What to smoke?

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SmokeyLee15

Smoke Blower
Original poster
Jan 13, 2021
77
136
Central Ohio
I recently received a Rec Teq pellet smoker and have smoked chicken wings a few times, they have turned out great. I am very new to smoking, my goal is obviously a brisket, ribs, butts etc. I lack the knowledge and experience. I spend a lot of time reading through the threads also understanding that experience is the best source.
What are some smaller cuts of meat that you all would recommend to help get me going? Thanks!
 
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Jake gave you some good starters, and smoked meatloaf is a TOTAL game changer. Super tasty, and very hard to screw up. You're going to love your Rectec. I've had mine for 6 faithful years.
Dave
 
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Don't be afraid of a pork butt. It is very hard to screw one up. They are the most forgiving piece of meat you'll find. If interested, see the recipe in my signature below, this one never fails. As far as smaller cuts, I also recommend trying a reverse seared smoked tri-tip. Smoke until IT is ~123º, pull and rest for 5 min then sear on a high grill both sides for approx 3 minutes each. Look for an IT ~ 135º . Tri-tip is best at med-rare. My fav is ribs, St. Louis cut. There are an abundant methods and all can turn out good eats. Personally I do not go through all the fuss of wrapping etc... they're a 5-6 hour smoke and well worth it.

Good luck, welcome to the forum and show us what you do!
 
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Spare ribs using the 3-2-1 method or Baby backs using the 2-2-1 method are both pretty easy and should come out pretty good. Once you do them a couple times you can start playing with the numbers to suit your tastes better if needed but doing it just the way it's written will give you a good product.
 
ribs and buts are pretty forgiving. Ribs would be shorter like 6 hours or so. I have an RT-700 and I do baby backs often at 250 without wrapping and they turn out great in about 5-6 hours. IT of about 200 and passing a bend test.
 
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Spare ribs, baby back ribs, pork butt, or even do drum sticks. Dive in and experiment it's the only way to learn . the saying goes you learn to make great bbq by making bad bbq hahahahah
 
Man just dive in!!! What do you like to eat (smoked meat wise?) Chicken Legs & thighs are so forgiving and always tasty. Pork spare ribs are pretty straight forward and so is brisket. You can get all fancy and labor intense or you can just dust em with rub and throw them in the cooker - let the wood do the magic (I like simple & easy)

Begin your journey and enjoy the experience. None of this takes an expert, just a passion to enjoy good food and community (and every so often an adult beverage slips into the equation) - this is about having fun - enjoy & post pics!!!
 
Don't be afraid of a pork butt. It is very hard to screw one up. They are the most forgiving piece of meat you'll find. If interested, see the recipe in my signature below, this one never fails. As far as smaller cuts, I also recommend trying a reverse seared smoked tri-tip. Smoke until IT is ~123º, pull and rest for 5 min then sear on a high grill both sides for approx 3 minutes each. Look for an IT ~ 135º . Tri-tip is best at med-rare. My fav is ribs, St. Louis cut. There are an abundant methods and all can turn out good eats. Personally I do not go through all the fuss of wrapping etc... they're a 5-6 hour smoke and well worth it.

Good luck, welcome to the forum and show us what you do!
Tell me more about St. Louis ribs please
 
I recently received a Rec Teq pellet smoker and have smoked chicken wings a few times, they have turned out great. I am very new to smoking, my goal is obviously a brisket, ribs, butts etc. I lack the knowledge and experience. I spend a lot of time reading through the threads also understanding that experience is the best source.
What are some smaller cuts of meat that you all would recommend to help get me going? Thanks!

Hi there and welcome!

Boneless skinless chicken thighs are the easiest smoke in the world. Just season em up, throw em on, smoke until an Internal Temp (IT) of 178-181F degrees.

Meatloaf is fantastic as others have mentioned, just be sure to get a good meatloaf recipe and you will have a good smoked meatloaf. Smoke it to 165F IT.

Dont be afraid of pork ribs. SmokingAl has a foolproof method for smoking them. Smoke them to an IT of 195F (I do 198F for a little more tender). Just season them and throw them on. Make sure your probe placement is good and make sure to stab all over with a toothpic before you pull them off to ensure they are tender. The probe placement can be tricky sometimes.

Whole chickens come out great but have quirks you need to know about.
Quirk#1 you will want to brine or inject a whole chicken to keep the breast and some other meat from drying out. Brine 12-24 hours before smoking.

Quirk#2 poultry skin will come out like leather or rubber if you don't cook at a high enough temp. Smoke at 325F degrees smoker temp and that should prevent the dreaded leather skin.

Quirk#3 do NOT cook past an IT of 165F deep in the chicken breast. Heck most of us pull at a few degrees lower knowing the temp will rise to 165F. Every degree over 165F in the chicken breast = a dryer bird.

Once you perfect your system performance and work around these quicks of whole chicken/skin on poultry, you can do whole chickens for super cheap since chicken is the least expensive meat out there! :)

Finally, if you do all those you can try a pork butt. They are hard to mess up BUT are a completely new experience for your setup. You will want to consistently nail some 10pound pork butt smokes before splurging on a whole packer brisket.
Pork butt is done when it is tender. It is tender when you can stab all over with a wooden kabob skewer and it goes in like butter.
Check for pulled pork tenderness at 205F IT of the meat. If its not butter tender let it raise a couple degrees and try again until it is tender.

Quirk#1-5, figure out your timing for how long the smoke will take. This is the #1 reason why people fail on pork butts or whole packer briskets. At a steady 275F smoker temp your smoke will go a little over 1hr a pound PRETRIMMED weight. So a 10 pound pork butt will take like 11 hours.... but u don't plan for 11 hrs,
Add 4 hours to the estimated time. So a 10 pound but taking 11 hrs add 4hrs =15hrs.
Take this number and start your smoke that many hours BEFORE you plan to serve and eat.
So if you want to eat at noon on Tuesday, then you make sure the pork butt is in the smoker at 275F at 9pm the day before (Tuesday 12pm noon - 15hrs = 9pm Monday, start 9pm Monday).
If it finishes 4 hours early great, you tightly double wrap in foil then tightly wrap in 3 bath towels and lay on the counter until 4 hours later. It will be steaming hot like 170F IT and ready to serve 4-5 hours later.
If it doesnt finish 4 hours early... you have 4 hours for it to finish before hungry people stab you with forks and knives. So you have some wiggle room here.

If you can consistently get your setup to work well for pork butts you can be confident that your setup can handle a whole packer brisket. At this point you just learn the quirks of a brisket and go from there.

I hope all this info helps :)
 
Another +1 for pork butt. Easy to not mess up. And a lot of meat? Can even throw ribs or something else on while your going just to get the feel for it
 
St. Louis Style pork ribs are super easy and delicious.

I just season mine with SPG...don't pull the membrane...no water in the pan - ever - in my MES40. About 5-6 hours later the ribs are done and are usually so good we only use sauce on the side. I typically use hickory or apple for smoke...sometimes pecan.

EDIT - so I saw the message below and thought I would add a couple of more details.
  • I normally smoke my ribs at 250F.
  • Ribs are usually done when the thick meaty section is in the 195F-202F range.
  • If you wrap the ribs I would wait until the meat is at about 165F +/- before you wrap them (or whereever the stall occurs).
  • Wrapped ribs will get done quicker...unwrapped can be 5-6 hours depeding on the cut of meat.
  • Wrapped ribs tend to fall off the bone and smoked-unwrapped are more like take a bite and it pulls easily off the bone (my fave), but less easily than wrapped ribs.
  • If you end up doing pork ribs and mess things up - somehow - even the mistakes are delicious!
 
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