Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion The Water Cooler Question for the BBQ experts

I'd be looking at a 12 to 14 hour smoke.

So not much more than the 4 lb butts I've been doing. I may give brisket a go the next time family heads out my way.

Yeah, those are hard to get right. Seems like it would be big enough, but...

AFAICS smaller cuts dry out faster than larger ones but the conversion of connective tissue to gelatin or whatever doesn't seem to go any faster.

Best read I have found so far seems to be...

http://amazingribs.com/recipes/beef/texas_brisket.html

... which even includes an interesting theory about why the "stall" happens -- moisture coming out of the meat and evaporatively cooling it after a certain temperature range. I suspect that isn't the entire answer (conversion of connective tissue probably absorbs some energy too or we would all be driving brisket-powered cars if only for the exhaust smell) but it helps to explain why foiling early saves so much time.

For those who are interested, I've gone through about 3/4 of a bag of the inexpensive pellets now. I have to say that I have not noticed any real difference in flavour from the 'Special Blend' pellets I got with my smoker.

At 1/8th of the price, I know what I'm using going forward, particularly given that I've gone through a good 50 lb so far. A quick calculation tells me I would save $250 a year going this route. Say, that's 15 bottles of really nice wine.

... or 35 bottles of plonk.

Next, I want to try some pure pellets like Hickory to see if I can taste any difference.

I've used Traeger pellets and Gourmet BBQ brand pellets. Both work just fine in the smoker. No real difference between the two. I bought several bags of the Gourmet brand at a sports store that sells grill, called "The Sportsman's Warehouse". I bought them because they had the type of wood I was wanting to try, and cost. They were $13 for a 20 pound bag. The Traeger pellets were $20 for a 20 pound bag.

The type of wood does make a difference. Big difference. I don't know about the blends, but can confirm completely different flavor imparted to the meat with different wood types.

I do not like Maple. It just tastes weird to me.

Mesquite is strong. Tastes great with chicken.

Hickory seems to go with beef. Mesquite does too, but I think I like hickory a bit better. I want to try Pecan next time.

Pecan is good with pork. I've also tried cherry and that was OK. I also tried a 50/50 blend of cherry and pecan, and that was really good.

Interesting. My aging pallet probably doesn't help. I guess I need to experiment. I'll keep going with the cheap stuff for every day use though.

What are the 'cheap' pellets you are using Fred? If they are food grade? If they don't burn too fast, and don't have a glue binder, I don't see why you'd want or need to go more expensive.... I think the type of wood is more important than price. I suppose some cheap pellets may not be compressed as much, so they might burn quicker?

I'm gunna smoke a couple chickens today. I plan to use a mix of Mesquite and Apple, with a honey bourbon glaze towards the end of the smoke (saw this on a cooking show: Southern at Heart).

You old hippie.

I used to hate buying a dime bag and finding it was all beaks and feet.

I've used just about any hardwood you can think of. Both as an additive to charcoal and straight up wood only. I can't say I have ever noticed a difference in taste.

Anymore I use what ever is free and available at the time.

Mark, those stems and seeds that you don't need---
back in 67 a dime bag was just a match box!
/Jeff