Planning/cooking ahead.

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curious aardvark

Smoking Fanatic
Original poster
Aug 8, 2008
436
11
Derbyshire. England
I gather from many of the posts on the forum that the vast majority of you smoke to order and aim to finish around the time the food is going to be eaten. Sometimes staying up all night to do so.

Now it's my 40th birthday in november and this being me I've decided to have a garden part/bbq (yep end of november in england -mad ? Quite possibly, we could all end up standing in a tent staring out at the rain ;-))
Now given that I'm planning on having around 30 or so people round I thought I'd smoke up a few big joints and then do my usual astonishingly good grill to go with it.

Obviously the grill needs to be done there and then - though I do a lot of pre-cooking these days.

The question is how far ahead could I smoke the big joints (probably a leg of lamb, a decent beef joint (costcos finest) and maybe some mini-fatties)
And is it possible to freeze hot smoked joints succesfully ?
In short I really don't want to leave absolutely everything to the last day.

Why Am I doing all the work for my birthday ? 'cos I love cooking for people - don't we all ? lol
And short of going to a restaurant that's so expensive I'd be on my own (no fun) this is the best food I can get and share with my friends :-)

So any ideas, thoughts, experience on smoking ahead of the day would be really gratefully received. (yes I will post pics after lol)

Thanks folks.
 
They can be prepared a few days in advance and refrigerated or prepared weeks in advance and froze. Just make sure they are wrapped well or vac sealed.
 
Like Goat says- be sure to seal 'em well. And have enough oven room and time for a low heat re-heat. 9 lbs of brisket I did took almost an hour and a half to get back to serving temp wrapped in foil in a 250° oven. I'd imagine the joint meat will be significantly longer.
 
Shoot, I never know when we are going to eat. Mrs Flash is always late with her end of the cooking
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Smoke food freezes well and keeps well. I've got some ribs I need to work on in fact.
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what's a hot smoked joint eat like cold ?
I'm not partial to slimy red beef (or fashionably rare - as it's known).

Or could I cut decent slices/chunks and warm them up on the grill ?
Given that I'm self employed, I've just asked the boss and he reckons I can take a couple of days off before my birthday no problem ;-)
So I can do the hot smoke on the thursday or friday and wrap it(partys on a saturday).

hmm, I think I'm going to have to hot smoke a decent cut of meat just to have a practice, can't go leaving things to chance.
Darn - oh well it's a cross I'll have to bear ;-)

They're doing some really nice shoulders of pork at morrisons.
Weekend project - also I need more sausages.

Now all I need is a remote cooking thermometer. That could be the tricky part. I feel an internet search coming on...
 
I can naw on cold smoked chicken or pork or beef ribs anytime. Even some London Broil I did. Really I can't think of much I really need rewarmed but Pulled Pork and sausage. Still, I prefer it warm and fresh if I can.
 
pulled pork - is simply pork that you pull apart rather than slice right ?

I'm starting to lean towards a decent joint of each of the major food animals.
So a beef rump joint, aleg of lamb and either a good boneless leg or boneless shoulder of pork.

Amd I going to need a remote thermometer for each joint ?
 
Yup... typically a butt/shoulder smoked to 200+°. Will just about fall apart. Don yer gloves and have at it, removing large fat hunks of course.

Separate therms help, but you CAN just use one and place where needed. but..that entails alot of opening/closing of the smoker... and as the ole saying goes..."If yer lookin' ya ain't cookin!" LOL!
 
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