a small baking sheet, added the bones that are now rather black but not too much. Took it inside and into the oven to stay warm and rest . Oven was at room temp.

Next time.

  • Don’t forget to add the acid component to the baste just before using it.
  • Don’t forget to pour juices from cutting board over meat.
  • Use two standard bricks on each side to raise the elevated grate higher so it cooks a little slower. That is how he has his set up.
  • Let the meat rest more when transferring to the lower grate
  • Too much EVOO in the board dressing. Should have heated it to meld the flavors. Did not like the microplaned garlic and onion–turned them to mush. Should have minced and lightly sauted before adding the oil. Dried thyme and dried rosemary would likely have been more flavorful.
  • He added black pepper to the seasoning blend and I forgot. Could have had more black pepper in the lightly heated board dressing.

Smoked Hard Boiled Eggs and White Potatoes

Posted on by January 22, 2017

May 5, 2016

Ambient temp is about 75° and humidity is 28%.

Boiled a dozen Large eggs and shelled. Cut three medium white potatoes in half and rubbed with EVOO.

Put potatoes near back wall and eggs in front of them into MES on a mat on the second rack from the top. MES set at 250° with grate temp actually in the high 230°s based on ChefAlarm with air probe on the grate above in the center within 3″ of the side opposite the coil.

Smoke was generated by the AMZNTS with a mix of ChefMasters pellets and apple wood chips. First time trying the chips in the AMZNTS and it burned well. Steady thin smoke, likely white as I could not tell.

Removed eggs after 1 hour and they had a good smokey color but the outer surface was a bit rubbery after about 10 minutes Smokey color did not penetrate into the white hardly any. Potatoes were not done so set timer at 1 hour and raised temp to 275°. SHOULD HAVE COLD SMOKED.

Potatoes were still not near done so moved them to convection over set at 350. One hour later the smaller ones were done and the larger ones were close.

Conclusion – This was a screwed up smoke as the eggs should have been cold smoked and I never let the potatoes get done.

Could have sliced in half and set MES to lowest for 30-45 minutes.

 

 

Texas Style Barbecue Sauce

Posted on by May 7, 2016
Texas Style Barbecue Sauce
From bbqaoa, April 18, 2016
Ingredients:
1/4 – lb butter or margarine
1 cup vinegar
1 cup water
1/2 cup tomato ketchup
2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp dry mustard
2 tsp chili powder
1/4 tsp cayenne
1 tsp black pepper
1 tsp salt
1/4 cup sugar
2 – crushed bay leaves
2 – cloves garlic, minced
1 – large onion, grated
Juice of 1 lemon
Directions: Mix all ingredients and simmer for 15 minutes. Makes about 2 cups.

Beans, Slaw and Potato Salad like Franklin BBQ

Posted on by July 8, 2018

Aaron Franklin’s Beans

First made April 30, 2016 based on Aaron Franklin’s Beans on page 196 of his book A Meat Smoking Manifesto. Our changes are cited along with his original. Turned out really good although a bit too hot for Mary.

1 pound dried pinto beans, picked over and rinsed
1/2 Cup diced yellow onion
1/2 Cup bean seasoning (recipe follows)
8 cups water
3/4 cup drippings from a smoked pork butt that was underway and some chopped smoked pork from last weekend. Aaron adds 1 cup chopped brisket bark and shredded meat and no pork.

  1. Rinsed the beans and poured them into a pot of boiling water, covered and turned off the fire. Let them soak for an hour then poured off the water and lightly rinsed to remove the bean sugars.
  2. Combine the beans, onion, bean seasoning and water in a large pot and bring to a boi. Reduce to simmer and cook uncovered for 4-6 hours until the beans are tender. Adjust salt. Aaron lets the dry beans, onion and bean seasoning soak for 4 to 6 hours, or for up to overnight, “which is what we do in the restaurant”.
  3. Added the drippings and chopped smoked pork about an hour in.  Aaron adds “brisket bark and meat to the soaked beans and bring to a boil. Lower the heat to a slow simmer, cover, and cook for 3 to 4 hours, until the beans are tender.”

Aaron’s Bean Seasoning

These portions are 1/4th of Aaron’s as we made it for one pound of beans and his seasoning portions would make 2 cups of seasoning and used 1/2 cup of the mix in 1 pound of beans.

  • 1/4 cup chile powder. Used home made Ancho the first time. the second day it was fairly hot. Rewarmed, it was hotter and too hot for Mary. Next time try 3T of chile powder; i.e. 3/16ths of a cup.
  • 1 tablespoon kosher salt
  • Almost 1 tablespoon coarse black pepper
  • 1.5 teaspoon onion powder
  • 1.5 teaspoon garlic powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground cumin

“Combine all of the ingredients and mix well. Store in an airtight container.”

Coleslaw like Franklin BBQ

Same day as the first time we made the beans I made his cole slaw that is on the next page. It was ok but quite different from what we like. His use of mustard was worth trying in our seasoning as well as the rice vinegar but the sour cream did not work for us.

The next day I thinly sliced then cut crossways the rest of the head of cabbage and added shredded carrots, celery and red onion . We used his seasoning ingredients other than the sour creme and added a two count of EVOO. It was ok but maybe needed more mayo than the heaping tablespoon I added to a little over 1/4 C of the vinegars. Also added celery seeds.

Potato Salad like Franklin BBQ

The ingredients below are derived from his recipe cited in the Smoking Manifesto on page 197.

  • 2 pounds white thin-skin potatoes. Boiled 15 minutes, left out to cool, then cut into 1/2″ squares or the equivalent. His called for 3 lbs of Russets.
  • 2/3 cup mayo.  His called for 1C.
  • 1/4 cup yellow mustard.  His called for 1/2 C.
  • 3/8th cup or a little less than 1/2 cup chopped dill pickles  His called for 3/4C.
  • 1T dill pickle juice. That is what he called for for 2 lbs. of potatoes.
  • 2t black pepper.  His called for 1T.
  • a little less than 1t kosher salt.  His called for 1t.

It was good as the dill/mustard flavor profile was quite different from what we normally make. It did have a sort of German-Czech style.

We had too much for the potatoes so kept it in an small pyrex dish. It got better and would make a great dip or sauce of other salads. Great mild pickle/mustard profile. Adding a little cayenne could be good. Also smashed up capers would be a nice contrast.

Smoking a Big Butt

Posted on by June 18, 2016

April 30, 2016, Saturday. Ambient temp is 78° and 100% humidity waiting on the rain.

Thursday before – The 10.78 pound Boston Butt has been thawing in the refer since Wednesday so Mary pulled and salted it with Kosher salt.20160429_193346

Friday evening – Rubbed it with coarse-ground black pepper and granulated garlic.

Saturday, 5:15 am – Pulled Butt from refer. Rubbed fatty end (the one with the round bone showing) with Stubbs Hot Pork Rub to see how different the bark will be from the end with only SPG.

While the MES Preheated – Modified one end of a small cookie sheet to allow the door to close and fit snuggly as a baffle above the chip box and to shield the box probe on back wall and direct heat to center of chamber. Set the two Thermoworks probes so the ends were about 3″ from the side walls on the 2nd rack. During warm up the probe over the chip box read ~20° more than the box probe and ~30° more than the probe on the other end of the same grate. As the box and internals warmed up the and settle down the three readings came together within 5°. But, when the coil came on the one over the coil would climb higher but then come back down. The cookie sheet shield caused the box probe to be the slowest responding and that seemed to help.

Smoke characteristics: Thin white hickory smoke that was consistent for the first 5.5 hours during which the MES was not opened.

6:30 – Put Butt in MES40 and fritzed with water/Apple Cider Vinegar (1:1). Positioned air probe on side opposite coil within about 4″ of door. Lite AMNZTS lying on bottom bars filled 3/4 with hickory pellets then shaken down to level. Filled alum pan under butt 1/4 way with very hot water from the tap. All set and locked down by 6:50.

8:00 – Air probe is 242° and MES is 244°. MES takes longer to come up to 250° to cut off likely due to water in pan that is just below the MES probe. The water must be keeping the box cooler and causing the coil to have to heat longer. Should have put in boiling water. Have not opened it since 6:50. Rain finally got here but only lasted 30 minutes then ambient temp fell almost 10°. Bright sunny skies with lower humidity.

12:40 – First time to open it after almost 6 hours. TBS stopped within the last 30 minutes so tube smoker 3/4 went for 5.5 hours. Temps have been very consistent either side of 250°. Inserted ChefAlarm meat probe and IT was 178°. All water evaporated awhile ago and fat is simmering.

2:45 – IT is 180° and still in stall so wrapped and put in oven set at 275°. When reinserted IT probe it only read 173°.

3:55 – IT is only 183° so reset over to 300° Convection as we want to eat about 6:00pm.

4:15 – Seems to be heating fast so reset to 275°.

4:33 – ChefAlarm alarmed at 295°. Turned oven off and left it in there.20160430_180830

5:30 – The IT rose to 202° the stopped so turned oven back on to 275 and by 5:30 it alarmed at 205° so turned off oven again and left it in.

6:00 – Ate a great meal of semi-pulled pork (left it in large chunks), Aaron Franklin’s cole slaw and beans (with my twists) from his BBQ Manifesto book. I added 3/4C of the pork drippings and leftover CSRs chunks from last weekend. Also for the first time ever ground dried and roasted-in-a-skillet Ancho Chiles to use in these beans. They were OK and likely better tomorrow.