First Ever Smoke!

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lupus

Newbie
Original poster
Dec 24, 2010
16
14
Queensland, Australia
Purchased a MES 30 over the christmas /new year period.

Somehow, with floods, family crises, work crises, never got round to using it until now. With the Easter long weekend, finally got round to seasoning the smoker and throwing something in it.

Having recieved the easter newsletter from Jeff, thought I would follow his smoked lamb shanks recipe.

Up till now, I have never smoked before and really did not know what to expect, so bear with me :)

Also, I'm not the most patient cook and tend to be really chaotic with my measurements. Hence, while the rub is essentially Jeff's rub, the measurements may be a little off due to some ad libbing with missing ingredients (also not the most patient of shoppers). Had the option of waiting till I had all the ingredients, or just jumping in the deep end. Chose to jump right on in, otherwise it would be another four months before I get another chance.

And then, during the smoking process, had to fight really hard to not continually open the smoker to just check on the meat.

Net result is the shanks as shown in the photo below.

Personal comments:

- only had them smoking for about 3.5 hours at about 110 Celcius. Should have probably gone for another hour or so. the meat was tender, but not quite melt off the bone tender, specially about the joints.

- may have been a little exuberant with the rub as shown by the bark. However, the taste is amazing. I suspect with my less than careful blending, I may have been a little heavy handed with the pepper, my daughter found it a little hot. Wife loved the taste and the texture of the meat though.

Loved the experience and now that I have actually broken the ice, I hope to be doing more soon :) Wife has already suggested I do the cooking for our daughter's christening, although, not sure how that can be done, given the event is a morning affair and everyone will be over for lunch.

Any suggestions as to what to smoke? Taking it easy for a newcomer.

dafe742c_IMG_3740.jpg
 
Pre cook some pulled pork or beef and then just re-heat it.  You will be the hit of the party with that Q
 
Looking Good from the other side of the Globe!

 I don't know enough about the aussie land to know what meat(s) are readily available to you.

but if pork is available Pork butts are the bomb.
 
Hey neighbor,

Congrats on your first smoke, those shanks look real good.

As for suggestions for the christening, how about chicken, that's a short smoke or maybe some more lamb, have your butcher bone out a leg and make kabobs, prime rib is excellent but pricey, then there are fatties, moink balls, ABT's, you can find tons of info on these if you do a search.

I'm sure now that you've got the bug you won't think anything about getting up at 4-5AM to start a smoke, welcome to the addiction and have fun.

Gene
 
Thanks one and all for the kind words. I most definitely have the smoking bug and am already planning for the next project. May spend a little more time with ammounts to get things right :)
 
Pre cook some pulled pork or beef and then just re-heat it.  You will be the hit of the party with that Q
     Quote:
Looking Good from the other side of the Globe!

 I don't know enough about the aussie land to know what meat(s) are readily available to you.

but if pork is available Pork butts are the bomb.
Pork is most definitely available down under. In fact, it is my 3 year old daughter's favorite food. Just this morning, we gave her something to try foodwise and her first reaction is "NO". However, my wife said, "It's pork" and she relented and tried some.
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Only just worked out what is the local term for pork butt down under. We obviously have different names for the cuts of meat, and there has never been any butt listed. However, from what I can gather, your pork butt is is equivalent to our pork shoulder roast, so will give that a try.
 
Hey neighbor,

Congrats on your first smoke, those shanks look real good.

As for suggestions for the christening, how about chicken, that's a short smoke or maybe some more lamb, have your butcher bone out a leg and make kabobs, prime rib is excellent but pricey, then there are fatties, moink balls, ABT's, you can find tons of info on these if you do a search.

I'm sure now that you've got the bug you won't think anything about getting up at 4-5AM to start a smoke, welcome to the addiction and have fun.

Gene
With regards to getting up early, my little ones don't seem to sleep in. 5am is only about half and hour after they wake up, so an early rise isn't totally out of the question. I want to try some pulled pork. Loved the dish when I was served it in a barbeque restaurant in New Orleans and hope to be able to recreate the same taste sensation down under.

As to other options, I would love to try a fattie. They look drool worthy!!  
drool.gif
  However, the wife feels that something with that much bacon just can't be healthy for you. (My daughter and her disagree with that last statement.....the little one looks for bacon on the plate whenever we have breakfast out)

ABTs look good and will have to look into that. Only just discovered what they were browsing this forum.

What are moink balls?

Eventually want to work towards smoking my own bacon as that looks interesting. But the one thing I want to do is work on sausages. When I was growing up, my folks used to make their own sausages, but lacked the capacity to fully hang them. So, now with the MES, I am hoping to be able to smoke or just dry them with some control.

Lots of ideas and so little time!! :)
 
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