That said, as I write this in the chill of winter in December, smoking a turkey is something I might try in the springtime. Think of it as a trial run, with the smoked turkey perhaps coming in 2011… but no promises!

Smoking Turkey

Smoking turkey isn’t really any different than smoking anything else. You want to run the smoker so it’s around 235 – 250° F. Then, much like an oven, it’ll take 30-40 minutes per pound. Since you’ll be cooking it slower, the biggest risk you have is food contamination. Expert recommend that you stick to a 12-16 pound turkey because that will still take you at least six hours to properly smoke. A 20 pound bird will take 10 hours minimum, do you have ten hours to spend smoking a turkey? You can see why food contamination might be a risk.

Prepping the Chicken: The turkey must be completely thawed, which is important if you purchased a frozen turkey. Remove that plastic pop-up timer thing, you won’t need it. If you’re into brining, soak it in the brine for 24 hours and then throw on your favorite rubs after you’ve pulled it out. Basically anything you’d do with an oven roasted turkey, you will want to do here.

Smoking: Like in the oven, put it breast side up in a pan (for cleaning). Be diligent about temperature control, opting to be at the higher end of the range (rather than the lower end).

Internal Temperature: The key is to cook your turkey to an internal temperature of 165° F. Remember that the bones will heat up faster and that isn’t necessarily an indication that the turkey is done cooking. Also, white meat heats up slower than dark meat so you’ll only need to test the white meat’s temperature (assuming the dark meat is cooked at the same time). Finally, the thinner your meat thermometer, the more accurate the reading.

Wood: You can technically use any wood but experts recommend one from a fruit tree like apple or cherry. I think I’ll be using some of the hickory wood that I have since I enjoy the flavor and think it’ll work well with turkey.

Have you smoked a turkey? How did it turn out? Any tips or tricks?

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Curing salmon, which is similar to curing any other meat, is actually quite simple. You’ll need amply amounts of salt and sugar in equal amounts, usually a few cups will do. You’ll take that and essentially wrap the salmon in the salt and sugar. To get a little fancier, you can add other spices that you enjoy, such as pepper, dill, and parsley. You won’t need quite as much of the other ingredients but it doesn’t hurt if you add more.

First put half of the spice mixture down, then layer half of the salt/sugar/pepper mixture on top of the spices, put the fish on that, then layer the salt/sugar/pepper on top followed by the spices again. Some places recommend a “non-reactive pan” but I think it’s just easy to use some plastic wrap. If you go with the pan, you’ll want to put a non-reactive pan (or just use glass) on top and press down. If you go with the plastic wrap, you will still need some weight but it will matter less if it’s “non-reactive.”

After 12 hours, drain off the liquid that will have drained out of the fish, flip it over, and repack the mixture. After 12 hours, you’ll be done. Unpack the whole thing and rinse it off… you’ll have it ready for eating.

Curing salmon should last 4-5 days.

If my written explanation wasn’t descriptive enough, here’s a six-minute video demonstrating how you can cure salmon:

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1. Make a pyramid of charcoal briquettes.
2. Soak the briquettes in lighter fluid and then wait as it soaks into each coal.
3. Then, after about five minutes, pour on a little bit more.
4. Wait a few seconds, then light it.
5. Let it burn until the briquettes get ashy and gray, then spread across the bottom of the grill and add on any more if the heat isn’t hot enough.

That’s it!

The key to the process is getting the briquettes up to the proper temperature. Common mistakes are to overdo it on the lighter fluid, thinking that more fluid is better, and that usually results in food that tastes like lighter fluid!

Another way to simplify the process is to use a chimney starter. Chimney starters are great because they take an already great configuration (the pyramid) and make it better by confining it into a tube. Using only newspaper, you can get the coals up to the requisite temperature and avoid any potential for overdoing it with lighter fluid!

I reviewed a few chimney starters here in case you want to know what’s a good choice.

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The article advises that rubs are the way to go when you want to add some flavor to your steaks and a must unless you have the best of cuts. His favorite is “chili powder, with mild chilies; fragrant curry powder; jerk seasoning, which contains fresh garlic and ginger and is quite powerful; and five-spice powder, which, when homemade, is unlike anything you can buy in a store.”

I’m a huge fan of chili powder and jerk seasoning, it gives your meat a nice little kick that works well with the sweet flavor of the meat; adding garlic is always a winner and five spice is an incredible flavor if you’re familiar with it. He warns that more important than the rub is how good of a cut of meat you have, which is something no one would dispute, and whether it’s prime, with great marbalizing of fat.

Sirloin strip and rib-eye are the hands down winners with some folks enjoy flank and skirt steaks, though he does bring up a good point – if you have to slice it thin, how good could it really be? A thick tender steak is far superior to a thin tender steak and it’s also much easier to overcook a thin steak.

Mark finishes the article with some good solid steak grilling tips – grill after the steak has reached room temperature and make sure it’s dry, putting the rub on at the last minute. Winner winner steak dinner, my mouth is watering just looking at the picture (and the Guinness, which is like drinking a steak).

Image by shannon steele, a woman after my own heart.

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If you decide you’re going to want to slice the potato, how thin you cut is will be important because you need the slices to be thin enough to cook pretty quickly yet thick enough so that you won’t need to be worried about them falling through the grates. Of course, if you slice them up, wrap them in some foil with some seasoning and some oil, you can cut them as thin as you want without being worried about them falling through the grates.

The wrap up in pieces technique is something that works for a lot of vegetables on the grill. I personally enjoy slicing up some onions and tossing them in with my potatoes (or even without my potatoes) along with some seasoning (I put Montreal steak seasoning on everything, even if it’s not Montreal steak! What a rebel I am!). Be sure to check the insides of the package often because you can’t tell just by looking at it on the grill (because it’s wrapped in foil).

Enjoy your spuds!

(Photo: Patrick Q)

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Grilling with wood chips on a gas fueled grill is a wholly different matter. The reason is because you can’t put the wood chips right onto the burners… they’d char up, burn, and you’d be out some nice wood chips. The solution then is to get a smoker box or some heavy duty tin foil and put them on the metal plates before you light the grill.

It’s an easy four step process:
1. Soak the wood chips for a minimum of thirty minutes before use.
2. Put the chips in a smoker box or some heavy duty foil pouch (poke holes in it).
3. Put the smoker box or foil pouch onto the metal plates of your grill (but underneath the grill).
4. Light the grill.

Enjoy a bit of smokology in your next bbq feast!

OTB

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You can season before you cook or, if you messed up like, season them after your first cook (notice the excessive stickiness?). If you season before you cook, preheat an oven or your grill to about 250-275 degrees. Make sure that your grill is clean and then just coat them in a thin layer of vegetable oil and then put them in for about twenty minutes. That should be long enough to get the oil on there.

The idea is to get a nice little protective layer of oil on the grill grates so that you don’t damage them. If you just finished grilling and haven’t seasoned yet, you can consider using PAM cooking spray but make sure the burners are off!

Also, remember to clean off the grill before you do this, seasoning charred on bits of chicken doesn’t really help.

Happy grilling!

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This strategy also requires that you create space on the grill, i.e. don’t pack it with meat, so that you have room to maneuver the meat. If your steak is burning, move it to the cooler part of the grill so that it can cook on the inside without burning on the outside.

If you have a gas grill, this strategy is not as important because you can simply turn down the heat when things get too hot.

This is definitely a strategy none of my friends had ever employed and definitely one that will move you at least one rung up the ladder, now I just need to get a bigger grill!

via Smoke Ring articles.

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The biggest thing I took away from the article was that the butcher behind that counter at the supermarket might not know more than someone like me. Most meats are cut and packaged before they make it to the supermarket so places might only have one expert and that guy might not be the one you’re talking to.

“A market may have one guy who knows how to cut meat, but most of the others [in the meat department] are not highly trained,” [Joseph Cordray, a professor of animal science at Iowa State University] says. “Real butchers are a dying breed.”

The tips they give are:
1. Pick out a steak like you pick out clothes – Inspect and look for marbling (specks of white fat) that melt away during grilling and add flavor to the meat.
2. Thickness – Get one that’s thicker than an inch, it’s harder to overcook those.
3. Don’t trim the fat (before you cook) – This was something I didn’t learn until much later. I used to do to steaks what I did with chicken, trim the excess fat. Well, now I try to keep it on because it adds flavor and I can cut it off after it’s fully cooked. I didn’t know it helped maintain the shape though and that’s important too if only for presentation.
4. Behind the glass and on the shelf might be the same – I’ve usually only taken what’s out in the case anyway (as opposed to behind the fancy glass) but I didn’t realize the meat behind the glass was perceived as “better.”
5. Chuck & Round are tough, Rib & Loin aren’t – If you learn nothing else from the article, this is the tidbit to know. They refer to where the meat is and how tough it’ll be. The Chucks and Rounds are tougher (more muscle) and should be stewed whereas the Rib and Loins are grillables.
6. Enhanced vs Natural vs Organic – Enhanced means the meat was injected with additives (flavoring, tenderizer, salt to increase moistness) and the label will indicate the percentage of the weight that is the additive. Natural means it’s been processed with little colors or preservatives. Certified organic means that the cow was hugged all throughout it’s lifespan. I’m only kidding, it means they were fed with organic feed and not given antibiotics or hormones so it can hit more home runs.
7. Rib-Eye gets the nod as the “Best Steak.”

There are a few more tips but I skipped over those, check out the article and leave your thoughts below.

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