Experiments Finished!

[pignit]

Here is a link to the beginning of this smoke.
http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/for...ad.php?t=80559

First off the smoker was the Buckboard Bacon. I have to say there was way more flavor in the brining pickling cure than in the dry cure. In addition it only took 48 hours instead of 2 weeks. This is definitly the way I'll be making my buckboard bacon from now on.

As I told you all before in the last post I foiled everything and spritz it before I went to bed. This morning the first off was the beef tender roast. It really turned out nice. Very good slab of meat to make pulled beef with.

Next off was the cured beef chuck roast. This thing has a beautiful rich almost maroon color. It is a cross between corned beef and strami. I love it. It will make an excellent sandwich and I would also do this again. Sorry but we went to a wedding and Red accidentally erased the finished pics. I'll take some and throw them on here when I make my sandwich.
http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/for...ad.php?t=80600


Next is the butt ham... which I know is a contradiction in terms but this thing turned out really nice. I did a little taste test and it has a great flavor to it. I waited for it to cool before I sliced it and man this thing is awesome. I cured it the same as the BB but when I went to smoke it I used honey, turbinado sugar and pepper. This thing is well worth the effort. Especially at 98 cents a pound.

Now the butts are another whole story. When I got up this morning I checked the temp on both butts. They were put in side by side at the same time. One had an internal of 205 and was falling apart. The other one was sittin on 160. I left it in the smoker and at a total of 17 hours in the smoker which is sitting on 245... the internal was 178. I checked this temp with three different therms and all were within a couple degrees. Talk about butt from hell. This thing would take 3 days to get to 195. Anyway.. I pulled it and threw it in with the other one that had already been pulled and what a nice pile of PP. I wanted to mention that I took it out of the foil this morning and let it finish up without foil. I poured all my juices back into the PP after I mixed the two together.

The baffle did make a difference and with a little experimentation I think I can get it to a place that will really help with that right hand hot spot. I'll work more on that later. The cured beef chuck was a hit. Wonderful taste and texture. The butt ham was very much a winner. Hard to believe that a little cure and seasoning can turn a butt into such a different peice of meat. Everything turned out nicely and I gained some valuable info with this smoke. I love this stuff.

 

[beer-b-q]

What can I say except "WOW... Looks delicious to me...

 

[rivet]

Pig, you always make the best stuff! When my kids were here, they loved your posts on pastrami and especially the chicken livers, water chestnuts and bacon - so much so they made me go to the store and get the stuff- which we made on the brisket day.

They loved it!

All your food is picture perfect, and makes me want to fire up the smoker RIGHT NOW, but of course that's not possible. Thanks for the great food Q-Vue and keep up the fire!

 

[fire it up]

Everything looks really good, even that sob butt that was being difficult for you, glad it worked out.
How long did the butt ham cure for? I gotta try that out.

 

[pignit]

That was the really shweeeeet part. I cured it in the brine/pickle mix for 48 hours and soaked it about 2 hours before I smoked it. Really easy and just awesome texture and taste.

 

[rons]

man that looks GREAT!!!

I wonder why some meats just won't heat up!!!

That looks so good, I'm going to take a bite outa my screen! lol

 

[shooterrick]

Great post! I am real interested in the cured chuck. Think that one is on my list now! Pnts to ya.

 

[ronp]

Great job Dave, thanks for the Qview and experiments.

 

[meat hunter]

Nice job Pignit. Everything looks great. By the way, my wife thinks your avatar is just wrong. LOL

 

[mballi3011]

I'm with everyone else

for sure thats some really good looking bbq all of it. I said yesterday that I would be checking back in and now I'm really really glad I did. from the butt to the bacon to the differant ways things are done. A 2 day cure wet and dry to the cornedtsrami Out of this world stuff there dave.

 

[DanMcG]

Great lookin smoke as always Dave, thanks for sharing the q-view

 

[deltadude]

The meat looks excellent. Sorry to hear about the one stubborn pork butt, guess the ol Heat Resistivity index on that one must have been super high. Sounds like you had a good solution and all turned out well.
Bet your guests are luvin you as you lay some great Q on them during their visit.

You say .

Could you share how the baffle made a difference?

I think you are dealing with more than just convection heat where the heated air rising thru the cabinet and particularly the corner where the heat source is located is greater. There is also heat conduction directly from the element to the cabinet. I discovered this by accident once when my digital thermometer remote probe fell and the tip was resting against the wall above the wood refill inlet. I can't rem the exact temp it was in early stage and the cabinet wall temp in this location was like really high compared to the digital controller readout. So there is considerable heat transfer to the wall on that side and corner. Thus it would seem that more than a thin small baffle would be needed to deal with both convection and conductive heat transfer. Offset smokers it seems have to deal with a similar problem as the heat on the side of the fire box is very high and needs to transfer the heat to the opposite side by use of thick tuning plates.

It would be great to put multiple digital thermometer probes at various locations in the cabinet, racks, meat, etc, to get some accurate readings of what is actually happening. I have 3 taylors that all take the same probe, I am ordering 6 probes, plus the one good one I have left. So maybe in a couple of weeks I can offer some input about actual temp reading in multiple locations. (I don't plan on using 6 probes normally at once, my intention is to have 1 probe for ea. taylor and a backup.)

Anyway I'm sure you are enjoying the host role, especially when you are providing such great food. It is always a pleasure to serve others when you know you are making them happy.

 

[waysideranch]

You nailed it PIG. Good job.