Hey Gang! You can call me Doc! I live in Santa Cruz, California, and I work in the tech industry. My wife, 2 kids, 2 dogs, and 3 cats share this little slice of paradise we call home here. My main hobby is home brewing, and I actually got introduced to smoking meat from the Home Brew Talk forums, where I'm pretty active and an editor for their front page articles.
I was browsing new posts one day and came across a "Who's Smoking Meat This Weekend" thread, and the title made me chuckle because I pictured people talking about rolling up and somehow smoking meat like a cigarette or joint or something. When I clicked through I didn't find any of that, but did come across lots of pics that got my mouth watering, and I had to learn more.
So after doing lots of research on here, other forums, product reviews, and so on I settled on buying a Rec-Tec 680. My research led me to believe it was the best $1000 you could spend on a smoker, and now that I've had it for a month or so, I would happily recommend these grills to anyone that in the market for such a thing.
Here's a couple of pics of my new baby all setup in our back yard next to my Weber Genesis E-330 "gasser" as I've learned they're called.
The first thing I did once I got it put together was some pig candy of course:
Of course I had to do some ribs very shortly after. Here they are all rubbed up and ready to go. I used three different rubs that I had. Two were in a gift set from Penzey's spices that my wife got me (Galena St. and BBQ 3000), and the third was a batch of Jeff's rub that I made up.
Here they are when I just put them on the grill at 225.
Here's what they looked like after 3 hours in the smoker with the "Extreme Smoke" option on.
I put a little mettled butter, raw sugar, and more rub in the foil before putting them in with the meat side down. They each got 1 shot of bourbon on the bones as well. Then they went back in the smoker for another hour, bone side down.
Out of the foil, sauced, and on a the searing hot grill for just a couple of minutes to finish them up.
And, BOOM! All done. If you're wondering, the Galena St. rub was the crowd favorite, with Jeff's rub being a close second, and one person insisting we were all crazy and loving the BBQ 3000 rub. Just goes to show you, to each their own!
The next day I did a pork butt. Here it is all rubbed up and ready to go. I injected it with Cherry Dr. Pepper before applying the rub.
Here it is after 3 hours in the smoker about 225-235.
Here it is after about 6 hours when the internal temp hit 160. At that point I put it in a pan and foiled it.
I forgot to write it down, but I believe it was about 5 hours later or so that the internal temp hit 205, so I pulled it off. My smoke wireless thermometer worked like a champ!
Unfortunately I didn't get any pics of it after I pulled it, but it basically just fell apart. I did make some smoked mac n' cheese with bacon to go with it though. This is it before going on the grill, forgot to snap a pic of when it came off, probably because I was two busy shoving pulled pork in my face.
Last weekend I did 5 pounds of ground beef jerky. 1 hour in.
2 hours in.
I flipped it after 2 hours in. 4 hours total, and it was done, and I used the extreme smoke option on it. Here it is all done.
Everyone that I took some to and work on Monday told me Tuesday morning that they'd eaten it all and please bring them more!
This weekend I'm doing 5 lbs of Thai turkey jerky on Saturday, and then Sunday I'm doing my first fatty, cheddar & bacon biscuits, and smoked peaches for dessert!
Anyway, I just wanted to say hello, introduce myself a bit, and hopefully show people how easy it is to jump into this hobby. Before about a month ago I had never smoked anything. So far the recipes have been pretty straightforward to follow, and everyone has complimented me on the food I've produced.
I was browsing new posts one day and came across a "Who's Smoking Meat This Weekend" thread, and the title made me chuckle because I pictured people talking about rolling up and somehow smoking meat like a cigarette or joint or something. When I clicked through I didn't find any of that, but did come across lots of pics that got my mouth watering, and I had to learn more.
So after doing lots of research on here, other forums, product reviews, and so on I settled on buying a Rec-Tec 680. My research led me to believe it was the best $1000 you could spend on a smoker, and now that I've had it for a month or so, I would happily recommend these grills to anyone that in the market for such a thing.
Here's a couple of pics of my new baby all setup in our back yard next to my Weber Genesis E-330 "gasser" as I've learned they're called.
The first thing I did once I got it put together was some pig candy of course:
Of course I had to do some ribs very shortly after. Here they are all rubbed up and ready to go. I used three different rubs that I had. Two were in a gift set from Penzey's spices that my wife got me (Galena St. and BBQ 3000), and the third was a batch of Jeff's rub that I made up.
Here they are when I just put them on the grill at 225.
Here's what they looked like after 3 hours in the smoker with the "Extreme Smoke" option on.
I put a little mettled butter, raw sugar, and more rub in the foil before putting them in with the meat side down. They each got 1 shot of bourbon on the bones as well. Then they went back in the smoker for another hour, bone side down.
Out of the foil, sauced, and on a the searing hot grill for just a couple of minutes to finish them up.
And, BOOM! All done. If you're wondering, the Galena St. rub was the crowd favorite, with Jeff's rub being a close second, and one person insisting we were all crazy and loving the BBQ 3000 rub. Just goes to show you, to each their own!
The next day I did a pork butt. Here it is all rubbed up and ready to go. I injected it with Cherry Dr. Pepper before applying the rub.
Here it is after 3 hours in the smoker about 225-235.
Here it is after about 6 hours when the internal temp hit 160. At that point I put it in a pan and foiled it.
I forgot to write it down, but I believe it was about 5 hours later or so that the internal temp hit 205, so I pulled it off. My smoke wireless thermometer worked like a champ!
Unfortunately I didn't get any pics of it after I pulled it, but it basically just fell apart. I did make some smoked mac n' cheese with bacon to go with it though. This is it before going on the grill, forgot to snap a pic of when it came off, probably because I was two busy shoving pulled pork in my face.
Last weekend I did 5 pounds of ground beef jerky. 1 hour in.
2 hours in.
I flipped it after 2 hours in. 4 hours total, and it was done, and I used the extreme smoke option on it. Here it is all done.
Everyone that I took some to and work on Monday told me Tuesday morning that they'd eaten it all and please bring them more!
This weekend I'm doing 5 lbs of Thai turkey jerky on Saturday, and then Sunday I'm doing my first fatty, cheddar & bacon biscuits, and smoked peaches for dessert!
Anyway, I just wanted to say hello, introduce myself a bit, and hopefully show people how easy it is to jump into this hobby. Before about a month ago I had never smoked anything. So far the recipes have been pretty straightforward to follow, and everyone has complimented me on the food I've produced.
