What's on the smoker today?

Did some muley jerky, whole muscle. Used the LEM original kit. Turned out alright. The texture is excellent. Smoked at 160. Some came off at 3 hours, all the way up to 8 hours depending on thickness. I’m looking for a bolder flavor so next time I’m going to try my own marinades and maybe try to order cure separately, or leave out cure all together.
 

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Pork shoulder went on at 11:00 last night. Hit 265 at 6:30 this morning. Now wrapped and should be ready for lunch!
 

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Maybe just a tad jealous of you guys with the "set it and forget it" type smokers. Sleep through the night? Not us wood burners! :rolleyes: Maybe someday I'll get away from the firebox type and get a pellet smoker but for now I'll keep cranking out the Q with what I have!
 
Maybe just a tad jealous of you guys with the "set it and forget it" type smokers. Sleep through the night? Not us wood burners! :rolleyes: Maybe someday I'll get away from the firebox type and get a pellet smoker but for now I'll keep cranking out the Q with what I have!
The smoker in those pics uses a mix of wood and charcoal. Temp settings from 140 to 700 degrees. I’ve been happy with the results it produces, both for smoking and searing. It can really go thru some fuel though. 12-15 hr smoke with outside temps last night around freezing will likely consume an entire 18# bag of charcoal plus a few pounds of apple wood chunks.

But, yeah, set it and forget it is pretty nice!
 
Final product. I’ve cooked a lot of pork shoulders over the years, but this is the first one to blow right through the stall. Not sure why it didn’t stall, but witnessed by how cleanly that bone slid out, it was definitely done (2-3 hrs earlier than I expected).
 

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I was sad earlier in the week when I found out that I struck out on NM tags. After today's lunch the sadness has deepened and even my wife is wishing I'd have gotten another Oryx tag. I took oryx backstrap steaks and made a cut down the center. I filled that cut with a bit of cream cheese, salad shrimp and mushrooms. Various seasonings and of course bacon wrapped, then to the smoker. My wife and I are both oryx fans!
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Made a "cheater" pastrami using a corned beef round I bought at Costco to start experimenting on the new Traeger.
I coated it with mustard, cracked black pepper, garlic powder and onion powder.
Put setting on "smoke" for about 2 hours then went up to 225° for about 6 hours until the internal temp was 160°. The flavor was good for smoke and seasoning but it was a little chewy and salty.
I then put it in a steamer basket until the internal temp came up to 205 as suggested on the web. Wow, what a difference. Now it tastes just right and is nice and tender like pastrami should be. (y)

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Made a "cheater" pastrami using a corned beef round I bought at Costco to start experimenting on the new Traeger.
I coated it with mustard, cracked black pepper, garlic powder and onion powder.
Put setting on "smoke" for about 2 hours then went up to 225° for about 6 hours until the internal temp was 160°. The flavor was good for smoke and seasoning but it was a little chewy and salty.
I then put it in a steamer basket until the internal temp came up to 205 as suggested on the web. Wow, what a difference. Now it tastes just right and is nice and tender like pastrami should be. (y)

View attachment 182143View attachment 182144
rinse off the corned beef first, I typically do this 3 to 4 times before I add my seasoning and smoking
 
I haven't liked most jerky recipes I've tried, so I did a trial run of Hank Shaw's chipotle jerky recipe. New favorite.

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