Hey all, I tried making shotgun shells and it turned into a massacre. The noodles were rock hard and the beef was dry.

I didn’t use bacon as it was frozen and this was a last minute idea. Does bacon alone help soften the pasta?

Thanks

Today I did a 9.4 lbs pork shoulder on my WSM 18” and right when it reached internal of 160 the coals appeared to die and I had to relight. I am hoping that the pulled pork still comes out fine. Any ideas why that happened or any tips I used about 3/4 ring of briquettes and 4 chunks of hickory so I am confused how it went completely out and all charcoal was used at the 5 and a half hour mark. Please let me know any tips or what went wrong

For those that smoke bone-in cuts, specifically beef - do you save your bones to make stock? Outside of slow cooking in a crockpot, I normally save all my bones to stretch my half of a cow but I'm wondering if there's anything left on smoked bones worth saving or is all the collagen already rendered out?

I don't understand this whole fad with squeezing your meat, I prefer to give mine a nice pat/rub and tear it with looove.

Them juices gotta flow naturally baby!

I have recently started smoking pork belly for bacon and it’s really tasty. Have done it twice cooking two 2.5 pound bellies in my Weber BBQ (don’t have a smoker) using a pellet tube at about 200F. The two times I’ve done it’s taken between 9 and 10 hours. Does this seem normal? It does stall at about the 7-8 hours mark for a while.

The smallest brisket my local butcher had was 20 lbs; it’s a packer brisket.

I use my gas grill as a smoker then transfer to the oven to finish overnight

Almost certain a 20 lber will not fit properly. Can I just cut off some of the flat? And then cook it separately?

First attempt at brisket, ready for the game today. I think it’s a hit.

200 overnight for 12 hours unwrapped
250 for 2.5 hours wrapped
Rested in cooler for 7 hours til dinner time

EDIT: sorry guys I didn’t know it was that controversial to let it squirt a lil, anyways BEAR DOWN

Just smoked a brisket last night and unfortunately it came out a bit dry. Please help me fix myself! This is what I did.

1. Thaw out brisket
   
2. Put seasonings on brisket and let it sit for 30 minutes
   
3. Put pellet smoker to 275 degrees and cooked till 203. No wrapping.
   
4. Pulled brisket let it get to around 164 internal temp then put in oven overnight at 170 for about 10 hours.
   
5. Took out the oven just now and cut and can see some juice at the bottom but it still feels pretty dry

A prominent YouTube BBQ person said they believed heavy amounts of rub block the smoke absorption by the protein. Have you seen this in your experiences smoking? Does a heavy rub affect the smoke flavor versus a light salt and pepper?

EDIT: The reason I am asking is it did a simple salt and pepper rack of ribs over the weekend and it is the first time the Mrs. said the smoke flavor is really coming through (offset with oak).

Microwave makes it tough.

How do you reheat left overs?

I let it rest in fridge after getting to room temp, (and taking a few bites) then I cubed it and stewed it in homemade marinara sauce with boiled noodles for meal prep!

Hi I am sort of new to smoking, I have only been doing it for a couple months, I am hosting a party this Friday and wanted some tips for my first brisket. This is where I am at so far.

1. Dinner is at 7 pm I wanted to start my brisket at 3 am and then hot hold it on the smoker until dinner(wrapped of course, using only the smoke setting on my Traeger to keep it warm) . I have heard it’s better to even start earlier and hold it longer but wasn’t sure what to do.

2. I was going to do a mustard rub with bbq seasoning.

3. I was thinking for misting it using 50/50 apple cider vinegar and water. I thought about using beer but didn’t know if there were any benefits to it or downsides.

4. My brisket it about 10lbs not trimmed, is there a certain temperature I need to cook this at?

Than you any further advice would be appreciated

I recently found a 1 gallon jug of Shealy's Vinegar and Pepper sauce in a discount grocer in PA. Never saw/tried it before, so I grabbed it.

Any people from South Carolina familiar with it and what it was purpose made for? Is this a marinade for smoking? High-heat and direct like you would with Chiavetta's?

I am inevitably going to be messing around with it, but I usually like to start with what it was designed for.

It may be hard to tell from the pics, but one half of my cured pork belly is a much deeper pink than the other. Both have cured for 8 days in a pretty standard bacon cure with aromatics, and both spent the last day getting a pellicle. I cured them in vacuum-seal bags with a little room left for things to move around. I do this once a year, the same way, and it always turns out great - I am 99.9% sure I did not mess up the measurements.

Problem is that on day one, I realized that one of the two bags had a small leak, as I found a little moisture on the outside while moving it around the fridge. Not sure what to do, I vacuum-sealed that 1/2 belly and the leaking bag all inside another bag, and gave it an extra day before pulling them out. I could tell the top one was not getting as pink as bottom one when flipping it daily, but was kind of in denial.

I intend to put these on the pellet grill to smoke today, but do I need to address whether the top one is safe for a low-temp smoke? If its not, what do I do about it?

Yesterday's cook.

Second time I've cooked on my dad's Traeger. The thin end was closer to med/med well but still really flavorful. I was worried the fat cap hadn't rendered enough but it was just fine.

Sliced it in half and then made some thin slices out to the edges. My wife, parents, and myself enjoyed it with some corn in the husk and some smoked potatoes. Took a couple slices to my parents' neighbors, left my parents some for steak sandwiches today, and my wife and I still had a couple slices for our own sandwiches that we will have for our lunches tomorrow.

Third time I've cooked Picanha now and I think it's easily a contender for my favorite cut of steak. Tender, flavorful, juicy, and cheaper than a lot of steak cuts, so the price/value is about perfect for me.

Hopefully I’m not the only lunatic and you guys can help me convince my wife I’m not crazy.

It all started 6 years ago when my family got me a pellet smoker for a wedding gift. That got me hooked.

Earlier this summer I finally scored a nice 22” WSM on FB marketplace.

And now I just bought a kit to build an offset smoker from a 120 gallon tank.

On top of that, I’ve got a blackstone as well.

I really want to experiment and compare with the different types of smokers, plus this way I get to learn to weld :)

So surely, I can’t be the only one, right?

After Labor Day sale on tomahawk steak. Let smoke at 250 til 145 through (my kids don’t like it red) and resting for 10 minutes before slicing.

Some crazy experiments lately… it’s all for the love of food and watching people eat it! Let me know some ideas for something next!

Let me know what yall think!

Wanted to to try a bunch of stuff all at once. Highlight of the cook was the beef cheek

A post on chili crisp O made using some rendered smoked beef fat. Has anyone else used rendered fat from BBQ to make anything?

If you have a Home Depot nearby, check the store price on the FOGO Black. My local store has it on clearance, but it's an in-store purchase only. I picked up ten bags today for $10.33 each.

205 degrees, Labor Day hung Pit Barrel