HELP me out if you could!

[jcp7857]

Hello all, 

I am sorry to ask all the following questions, I know I could search the net and this forum to get the answers I just do not have the time.  So here goes nothing. 

I have helped with smoking meats on my uncle's custom made smoker (300 gallon propane pig on trailer) with offset wood burning box.  I know how to operate the grill properly, but in the past I was not very involved in prep.

Well I have planned a spur of the moment event for this coming weekend, invited a ton of people and do not want to mess up the meat!  Ordered 50-60 lbs of pork shoulder (picnic), 70 lbs of spare ribs (full rack), 12 fryer chickens halved and 20 lbs of fresh kielbasa.

So first thing that I realized was that my family has always smoked already cooked (smoked and cured) hams, well what I ordered was fresh, no cure.  I caught it in time and the butcher is going to cure the hams for me.  Question is, are the times and temps I planned on using still going to produce good meat?  Plan was to smoke at 225F for 1.5 hours/lb, or until internal temp of 195F reached.  Will this do or should I start at lower temp and ramp it up?

Spare ribs I am pretty comfortable with, figuring about 5-7 hours at 225-250F with internal temp of 175F or so.

For Chickens I have no idea, planning to olive oil then dry rub, turning and spraying with olive oil every 45-60 minutes until the internal on breast is about 165F?

For the fresh sausage I was thinking about 2 hours at about 225-250F to reach 160 internal?

Let me know what you guys think, Thanks!

Jesse

 

[s2k9k]

I'm no expert but from what I've read your temps and times sound about right. I'm not real familiar with the hams so I'll let someone who knows more than me answer that one.

 

[werdwolf]

I think everything looks good except maybe the ham.

I think you are taking that up to a "pulling" temp.  If you are slicing it, 165 internal temp and letting it rest would be more of what I would think, but hopefully someone with more experience will be along shortly.

Good luck

 

[alblancher]

Hello all, 

I am sorry to ask all the following questions, I know I could search the net and this forum to get the answers I just do not have the time.  So here goes nothing. 

I have helped with smoking meats on my uncle's custom made smoker (300 gallon propane pig on trailer) with offset wood burning box.  I know how to operate the grill properly, but in the past I was not very involved in prep.  You have the hard part down!

Well I have planned a spur of the moment event for this coming weekend, invited a ton of people and do not want to mess up the meat!  Ordered 50-60 lbs of pork shoulder (picnic), 70 lbs of spare ribs (full rack), 12 fryer chickens halved and 20 lbs of fresh kielbasa.  I would leave the chickens whole and brine them overnight.  The fresh Kielbasa should be smoked at a lower temp then the rest.

So first thing that I realized was that my family has always smoked already cooked (smoked and cured) hams, well what I ordered was fresh, no cure.  I caught it in time and the butcher is going to cure the hams for me.  Question is, are the times and temps I planned on using still going to produce good meat?  Wow,  he's quite a guy if he can properly cure a large ham in 5 days!  I'd go to Sams and pickup cured, uncooked hams.    Plan was to smoke at 225F for 1.5 hours/lb, or until internal temp of 195F reached.  Will this do or should I start at lower temp and ramp it up?  I believe 195 is high for a ham,  take a look around but if memory serves me I believe I go to 180 or so but look it up I am not certain!

Spare ribs I am pretty comfortable with, figuring about 5-7 hours at 225-250F with internal temp of 175F or so. Spare ribs are the only thing I don't cook to temp.  I look for pullback, bend and how the bone comes out when I twist and gently pull it

For Chickens I have no idea, planning to olive oil then dry rub, turning and spraying with olive oil every 45-60 minutes until the internal on breast is about 165F?  That will work, as I said earlier brine them.   There is a Tips Slaughter House Brine in the articles section that is pretty popular, I use it.  I also cook chicken to 170 in a 300 degree smoker.  I did 6 yesterday and they came out delicious.  I tossed them with a basic rub  and it added a lot of flavor

For the fresh sausage I was thinking about 2 hours at about 225-250F to reach 160 internal? most of us will start at about 140 smoker temp and bring the temps up slowly.  This works well for cured sausages.  If using uncured sausage you need to get it done faster and your way will work fine.  Besides you have to deal with everything else on the smoker and that should be cooked in 225 range

Let me know what you guys think, Thanks!

Jesse

Good Luck and welcome to the forum!

 

[jcp7857]

Thanks for all the responses!  They are much appreciated.

alblancher,

I am not sure what they are doing for the curing process, they mentioned injecting.  They have some equipment that has a bunch of syringes that does this, and they always just smoke the meat the next day.  Does that sound correct, this is a very reputable smoke house in the area?

I have been reading 195 is a bit above slicing temp, and below pulled pork temp of like 205-210.  I will most likely shoot for 185-190 then pull off and rest for a bit rising that little extra.

Ribs, yeah I have tended to look for the pullback from the bone in the past.

Now for the chicken, I have heard better luck with halved birds.  I am sure it is personal preference, but I will most likely brine them overnight. 

Yeah fairly sure that the sausage has a cure, but I will ask.  I will be cooking at the higher temp no matter what since it will be cooking with everything else, hope it doesn’t dry out to bad!

Again thanks for all the help to everyone.

 

[alblancher]

I am sure they are a reputable shop.   I know that large processors can use accelerants in their cures.