My first ever smoke what to try?


 
T

Tom Stratton

TVWBB Member
I'll be getting my new WSM on 7-12 (thanks for the great service Amazon). I have never smoked anything in my life. Any tips on what I should try first? Since moving from KC to MN, good Q has been hard to find.
 
Tom,
Most guys who ask this question here seem to get the same answer. Try a butt (pork shoulder blade roast). They are very forgiving. Look in the cooking tab for further advise on how to do your butt. Good luck with your first cook.
 
I agree, Pork butt is the most forgiving and will turn out good most any way cooked.

Have fun and welcome to the board.

Randy
 
Going to do a Butt.....wonder if my local Costco has them. Is there a particular wood that woorks well with the Kingsford that I'll probably use
 
Costco should have them. We have Sams club here in TN but they have them I know. Usually a twin pack.

The smoke flavor is really up to you and what you like. I prefer White Oak and Cherry combined whihc is sometimes hard to find. Hickory is really good too, apple or maple are good choices also. All smoke wood will work good with kingsford or lump either. I use 3 or 4 fist size chunks.

Randy
 
Wood brings up a question. I've done a fair amount of woodworking in the past and have red & white oak "board scraps" that are well dried ....I also have the same in cherry, maple, and walnut. Could these be cut up and used? Not so sure about the walnut and maple, but what about the rest? It would be a good way for me to clear out some scrap wood.
 
I'd have to agree with the others and say that pork butt is a pretty good choice. If you think you might want to do chicken, try this recipe from the site, very easy but still outstanding. As far as the wood, I try to use chunks with a fair amount of thickness, about baseball size so they will burn for a longer time.
 
Tom, Yes that will work fine at long as it is raw wood. Red oak has a bitter taste to me, haven't ever tried walnut. There is also a link here on the board that describes all flavors of wood and what taste to expect. I have a local lumber yard that gives me all the scraps of red oak, hickory and cherry that he can. They are still pretty green but after seasoning about 6 months they work perfect, I just take a table saw and cut into peices. Just make sure no oil or any residue gets on the wood.

Randy
 
Tom,
I have never used scrap dimensional lumber in my smokers, but as long as there is no finish of any kind on them, you should be OK. They have probably been kiln dried, so they may burn up faster than "natural" chunks, and may have less flavor. (Cowboy lump charcoal is all lumber scrap).
I prefer my pork done with straight hickory chunks in natural lump charcoal: Royal Oak or Grove.
 
I like the looks of the boneless chicken idea. We eat alot of boneless chicken already.... I'll end up trying these as well.

I remember seeing Royal Oak brand at a Walmart recently....I think it was regular briquets... when it is lump, does the bag say "lump" ?
 
I have never looked for lump charcoal here in the Minneapolis area. I read that alot of people use it. I'm going to look around .... you would think it is available somewhere
 
Tom, welcome to the board.

I did 2 butts over a brisket flat last weekend. The brisket took about 11 1/2 hours and the butts took about 18. I used a full rack of unlit new K and placed 12 lit on top. I started cooking right away without waiting for the cooker to get to temperature. The fire lasted the whole 18 hours with no need to add coals. The butts were small, too. One was 4+ and one was 6+ pounds. Note that it doesn't matter much how big the butt is---any size can take a long time!
 
Two butts over a brisket...........I think that nails it down. I had pretty much decided on doing two butts......makes sense to go ahead and put something on the bottom. A swing by Costco is in order. Now all I need to do is figure out when I need to start it for a Saturday late afternoon meal
 
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