Howdy SMF

[zardnok]

Howdy fellow meat smokers. Been a while since I have been able to peruse the forums and smoke any meat. I have had a busy past few months. Puff is feeling lonely, so I decided it was time to take a weekend and fire up the Dragon!

I am headed to Florida near the end of the month for a family vacation and the family has elected me to "bring the meat", so tonight is a trial run of sorts. I am doing 2 Pork butts and a 10lb brisket tonight/tomorrow and having some friends swing by tomorrow afternoon to critique and offer suggestions before I feed the entire family!

My first pork butt is traditional with Jeff's rub. I know it will be good. The second butt I am trying something new; I slathered it with mustard and then dusted it with Turbinado sugar (sugar in the raw) and Zatarain's Seafood boil. The brisket I am using Tony's, turbinado sugar, onion powder, Kosher Salt and minced garlic along with some Worcestershire powder. I had never seen the Worcestershire powder before and had always just used the liquid, but my sister gave me a the powder at Christmas and I decided it was time to use it.

I did a quick perusal of the forums and saw a lot of friendly names. Looking forward to getting back into the swing of things and cooking some meat. Hopefully work and the real world cooperate and allow me the time!

PS What have I missed in the past couple of weeks??

 

[shellbellc]

last couple of weeks?? I haven't seen you post for a long time....or maybe just me...glad to see you back!!! Don't have a response to your question though....

 

[ultramag]

Good to see you and puff are still hanging around Zardnok. Glad to see you back on don't be such a stranger.

 

[msmith]

Welcome back Zardnok haven't seen you around in a while.

 

[hawgheaven]

Hey Zardnok, you probably don't know me as I'm fairly new here, but welcome back!

 

[deejaydebi]

Hey stranger! About time you showed youself to the family again. We've missed you and puff seems like forever!

 

[hillbillysmoker]

Great seeing you on the forum. I look forward to sharing with you.

 

[zardnok]

Truth be known, I had a "bad experience" that turned me off smoking for a little bit. I live on a 14 acre estate with a ton of trees (Oak, pecan, apple, pear, gum, cedar, etc) and I asked the yard guy if he could hook me up with some of the fallen limbs/trimmings to use in Puff. We had a storm and a decent size "Oak" limb fell somewhere on the property and he was nice enough to skin the bark and chop it up for me into 12" sticks for use in Puff.

I fired up Puff with a load of lump and some of this new wood and when the temps stabilized, I loaded up Puff with some ribs, a brisket, a couple phatties, and some sausage. Fast forward 12 hours or so and it was time to eat. The meat looked good, perhaps a bit darker than normal, and had a decent smoke ring, but it did not taste good. It was bitter, which I thought that was because I tried a different rub with a reduced amount of sugar. I still ate it; I spent 12 hours cooking it, so I was going to eat it!

Fast forward another 2 hours and I am bent over the toilet. Not since college have I been that sick. I was sick all night long which is not good after pulling an all-night smoke session the night before. The next day my stomach was cramping and my head was throbbing making work hell. I tried to take tylenol to help my head, but it came up as soon as I tried to swallow it. I just drank a lot of water trying to keep myself hydrated.

Fast forward 2 days when the yard guy shows up. I have finally caught up on some sleep and have been able to give some thought to what happened. I asked the yard guy where he got the limb from and he pointed across the yard to show me the tree it had fallen from. I walked over to look at the tree and it was a Sweet Gum tree, not an Oak tree.

Moral of the story, always know what wood you are using. I made myself violently ill by using Gum wood instead of Oak. I learned that lesson and will now have the yard guy show me which tree the limbs he brings me fall from. Not gonna turn down free wood, especially not if he skins the bark and cuts it up for me!!

 

[watery eyes]

WOW....thats a hard lesson to learn.

Glad to see you back in the saddle again!

 

[ron50]

Sorry to hear about your experience, one I'm sure you won;t repeat.

Welcome back!

 

[deejaydebi]

Wow that's rough!

I guess we know you cant use sweet gum tree to smoke now. Maybe I should add a warning to my wood list.

Well your suffering was not in vein - I have added it to the list and others will be safe because of your warning!

http://www.deejayssmokepit.net/Downl...lavorChart.pdf

 

[zardnok]

Very Very high creosote level. I knew not to use sweet gum, I was just excited to have free wood, especially with the bark already stripped!

 

[jts70]

Welcome back!!

 

[deejaydebi]

Well we're glad you are over it and back into the foal!