made a big mistake but also made progress

[preacherman1]

I went today to a little country general store and told the meat man I was suffering from bbq fever.  Couldn't make up my mind what I wanted but left with a boston butt cut up into pork steaks. To me they looked awesome.  came home and used a mccormicks pork rub on two and the other two used mc cormicks Montreal Chicken.  good stuff use it on everything  Prepared my fire but used way too much charcoal. the external temp was about 350-375 after an hour of cooking.   fire was way too  hot these thick pork steaks sent from heaven were done in less than 1.5hrs but were still juicy and tender.  I understand now a lot that i didnt understand before this experience.  My question is this I used apple wood chips but didn t get the smoke flavor i was expecting even though i used plenty of chips.  Is that because the temp was too hot???? 

 

[chef willie]

You want TBS (thin blue smoke) for a coupla hours....they cooked wayyyyy to fast....low & slow, is the way to go...havta learn to tame that beast...less charcoal, maybe add more often, you need to be able to monitor chamber temps early on.

 

[Bearcarver]

I went today to a little country general store and told the meat man I was suffering from bbq fever.  Couldn't make up my mind what I wanted but left with a boston butt cut up into pork steaks. To me they looked awesome.  came home and used a mccormicks pork rub on two and the other two used mc cormicks Montreal Chicken.  good stuff use it on everything  Prepared my fire but used way too much charcoal. the external temp was about 350-375 after an hour of cooking.   fire was way too  hot these thick pork steaks sent from heaven were done in less than 1.5hrs but were still juicy and tender.  I understand now a lot that i didnt understand before this experience.  My question is this I used apple wood chips but didn t get the smoke flavor i was expecting even though i used plenty of chips.  Is that because the temp was too hot???? 

Holy Sh!!!!!!!!!   350˚ to 375˚!!!!  You could make a great Turkey!

That's 75˚ to 100˚ hotter than my smoker can get!

Did the wood smoke at that temp---I would think it might burn too clean, but I have no idea---The highest temp I've ever had was about 320˚ on a pre-heat, and that was only until it settled down.

Bear

 

[meateater]

I run my smokers about 250* and sit back and wait. Get that smoke to be almost not noticeble and you will have some BBQ.

 

[porked]

Definitely what Meateater said...you need to slow it down, good BBQ takes time and patience. Find a way to see what temp your smoker is and keep it between 200-250, my goal for any meat is 225. Poultry you want to go a bit higher. Your wood chips didn't have a chance to work would be my guess.

 

[michael ark]

A water pan would help you bring temp down and make it were you dont have as many spikes in temp.just a ideal

 

[i is a moose]

hey Preacherman, are you a real preacher?

I'ma call you Shepherd, just 'casuse I'm a Firefly nerd.

Anyway:

Those shoulder steaks are a great choice. That was one of the special perks about my time butchering, was learning little tricks my co-workers did, and an inexpensive, fun, pork dinner always involved the shoulder steaks. Even though the whole butt is pretty tough, when cut into steaks, it's actually quite tender, and has a good deal more fat than your standard chop, and fat is flavor.

As far as heat goes, that is a high temp for smoking, but great for mid-temp grilling; which is a great way to cook up those steaks. I usually do a "reverse sear" on them, start on low, indirect heat, then finish them ioff on the higher heat for a nice sear, and forgo my ususal medium-rare preference for regular chops in favor of rendering out some of that fat.

I like your choices of seasings, too; Montrreal Chicken is always a standby if I'm too crushed for time, or too lazy to blend up something.

Good luck with your next projects, Shepherd!

 

[SmokinAl]