Today's Smoke (Meat Edition)

[JG358]

Well fellas...I told the wife I would make the turkey this year, which for me means the only method of cooking i am truly good at- smoking. There are two unique circumstances that are merging to form a potential perfect storm of disaster:

1. Thanksgiving is, for my wife, an extraordinarily important and meaningful day beyond the scope of most folks I have ever known. She is a strict traditionalist on which foods are required, and the minimum acceptable quality thereof (she is a hell of a cook).

2. This is the first time I have ever smoked or otherwise cooked a turkey or any part of a turkey.

Here is the turkey brining hopefully in her bath, waiting to go on my smoker in the morning. Not gonna lie...I'm pretty skeered.

View attachment 155925




Yarr, wish me luck lads! Ahead there be stormy seas!

You'll be fine.

I put one in the brine last night myself. Only my second time doing a full bird.

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

 

[Texican]

Happy Turkey Day, y'all!

Here we go! Will post updates as the cook progresses.

 

[Texican]

2 hours in. Oak with a little mesquite.

 

[Texican]

The color looks good and she's absorbed 3.5 hours of smoke...gonna foil her for a couple hours. Little beer in there.

 

[Texican]

Think it's gonna be decent, y'all.

 

[JG358]

...

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

 

[Lomey]

Fresh bone-in turkey breasts. Smoked one with lemon, garlic and fresh herbs and the other cajun. Dry brined with Harvest Brine for 2 nights.

Sent from my SM-N960U using Tapatalk

 

[Texican]

Damn, y'all! Looks like we all did alright today!

 

[Tacket]

I ended up making 3 racks of ribs and smoked salmon this year. Was pondering throwing a turkey on, but that’s just way too much food for my little ol’ family. Happy Thanksgiving!

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Texican]

Rack of spares and some oxtails. Let's see how dinner turns out.

 

[Texican]

About time to wrap those 'tails. I think it's gonna turn out alright, y'all. Time enough for another couple beers and some more King George on Spotify.

 

[Texican]

Spares turned out pretty good! Waiting on the oxtails.

 

[jcolan1]

Smoked a pork shoulder over the weekend.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Texican]

Can't have a whole mess of smoked beef cheeks without some homemade salsa. Wouldn't be proper. Though upon first taste...perhaps four jalapeños and two serranos may have been a bit aggressive for so small a batch. Then again...nah. More to follow starting tomorrow morning.

 

[Texican]

Ok I lied. Here are some prep pics. As pretty as those ribs are...beef cheeks are just butt ugly, aren't they? Gonna taste damn good though.

 

[Texican]

Morning, y'all. Feels weird being up this early on a weekend and NOT going fishing/hunting. Got the beef cheeks started on the first part of their journey.

 

[Boudie]

Don't do a lot of beef cheeks I guess that if they are the actual cheek and not jaw muscle they could be pretty tender. I've been doing shoulder clod the same way I do butts and they come out pretty tasty without all the fat of pork butts. You rig looks like mine, the Lang 36

 

[Texican]

Don't do a lot of beef cheeks I guess that if they are the actual cheek and not jaw muscle they could be pretty tender. I've been doing shoulder clod the same way I do butts and they come out pretty tasty without all the fat of pork butts. You rig looks like mine, the Lang 36

They're super tender but dang there is a LOT of nasty crap to trim off. Started out with 6lbs out of the pack...probably trimmed off a good 1.5lb of like...glands and unrenderable hard fat.

The Langs are gorgeous, always liked them. Mine was a custom job that was given to me a while back by some friends who inherited it but didn't really do too much smoking.

 

[Texican]

Nice color on those cheeks. Another couple hours and they'll be ready for the foil pan once a bark forms.



Time to throw on the ribs.



Lil' Texican requested a cowboy apple, so that's ready to roll later on:

 

[Texican]

Time to foil the cheeks. Some sliced onions and poblanos, couple beers.