Recent content by jbauch357

We're having a big party at my place this Saturday, invites went out to about 40 people.  I want to have a couple options and don't want to worry about running out of food, so I'm going to do a ~10lb pork butt and ~15lb packer cut brisket, which I think is going to be pushing capacity for my #3...

Hey there everybody, been a while since I've been on the forum, good to see the community is still nice and active. Considering the success of basically everything else I've been smoking in the SI #2 (thank you to the forum specifically for this, you're help has been invaluable) my wife has...

I'm seeing that most people cut the brisket off of their spare ribs, turning the ribs into St. Louis cut and the brisket into rib tips.  Is this only doing for visual and serving regularity, or is there something else going on here that would make this a common practice?  Personally I'd think...

Wife told me she was hungry and wanted something grilled since it was nice outside, I decided to do the whole thing outside on the Weber gasser.  NY steak, grilled buttered sweet onion, foiled brown sugar squash and foiled asparagus with cracked pepper and sea salt.  My plating and photography...

A common and frustrating experience I was having was the wood directly over the firebox holes would ignite and smoke like mad, then the rest of the wood would sit there and do almost nothing.  So in effect I was going from very thick and heavy smoke production, to almost nothing - not ideal in...

I was picking up some NY steaks for supper last night and started wondering what would be the best cut for pulled/shredded beef on the smoker.  Something that is cheap, has good fat/marbling, and comes in large enough hunks to place a big piece on the smoker for low and slow good break down...

We don't have kids, my wife's mother and pre-teen little brothers are going to be staying with us this weekend.  I figured putting something on the smoker would be a good project for me and the boys, but also want the finished product to be something fun and that they would enjoy.  Pork as the...

Is anybody keeping a burn rate and smoke production chart?  I've noticed there are significant differences from one wood type/shape to the next, and am going to start keeping a log but wondering if anybody else already has one in progress?

Brisket has always been my nemesis, I've never managed to produce one that was good for anything other than chopping up and making chili out of... After multiple successes on my SI-2 with Auber, I'm finally going to attempt a brisket. I'm thinking for maximum chances of success I should: -...

I made up some bacon wrapped chicken bites dusted with dry rub this weekend.  After 2hrs of heavy apple wood smoke at 225 they were 160+ IT so I pulled them and had a taste...  But there wasn't any taste, not in the bacon, nor the chicken - they just tasted like (perfectly cooked tender and...

I combined a few different recipes for my latest chicken attempt, and once again had the best result I've ever produced.  Figured I'd share. Brine 1c kosher salt 1c brown sugar 2qts hot water 2qts ice cubes Mix salt, sugar and hot water until ingredients are dissolved - add ice to cool.  Rub...

I'm seeing instacure #1 and #2 listed in a variety of different recipes, and after a bit of poking around find that they are the same aside from #2 having 1% sodium nitrate in addition to the 6.25% sodium nitrite and salt. When would I want to use either of these, and what is the best way to...

So far everything I've put in my SI #2 has come out phenomenal, going with something a bit more challenging today with a deer roast.  I like hunting, and enjoy venison when in small pieces as part of a recipe, but straight up steaks/roasts are pretty awful in my opinion.  My goal is to have a...

Completed my first smoke on the SI #2 today.  I'll call it a partial success, as it is the best texture of any smoked salmon I've ever made, but it was lacking smoke flavor - we'll get to that part later. Here is the brine: 2 cups hot water 3 Tbsp kosher salt ½ cup brown sugar ⅓ cup soy sauce 1...

Doing a dry run before tossing fish in my #2 with stock controller bypass and tuned Auber.  I set the temp for 140 degrees at 4hrs, but the controller is allowing the temp to creep all the way up to 150 before reducing heat element cycle enough to drop temps back down. I'm using dry alder chips...