Hello from Cow Town

[w squared]

Hi folks.

I'm not a new Bradely owner, but after a winter of not using my Bradley, I've decided that it's time to invest a bit of effort in learning how to use my Bradley to it's potential.

Previously I've mostly been smoking corned beef briskets or throwing a couple of hours of smoke onto a ham. The ribs that I had tried did not work out well. They were tough and dry...but I've been lurking here for the past week, and I've discovered that my previous techniques and degree of temperature control were very much lacking.

Based on what I've read here in the past week, I took a run at my old staple (a two pound chunk of corned beef) overnight...and wow. Even with such a small piece of meat, the techniques and tweaks that I've picked up here made a huge difference in the quality of the result.

I'm going to get more ambitious and start working up in terms of challenge: pork butts, briskets, ribs, salmon, turkey, and pre-grilling smoke treatments on steaks. I've ordered the following:

-a plug and play PID (because I've grown weary of "chasing" the thermometer with the slider)
-a Maverick thermometer (because my Bradley thermometer reads 15 degrees cooler than the actualy temperature in the cabinet)
-and a trio of bubba pucks (because they have "Bubba" in the name  ;D )

[FLBentRider]

W E L C O M E  to the Forum w squared!

It sounds like you are heading in a delicious direction.

[smokeitall]

Welcome aboard, I think you are going to have some fun.

[Caneyscud]

Welcome w squared

You've come to the right site!  Those corned beef and hams are good stuff, but you ain't lived until a brisket --- well some of them other things also. 

Practice....practice....practice....practice....Not only is practice delicious, but will lead you to smoky perfection, or at least lead you to meritorious pulchritudinous and accolades from the sated masses.

[w squared]

Welcome w squared

You've come to the right site!  Those corned beef and hams are good stuff, but you ain't lived until a brisket --- well some of them other things also. 

Practice....practice....practice....practice....Not only is practice delicious, but will lead you to smoky perfection, or at least lead you to meritorious pulchritudinous and accolades from the sated masses.

Tasty....yes. They've got their place. It is a lot of work to get all that salt out though. I'm viewing the corned beef as a "training" meat. Valuable experience.

I think a Butt might be my next experiment. Oh....and if there's a pork butt, there will have to be some beans. It'll still be a little bit before I get my hands on my PID, so I'm still working with a bone-stock OBS and a thermometer meant for grilling. From what I'm reading, the forgiving nature of a pork butt is just what the doctor ordered when I'm likely to see some slight temperature imperfections, right?

The upside is that I'm enjoying the experiments. The downside...oh wait...is there one of those?

[Smokin Soon]

You really cant cook a bad butt! I do recommend you get a good remote thermometer like a Maverick ET-73 to monitor meat temps. Too much opening of the cabinet really extends your cook time.
Good luck and happy smoking!

[w squared]

For sure! I've actually got a Maverick on order right now - should be coming with my PID.

I've also got something in the smoker - a roasting pan full of beans with some bottled BBQ sauce (thinned with Coca-Cola) and sauteed onions.

Oh...and just so that my OBS wouldn't get upset about a load without meat in it, I chopped in the best "bark" type sections of that last corned beef chunk, as well as some rind portions from the last thyme-glazed ham that I did in the oven.

The good news is that I have a 4 1/2 pound butt in the fridge right now getting acquainted with some Meathead's Magic Dust. I'll throw that puppy on tomorrow morning around 9, apple smoke for two or three hours, then run without smoke until about 6. Then I'll FTC it for two hours or so.

[Smokin Soon]

That sound's really tasty! Give us some pics of the results.

[w squared]

That sound's really tasty! Give us some pics of the results.

Okay  ;)

So...here's the process so far:

-Rinse and pat dry
-Lightly oil with EVOO
-Rub with Meathead's magic dust
-Into a 1 gallon Ziploc to overnight in the fridge
-In the morning, a second (light) application of Meathead's magic dust, then let it sit for an hour to come up to room temperature
-While it's sitting, preheat my OBS to "as hot as I can get it in an hour" ;D
-Into the smoker with 3 hours of apple and one puck of maple at the end
-Right after I loaded, I adjusted the slider to aim for 215-225 degrees. I checked the temperature about once an hour
-Eight hours in the smoker total, and I only peeked once at the four hour mark
-After eight hours, out of the smoker for a quick check. IT was only 165 (I guess I found the plateau!)



At this point, my gut is saying good things about this meat, but that IT concerns me a little. The part of my brain that remembers chemistry and thermodynaimcs tells me that there's still benefit to be had by putting some more slow and gentle heat in there. Foil boat with a cup of apple juice, and into the oven at 225 for 90 minutes.

When I pulled it out, IT was sitting at 175...but I can tell that it's also about to fall apart. I pulled out a fork, stuck it in, and gave a quick twist...wow. I'm still a novice, but I think that this puppy is ready.

It's FTC'ing in the microwave right now.

[w squared]

The top half of the pan is sliced (diagonally). The bottom half was pulled - I didn't even have to bother with using forks.

Plated it up with some of the beans I smoked last night and some Ukranian red cabbage salad, and a glass of sweet tea on the side.


My apologies for the blur factor in the bottom pic, but Photobucket is being cranky about uploading the second (good) pic that I took of the plate.

I'm pretty sure that I've never previously cooked meat that is this tender or moist. The unfortunate part is that my girlfriend (a big-time BBQ fan) will have to wait until Friday afternoon to try some of this.