Is cooking by time relevent at all for the smokin-it?

[zapdafish]

I had problems with over cooking my food (ie dry meat) based on time and perceived temperature settings so I bought one of those gizmos that shows internal food temp and smoker temp.

I discovered that internal food temp pretty much lagged the smoker temp by 20 degrees as the smoker was heating itself up. So even though I set the smoker to around 225, by the time the smoker hit 190ish, my chicken breasts were essentially done at 170ish. Well before the time's all the recipes I had googled said to cook it for at X temp.

The 20 degree lag might differ for thicker cuts of meat but it seems that going by a set time doesn't mean much with something like the smokin-it where the temp doesn't depend on the user at all.

BTW, the food came out awesome and leftovers finally stayed nice and moist. Wierd thing is when I bring the food to work and microwave it, based on the smell, everyone thinks I am heating up  hotdogs 

 

[rickne]

I don't like cooking by time at all.  I always go by internal meat temp or visual (in the case of ribs, wings, etc).

That "gizmo that shows internal food temp and smoker temp" will become your best friend.

Also,  thermometer placement in the smoker is important.  Example, if you have a decent size load of meat in there and you hang your smoker thermometer above the meat, it will register quite a bit cooler than if you hung it below the meat.  The meat absorbs the heat coming off the element.

I always try to place the thermometer at the same height as the meat.  The simplest way to do this is to ball up a piece of foil, stick your probe all the way through it, then lay it on the rack between two cuts of meat.  There are other creative ways to do this but this is the quickest, simplest, and cheapest way I have found.

 

[rickne]

Microwave pulled pork and it smells and tastes like bacon.

I don't re-heat much chicken, but when I re-heat pork, I do it as slowly as schedule allows.  Most times, I leave it wrapped in foil (and cling wrap too), put it in the oven at 200 degrees and let it warm up slowly.

 

[swthorpe]

I really recommend just watching the IT of the meat when possible; however, there are some smokes that you generally know the time required.  For example, with BB ribs, you really can use the temp probe, so you allow five hours and then check for doneness.    I did a batch of chicken thighs over the weekend without a meat probe, but I knew from the past that they typically require about 4 hours, so I just did a check with a temp pen at the 4 hours mark to make sure of the IT - which was right on the money.

For other things where a temp probe can be inserted easily into part of the meat (breast, etc), then go with the remote probe and watch the IT.    The part of your post that concerns me is that your meat temp was up to 170 when the smoker got to 190...that seems really quick to me.  So, be sure that the remote probe is inserted well into the meat but not touching bone.  For example, I did a pork loin a few weeks back that had an IT temp of around 47F when I started (coming out of the fridge), and did not get to 100F for a good 1.5 hours, well after the smoker had reached the 225 temp and cycle back down.

 

[zapdafish]

thanks, I have a thermapen too so verified the temp with that and they were spot on. Before the remote gizmo I would check the temp after a certain time and it would always be way over my target IT. Watching the monitor was a real eye opener for me.

I had the cooker temp probe about the same level as the lowest rack of meat.

Part of the problem too might have been my use of chicken breast which can dry out pretty quickly if you let the IT go to high, even when brined.

 

[swthorpe]

Good points.  I think some folks wrap chicken breasts with bacon to help with the drying out issue, although I have not tried that.   

 

[DivotMaker]

Zap - as you've found out, internal temp is the only indicator to go by on anything with big enough to use a temp probe on.  The only things I cook by time are things like ribs, as you just can't get accurate meat temps on them.  Anything like poultry, pork butts, loins, briskets - IT only!