Smoking from West Australia

[Notap]

Hey all,

So I'm 29, I have a 1yr old and another in the oven... Started smoking about 2 months back with a Pro-Q smoker "which I over paid for"

I manage an IT department at a bank and run a small consulting business on the side soooo time is a commodity to me, one which I would like to spend on honing my smoking skills.

First attempt ended up being an over smoked beef hunk that tasted like it was wrapped in salami. Second attempt was beef ribs, they turned out juicy as hell pretty tasty a little under smoked and could have used more flavour. 3rd was a garlic butter injected chicken which I made the mistake of sitting it on foil so had to spend a little time in the over and now baby back ribs..... got the flavour profile down pact but they are coming up tough.

so with all the attempt and mistakes I'm here, to learn from those will bellies that shows :)

 

[SmokinAl]

Welcome to SMF!
Glad to have you join the group!
Al

 

[motocrash]

Hi Notap and welcome!Keep practicing and don't be afraid to ask questions no matter how trivial.What model/size Pro-Q do you have?

Bill

 

[gary s]

Good morning and welcome to the forum from a warmish November day here in East Texas, and the best site on the web. Lots of great people with tons of information on just about everything.

Gary

 

[motocrash]

Gary

Good morning and welcome to the forum from a warmish November day here in East Texas, and the best site on the web. Lots of great people with tons of information on just about everything.

Gary
I clicked on here because I saw you replied and wondered what the weather was like in Whitehouse... It is 32*F here in Winchester. :)

 

[paulr44]

If you're over or under-cooking, you need a chef's primary tool, a QUALITY digital meat thermometer (seen in my profile pic). It's that simple. Listen, if you're a typical geek LIKE ME (Citrix, MS, Novell, A+ etc. certified back in the day) you over-analyze. Waiting is the hard part. Waiting sucks. But that's what this is about! When you wait until the thermo reads the proper temp, it's done. THAT SIMPLE. However, bear in mind FRESH pork is done at a lower temp (145 or so) than pre-cured, and chicken is better off at 170 to 175 than 165 (F) in MY experience. When I make chicken breasts for sandwiches, I want it firmer than when I cube it for a chef's salad. You'll have to keep practicing and come up with your own recipes and temps, but then that's part of the fun. I enjoy cooking so much, but my greatest pleasure is seeing the reaction on other's faces (who are usually too busy chomping to say much of anything).