Smoking meats

[perryranch]

Ok y'all I need the 123's and ABC's on how to do this. If things go the way we think I will have the chance to smoke some wild hog this coming weekend. We are having a lot of hog traffic come to our rye grass field and DH and the boys went and set the traps today. I already have the mop recipe I will use and FIL has a great BBQ sauce recipe I'm plan to get from him.(I'll post it when I get it) But I don't know how to do the smoking part. I have a Chargriller Pro but no side firebox yet. And won't for a month or so.

Tonight I tried to smoke a chicken. I did it the way Dat said and put all the coals on the right side and the chicken on the left. After an hour and half it wasn't done and the skin was still raw feelin and lookin. So I moved it to the mid of the grill. In about 40 minutes it was done and done very good I might add. The meat was good and juice and tender. But the only part that had a smoke taste to it was the skin the meat had no smokey taste to it.

When I went to put the burning briquet's in first I put down some unlit ones and then on top of the burning ones I put 3 or 4 small pieces of pecan.

Oh wise ones please guide me to smokin prefection.

[DATsBBQ]

Ok y'all I need the 123's and ABC's on how to do this. If things go the way we think I will have the chance to smoke some wild hog this coming weekend. We are having a lot of hog traffic come to our rye grass field and DH and the boys went and set the traps today. I already have the mop recipe I will use and FIL has a great BBQ sauce recipe I'm plan to get from him.(I'll post it when I get it) But I don't know how to do the smoking part. I have a Chargriller Pro but no side firebox yet. And won't for a month or so.

Tonight I tried to smoke a chicken. I did it the way Dat said and put all the coals on the right side and the chicken on the left. After an hour and half it wasn't done and the skin was still raw feelin and lookin. So I moved it to the mid of the grill. In about 40 minutes it was done and done very good I might add. The meat was good and juice and tender. But the only part that had a smoke taste to it was the skin the meat had no smokey taste to it.

When I went to put the burning briquet's in first I put down some unlit ones and then on top of the burning ones I put 3 or 4 small pieces of pecan.

Oh wise ones please guide me to smokin prefection.

Might have gotten infront of myself. Coals on the opposite side from the exhaust pipe, I assuming yours was on the left.

When I do a whole chicken on Einstein, 1.5 hours at 250 is about right. I'd put a layer of unlit coals on the bottom, and put the lit ones on tops. Just me.

I'll defer to the wild pig experts here as to how to cook the wild pig.

Rye you say...they make whiskey out that

[perryranch]

Dat that's what I did put the coals on the opposite side from the exhaust cause I kind figured that's what ya meant. I haven't gotten a themometer to put in the grill at grill level the only one on there is up high and the temp on it stayed between 250 and 275. I did the coals the way you said plus I added the pecan to the top but only 3 or 4 small pieces.

[DATsBBQ]

The right way to Q meat is to end up with something that is good. How you get to that goal, well that's up to you!

Some folks inject, some rub, some just use salt & pepper. My personal preference is to rub the meat down the night before, at least 12 hrs with the rub on it. I've gone as long as 36 hours and it all worked out.

I suggest that you start a cook log or diary. If you make something great, you have a record of it and should be able to duplicate it. Conversely, if it sucked, you know not to do that again, at least the same way

Cook temps again are again a personal thing. Most would agree that if you go over say 300*, you're grilling and not Qing. Temps below 170*, hope you know what you're doing as not to get sick I run at 250, but that's my cooker's sweet spot.

Learn your pit. I bet I could cook you up something on a ECB (el cheapo brinkman) that would rival stuff off, say a GATOR PIT provided that pit jockey didn't know his pit!

It's a learning experience. You've graduated when you Q up a Clod of the home grown beef and folks line up for miles around

[Big Mike]

When it comes to whole chicken and whole turkeys, I run my pit temperature at 300. Anywhere from 275-300 is good. If you you run at a lower temp, you will end up with rubbery skin. Running at a higher temp will help crisp up the skin some as well as leave you with a more juicy product IMO. Another thing to do to help crisp up the skin is soak some cheesecloth in melted butter and wrap it around the chicken or turkey. Not only does it help crisp the skin, it helps keep the bird a golden color and not a black color.

Also, poultry takes on smoke pretty easily so it doesn't take as much wood as Brisket or Pork Butts. However, it sounds like you might want to use a bit more wood next time. I would try 3 or 4 baseball size chunks and see how it turns out.

Here are a couple of pics of a whole turkey. I cooked it at 300.

[desi]

i like a spatchcocked chicken myself, they come out perfect every time. cook @ 375-400 on a raised grid for 45 min. to 1 hr. and they come out moist and delicious!

[Puff]

Perryranch, if you plan on doing a whole wild hog on your CharGriller I would look into getting that side fire box. If you just plan on cutting the hog up (Butts etc.) then you should be ok with the indirect method Dats told you. The only bad thing about that is the lid opening you'll have to do. You'll lose alot of heat and cook time everytime that lid opens.

[perryranch]

Desi that's how I did my chicken but the skin wasn't crisp but know I know why. Next time hotter pit.

Puff don't know what size pig it'll be when I finally get to do one but doubt it'll be the whole thing. We like to take the back strap and make butterflied hog nuggets(think chicken fried steak) so probably do a ham and shoulder if it's big enough. If not I might have to cook both hams and shoulders I'm feeding 2 teen boys and they can eat. LOL I've never hoped to catch a hog so much before but sure hope we get a couple this week.

Oh and we do plan on getting me a fireside box for the griller. Just gotta wait till the pocket book says it's ok, I had a set back on that tonight DS2 had a blowout with his shoes and they gotta come first. Dagnabit

[OSD]

Next time you go to store get an oven thermo ( about $3 ) and place on grill next to the meat. Had one of those cookers along time ago. The hood thermo was way off. and if it said 250 up at the top, the cooking grate was maybe only 175. even if top thermo is right, it can be a difference of 75* to 100* down at the grate. You might have only been cooking at 150*. Try the small thermos set on the grate. It will help you know where you're at temp wise.

[DATsBBQ]

I don't eat the skin as a rule (country fryed is an exception), so it doesn't bother me much if the skin is soggy when it comes off the smoker. I suppose you could always flip skin side down directly over the coals for a few minutes prior to taking it off. Just thinking outloud here.