43
votes
What is the value of the "Texas Crutch"?
The primary benefit of crutching a large piece of meat on the smoker is to reduce evaporative cooling.
What is Evaporative Cooling?
When water is heated, it evaporates into vapor that we call steam. ...
- 3,825
22
votes
Accepted
Could you smoke a sauce?
What you're describing isn't all that different from how they make various products like Liquid Smoke (make smoke along with steam, then condense that steam). You will need to make sure that some ...
- 5,683
20
votes
Why did my smoked boneless chicken breast come out dry and without apple flavor?
As moscafj's answer correctly states, the lowest average temp on that grill is more like 180-200F so you annihilated that poor bird! Even though the final temp may have been 150, it was almost ...
- 1,018
14
votes
Why did my smoked boneless chicken breast come out dry and without apple flavor?
I'm not sure where your numbers are coming from. According to the Pit Boss Lexington manual, the lowest smoking temperature is 200F (about 95C). It looks like your temperatures are off. Also, three ...
- 73.8k
12
votes
Dry and Tough Rumproast
The Maillard reaction occurs about 280 to 330 °F depending on the food. For meats this denaturing of the proteins also results in the release of water, so the meat gets hard and dry.
By cooking at a ...
- 2,669
10
votes
Accepted
Dry and Tough Rumproast
That cut of beef is OK for 'low and slow' however, you did not provide 'low and slow.'
At 300, even wrapped, the internal temperature gets high enough that it will expel moisture. This is happening ...
- 3,526
9
votes
Smoking chicken breasts with and without skin
It's not a question of fat.
Tougher meat- that is, meat with more connective tissue- needs to be cooked low and slow to melt out that collagen and make the meat fall-apart-delicious.
Meat with little ...
- 47.5k
9
votes
How can I get the smokey flavour in Hor Fun?
Another option is Smoked Paprika. As Jolene wisely cautions, those liquid smoke products are very strong. And even though it might be "natural" smoke flavor, it can lend a "synthetic" taste to ...
- 2,709
9
votes
Accepted
Do I need to cook smoked beef before eating?
What it looks like you have there is a Pastrami. Though not a particularly 'good' one, perhaps made from Eye of Round rather than brisket. It has been brined (soaked in a salt solution) in order to ...
- 18.2k
9
votes
Is there a way to quantify smoke in meat while cooking?
Well... yes. There are analytic chemistry techniques used to measure the concentration of phenols, which are the primary contributors to a "smoky" flavor. You could test samples taken from ...
- 26.9k
8
votes
How can I get the smokey flavour in Hor Fun?
To add smoky flavor, you can add a drop of liquid smoke.
Do it drop by drop - be careful, it's easy to use too much and not be able to taste anything else. Liquid smoke is actually made by distilling ...
- 58.5k
8
votes
Accepted
Is it safe to smoke a 20lb turkey?
The main concern with smoking large whole turkeys is that heat may not get into the cavity, so the inside may not get up to temperature fast enough. When you spatchcock a turkey the heat can get to ...
- 75.4k
7
votes
Accepted
Smoker or Sous Vide first?
Smoke first, then sous vide.
There are a few reasons as to why you could smoke first:
(i) It has been shown that cold food/meat will take on smoke flavor better than warm meat (Source: AmazingRibs)
...
- 165
6
votes
Could you smoke a sauce?
I've definitely done this with ketchup before, with a couple key tweaks:
Spreading the sauce onto a rimmed baking sheet. This is to maximize surface area for smoking.
I used a Traeger pellet-smoker, ...
- 161
6
votes
Accepted
Smoke after cooking = grease?
Scientifically speaking, smoke is a solid mixed with a gas, so no, smoke is not grease.
However, the smoke that gets generated by the decomposition of cooking oils (called the "smoke point") at a ...
- 5,827
5
votes
Could you smoke a sauce?
Better or worse is a judgement call. Smoking the peppers then making the sauce v. smoking the sauce will produce different results, but both will impart smokiness. So, you can, in fact, impart smoke ...
- 73.8k
5
votes
Could you smoke a sauce?
This will definitely work, but I would recommend stirring it every once in a while as it will mostly be affecting only the surface. A shallow vessel with a larger surface area will also impart more ...
- 1,109
5
votes
How can I get the smokey flavour in Hor Fun?
While the some of the other answers point to liquid smoke or actual smoke,
I would suggest that the flavour doesn't primarily come from the smoke generated by the fire/stove, but by the wok, the oil ...
- 11.2k
5
votes
Smoking Boston Butt and Smoker Went out
The standard metric for safety is the cumulative time in the 'danger zone' temperature of 40 to 140°F. Which we really don't know, as that would also include things like bringing it home from the ...
- 80k
5
votes
How can I reduce the heat output of this heating element?
First, you will want to check the wiring and fuses in your current smoker to make sure it can safely handle the 1500w upgrade.
Assuming that your wiring and fuses can handle the 1500w element, keep ...
- 76
5
votes
Accepted
I have some mesquite smoked brisket and would like to minimize the smoke flavor
Smoke flavor is challenging to work with, but I would think an appropriate barbecue sauce would fit the bill. I wouldn't get anything too salty as I suspect that would worsen the perceived smokiness; ...
- 5,683
5
votes
Cast Iron and Smoke
You might want to state how long you have been preheating the pan. Also, are you using a glass-top stove or gas? I'm assuming the latter (from my experience, gas usually manages to heat things up a ...
- 161
5
votes
Accepted
How can I smoke something without a smoker
I have successfully smoked with apple wood chunks wrapped in foil in my outdoor grill. The trick is to find a setting that will maintain ~300 F using 1/2 of the burners. Then place the foil-wrapped ...
- 765
5
votes
Is there a way to quantify smoke in meat while cooking?
I know of no such scale, however you could use a Subjective Organoleptic approach, which is how the Scoville chili heat scale worked (although they use a chemistry based approach for the most part now)...
- 75.4k
5
votes
Accepted
Is it possible to use wood chips on an electric grill to get a more smoky flavour?
There are electric smokers available. Whether a particular electric grill is suitable depends on the grill, but I don't think there is a reason not to try an aluminium foil pouch of wood chips on it. ...
- 4,081
5
votes
Accepted
Injecting Jack Daniels into pork
It really depends on what sort of end result you're trying to get.
If you don't reduce the alcohol before injecting it, you're going to end up with boozy pork. If this is what you want, go for it.
...
- 80k
4
votes
Do I have to cure a fresh ham before smoking?
Trying to smoke a fresh ham will result in something that tastes like cooked pork. You may impart some smokey crust on the outside, but it will still taste like cooked pork.
Curing and then ...
- 59
4
votes
How can I get the smokey flavour in Hor Fun?
I would suggest either using a commercially available liquid smoke product added after the stir-frying stage. The proper proportion would require some experimentation.
Or you could try using a stove ...
- 713
4
votes
Accepted
Is it feasible to smoke meat with spruce needles?
It's feasible, but then you'd better really like the taste of turpentine and have the courage to take a chance on ingesting it. Turpentine comes from the oils of pine and -- you guessed it -- spruce. ...
- 2,380
4
votes
rusty charcoal chimney starter, safe to use?
Yes, it's perfectly safe to use basically until it falls apart. It gets very hot in use, which prevents any sort of rust-proof coating from sticking, but the rust is harmless. You could try oiling it ...
- 15.9k
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