I've had fun with pork and fowl and have been anticipating smoking my first beef. However, with pulled pork, smoked turkey and smoked chicken in the freezer, I've been holding off while we draw down on our reserves. When I spotted whole beef tenderloins at the local market for $2.99/lb and then looked up these threads: Beef Tenderloin: It's whats for Dinner and Beef Tenderloin W/Q-view I could hold off no longer. At the same time, they had country ribs (pork) for $0.99/lb so I grabbed a package of those as they fit my plan. Here's a shortcut to the results:
Here's the detail.
First I cut several slices out of the middle of the tenderloin and grilled them with crushed garlic and black pepper on a cast iron pan. They were melt-in-your mouth good! I could hardly believe what we had gotten for that price.
Earlier this morning, I had added a second grate to my mini-WSM to duplicate the arrangement in the regular WSM. I loaded the fire ring with briquetrs and some chiunks of cherry and mulberry. I took about 8 briquettes out to start in a charcoal chimney. Before I started the fire, I had rubbed the pork with crushed garlic, black pepper, rosemary, Hungarian paprika, cumin, sage and enough peanut oil to make a runny paste. For the beef, I kept it simple with garlic and fresh ground black pepper in peanut oil.
My strategy was to put the beef - probably about 5 pounds - on the bottom grate with pork on the top. That way the pork fat would drip on the beef to help keep it moist. I also use a water pan to help moderate grate temperature.
15 minutes after I had laid the lit coals on the unlit coals and smoking woods, grate temp measured 190° and I loaded the meat, inserting the meat temperature probe in the larger piece of beef. About 5 minutes I sprinkled hickory and apple wood chips on the hot coals. This is actually pretty easy with the mini-WSM because the center section has handles and doesn't weigh very much. The grate temperature seemed to hold at 190°, but I figured it didn't accurately reflect actual conditions since meat temperature was 125 about an hour later.
Half an hour after that, I saw that grate temp had climbed to 315° and the meat was at 155°. Both were a bit more than I wanted so I took the beef out to rest and damped down the bottom vent to moderate temps. I switched the meat probe to the meatiest rib and found it at 163°.
I left the pork on while the beef rested in the cast iron pan above (covered with another pan.) I like resting in cast iron because of it's thermal mass and the way I can add a little warmth on a stove top.
After a 45 minute rest, I cut the smaller piece of beef into pieces about 3/4" across. I quick taste told me it had retained the melt-on-your-mouth quality we enjoyed with the steaks even though it was now medium-well to well done. I mixed in a quarter cup of cider vinegar, cider and Sweet Baby Ray's sauce along with two bay leaves. That was when I snapped the picture above. As near as I can tell, this is how "burnt tips" are made. I couldn't find a recipe, but I did find a couple threads describing the process. My variation is to use cast iron instead of foil.
I simmered the burnt tips on the stove on the lowest available flame for about an hour and a half. By that time they had absorbed the extra moisture and I think they actually were melting!
When the country ribs hit 166° (total time 2:45) I took them off and stuffed them into my small Dutch oven where they are now resting comfortable in a warm oven.
I just put the burnt tips pack in the smoker in an uncovered cast iron pan. I added a bit more hickory and mulberry for this second smoke and a few more briquettes to supplement the dwindling fire. Now I just need to decide what to fix with them and which them we're going to have for dinner.
-walt
Here's the detail.
First I cut several slices out of the middle of the tenderloin and grilled them with crushed garlic and black pepper on a cast iron pan. They were melt-in-your mouth good! I could hardly believe what we had gotten for that price.
Earlier this morning, I had added a second grate to my mini-WSM to duplicate the arrangement in the regular WSM. I loaded the fire ring with briquetrs and some chiunks of cherry and mulberry. I took about 8 briquettes out to start in a charcoal chimney. Before I started the fire, I had rubbed the pork with crushed garlic, black pepper, rosemary, Hungarian paprika, cumin, sage and enough peanut oil to make a runny paste. For the beef, I kept it simple with garlic and fresh ground black pepper in peanut oil.
My strategy was to put the beef - probably about 5 pounds - on the bottom grate with pork on the top. That way the pork fat would drip on the beef to help keep it moist. I also use a water pan to help moderate grate temperature.
15 minutes after I had laid the lit coals on the unlit coals and smoking woods, grate temp measured 190° and I loaded the meat, inserting the meat temperature probe in the larger piece of beef. About 5 minutes I sprinkled hickory and apple wood chips on the hot coals. This is actually pretty easy with the mini-WSM because the center section has handles and doesn't weigh very much. The grate temperature seemed to hold at 190°, but I figured it didn't accurately reflect actual conditions since meat temperature was 125 about an hour later.
Half an hour after that, I saw that grate temp had climbed to 315° and the meat was at 155°. Both were a bit more than I wanted so I took the beef out to rest and damped down the bottom vent to moderate temps. I switched the meat probe to the meatiest rib and found it at 163°.
I left the pork on while the beef rested in the cast iron pan above (covered with another pan.) I like resting in cast iron because of it's thermal mass and the way I can add a little warmth on a stove top.
After a 45 minute rest, I cut the smaller piece of beef into pieces about 3/4" across. I quick taste told me it had retained the melt-on-your-mouth quality we enjoyed with the steaks even though it was now medium-well to well done. I mixed in a quarter cup of cider vinegar, cider and Sweet Baby Ray's sauce along with two bay leaves. That was when I snapped the picture above. As near as I can tell, this is how "burnt tips" are made. I couldn't find a recipe, but I did find a couple threads describing the process. My variation is to use cast iron instead of foil.
I simmered the burnt tips on the stove on the lowest available flame for about an hour and a half. By that time they had absorbed the extra moisture and I think they actually were melting!
When the country ribs hit 166° (total time 2:45) I took them off and stuffed them into my small Dutch oven where they are now resting comfortable in a warm oven.
I just put the burnt tips pack in the smoker in an uncovered cast iron pan. I added a bit more hickory and mulberry for this second smoke and a few more briquettes to supplement the dwindling fire. Now I just need to decide what to fix with them and which them we're going to have for dinner.
-walt
