Smokin' Reviews

Brisket

2013-03-03T09:02:00.002-07:00

When it comes to BBQ, a perfect brisket is a work of art. I understand there are several opinions about BBQ and the way it is supposed to be. This post is about how I personally like to prepare my brisket. I am going to cover several topics and hopefully I will provide you with information you can take to your pit and try. This is a long read, so get yourself some popcorn and sit back as I take you through techniques, recipes and all other kinds of information I've learned about smoking a good brisket through the years.

Trimming

My personal opinion is that you should always trim your brisket. Flip your brisket upside down so the fat cap is on the bottom. If you have a full packer cut (a brisket with the flat and point) you will probably see a large chunk of fat on the bottom. If you look, this is part of the fat that runs between the flat and the point of the brisket. Cut that sucker down. It is a hard fat that will not render down and it will not do anything for you. I wouldn't trim it so far down that you have a crater in the bottom of your brisket, but you should be able to cut a large portion of it out. If you flip the brisket back over you should see on the opposite side where that same vein of fat comes out on top. Trim that down too. Now, trim the top layer of fat on your brisket down to about 1/4 inch. This fat will render down and caramelize into a sweet fat which can actually be a wonderful addition to the flavor of a slice of brisket. If you look at the larger version of the first image on this post you can see how the top layer of fat has rendered down nicely. Look at the color of the fat. Some of it has turned to a darker almost yellow color. I don't normally eat fat, but that was really tasty brisket fat!

I would like to point out that I know this was frozen, but I was still able to pull off a very successful smoke.

Injecting

There is a lot of debate about injecting vs not injecting. I think it will come down to personal preference, but what I can say is that injecting (if done properly) will give you more flavor on the inside of any large cut of meat. A lot of competitive teams that win inject their meats. I have found that injecting with an injection that contains phosphates helps meat retain moisture.

Finding the right injection to fit your flavor profile might take some time. A few injections to check out are Kosmos, Butcher and FAB. These are not the cheapest thing on the block, so you might have to spend a little $ till you find one that you like. I've had pretty good success with the Kosmos injection.

I'm not going to be stingy with my injection recipe. Here it is, like it or hate it I've had success with the flavor:

2 cups water
4 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1 beef bullion cube
3/4 cup Kosmos beef injection

I use a protein shake mixer I got from Walmart in the same isle as the protein shakes which is by the pharmacy. Pour the water into the mixer cup. measure out the Worcestershire sauce into the mixer cup. Use a mortar and pestle to smash, then grind up the beef bullion cube and then add that to the mixer cup. Measure out the Kosmos beef injection powder into the mixer cup. Now, the protein shake mixer cup should come with a kind of plastic grate which helps with the mixing process. Put that in and screw the lid on. Shake till the injection is completely mixed.

Ignore the color of the injection in this picture (it was a pork injection). Now it's time to inject. I made my own injector for about $20. I already had needles. I modified the needles to have holes around the needle so that injection can spray out of the needle from multiple directions.

The most important thing when injecting your meat is TIMING! Have you ever brined a chicken, or a turkey? You can't just dunk a turkey in brine for 10 minutes and expect to have any kind of success. Injecting is very similar to brining. You've just injected a ton of flavor into the meat, but it now needs time to penetrate the surrounding areas where it was injected. After injecting the brisket let it rest for at least 4 hours. I like to inject my brisket the night before I smoke and wrap it in a large bag with the fat cap on top so the flat is sitting in the remaining injection. This gives the injection plenty of time to evenly disperse throughout the meat.

The Rub

Brisket needs a good rub. You can buy a rub, but I prefer to make my own rub. Here is a basic one that has worked for me:

1 cup course ground black pepper
1/2 cup kosher salt
1 Tbsp garlic powder
1 Tbsp onion powder
3 Tbsp paprika

Mix the ingredients in a bowl and then pour them into a shaker to evenly distribute on the Brisket.

Before I put my rub on to my brisket I do a couple things. Save all the leftover injection in a metal or glass bowl, this will be used later. I use my hands to try and wipe off any injection that I can into the bowl I'm keeping the leftover injection in. Once that is done, coat the brisket in mustard. You might be thinking this is a terrible idea. If you have never done this before, trust me and give it a try. I cannot stand the flavor of mustard, but when used with a good rub it can form a fantastic bark on your brisket like you see in the main photo. Do it at least once so you can see what I am talking about.

Now that our brisket is ready, it is time to rub it down with the dry rub we made earlier. I like to start with the fat cap down. Give the flat a nice even coating of the rub. It should stick nicely to the mustard. Flip the brisket over and do the same thing to the fat cap. Once this is done, I like to flip it back over and go over the flat one last time to re-coat the parts that lost their rub while I was coating the fat cap. I leave the brisket fat cap down from this point on until it goes on the smoker. I don't touch to prevent scraping off any rub I've worked to get on to my flat. Once the brisket goes on to the smoker I put the fat cap on top and I re-coat the top with rub prior to closing the lid. This technique works for me to make sure I have a good rub all around my brisket which develops a great bark in the end.

Fuel

What you use to fuel your fire is an important decision when it comes to the flavor, and interestingly enough the look of your brisket. There are three basic ways to fuel your smoker: Wood, lump charcoal, charcoal briquettes. Beyond those there are several different types of wood which will give your meats different flavors. I have had a lot of success with Royal Oak lump charcoal mixed with my choice of wood. I most frequently use pecan wood, but I sometimes use mesquite for brisket or apple/cherry for pork or chicken. If you visit or live in Texas, you will most likely see the pit masters using post oak in their smokers.

Find a place that only sells wood. Here in AZ Paul Bunyan's Firewood and Berry Bros. are two good places to check out. Look for places similar to these where you live. If you can't find something like this in your area, you can usually buy wood from Walmart or Home Depot. Of course, you might live in an area where you can cut your own.

It is possible to over smoke your meat. Take special care to use the right blend of charcoal/wood for your smoker. backyard smokers are not made to strictly use wood. There are ways to pull this off with an offset smoker, but it's not something I am willing to cover in this post and it burns through a lot more wood than you might like. If you have a backyard smoker, use a mixture of wood and charcoal. Too much wood and you will have a heavy thick gray smoke. You want your smoker to eventually turn out a clean clear smoke. This is something you will have to learn as you practice.

I mentioned earlier that the type of fuel can affect the look of your meat. This is only slightly true. In a super efficient smoker like a Big Green Egg (or any ceramic smoker) you can have smoked meat that does not develop a smoke ring. Do not get too hung up on this, but it has to do with how efficient your smoker is. Using lump charcoal in an efficient smoker can actually prevent a smoke ring. If this is you, try mixing in some briquettes, or soak your wood prior to putting it in the charcoal basket. I've heard some people claim that cherry gives a more distinct color to the smoke ring, but I do not believe this to be true. I don't have any evidence to support this theory, so if you're feeling up to it give it a try and see what your results are. This really has nothing to do with the flavor, so I will leave it at that. If you can get a good flavor, who cares if it has a smoke ring?

Cold Or Room Temperature

I have heard both ways for smoking brisket. I have also tried both ways several times. Personally, I prefer putting my brisket out on the smoker while it is cold. I do not let it warm up. The thought process behind this is that your meat has a short window of opportunity to do two things:

develop a smoke ring
absorb smoke flavor into the meat

Once the meat hits a temperature of about 140 (on the outside) it will not develop more of a smoke ring. Putting meat on cold can help it develop a thick smoke ring.

From what I understand, the proteins in meat will be set and they will not absorb more smoke flavor into the meat once it hits an internal temperature of 160 degrees. If you let your meat warm up to room temperature, you are shortening that window of opportunity. Perhaps you want a lighter smoke flavor to your meat. That could be a very valid reason for letting it warm up first. I like a good smokey brisket, so I put mine on cold.

To Wrap Or Not To Wrap

There are usually two types of people when it comes to BBQ: those that prefer to wrap and those that do not. I believe there is merit to both ways; however, when I am smoking brisket there is only one real way to do it properly. I do not wrap my brisket.

Wrap

Large piece of meat will eventually hit what is referred to as the stall. This process usually happens between 150 degrees Fahrenheit to 170 degrees Fahrenheit. I tend to see the stall right at about 160 when I am smoking brisket. So what is "the stall"? As you meat heats up it eventually gets to a temperature where the liquid/juices on the exterior of the meat are hot enough to change phase from liquid to gas. As the liquids evaporate this cools the meat not unlike an evaporative cooler. As the outer liquid evaporates it will create a suction which pulls juices from the insides of the meat towards the outsides of the meat. This evaporative cooling process causes the meat to sit at a steady temperature for quite a long time. You might panic and think that your meat is never going to finish. If you've planned for the stall in your timing, then you will already have anticipated this process.

Wrapping a brisket in heavy duty tin foil between 150 and 170 degrees internal temperature (whenever you notice the stall) will help prevent the evaporative cooling and it will push the meat quickly through the stall. This is unfortunately not without side effects. Wrapping a brisket could potentially wash away any bark you have worked so hard on forming. Additionally, it will soften the bark which may or may not be what you're looking for. I personally like a good firm bark on my brisket. With this process I can smoke an average sized brisket in about 8 to 9 hours.

No Wrap

If you plan for the stall in your timings, then you can get away with out wrapping your meat. This too has its side effects. You could over smoke your meat if you are not using the right mixtures of wood, charcoal and air. You could also dry out your meat. Fortunately for me, I've found that injecting my brisket helps so that I do not have to wrap it. This way I get a nice firm bark and I still have juicy meat. I usually plan for about 1 hour per pound. That's pre trimmed weight. If I buy a 13.5 pound brisket, I expect it to be on the smoker for about 13 and 1/2 hours. If I don't trim the brisket, it will probably take a bit longer.

Temperatures

Temperatures are a very important factor when cooking, and smoking a brisket is no exception! You might see people talk about smoking a brisket hot and fast. Leave that up to people that know what they are doing until you have mastered the art of slow and low. I like to keep my smoker between 230 and 250 degrees Fahrenheit. This temperature gives the fats plenty of time to render out and it helps develop the type of bark I am looking for on a brisket.

I like to measure the temperature of my brisket with a leave in meat thermometer, the Maverick ET-732. I place the meat probe into the flat towards the back side of the brisket where the point is. I think this gives me a good measurement of my meat temperature. A well done steak will reach an internal temperature of about 170 degrees. You might think that a brisket should be treated the same as a steak when it comes to temperatures, but you couldn't be farther from the truth. The binding tissues in a brisket will not soften and render down until well beyond the "doneness" period. These same tissues are what help to keep moisture in the meat as it cooks past that 170 degree point. I like to check my brisket at about 195 degrees Fahrenheit. The temperature at this point is only a guide. Use it to give you an indication of when to start probe testing your brisket. A brisket is done when a probe can enter the flat like a hot knife through butter. If you feel a lot of resistance then it is probably not done. Every brisket will behave slightly different, so it is best to probe test for when it is done rather than going strictly off of temperature readings. I use an instant read thermometer once my ET-732 hits 195. My instant read will give me a much more accurate read on the temperature, and I can also feel how tender the brisket is as I poke it with the instant read.

The Rest

Brisket is a very large cut of meat. If you remember back to the section about wrapping or not wrapping the meat, you will remember that some of the juices were being sucked out of the meat. It is very important to let those juices re-distribute. When the brisket is done, wrap it in heavy duty foil. Once wrapped in point I like to wrap it in a couple of towels and let it rest for at least an hour. If I have to rest it longer than 2 hours I will put it in a cooler towels and all. Coolers are wonderful insulators and I've been able to keep a brisket hot for over 6 hours wrapped up like this in a simple Coleman cooler.

Congratulations, you've got a wonderful brisket to eat now. I hope this post has been informative and useful to anyone looking for tips on how to smoke a brisket. Please feel free to leave comments below. I would love to hear what others have to say.

UPDATE:
Here are my results for today. How did your brisket turn out?

Kosmos Pork Injection Review

2013-01-30T21:13:00.000-07:00

I want to take a bit of time to write a review of the Kosmos injection which I just tried. There are several different types of injections. I've heard of Smoke on Wheels, Butcher, Fab and Kosmos. Some people also make their own. I stopped by +BBQ ISLAND the other day and this is the one they recommended for pork, so I decided to give it a shot.

The Setup
Two pork butts
My new injector
Kosmos injection
Apple Juice
Sprite (flat stuff that no one was going to drink)
Honey
Salt
Cherry wood
Royal Oak lump charcoal
Ugly Drum Smoker

The Process
Monday I made myself a new injector and bought some Kosmos pork injection mix. Yesterday I mixed it up, then I injected a pork butt and let it rest overnight. Today I put two pork butts on the smoker. They have the exact same rub and they went on the exact same smoker. The only difference between the two was the injection.

I wrapped them both when they hit about 160 degrees. Here are a couple shots of what they looked like at that time.

So far so good. The bottom pork finished sooner than the top rack. I pulled it to let it rest and moved the other pork from the top rack down to the bottom to finish it off.

Once the last pork was done I pulled it and let it rest before it was time to taste the meat.

Here are a couple of pictures of the two beauties ready to be eaten.

It was time to do the taste test. I included my wife and +Richard Harris (the other Smokin' guy) to see if they could tell a difference without knowing which one was which. Rich could taste a difference, but could not tell which one had the injection. My wife right off the bat pointed to the one with the injection and said that it was more moist than the other.

Conclusion
The end result was that Kosmos did not add a bold distinguishable change to the flavor of the pork. It tasted different, but where it really shined was in the moisture retention. This is something that I believe is exponentially important the more you start piling on additional flavors. Our pork today was very bland; however, when I pulled out a bbq sauce/glaze and tried the two meats with the sauce/glaze it made a huge difference. Eating the Kosmos injected pork with the sauce/glaze was like a bite of heaven. The other pork was good flavor, but comparatively it felt like the other pork was trying to mask being dry by being dipped in the sauce/glaze. This is a product that I highly recommend. Give it a try, you will not be disappointing when you do.

To Scrape Or Not To Scrape

2013-01-15T08:27:00.000-07:00

When preparing chicken for a competition a common practice to get the bite through skin is to scrape the fat from under the skin. The process works to achieve the desired end result of a clean bite, but at what cost. We all know that fat is flavor, but does that adversely affect a chicken thigh that is already dark meat?

I would like to know what others think of this process. I have my own opinions, but what about you? If you had a taste test where bite through skin was accomplished through proper temperatures and timing next to one that was scraped, would you be able to tell the difference in flavor. Texture might be slightly different, but what about the flavor?

So here's the other question: if bite through skin can be accomplished through proper temperatures and cooking times then is it worth the effort to scrape the fat from the skin? Like I said, I have my own opinions on this but I would like to hear what others think of this. Feel free to comment below and I look forward to the discussion.

Two Smokin Guys in Havasu

2012-11-29T08:08:00.000-07:00

Two Smokin Guys made their debut in competition BBQ when they competed in their first competition at the KCBS sponsored Music Brews and BBQ competition. I'm pleased to announce that we're headed back to compete in the January 2013 competition. This event is one of the big ones. Come out and support us, or just come out and have a good time.

The Start Of A Smoker

2012-02-28T18:42:00.002-07:00

I just got home today from buying a 55 gallon drum. It's time to build my first UDS and I'm going to walk you through everything I do. I was lucky enough to find a food grade drum that did not have the liner in it. Unfortunately it had a lot of rust on the inside that needed to be cleaned out first. After a lot of sand paper and several hand cramps I got most of it out. My hands were angry with me so I decided to take a break. I had a lot of tumble weeds that I needed to do something about so I decided to throw them in the drum and I fired it up. I had a bunch of smaller mesquite branches that I wasn't planning on using to smoke with so I burnt those too. As you can see the paint came off from the bottom. I was actually hoping for this because I don't plan on leaving it black.

Tomorrow I will clean out all the ash and pick up where I left off sanding down the inside. If I have time and my hands don't kill me then I will also sand down the outside to get it ready for the paint I intend to use on it. Another thing I need to fix is a small dent on the side. That might take a bit of muscle, but I'm sure I can work it out. I'll post my progress with more pictures of what things look like at each stage.

Homemade Smoked Paprika

2012-02-17T14:37:00.000-07:00

Paprika
Paprika usually comes from bell peppers. The flavor of most paprika I've found in stores is slim to none, so I decided to try and make my own. This of course meant that it was going to be smoked paprika. After a quick trip to the store I had three red bell peppers ready to be made into a nice smoky paprika to use in BBQ rubs, etc. I rinsed the peppers and then sliced them up getting them ready to throw out on the smoker.

The Smoke
After the slices were ready I placed them on my smoker with some heavy duty aluminum foil underneath. The wood I used was pecan which is one of my all time favorite woods to smoke with. Almost everyone will have their own opinions on which wood is the best for a specific food. Try experimenting with different woods to find the flavor that you like the best. As far as the cost is concerned I would not recommend making your own paprika if you don't plan on doing some additional smoking. In my opinion there's just no reason to waist firing up the smoker on just this. You might as well throw a brisket on or a pork butt or chicken and make use of the wood and coal you're already burning. I smoked the peppers for a few hours before I decided to take them off the smoker. You could of course finish them off on the smoker.

Dehydration
I decided to take them in and finish drying them out with our dehydrator. This was only my first time making paprika, so I can't say if the flavor would have been different if I had chosen to smoke the peppers on the smoker till they were dry enough to blend into a powder. They certainly had a very strong smoky smell and it took us a couple days to get the smell out of the house. If that bothers anyone you might consider finishing them on the smoker.

Conclusion
The end result was a single snack size bag of smoked paprika. I can honestly say that it had a significant amount of flavor. Was it the flavor I was expecting...not really. It was good, but I think next time I might try throwing in an anaheim chili to mix things up. I highly recommend this if you're the type of person that likes to make/grow your own ingredients. I plan on experimenting more to get a flavor that works with a good brisket rub.

Jack Daniels Charcoal

2012-02-17T13:21:00.000-07:00

Jack Daniels holds a special place in my heart when it comes to BBQ. It’s no surprise that I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to try out their charcoal when I saw it at the store the other day. I didn’t go home right away and smoke anything so I felt like a little kid around Christmas time trying to figure out what’s in the bag.

Chunk size
The thrill of not knowing what was in the bag ended as I opened it up. The contents of the bag was a mixture of briquette charcoal and cut up chunks of Jack Daniels barrels. The barrel wood was not actually charcoal, so be careful if you plan on using this. You don’t want that thick gray smoke and this will definitely produce it if the airflow is choked off. The size of the barrel wood chunks was 2 to 3 inches squared and about 1/2 to 3/4 of an inch thick.

Smell
I was expecting a strong Jack Daniels smell from the contents, and they didn’t let me down. The wood put off that unique smell which had my stomach growling the entire time the ribs were smoking. To me it’s a sweet smell. If you’re interested, stick your nose to the side of one and give it a good whiff. If my ribs turned out tasting anything like the way the bag smells then I’d be a happy man.

Price
The price for the 6.8 pound bag at the grocery store was about $8. If smoking is all about the slow and low then you can certainly bet that my fire box will never be loaded up entirely with this charcoal. I’ve found that mixing this with another cheaper charcoal is easier on the wallet.

Conclusion
In the end it was all about the taste for me. I have to say that I was not let down. That sweet aroma given off was absorbed and it was a wonderful complement to the sweet rub. Don’t hesitate to give this charcoal a try. However, you will probably want to use it sparingly and mix it with another favorite charcoal to help keep the overall cost down.

Maverick Redi Chek Smoker Thermometer

2012-02-17T13:19:00.000-07:00

If you’re into bbq and smoking then chances are you’ve heard of or already have one of these thermometers. If not, read on to find out if this is a Smokin’ product.

Contents
1 – Remote Transmitter
1 – Receiver
1 – Meat thermometer probe
1 – Smoker probe
1 – Grill clip for smoker prong
4 – AAA Batteries

The Probes
The probes used for the Redi Chek have metal mesh around the wire to protect against high heat. They’re rated up to 400 degrees. Hopefully your meat never gets to a temperature that high (if it does, please don’t invite us over for dinner). On the inside of a smoker where the temperature can sometimes spike, this could be a limiting factor for the smoker probe.

This model comes with two probes. One is designed as a meat probe with a pointed tip for easy insertion into the meat. The other probe is not a long and does not have a pointed tip. It comes with a mounting clip that fits into most smoker grates. The clip has a hole designed for the smoker probe to slide into.

We like having two probes, and especially having one designed as a temperature gauge for our smoker. Unfortunately the probe wires are a bit thin which leads us to believe they are not as durable as you might hope.

The Transmitter
This is an area the requires some discussion. The wireless Transmitter is the devices the probes plug into. Maverick designed the transmitter to be somewhat water resistant. The issue’s we have with their water resistant design is their choice to place the On/Off switch under the battery cover. It’s good to take rain into consideration but placing the On/Off switch under the battery cover can be somewhat annoying. The good news is that turning the device on and off is not something that needs to be done frequently during the cooking process.

Another thing to consider is the range of the wireless transmitter. If you do not have line of sight (nothing obstructing your view like a wall) then don’t expect to get far away without losing signal. There are modifications available to increase the range of the transmitter, but not everyone is going to feel comfortable cracking open the transmitter and soldering to the circuit board.

The Receiver
There are a few nice features that we would like to talk about with the receiver. First, it has a back light. To some this might sound trivial but when your doing an all night smoke out or an early morning smoke, the back light comes in handy.

Have you ever fallen asleep while smoking something only to wake up with a low temp on your smoker? The receiver gives you the option of setting a upper and lower range alarms. This feature lets you rest at ease, knowing that an alarm will wake you if the temperatures get out of hand.

Our only real complaint about the receiver has to do with setting the ranges on the alarms. You can only increase the range value. If you want to set the upper range to something like 270 and you accidentally pass 270 you’ll have to wait for it to loop back around. To avoid this I hold down the button till it gets within 10 degrees of where I want it to be and then I let go and increase the degree one degree at a time till I get it to where I want it.

Conclusion
Overall this is a good unit. We can’t say it’s the best we’ve seen, but it definitely does the job. If you’re looking for an inexpensive wireless thermometer for your smoker, this one is better than any you will find at Walmart. If you don’t mind making a couple modifications to the unit, the minor annoyances of this unit can be overcome. This would be what we consider a solid mid range wireless thermometer for a smoker.

Root Beer BBQ Sauce

2012-02-17T13:17:00.000-07:00

Bad News
To start off I have to report that unfortunately we could not find Hanks Root Beer anywhere in Phoenix. We used to get it at BevMo or AJ’s Fine Foods. The only thing we found was diet Hanks. In my opinion that’s just not root beer. The good news is that we had other options. We decided to use another one of my favorites: Berghoff Root Beer. Berghoff is another rich flavored brew.

The Setup
1 – 12 fl oz Berghoff Root Beer
Magical ingredients to sauté
Magical base ingredients
Making our sauce is done in two stages. We sauté some of the ingredients and at the same time we mix up the base. After the sauté is done we add the base to the sauté.

Preparation
Using Berghoff in place of Jack Daniels has at least one major benefit: It doesn’t make the entire house smell. The amount of root beer we added was double the normal amount of what we usually add for Jack Daniels. As we sautéed our magical ingredients in Berghoff Root Beer we got the base for our BBQ sauce mixed up and ready to go. Once the sauté was done we poured the base into the sauté and finished the cooking process.

The Taste
Our first impressions about the sauce were positive. Could you taste the root beer? Not really. For our first taste we were under the impression that it tasted exactly like our Jack Daniels BBQ sauce. We decided that it would be a good idea to try the two sauces side by side to see how they compared to each other. When we tried the Jack Daniels sauce we quickly realized that there was a significant difference.

Conclusion
Jack Daniels BBQ sauce has a flavor all to its own; however, our root beer BBQ sauce still turned out to exceed our original expectations. If you are considering using root beer in your own recipe for BBQ sauce we encourage you to give it a try. Don’t expect to be able to taste the root beer, but we think you will be pleasantly surprised at the results.

Paul Bunyan's Fire Wood

2012-01-20T07:27:00.000-07:00

Are you interested in smoking, but you just don't know where to get good wood at a price that doesn't break the bank? Paul Bunyan's Fire Wood is the place you're looking for. It's sad that wood to smoke with can sometimes be hard to find, but for those that live in Phoenix Arizona you're in luck. Sure you could spend $20 for a 5 lb bag of wood, but what about $20 for 1.2 cu. feet of wood! Now that's a good price. Paul Bunyan's Fire Wood is located in Guadalupe AZ just outside Tempe Arizona.

As you can easily see, these are not those small bags of wood you pay for at your local grocery store, or at some specialty BBQ store where they charge ridiculous prices. Admittedly a few of the woods are more expensive, but you're still going to be hard pressed to find wood this cheap anywhere else.

So, if the wood is cheap, how fresh is it? What kind of smell does the wood have, any? Does it give the meat a good flavor?

Smoking isn't just about what wood you use, obviously, but the wood plays a very important part into the flavor you give the meat when it is smoked. For instance, if you have a spicy peppery rub and you decide to smoke some meat with cherry you might end up with a funny flavor. However, if you smoked it with pecan or oak it might mix better with the pepper based rub. Now if you did a brown sugar sweet rub on some ribs and smoked them with cherry wood that is a good combination. So as you can see picking the right wood matters. You need to pick a wood that will match the flavor profile you're trying to accomplish.

Here are a couple pictures of the chunk sizes you'll find in a bag of Paul Bunyan's Fire Wood. They are larger chunks, but not quite logs. I've found that they work perfectly in my mid sized backyard smoker.

I'd like to point out that when I opened the bag of cherry wood the smell was strong. The wood not only looks great it smells wonderful. This isn't wood that's been sitting in your backyard for 5+ years getting weathered. No, this is good fresh wood and if you can't tell by the look, the smell alone should convince you that this is good quality wood.

I've used several types of wood from Paul Bunyan's Fire Wood and the flavor that it gives to the meat is nothing short of amazing. You will be hard pressed to find a better wood for smoking. However, that doesn't come without a caveat. These are larger chunks of wood. Backyard BBQ smokers need to be careful with how much wood is used and the type of smoke it produces. You want a clean clear smoke coming out of your smoker. Every smoker is going to be a little different, so you'll just have to figure that one out on your own. Keep it clean and the meat will have a nice smokey flavor from the wood you picked and hopefully it plays nicely with whatever rub you've chosen to go with for a well rounded flavor profile.

If you live in Phoenix and you smoke meats, Paul Bunyan's Fire Wood is the place to get your wood! They have great quality wood at a price that's hard to compete with. If you smoke often enough or have friends that smoke you can take a truck there and fill up the bed of the truck to get an even better price. Go get some wood and enjoy the smoke!

BBQ Competition

2012-01-16T00:29:00.001-07:00

There is a competition in Mesa this weekend at the superstition springs mall parking lot. We'll be judging at the competition. If you've never been to a BBQ competition I highly recommend going. The event starts Friday night with a concert and a few other activities. The actual competition will be on Saturday.

You get two tickets with your admission into the event which you can use to sample meat from any of the BBQ teams participating in the peoples choice competition. Of course you can always purchase more tickets. If I were you I would definitely plan on it because competition BBQ makes what you eat at a restaurant taste like cardboard.

Hopefully I'll see y'all out there and we can all enjoy some good Q.

Rudy's is coming to AZ!

2012-01-14T19:02:00.000-07:00

If you've ever had the pleasure of eating at Rudy's BBQ you'll understand why I'm so excited. Rudy's BBQ is coming to Chandler Arizona! Rudy's is a no frills place to get BBQ and they're a gas station too.

If you don't like Texas style BBQ then this place might not be for you. Rudy's has a heavier black pepper flavor than most places outside of Texas. Some people might say they are too heavy on the pepper, but that's a traditional Texas style rub if you ask me.

Their sauce is less sweet and has more vinegar to it than what you might find at a place like Joe's BBQ in Gilbert. The turkey is always one of my favorites. The pork is average if you ask me. However, the brisket is going to be a good contender for the best you can get in the phoenix area from a restaurant.

When you get to the counter to order you pick the meat(s) you want and how much you want of each meat. The food is served to you in a coke bottle tray with wax paper on the bottom. If you want, they'll give you sliced bread to go with the meat. Sauce bottles can be found scattered around the tables.

Hopefully we'll know sooner rather than later what day they open!

Contributions

2012-01-14T10:40:00.000-07:00

We'll be contributing good recipes as we find them to this area, but if you've come across one that you enjoy feel free to send it to us via e-mail and we'll give it a try. If it's a good one you can count on finding it posted here for everyone to see.

More News

2012-01-13T16:26:00.001-07:00

At some point I will have the hang of Blogger. I was using WordPress which is leaps and bounds ahead of what you can do with Blogger, but Blogger is free.
At least now I've figured out how to set things up with tabs that filter out categories/labels. I think this is going to do the job. At some point I'll update the theme to look a little more like what the original web site looked like.

Bringing it back online

2012-01-13T14:46:00.000-07:00

Smokin' Reviews took some time off to switch to a dedicated server. I'll be working on migrating the old posts over if I can ever find out where they were backed up to. If not then we'll just start fresh.