Summertime...Barbeques, Grills & Smokers!

A 26" & a 22", now that's some serious real estate. I just have the 22" Gold for now. I'm looking to get the 22.5 Weber Smokey Mountain but I have to wait till April 6th. Weber's coming out with something new .

 

I had a 22" for years. Got the 26" a few years ago when I finally had to bury the 22". The 22 was a Happy Cooker brand that lasted, I kid you not, 26 years! I tried to contact Happy Cooker to brag on their product but they had gone out of business back in 99. Guess they made 'em TOO good!

Going from the 22 to the 26 - amazing the extra grill space 4" make!

When I was researching for the Weber 26 I have now, I noticed they have the Ranch. Over 1100 square inches of cooking surface!!!
Cost, though, works out to $1 per square inch.

 

I was trying to max out the space on my Weber tonight...While keeping off the coals.

 

The temp is getting into the upper 30s. I'm getting the itch to start a new season of smoking. I have a pork butt in the freezer just begging to be turned into a pulled pork feast. I also have an 11 pound turkey in the freezer too just waiting. I haven't done a whole turkey yet but this is going to be the year. It's going to be, "the summer of George!!!"

 

Smokin' some baby backs. Got started too late for a low and slow 225°. Gotta go hot & fast, shooting for 250°-275°. Almost at an hour.

 

Had my first smoke of the year last weekend.... 4 lb. pork loin with a simple salt & pepper rub on the Weber with indirect heat from coals and cherry wood for smoke. Yummy!

 

Almost done, about 30 more minutes... maybe

 

Sounds like some good eatin'.

 

All done, they pass the bend test

 

Hot-Smoked Polish Kielbasa
I made and smoked 11 pounds of Polish kielbasa this past Monday.

I started with two bone-in pork butts (about 17lbs); cubed the pork into usable pieces — about 11 pounds of 80/20 pork, with about 3 pounds of leftover pork fat (saved for future recipes).
These cubes were coarse-ground (4.5mm plate), single pass.


All the ingredients ready while the grinding ensued...
Kosher salt, sugar, dried marjoram, fresh-ground black pepper, finely-chopped fresh garlic and cure#1 (pink salt). Plenty of mixing room as this Lem tub will hold 25lbs.


For a load this size (smaller than 15lbs), I will use this Grizzly stuffer (5lb capacity). It does the job quite well and one person can crank & stuff capably.
I used 28-32mm natural casings, making each link approximately 16-18" in length in order to fit comfortably in the box smoker.


SMOKIN:
One hour @110°F with no smoke in order to dry the exterior. THEN 4 hours of pecan-wood smoke for 4-4.5 hours @130-150°F.

The POACH:
I drop the smoked links into a basin of hot water (165-170°F) to finish the cook. After about 30 minutes the internal temp of the sausage hits the 160°F mark.
Finishing them in a water bath saves about 2-2.5 hours of time vs in the smoker. Sausages remain plum & juicy with no detectable loss of smokiness.

My vintage 1950 Westinghouse 'Turkey' roaster' is an ideal basin for poaching a large load of sausage...Retro-cool!


Saussages are then plunged into a sink full of ice water to cool , then hung to dry and 'bloom' (i.e. develop a deep red color)

Eleven pounds of Polish goodness... some sauerkraut & cold beer and its party time!

 

Home made kielbasa sounds so good!

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That kielbasa looks amazing.


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Chicken going on the Weber kettle grill, slow cooking with a charcoal bank on the other side of the grill, digital thermometer probes in one piece slightly closer to the coals, another probe in one farther away. This monitoring set-up paid off. About 40 minutes into the cook, the piece closer was almost 10 degrees more than the other, so I switched the pieces around on both sides. By the time cooking was finished, internal temps were 1 degree different, at 165 in one, 166 in the other. After this temp was accomplished, I moved the pieces directly over the coals to crisp the skin.






Chicken is done, ready to come off the grill!

 

I smoked a pork butt today and made some Kansas style bbq sauce.. I sliced the pork butt and it came out wonderful! I forgot to take pics.

 

Smoked up 2 pork butts this weekend. I did the same rub on each but injected one with apple juice, apple cider vinegar, Worcestershire sauce and Frank's hot sauce. Honestly I couldn't tell the difference other than the injected one left a ton of liquid behind after I panned them after 6 hours on the smoker grate.
Everyone was happy and I still have a few pounds of leftovers which makes me happy.


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Beer can chicken. I made a garlic herb butter and stuffed some pats under the skin. In the can is some minced onion, garlic, sage and rosemary, along with some water to make somewhat of an herbal tea. Kingsford charcoal and some peach chunks from a tree I helped Dad take down last year. I use a roasting chicken and let the popper tell me when it's done. Pics of a ready to eat bird to follow!

 

@swarden43, Beer can chicken... Kingsford charcoal and some peach chunks from a tree I helped Dad take down last year.



Mmmm, sounds pretty tasty, especially with the peach wood.


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Now to let it rest...

 

Not nearly as creative (or as yummy looking) as any of the above, but I'll be having some friends over tonight for some imported polar bear burgers. Even penguins get sick of all that fish once in a while.

 

Nice chicken holder/can! I like the apron too.