Beef Brisket

 Beef  Brisket was on sale, hard to believe but I bought Choice Brisket at Wal-Mart for $1.49 pound.
I got six in my freezer right now. So am good for a while. No, I really only have five left because I smoked one. Just used salt, pepper and a very small amount of Mexican oregano. The Oregano was not a good choice. Won't be doing that again. The Brisket was good, it was just that the oregano flavor did not belong on a Brisket. Not a Texas Brisket anyway.
Smoked on the UDS (ugly drum smoker) Man I love that smoker, easy to use and holds the temperature really well. I used hickory and red oak for smoke. Smoked at about 225° for 8 hours. The internal temperature was 190° when I pulled and wrapped it. Let rest for 2 hours then sliced. Good eats!!!

Beef Brisket ready for smoker: 

Smoked and ready to enjoy:

Loin Back Pork ribs

Loin back pork ribs, I don't buy these very often because of the cost per. pound.
But boy are they meaty. Makes spare ribs look like scraps. Well maybe they are,  but we sure eat a lot of them. So for us loin or baby back ribs are something special. And these were special.
I cooked them in my smoke house, I love that smoker. Its kinda set and forget it. Really easy to cook in. Although I built it to smoke my bacon and sausage with.
Anyway if you can get you some loin back ribs, try them you will be pleased.
Loin Backs rubbed and ready for smoker: These are rubbed with Hoochie Mama rub from Sucklebusters.

Loin Back Ribs in the Smokehouse: Pecan Smoke

Smoked Pork (again)

Well was gonna smoke another Pork Butt, though as it turned out the choice from the freezer was a fresh picnic ham. So I says what the heck, I am here and so is the meat. It turned out a Little dryer than a pork
butt. (less fat) Smoker at 250-275° using hickory wood for smoke. Smoked until internal temp was 190°. covered with foil for about an hour. Total cook time was 6 hours. I tried some new rub. The recipe for the rub comes from a book by 

Cheryl and Bill Jamison "Smoke And Spice"

Here is the recipe: Says chicken rub although it does work super on chicken it also worked really good on the pork. Thanks Bill

Chicken Rub

This is a great all purpose poultry rub. It works well on grilled chicken wings or even deep fried turkey. Use Hungarian Paprika if you can find it because it has a much richer, sweeter flavor.

Yield: Makes about 2 cups

Ingredients:

·                             3/4 cup paprika (Hungarian if you have it)

·                             1/4 cup black pepper, freshly ground

·                             1/4 cup celery salt

·                             1/4 cup sugar

·                             2 tablespoons onion powder

·                             2 tablespoons dry mustard

·                             2 teaspoons cayenne

·                             2 tablespoons lemon zest

Preparation:

Mix everything together. Store in an air tight container in the refrigerator. Lasts for about 4 to 5 months.

Looked and taste Great:

Beef Ribs

Yep, its been a long dry spell for cooking. We have been rebuilding our kitchen among other things. I am so tired of fast food. Nothing like home cooking.
 But I am now back in the swing of things. Well almost.
I was shopping our local Mexican store again the other day and saw these beef ribs (with meat on the bones). That was a rear find as most that I find are shiners, the only meat on the ribs is what is holding the bones together. Anyway just had to have some, listed below is the results of the Beef Rib cook.
Meaty Ribs:

Believe me this kind of  Rib is hard to find.
I started my trim by removing most of the fat, for some reason I just don't like the taste of the fat on ribs. The taste is real strong to me. Next all the silver skin and the membrane has to be removed. The membrane is located next to the bones. On beef it is kind of heavy. Get it started coming and grasp with a paper towel and pull. It is  harder to remove than that found on pork ribs.
After the trim job I just used salt and pepper as my seasoning. Rubbed both sides with a 50% mix.
Had the temperature on the UDS (ugly drum smoker) up to 275°. Placed a cover over the fire basket, just to defuse the heat around. And to catch any drips that might happen to fall. Placed the Ribs over to one side, bone side down. Replaced the lid and let her cook. And after about 5 1/2 hours we have this.
Tender, moist and wonderful tasting ribs:

For some reason they shrunk more than normal, but they sure went down easy. More good eats !! Bill

Pork its whats for dinner.

We eat lots of pork BBQ, not because we don't like other meats. Its because I don't like the price. I watch for meat sales, and beef cuts just hasn't been on sale lately. But you can bet I am watching.
 Anyway, cooked another nice pork butt over this last week end. A friend of mine who has been very sick asked if I would cook some for him. And I was pleased to do it, made us both happy.
Seasoned up with a nice dry rub (Hog Waller) pork rub from sucklebusters.
Seasoned:

Ready to eat:

Used Hickory wood for smoke, Cooked at 325°. Took about 6 hours for internal temp to reach 190°.
Turned out really tender and moist with that wonderful smoked flavor.

Pastrami Time

Yeah, Yeah, I know I have been talking about making pastrami for some time now. But have been waiting for beef brisket to go on sale. It looks like that isn't going to happen any time soon. I got to digging around in the freezer and found a small part of a brisket. Of course it was the point end, not the best for pastrami. The point is kinda fat. One should really use the brisket flat, it is much more lean.
 Anyway I did trim all the outside fat I could. I will say here and now, not the best I have ever made but was pretty good. Although there is still some left. Here is the recipe I used.
Recipe Link:This is also a very good site for all kinds of sausage and smoked meats. 
http://www.nirvani.net.nyud.net:8090/docs/cache/home.pacbell.net/lpoli/index_files/Pastrami.pdf
So if you are interested in making homemade Pastrami, this is the best recipe I have found.

Its time to cook

Well I am still above the grass. Doing much better.
Haven't done much cooking. It has been cold and wet with much wind. I wish I had a nice place to get my pit and smoker out of the cold wind. Being cold sure makes things tough when cooking outside. Keeping the temperature up is harder than one might think.
 I have smoked a few pork butts, using my UDS (ugly drum smoker). They turned out pretty well, at least everyone said they did and there wasn't any left. Always a good sign. Bill
Pork Butts:

Seasoned and ready for the pit

                                                      Ready to pull and have some good eats
Butts were seasoned with Sucklebusters Hog Waller Rub, You can get it here http://www.sucklebusters.com/ This just happens to be my choice because its good stuff.
Pit temp was 250-275 deg. I am thinking that the weather being cold didn't help. Cook time was almost 7 hours. Internal temp was 190 deg. when finished. Wrapped in foil and let rest for couple hours.