First let me tell you that the little old man dressed in red didn't bring me the new digital camera that I wanted for Christmas so there are no pics for the posts.
So between Christmas Eve and New Years Day we had a twice smoked ham, a turkey, and a whole bunch of ribs. In preparation for Christmas, we made several dishes. One of which was a fruit salad made from canned fruit cocktail, oranges, bananas, maraschino cherries, and miniature marshmallows. We saved the syrup from the fruit cocktail and the cherries for later use. '
The ham was the Christmas eve dinner. it was poked full of whole cloves and smoked for about 5 hours at about 230 and basted every 30-45 minutes with the syrup from the fruit salad. It is hard to put into words just how good it tasted. The syrup left a nice glaze on the ham and the clove and smoke flavor was fantastic.
On to Christmas day. we did a 15 pound un-stuffed turkey in the smoker. Lucky for us we were smoking it in the gas Masterbuilt rather than roasting it in the oven because we lost power for about 2 hours during the cooking. The turkey was soaked in a brine for almost 24 hours prior to smoking and was smoked with some mesquite chips. It turned out tender and juicy. This was the first whole turkey we had tried in the smoker since we got it. Again, it is so hard to describe just how great it tasted. When it was all said and done, there was enough turkey left for about three of four sandwiches left. The rest was history.
Finally, on New Years day, we did six slabs of pork ribs. I did a rub of garlic powder, paprika, powdered honey, brown sugar, and just a little Italian seasoning. I had to cut the slabs in half to fit in the masterbuilt gas smoker. I was able to get three of the halves on each of the four racks by slightly overlapping the slabs. I rotated the racks about every 45 minutes for the first three hours. After three hours I pulled the ribs and wrapped them in foil after sprinkling them liberally with some vinegar. They cooked for another two hours in the foil. After that, I removed them and placed them back on the racks and slathered them up good with some Kansas City style BBQ sauce. The bones would slide out of the meat and it was so tender that the mother-in-law could chew the meat without her teeth in. Out of the six slabs, there was less about 1/2 of one slab left. The wife finished that today when now one was looking.
So between Christmas Eve and New Years Day we had a twice smoked ham, a turkey, and a whole bunch of ribs. In preparation for Christmas, we made several dishes. One of which was a fruit salad made from canned fruit cocktail, oranges, bananas, maraschino cherries, and miniature marshmallows. We saved the syrup from the fruit cocktail and the cherries for later use. '
The ham was the Christmas eve dinner. it was poked full of whole cloves and smoked for about 5 hours at about 230 and basted every 30-45 minutes with the syrup from the fruit salad. It is hard to put into words just how good it tasted. The syrup left a nice glaze on the ham and the clove and smoke flavor was fantastic.
On to Christmas day. we did a 15 pound un-stuffed turkey in the smoker. Lucky for us we were smoking it in the gas Masterbuilt rather than roasting it in the oven because we lost power for about 2 hours during the cooking. The turkey was soaked in a brine for almost 24 hours prior to smoking and was smoked with some mesquite chips. It turned out tender and juicy. This was the first whole turkey we had tried in the smoker since we got it. Again, it is so hard to describe just how great it tasted. When it was all said and done, there was enough turkey left for about three of four sandwiches left. The rest was history.
Finally, on New Years day, we did six slabs of pork ribs. I did a rub of garlic powder, paprika, powdered honey, brown sugar, and just a little Italian seasoning. I had to cut the slabs in half to fit in the masterbuilt gas smoker. I was able to get three of the halves on each of the four racks by slightly overlapping the slabs. I rotated the racks about every 45 minutes for the first three hours. After three hours I pulled the ribs and wrapped them in foil after sprinkling them liberally with some vinegar. They cooked for another two hours in the foil. After that, I removed them and placed them back on the racks and slathered them up good with some Kansas City style BBQ sauce. The bones would slide out of the meat and it was so tender that the mother-in-law could chew the meat without her teeth in. Out of the six slabs, there was less about 1/2 of one slab left. The wife finished that today when now one was looking.
