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Looking good my friend, Was you taking notes in Texas? I will pass that along, he always tells me that it was my service that drove him to it, even though I threatened to break his legs if he joined, then I amended that to if he went Ranger, I’d break them. He’s doing his part Combat Medic, making pop proud.
Yes Roy they are just fine , they are 100% wood, which you have to watch out for some have fillers, I’ve been using the competition blend now for a couple years, I like it. Now for the brisket I will be adding the mesquite blend to it.
I don't want to talk to my truck or care if it talks to me..............
I can understand that I "can hear my machinery"
\
But I think you get my point!
I don’t know , my bourbon talks to me at night
I had one of those thermometer sets with the probes and remote with the alarms too. The 1st couple of years I smoked meats I obsessed over temps and that damn beeping remote. After that contraption broke, I didn't replace it. I still have the temp gauge on my Akorn kamado "Working Man's Egg" (probably wildly inaccurate). I have found that as long as I get my vents right and get the temps roughly within a 75-degree range, my briskets, butts and ribs come out fantastic if I just leave them alone and let them COOK (instead of opening the lid to look at them every 15 minutes)!
Plus, now that I have my "shave-ready" tests for each type of meat dialed in and know what to look for (the crack test, the probe or toothpick test, wobbly bone, etc.), I can almost "set it and forget it," at least for awhile. Get 'em done early and foil 'em makes for juicier, more tender smokes anyway.
I'm thinking about upgrading to the beautiful Vision Kamado I saw at Home Depot after I rust out this Akorn (though my neighbor says my cooks put his from his expensive Egg to shame). Not sure I'll ever get a Traeger, as I kind of like fiddling with the charcoal, building the perfect pile with my smoke woods, etc. TC, I am amazed at your high-volume cooks. I'm doing 3 racks of baby-backs and some beer brats tomorrow, about a standard cook for me. This will probably be our last full family gathering before my oldest moves to Osaka, Japan for work. You guys enjoy your weekends with your families!
No mine don’t beep till done at what I want the temp to be. So far with using temp probes or a thermometer I have 100% success at smoking or grilling. Never an over done steak or tough shoulder or brisket r ribs. In the past I got great results, but the fact is meats need to be at that magical internal to turn into super BBQ. Just ask anyone who comes to Texas, I have had no complaints from anyone. Now can I do it without? Yes, have for many years, go by feel or try to time it, fact is to be able to remove the meat at that magic temp like say 192 for most shoulders. Moist and fall apart every time. A steak that is pulled at 125 will be medium rare not medium or raw. Not to mention a meat probe keeps you from opening that grill. Open when done
Thanks-I currently have a digital temp probe, but I have to open the grill to insert and check it, usually repeatedly as I approach target temp, unless I'm just playing by feel and using the standard tests. Maybe I need your set-up if it only beeps when you reach your target temp. I know how critical that internal temp is on something like a full packer brisket-gotta get all of that collagen melted down.
Speaking of which, I need to go put some rub on my ribs! Y'all eat well and enjoy your loved ones this weekend!
Ribs are the only thing I don’t stick a probe in, I just watch for the meat pulling back from the ends of the bone and when they do give it a lift on one end to check for tenderness, I only open the lid for mopping, ribs usually take about 6-7 hours at 225 in my rig.
Man yesterday wasn’t enough bbq, I need to dig around in the freezer...
Just thought I'd share what was sent to me---------I love mine! :y
http://marketing.thermoworks.com/pub...f68581f2b24864.
Thinking about doing a brisket next weekend, as it's my son's last time home before going to at least a 2-year posting in Japan. WalMart of all places has choice grade packers of about #15 on sale often for $2.98 a pound. Funny how many friends my boys have when I'm cooking barbecue.
I made my living with an International Corporate Grocery Chain and I firmly believe that you should 'Shop where you work as it makes good business 'CENTS'. So when Wal-Mart came to town I never shopped there.
I've been retired for a bit over 3 years and I finally decided to check Wal-Mart out. While it's clear across town I will try to make a list of things that I need and make a trip a couple of times a month.
Back to meat-I found that the $2.98 per pound was what mine wanted for choice brisket which is even less than what I paid when my local store was over stocked.
I also found that they carry what I consider 'REAL PORK RIBS' and those are ribs that are whole and not trimmed off to make the 'St. Louise Style'. Trimming is a damn waste of perfectly good ribs!
Anyway here's what I'm talking about.
Attachment 307813
I'll be seasoning these early on Tuesday as my youngest daughter and the two grand children are coming for lunch and supper. Lunch will be home made Bean and Bacon Soup and sandwiches on homemade bread. Supper will be the ribs cooked on the Traeger, baked beans and either corn on the cob or fresh green beans and apple pie made with my canned apples pie mixture.
:tu
As I posted above I had purchased a full side of pork ribs to cook in my newly acquired Traeger. The cook was today.
My youngest daughter and the two grandkids were coming for the day and supper but they HAD to leave no later than 6 pm as there was a small circus in town and she, the kids along with her mom were going to attend and the event started at 7 pm. So I had to have things ready to eat by 6 pm.
I removed the side from refrigeration, then drained the fluids and patted it dry with some paper towels. I then removed the membrane from the ribs and as much 'silver skin' and fat as I could--(my daughter has this 'thing' about fat)Attachment 308051 .
Tc had sent me some pork rub to have a go with so I applied a light but even coating on the rib side along with a sparse sprinkling of Diamond Crystal Kosher Salt (I've found I like it far better than Morton's) and let it set at room temp until the salt was dissolved. I then flipped the side over and repeated the seasoning and left it at room temp to marinate.
After an hour had passed I started the Traeger. (I also did something that Tc had told me about/I'd also put an aluminum pan under the rack and filled it with cider vinegar and left it for the cook).
After the smoke started appearing from the open door I closed the door and raised the temp to 225 degs and allowed it to come to temp then placed the ribs bone side down on the rack. This was at about 9 am.
I didn't bother checking until around 11 and all was well. I did spray some cider vinegar on the ribs just out of habit/even though there was still plenty of vinegar in the small pan.
Attachment 308046
A quick peek here and there and a quick spray of vinegar but otherwise I just let it go.
At about 2:45 pm my daughter got a call and her mom couldn't go so my daughter's husband would be going instead so the timing had to be stepped up as she would have to drive the 15 miles to their home to pick him up and then drive the same distance back to get to the circus in time for the show. :banghead:
So I pulled the side and wrapped it in heavy foil and added a bit of apple juice to help steam and flavor the ribs and put it back in at 225 degs.
At 4:00 pm I pulled the wrapped ribs from the Traeger and then placed it back in After applying some BBQ sauce to the rib side.
Attachment 308047
I damn near forgot to take a pic of the meat side before the BBQ sauce---:w
Attachment 308048
At 4:45 pm
Attachment 308049
We were ready to eat at 5 pm and the ribs were perfect! (Pull off the bone/'NOT fall off the bone). My daughter commented on how they were the best ribs she'd ever eaten.
I guess I should have taken this pic outside so the color balance would be similar to the others but I hope it does justice to the way the meat came out.
Attachment 308050
One of the things that I've enjoyed most from this Forum is; Members Helping Members. :y
Tc, Dave and others have taken time out of their very busy lives to share their knowledge and experiences to help me become better at not only BBQ but baking and cooking. :tu I'll never be a 'Pit Master' but hopefully everyone who leaves my table will leave not only full and satisfied but having enjoyed a wonderful taste experience.
A Sincere Thank You to all you have helped me; It means far more to me than you may ever know :bow
Turned out nice Roy!
Look at that smoke ring, mmm.
We did ribs up here tonight as well. Daughters special birthday meal request from her daddy.
Got off work at 1 just to get home early enough to fire up the kamado and give them a good 4 hr cook time.
Attachment 308057
Attachment 308058
My sisters been having our mom up for a few weeks so they came down to join in the celebration. Lots of ribs to share between family.
Simple birthday meal of ribs, salad, and bread, oh and cheese cake for dessert, again, her request..
Cheers!
Mike not only do your ribs look fantastic, but so does the entire spread! :y
I believe that you work in a Pork Processing Plant. I was wondering if you could help me with a problem I have with the Pork Ribs that are generally seen for sale in the meat markets/at least here in the States. They are the 'cut off ribs/Saint Louis Style' where the bottom has been sawed off. They also sell the same cut but as 'Extra Meaty' which to my mind means that they left the meat side of the bacon on and did something else with what remained.
Why do the processors cut off the bottom of the ribs? :shrug: If you look at the picture from my today's cook I've outlined where they basically cut the ribs that I find in the stores and only the top portion is sold:
Attachment 308060
As far as I'm concerned that's the best part of the rib. They are meaty and when cooked properly they are tender and delicious.
Any thoughts on this would be very much appreciated.
Thanks for considering my friend. :bow:
Yes I am in pig deconstruction Roy and get my pork products at a very good discount.
The St Louis cut is basically a marketing ploy to make side ribs look like back ribs.
We cut the extra curve off the sides and remove the second meat cap on purpose to visually make the side look more palatable. They are easier to serve and handle since they are narrower. But st home?? Who cares. Buy a full side and they may not look as pretty as back ribs but they taste the same. IMO.
From wiki
St. Louis-style spare ribs are cut in a particular way with the sternum bone, cartilage and rib tips removed so that a well-formed, rectangular-shaped rack is created for presentation. This cut of ribs, formalized by the USDA as "Pork Ribs, St. Louis Style," allegedly originated with numerous meat-packing plants located in the region in the mid 20th century and put into the policy by a diehard fan of the St. Louis Cardinals baseball team.
Cheers.
"Pig Deconstruction":rofl2::roflmao:tu
Thanks for the info--May the Smoke Be With You---
Gentlemen-I will take a half rack of each of your excellent-looking ribs! Roy, I was at WalFart today checking out those $2.98/pound choice grade briskets too. I almost took home a 13-pounder, but I need to wait until I have more family home than right now.
As for the different cuts of pork ribs, I don't work in "Pig deconstruction" (though I did work my way through college at a nearby Stouffer Foods plant, at least part of the time in the meat room). Anyway, I used to cook the full-sized spare ribs, though I had trouble fitting them on my 22" Akorn kamado, and they would get done unevenly between the long flaps of meat and the thicker meat near the center. I switched to St. Louis cut because, marketing ploy or not, I could get 3 racks on my rib rack on my Akorn, and I had no complaints taste-wise!
I am now cooking baby backs, as they are thick and delicious, and again, they fit on my Akorn.
Oh, and we like falling off the bone here. :p
Many years ago I worked in pig deconstruction.
I was in the sanitation area and worked directly with the USDA.
I had to convince them that the plant was ready every morning!:D
What would you tell someone when asked what your job was.
I have thought of this many times over the years.
The head table had many functions but one of them was to remove the snout.
An air cylinder with two prongs and a foot pedal.
A good job that paid the bills and necessary to do for most people that don't want to think of such things.
But when you met another parent at a PTA meeting and they ask you what you do for a living how would you answer that?:rofl2:
I like the full spare ribs, with the membrane still on the back. That chewy membrane is one of my favorite parts of the ribs, but in reality I buy what I can find on sale.
I am a sausage ingredient gatherer?
Maybe a sausage ingredient resource person would be better.:shrug:
How about a porcine engineer-sounds very Fred Sanfordish. Tim-Our 1 USDA man per shift was responsible for oversight in a plant with 9 lines running 2 shifts per day each (3rd shift was the massive clean-up every night!). On a good day we conveyer-belted about 1.5 million packages of Lean Cuisine into our massive freezers for shipping. In the meat room I worked in for a few years, it wasn't uncommon to process a few hundred thousand pounds of meat per day into food (including the occasional cow eyeball or chicken asshole that got through inspections lol). You're right-most people don't really want to know where their food comes from-I'm sure we all have stories.
We all have our stories and if ten percent of them were true none of us would be alive.:shrug:
Or maybe if the results of those story's were true.............
My daughter, god love her, is not happy I am in the pork business now for sure, but I am a meat eater, and that isn’t going to change. I tell folks I’m in the meat business, and leave it at that.
In reality, my team maintain all the equipment, the facility, the ammonia systems, the stunners, slitters, skinners et all. The things that take them from pigs to pork. We ensure everything works the way it’s supposed to to do the job the most efficiently, and therefore humanely way we can.
The saying is we use everything but the squeal as far as animal utilization.
Process them at the rate of 3 seconds, or round 8800 piggies a day meat their makers..
We get peta twice a week protesting at our gates and stopping trucks and making a scene, it’s nuts, but legal, and like yea say, pays really well. Cause it’s so f-n gory, at times.
Working sanitation, super nasty midnight shift lynch pin work. Getting everything cleaned and turned around in 8 hours,,, respect..
Hehe.
Here’s one of our cutting rooms on a Saturday we were in doing some maintenance.
Attachment 308090
As clean as it is, cause of the sanitation teams!
Cheers!
The cleanliness standards of today are really something. Sure there will always be the chance of something getting through but all in all no one should worry.
About PETA--a few years ago I was reading an article about a protest against fur and leather garments and this protester got in the face of this guy wearing a leather jacket and asked him how he got the animal's blood out of it. To which the guy responded "I sucked it out with a straw" and kept walking.
Have fun at work and if you figure out how to use the Squeal I bet you'd get a huge bonus! :tu
I hope all will enjoy this little video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Fl2sMV7Hcc
I love Snoop's educational videos. Have you guys seen his Plizzanet Earth series?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-7UbU45a1U
Speaking of squeal and pig, this entire loin came today from Joyce Farms. I’m going to cure it. The ribs I’ll take off and cook up. There will also be a good slab of back fat that I’ll render for rillettes.
. Attachment 308115
Attachment 308116
Please post a walk through, or three as you tear down and get into the curing process.
Enquiring minds and all.. :tu
And I apologize for nothing, I’m sorry if it seemed that way, hehehe.
play on words,, I kill me...
And you got a third vote here
It was cheap and I did an impulse purchase.
I put it together and fired it up to season it today.
We will see if it was worth it. :shrug:
Attachment 308167
I hope that I like the taste of Cherry wood.
I spent part of the evening making these.
They are Organically grown Artisan wood chips. :rofl2:
I will have some kindling if I don't. If I do there is a whole bunch left of a 30' for so tree that blew down.
The picture is a little deceiving there is about 4 gallons in that bucket.
Attachment 308209
Tim-I did my last batch of 3 racks of ribs with some cherry wood and a little hickory-I predict you will like them. They have a tendency to darken the meat they are smoking-not a bad thing, but your chicken or pork will probably have a darker reddish tinge.
Oh, and since they are organically grown/artisan, I'm just going to post this here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TBb9O-aW4zI
Enjoy!
That video is what got me thinking of that!
Now they can't say that they are the only one!
I am going to have to do slightly better than a plastic bucket in my display though.
The last thing that that bucket held though was Organically grown bees wax used to plant my organic Shiitake mushrooms.
Does a plastic bucket keep me from being Organic?
The hatchet is also sitting on a longer piece of that Cherry wood. I didn't want to cross contaminate splitting the Cherry on some Oak or something!
Seriously I found if I split it on that height of firewood it mostly falls into the bucket next to it.