This may sound dumb, and I'm sure it's useless for those who have a lot of smoked meat eaters in their house, but I think it'll work good for me.
Mrs Bear isn't big on smoked meat to begin with, and she also isn't much for leftovers, so whatever I smoke gets both of us eating it the first day, usually some given to our Son & his wife, and I eat leftovers for a couple days.
Any meat that's left after that gets vacuum packed and frozen.
However, I never knew how to save the Au Jus I made with my smoke, so when I froze the meat, I tossed the juice!
This stuff is way too good to toss!!!!
Anyway here is what I just did this past week:
When I smoked my CSRs (3-2-1 style), on the second step, I added the following simple mixture to the foil pan, with the meat raised up on a wire rack inside the pan.
Then I covered the pan of CSRs, and put them in the smoker for the 2 hour step #2.
Ken's Teriyaki Marinade--------------------4 ounces
Sweet Baby Rays BBQ Sauce-------------2 ounces
Apple Juice------------------------------------8 ounces
After the two hours in foil, I removed the CSRs, and continued that smoke.
Then I took the mixture above, along with the meat juices that accumulated in the pan, left it cool awhile, and put it in the fridge, in a covered Tupperware container.
The next day, I removed the hardened fat that rose to the top, And used that Au Jus on my Smoked Meat. This mix was Awesome!
I'll use this mix for my Briskets, Chuckies, and just about any meat that I can put in a roll, and call it a sammy.
This time, when I froze the leftovers, I did the following:
I got out an Ice Cube Tray, and after stirring my leftover Au Jus, I poured it evenly across the ice cube tray.
Then I put the tray in my freezer over night.
Then I cut around each cube, and popped the cubes out.
They wouldn't pop out the normal way, because they didn't get completely hard, like regular ice (I guess because of the salt content).
They were more of the consistency of a frozen Fudgesicle.
Then I put them all in a Ziplock bag, and put them back in the freezer.
I figure I'll be using about one or two cubes per sammy, when I get around to slamming those leftovers!
Like I said, this might look like a dumb idea for some, but it works great for me.
BTW: I'm only planning to save this frozen Au Jus for a few weeks to a couple months. If I was going to save it longer, I would vacuum pack it first.
Bear
This is a different smoke, but it's the best picture I have to show the cheap wire rack inside a throwaway pan:
Poured juice from container to ice cube tray:
Frozen Au Jus in tray:
Frozen Au Jus cubes:
Bagged & frozen:
Mrs Bear isn't big on smoked meat to begin with, and she also isn't much for leftovers, so whatever I smoke gets both of us eating it the first day, usually some given to our Son & his wife, and I eat leftovers for a couple days.
Any meat that's left after that gets vacuum packed and frozen.
However, I never knew how to save the Au Jus I made with my smoke, so when I froze the meat, I tossed the juice!
This stuff is way too good to toss!!!!
Anyway here is what I just did this past week:
When I smoked my CSRs (3-2-1 style), on the second step, I added the following simple mixture to the foil pan, with the meat raised up on a wire rack inside the pan.
Then I covered the pan of CSRs, and put them in the smoker for the 2 hour step #2.
Ken's Teriyaki Marinade--------------------4 ounces
Sweet Baby Rays BBQ Sauce-------------2 ounces
Apple Juice------------------------------------8 ounces
After the two hours in foil, I removed the CSRs, and continued that smoke.
Then I took the mixture above, along with the meat juices that accumulated in the pan, left it cool awhile, and put it in the fridge, in a covered Tupperware container.
The next day, I removed the hardened fat that rose to the top, And used that Au Jus on my Smoked Meat. This mix was Awesome!
I'll use this mix for my Briskets, Chuckies, and just about any meat that I can put in a roll, and call it a sammy.
This time, when I froze the leftovers, I did the following:
I got out an Ice Cube Tray, and after stirring my leftover Au Jus, I poured it evenly across the ice cube tray.
Then I put the tray in my freezer over night.
Then I cut around each cube, and popped the cubes out.
They wouldn't pop out the normal way, because they didn't get completely hard, like regular ice (I guess because of the salt content).
They were more of the consistency of a frozen Fudgesicle.
Then I put them all in a Ziplock bag, and put them back in the freezer.
I figure I'll be using about one or two cubes per sammy, when I get around to slamming those leftovers!
Like I said, this might look like a dumb idea for some, but it works great for me.
BTW: I'm only planning to save this frozen Au Jus for a few weeks to a couple months. If I was going to save it longer, I would vacuum pack it first.
Bear
This is a different smoke, but it's the best picture I have to show the cheap wire rack inside a throwaway pan:
Poured juice from container to ice cube tray:
Frozen Au Jus in tray:
Frozen Au Jus cubes:
Bagged & frozen:
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