Looks pretty dope.

I need to cook some ribs

7/2/2017 9:26:15 PM

piggly wiggly has 2 rack vac packs of untrimmed spares for $1.99/lb.

7/2/2017 10:08:51 PM

$0.99/lb Boston Butts at HT.

7/2/2017 10:42:57 PM

did the crock pot sous vide steaks again, but with thicker ribeyes and seared them in cast iron. pretty awesome.

but doesn't really go in this thread

7/4/2017 6:57:40 PM

I grilled vienna sausage kebabs this weekend. They were as expected.

(i also grilled shrimp and bratwurst)

7/5/2017 1:01:00 PM

Did wings last night. Used sriracha in the marinade instead of Frank's. Wouldn't suggest doing that. Too much sugar in it and they wanted to burn with the super high heat of the vortex.

[Edited on July 6, 2017 at 9:26 AM. Reason : Pulled them earlier than usual and still came out decent]

7/6/2017 9:26:00 AM

Made some ribs Tuesday. That's as close to perfect as I've come with them in a while. Normally they are too tender and fall off the bone way to easily so I've been slowly toughening them up. This time I smoked for 3 hours, wrapped for an hour and then unwrapped and sauced for an hour. Still tender enough to pull away from the bone easily when you bit into them but you could also pick them up without them falling apart.

7/6/2017 6:55:53 PM

I do 3-2-1 method at 250 deg, but I take 30 mins off each phase. Every rack is a little different, so it's difficult to get it right on without lifting the lid to check pull back, bark cracking, and bend test a few times.

7/6/2017 8:23:43 PM

So I think I have my Akorn experience level up enough to where I'm ready to try a shoulder/butt.

Can someone give me the Cliff-notes version of what to do?

I never know what to buy/where to buy it. Boston Butt? Picnic Shoulder? Bone In? HT has "Smithfield Boston Butts" on sale for 1.97 this week, but isn't there some type that I should avoid(in some sort of briney solution?)

7/12/2017 9:19:55 AM

Buy a Boston butt with a bone in it. $1.97 is not a good sale price. Should be able to find one for $1.29 or $.99 or even less occasionally. Just cover it with rub and cook it fat cap down at 225-275 degrees until it probes tender. Internal temp will probably be around 195.

Avoid any meat that says "enhanced" or anything else alluding to brining. You just want a piece of meat that was cut off a hog and wrapped up.

[Edited on July 12, 2017 at 9:30 AM. Reason : Bd]

7/12/2017 9:29:12 AM

Where do you normally find your bone-in boston butts?

7/12/2017 9:46:45 AM

Piggy wiggly, food lion, Lowes foods, harris teeter. Wherever I can find them cheap. I fill the freezer. Fresh picnic shoulders work fine too.

7/12/2017 10:41:01 AM

The HT butts are ALWAYS on sale for $1.97. I stop by there probably two or three times a week and I've never seen them not on sale. Once a month they'll drop to $.99/lb...grab a couple then. Never really looked for butts at other stores.

7/12/2017 10:58:45 AM

Supposedly those are the Smithfield "extra tender" butts. Are these the ones in the solution that you are talking about?

7/12/2017 11:08:24 AM

I think so. The shitty ones will say something like "up to XX% water added".

7/12/2017 11:25:38 AM

Found them at Food Lion for 1.29

7/13/2017 7:47:04 AM

That's acceptable

7/13/2017 9:11:51 AM

Any last minute advice about how to bring the Akorn up to temp for low and slow?

7/14/2017 1:13:38 PM

light as little as possible and wait, or do a chimney and light, then lower your air.

7/14/2017 1:50:20 PM

Check out the minion method.

My 2nd smoke on the Akorn went really well using the minion. Got a decent fire started (used a cube...which many on here don't like, but it worked great for me). Shut the grill with the bottom and top vents open. As the temp started to creep into the upper 100s, I slowly started closing the vents. Once it got in the 210 range, I barely had the vents open. The fire was going strong, so the temp crept up to about 250, but then it slowly went back down to the 220 range where I was able to manage it for the next 7 or 8 hours.

7/14/2017 2:12:06 PM

use a cotton ball with alcohol instead of the cube and bring it up with top and bottom half open and then start closing back more around 150 deg and you won't get as much overshoot

7/14/2017 2:18:01 PM

Do you guys pile the coals up into a volcano or just put the cotton ball/cube on top of a chamber of coal?

7/14/2017 3:14:33 PM

live by the electric starter

7/14/2017 3:38:57 PM

volcano-ish

i just dig out a narrow hole and throw the cotton ball in there and make sure there's a piece or two across the top

the electric starters are ok, but they don't do anything the cotton ball won't. i guess they might save you a few minutes. not worth it to me.

7/14/2017 5:27:14 PM

Those propane torches seem pretty popular too

7/14/2017 6:38:28 PM

My mom heard about some thorn tree in Cuba that was extremely invasive so they started making lump with it and exporting it, including to the US (first legal Cuban import in forever) and got really excited and ordered me a bag. It had mixed reviews but I'm lighting it as I type, will post back with results.

7/16/2017 12:31:27 PM

It turned out well! The Akorn fluctuated a bit for the first couple hours so I had to keep adjusting slightly up and down, but after hour 3 it held 250 like a champ.

I don't think any of my hickory chunks lit, so there wasn't much smoke, and I wasn't patient enough and took the meat off once it hit 190. Probably should have left it on for another hour.

7/17/2017 7:17:38 AM

^What did you cook

7/17/2017 10:51:03 AM

That charcoal worked as well as you would expect. I did drumsticks at 400 so not the best test for high heat, and I've not looked to see how much burned, but I'd imagine it does burn longer than any other lump. The chunks were all pretty big and they felt really dense. It was a bitch to light, I ended up having to use 3 cotton balls at once. I will say though, at 400 degrees it barely smoked at all.

7/17/2017 7:00:13 PM

I've decided I really like that Cuban charcoal. It is a pain to light and it's expensive but it does burn for a long time without using much. I did ribs yesterday for lunch and then pizza for dinner, and barely used any. It doesn't smoke much at all, and doesn't snuff very easily. I went to the grocery store while the ribs were smoking, came back and the akorn had gotten way to hot so I dampened the fire down more than I normally would. Dropped 40 degrees in less than an hour, I opened the vents back up and it stabilized within minutes. With the pizza at high temps it didn't really spark at all, and even at 600 it didn't shoot flames up the side of the stone when I opened the grill to put on and take off pizzas. It didn't produce that much ash, either and as I stirred the used coals to knock the ash off the individual pieces didn't break or disintegrate nearly as much as they normally do. I highly recommend it. It's $43 for a 33 lb bag but I think it's well worth it. Also, I'm pretty sure it can't be imported anymore, so I'm gonna buy a few more bags before the current supply runs out

https://www.fogocharcoal.com/products/fogo-cuban-marabu-hardwood-lump-charcoal-33-pound-bag

7/23/2017 8:17:05 PM

Did the first pulled pork on my new Green Mountain Grill Davy Crockett today. Was absolutely great.

7/23/2017 9:54:21 PM

FYI Walmart seems to be clearing out a lot of their smokers.

https://slickdeals.net/f/10408360-smoker-clearance-at-walmart-megathread-ymmv?v=1&src=pdw

7/28/2017 2:06:37 PM

I've been on a huge drumstick kick lately. Marinate them in Italian dressing (or that lemon garlicious sauce I just discovered at food lion) for a couple of hours to a day, grill them on indirect heat at 400+, and go to town. They are a hell of a lot cheaper than wings, or any other chicken except for maybe thighs and are awesome. The skin crisps up really nice, nice and juicy, it's hard to beat

8/13/2017 12:40:58 AM

i wish you could find some smaller legs. the volume to surface area ratio on today's chicken leg is all wrong. i'll keep deboning thighs.

8/13/2017 5:42:16 PM

Tried a london broil again earlier this week and again was disappointed. Delicious marinade for over 24 hours. Perfect grill again...right at medium rare...nice sear on the outside. Thinly sliced. Although it was a little more tender on the non pink/red part..it was still a little too tough. And the rare part of the steak was way too chewy...almost as if it was rare.

I would say I was going to be done with that cut of meat...but I took the leftovers and made a philly cheesesteak the next night that was fucking delicious. So it's been relegated to a sandwich meat...but a very delicious one.

8/13/2017 5:51:35 PM

Wife and I love some drumettes. Grill them until they're brown, and then brush a few times with Frank's buffalo sauce.

8/13/2017 7:46:25 PM

So I'm still loving the salt block to sear steaks on but cleanup on it is not as easy as everything makes it look. Tonight as I was endlessly scrubbing it with abrasive pads to try to remove the top layer of salt and cooked on juices, I had an epiphany. Belt sander. 10 seconds then a quick wipe with a dry paper towel and it was good to go

8/14/2017 6:27:45 PM

How long do you expect it to last? i might pick up one

8/15/2017 8:10:25 AM

Stuff I've read says around 10-20 cooks, depending on how you take care of it. I will say it gives an amazing sear to steaks and chops, but I've only got that perfect salt flavor the very first time I used it. The subsequent cooks on it didn't impart nearly as much salt.

8/15/2017 9:27:31 AM

I've been having to use like 3 or 4 cotton balls to light that Cuban lump charcoal, and I went to light my akorn the other night only to realize my cotton ball/alcohol jar was empty. Thought about using a torch but then remembered somebody gave me a looft lighter charcoal starter for Christmas a couple of years ago that I never bothered messing with. I dug it out and used it, and it worked great. Even on that really dense Cuban charcoal.

8/25/2017 8:25:10 PM

finally buying a house and will be needing a gas grill.

was thinking about either the 3 or 4 burner Weber Genesis II

Trying to stay under $1k - anyone have any strong opinions on a solid gas grill?

full disclosure: I did not read through the thread

8/31/2017 10:26:51 AM

^ No gas...get an Akorn.


Two things (non-related to your question)...

1) I remember the discussion about measuring the internal temperature of chicken and got shat on for saying that I just have a good "feel" for it...aka I know the temperature of my grill, how long I've had the chicken on, and when I check the meat (I press down on it), I can tell when it's done. We probably grill chicken at least once every week...either for salads or to eat as a stand-alone meat. I nail it every time. Wife has recently dubbed me the chicken grilling king. Just saying...it works.

2) How does everyone cook their ribs? I've tried a slow smoke several times on my old [shitty] charcoal grill. Haven't tried it on the Akorn yet, but I did just do some babybacks in the over at 300 for two hours...then got the grill real hot and basically seared them with a sauce....maybe 5 minutes on each side and they were delicious. Don't know if I want to stray from that as they were the best ribs I've ever grilled.

9/7/2017 4:21:18 PM

Quote :

"was thinking about either the 3 or 4 burner Weber Genesis II Trying to stay under $1k - anyone have any strong opinions on a solid gas grill? "

If you want to spend that much on gas, I'd be looking at the used market (for a Weber).

Quote :

"How does everyone cook their ribs?"

225-250 for a few hours with some apple wood, then like with my shoulders I move to a 225 oven until done. Ribs I didn't wrap last time in the oven but probably will next time...some of tips were too crunchy Then sauce and back on the grill for 4-5 minutes per side of med-high heat.

[Edited on September 7, 2017 at 4:41 PM. Reason : ]

9/7/2017 4:36:59 PM

^^oven and a sear on the grill is fine if you don't want any smoke flavor.

i do 3-2-1 method, but i back off the times by about 30 mins each. 250 degrees. i use a basic bbq rub. i like to add brown sugar and butter during the wrap, then use a sauce with a little heat. gives a good sweet/hot balance.

^^^i bought a genesis off craigslist for $300. only needed new flavorizer bars.

[Edited on September 7, 2017 at 5:00 PM. Reason : x]

9/7/2017 4:58:18 PM

The rub I used for the oven was S&P and chili powder...was thinking of brown sugar but the sauce I use has a nice sweetness (and heat) to it.

I don't care for smoke on my ribs if I'm using a sauce...I feel like the sauce covers most, if not all, of the smoke flavor. If I'm doing just a rub, then I might try to smoke them again.

9/7/2017 5:23:13 PM

Quote :

"I don't care for smoke on my ribs if I'm using a sauce...I feel like the sauce covers most, if not all, of the smoke flavor."

you're doing something wrong

9/7/2017 5:35:10 PM

"I feel" was more based on smoked and sauced ribs I've had in the past (none that I've made). All the smoking I've done in the past has been with a dry rub.

Personally...I just like the smoke taste with a dry rub better on its own. I like sauces with quick grill/sears and the caramelization of the sauce. Maybe I'll experiment with smoking and saucing again in the future.

9/7/2017 5:51:59 PM

My effing thermometer crapped out in the beginning of my smoke yesterday. The thermometer on the Akorn is pretty garbage and I imagine the temp was way too high during the entire cook. I hit 200 on the internal temp a good three hours before I was planning on it being done. The pork was still very tasty...but not nearly as tender as I like it.

Whats the recommended thermometer that everyone uses? I always see thermapens listed, but I'd prefer one that works remotely so I can keep track while I'm fucking around with other things.

9/18/2017 1:38:56 PM

Told you weeks ago not to go by that thermometer

A lot of folks use the maverick et-732 or 733 or some rebranded version of it. The maverick was OK but I had issues inside my house with it. Bluetooth units suck. If I did not have a Heatermeter, I would go with something that uses Wi-Fi like the Thermoworks Smoke with Wi-Fi gateway or the Thermoworks ThermaQ. If you don't want to spend that much, then any of the 300 ft 2.4 GHz units like the maverick will be about the same.

9/18/2017 1:51:00 PM

Ha! Its worked well before (although spotty at times...).

Yeah...I don't need anything heavy duty. The furthest I'm ever away from the grill (watching football inside), might be 70 ft...and normally I'm only about 25 ft away.

9/18/2017 2:27:04 PM