Smokers. Who travels with one?

[cadman_ks]

Originally Posted by CAG

No! Too much work for whatever you come out with. Grille at the time or smoke it before you go but I am not into that much work for whatever.

Do you have a pellet smoker at your house?

There are some small pellet smokers like the Green Mountain Trek that are literally set-it-and-forget. It is literally no work at all. Ok, I lied. Pull it once at 3 hours, wrap it, and pull it again when it hits temp. The smoker even tells you when it's done, and you need to pull it.

We smoke pulled pork probably 1/2 the time we go out...

[Jerry713]

Technically we don’t travel much anymore since we keep our camper at an RV park most of the time but I usually have a drum smoker with us at the Rv park. Several years ago when I was cooking on the BBQ cook off trail taking our camper to a cook off was a weekly thing and my drum smokers were in tow. I put 2 on a basket in the back of the camper and one in the bed of the truck.

[Loaded-N-Rollin']

CraigAV,
The great thing about 'Q is there are many ways to get there and do it. So long as you and the people you feed like it, it is right. It looks like you have a process, and that is great, and yours is solid. I have 13 grills or smokers in my collection, or addiction - as my wife calls it, including an electric one I haven't cooked on in six years. It needs to go to a good home, and I will do that this spring. Part of the fun for me is fire management, and I like stick burners. The temp in my outlaw, with regular meats doesn't get below 290 if I can help it. I know of a guy, and actually cooked next to him a few years after this happened. He was out riding his motorcycle for a week and was passing thru a town that had a BBQ comp going on. He entered, went to the local hardware and grocery stores, and literally pulled aluminum pans and meat from his saddlebags, cooked, and won the backyard division.

As for brisket, there are a lot of variables. I cook different for friends and family than I do for judges. Competition is a very aggressive trim, and, I think, wasteful, but we grind the trimmings for burger. It's a whole different set of parameters. Yes, cooking at a much higher temp for a shorter amount of time, but also to higher internal temps. The breed of cattle the brisket comes from matters too. For instance, the fat and callogen structure of waygu allows us to take it to 212, but for a very short time(it hits it, and is immediately pulled to rest). Yes, the juices are boiling, but the meat structure can take it still be sliced after a longer rest. Do that to an angus brisket, and you will be having chopped brisket sandwiches. If I am cooking angus, we are shooting for 204 tops, but again for a short amount of time. your lower 190 and taking longer to get there will yield the same results, or close to it. I cook to color initially, then I wrap it (usually 155-165), also known as the TX crutch. I won't see it again until after the rest, and that is the closest an old man can get to feeling like a kid at Christmas seeing what is in the wrapped present. And, like a kid, I am rarely disappointed if I haven't made any unforced errors. I am not a "pro" either, but have learned enough to beat them on occasion at the judging tables. Keep smoking and doing it the way you enjoy it best. That's what counts.

[cadman_ks]

Originally Posted by Loaded-N-Rollin'

CraigAV,
The great thing about 'Q is there are many ways to get there and do it. So long as you and the people you feed like it, it is right. It looks like you have a process, and that is great, and yours is solid. I have 13 grills or smokers in my collection, or addiction - as my wife calls it, including an electric one I haven't cooked on in six years. It needs to go to a good home, and I will do that this spring. Part of the fun for me is fire management, and I like stick burners. The temp in my outlaw, with regular meats doesn't get below 290 if I can help it. I know of a guy, and actually cooked next to him a few years after this happened. He was out riding his motorcycle for a week and was passing thru a town that had a BBQ comp going on. He entered, went to the local hardware and grocery stores, and literally pulled aluminum pans and meat from his saddlebags, cooked, and won the backyard division.

As for brisket, there are a lot of variables. I cook different for friends and family than I do for judges. Competition is a very aggressive trim, and, I think, wasteful, but we grind the trimmings for burger. It's a whole different set of parameters. Yes, cooking at a much higher temp for a shorter amount of time, but also to higher internal temps. The breed of cattle the brisket comes from matters too. For instance, the fat and callogen structure of waygu allows us to take it to 212, but for a very short time(it hits it, and is immediately pulled to rest). Yes, the juices are boiling, but the meat structure can take it still be sliced after a longer rest. Do that to an angus brisket, and you will be having chopped brisket sandwiches. If I am cooking angus, we are shooting for 204 tops, but again for a short amount of time. your lower 190 and taking longer to get there will yield the same results, or close to it. I cook to color initially, then I wrap it (usually 155-165), also known as the TX crutch. I won't see it again until after the rest, and that is the closest an old man can get to feeling like a kid at Christmas seeing what is in the wrapped present. And, like a kid, I am rarely disappointed if I haven't made any unforced errors. I am not a "pro" either, but have learned enough to beat them on occasion at the judging tables. Keep smoking and doing it the way you enjoy it best. That's what counts.

I only got into smoking a couple of years ago,, and until I got involved with it, I didn't realize there was so much that went into it. It is definitely almost an artform unto itself. If it isn't an artform, it's definitely a science for sure. And the only way that you get at science is by experimenting OR performing known experiments that others have done that were successful, and then building off of that.

I cheat the whole way thru. I only use pellets, and use the TX crutch for just about everything that we smoke. And by cheating in this manner, my input time is very very little. A few minutes of prep, a few minutes of wrap in the middle, and pulling at the end. I don't think that there there's 30 minutes of my time in the entire operation.

And, at the end of the day for me, my wife loves BBQ, specifically pulled pork, so smoking gets me brownie points the DW...

[KCSA75]

Originally Posted by CAG

No! Too much work for whatever you come out with. Grille at the time or smoke it before you go but I am not into that much work for whatever.

We have an old electric Brinkman Bullet Smoker that I keep in the storage shed with the camper. We'll break it out if we're going to have a group but if it's just the wife and me, and we have a hankerin' for BBQ, we stop at a great little joint on the way to the campground.

We can call in our order five or 10 minutes in advance and it's ready to go when we get there. Once we get to the campground, we can warm it up and enjoy.

[The Gritz Carlton]

I've been an avid meat smoker most of my life. I carried 3 different cooking sources along with a 20# bottle of LP. UNTIL I stumbled across the Ninja Woodfire Outdoor Grill. It's the only thing I carry now and it runs on 120V power. 8 friends have bought it since they've seen this. Sounds crazy but...don't knock it until you've seen it. Most amazing innovation in outdoor cooking I've experienced. Smokes meat as close as you can get to my competition unit at home. Grills, bakes, roasts, broils, smokes and airfries. You can add smoke feature or not to any of the cycles. No more charcoal, lighter fluid, propane, multiple units or mess. Only drawback....its small, but that's good since I downsized from a Super C to a Melbourne.

[craigav]

One question I have that I still haven't figured out what would be best just yet, is that I usually end up smoking more meat than can be eaten by two people in a day or two. I have tried to vacuum seal some of the smoked meat and freeze it and that works out OK, but when thawed back out and reheated it is not as good as it was the day it was smoked. Any suggestions on how to best store smoked meats in regards to freezing them and then reheating them would be appreciated. I think it is the re-heating where the problem occurs, perhaps a faster or slower reheat would be better. Thoughts? ~CA

[Jerry713]

Originally Posted by craigav

One question I have that I still haven't figured out what would be best just yet, is that I usually end up smoking more meat than can be eaten by two people in a day or two. I have tried to vacuum seal some of the smoked meat and freeze it and that works out OK, but when thawed back out and reheated it is not as good as it was the day it was smoked. Any suggestions on how to best store smoked meats in regards to freezing them and then reheating them would be appreciated. I think it is the re-heating where the problem occurs, perhaps a faster or slower reheat would be better. Thoughts? ~CA

I think you’re right. That said I don’t think it will ever be as good as it was when fresh. When I freeze bbq I make sure there are lots juices from the meat in the bag which is why I choose to use ziptop freezer bags over vacuum seal. I simply reheat in the microwave but I reduce the power to 50%, cover the meat with a wet paper towel and make sure I don’t get it too hot.

Tip- if you use ziptop freezer bags to store meat, fill the sink half full of water. Zip most of the bag closed leaving one corner unzipped. Submerge the bag with the meat in it in the water leaving the unzipped corner of the bag above the water line and this will force all the air out of the bag. When you zip it closed it will look like it was vacuum sealed.

[Loaded-N-Rollin']

Originally Posted by Jerry713

I think you’re right. That said I don’t think it will ever be as good as it was when fresh. When I freeze bbq I make sure there are lots juices from the meat in the bag which is why I choose to use ziptop freezer bags over vacuum seal. I simply reheat in the microwave but I reduce the power to 50%, cover the meat with a wet paper towel and make sure I don’t get it too hot.

Tip- if you use ziptop freezer bags to store meat, fill the sink half full of water. Zip most of the bag closed leaving one corner unzipped. Submerge the bag with the meat in it in the water leaving the unzipped corner of the bag above the water line and this will force all the air out of the bag. When you zip it closed it will look like it was vacuum sealed.

Yep. Vacuum seal is about the best you can do. Air is the enemy. It also depends on how long it has been frozen - especially pork. A couple of weeks is about our max for pork, but we go several months with brisket because we use it in chili for non-sanctioned cook-offs in the winter. You may want to try just using your frozen BBQ as an ingredient and not a stand alone dish. Other flavors will probably enhance it that way.

[Spower]

Check this one out!!

https://www.jaycoowners.com/forums/f...er-104446.html

[dwaynebmsg]

I use a vacuum sealer for many dishes. What I like to do for reheating, is to put the sealed item into a pot of water and bring it to a slow boil. Heats it perfectly without drying it out and less cleanup. When we go camping, I take a number of frozen leftovers that make easy meals.

[Meowmute]

Originally Posted by Justral

The same here

This is truly the best way.