Has anyone tried Moo & Oink branded hot link products, the beef and pork in boxes?

http://www.tastechicagosbest.com/moo-oink.html

Seems these could be shipped around the country. Any place else here in Chicago shipping their fresh made hot link products for a consumer to buy online, not for a restaurant?

I've tried both beef and pork.

I highly recommend the turkey

The beef and pork, as I recall, were nothing special among hot links, but my palate has been calibrated by Uncle John's hots for years, so, not much could compare. The M&O turkey hots are pretty special, imo.

My local Aldi has had a corner of one their freezers stacked with about 20 boxes of M&O hot links since about July. IPO was 6.99. I never saw any movement of product, so I popped in once a week to check them. Few weeks ago, they dropped to 4.99. Grabbed two boxes of turkey, and now I'm waiting out another price drop to cost average these sumbitches down. Still haven't seen any product movement. Gonna pop in today. I'm hoping to catch the blowout 1.99 "LAST CHANCE" sign or something to load up the freezer.

As some helpful posters have stated above cold weather is no legit reason to stop smoking meat for the year! But, it might possibly cause me to consider projects with shorter cook times. Last weekend I decided to try a long-time goal of mine, homemade bacon. This is something I've thought about for years but the biggest obstacle was finding the right curing salts. Well I finally tracked down some pink nitrite salt at Paulina Meat Market so it was time to make some bacon.

3 lbs pork belly from Paulina Meat Market, after a 7-day brine with curing salt, sugar, maple syrup and black pepper according to Meat Head's recipe here: http://amazingribs.com/recipes/porknogr ... ratch.html


Bacon after smoking at 225F for 2 ½ hours over pecan wood, to 150F internal temp. I'm not confident in my cold-smoking abilities yet so I decided to skip that potential food safety hazard and hot smoke instead.


This bacon fried up to a much meatier texture than the store-bought kind does, which I quite liked. Not quite as sweet as I like, so I will add more syrup to the cure next time. Definitely a great reward for 2 ½ hours tending the smoker out in the cold.

HI,

Looks terrific and sounds tasty, I think I need to do some bacon. Sometimes winter is a kind helper when you want a lower temperature smoke.

Thanks!

Regards,

Have spent 3 years working on my fire control as per Gary's instructions. I'm at the point that I can ohh and ahh lots of Chicago folk on a consistent basis with my new found meat smoking skills in the backyard or a parking lot.

So...now I'm wanting to emulate flavors of other retail BBQ I enjoy around town. Which brings me to rubs for pork ribs (tips/spares/baby backs). I haven't ventured too far into rubs. I've stuck with really basic concoctions.

If I want to try and have the flavor of Barbara Ann's, Dat Donuts, and say a I-57 Rib House, what should I use and do?

Loving this.



Smoker in Ireland.

I smoked a brisket last week and it cooked faster than I would've expected. It was finished 3 hours before serving time. No problem. I wrapped it in foil and nestled it in newspaper in a cooler. I've used this method before for 2 hours, never for 3 and the meat held perfectly and was still nice and warm.

Yesterday, we invited Thing2's future in-laws over for dinner. For 7 of us we had 3 racks of baby backs, and a turkey breast.
I made a milder version of the GWiv rub since they're spice averse (more black pepper, paprika, thyme, ancho and cumin vs. hotter red pepper).
I found a note online that recommended using a mayo shmear on a mild-flavored turkey breast vs the mustard I use on ribs before applying the rub, and that came out very nice.

The turkey breast was an odd bird (sorry), something I haven't seen before. I avoided the pre-brined, frozen ones at Mariano's, and got a 'natural' unfrozen one (I think Purdue? "Only" 6% retained liquid), and instead of it being a single breast, it was a whole carcass, no neck, legs or wings. Cooked up very nicely (cut the back out and tried to flatten it, but turkeys just don't bend that way -- yes the backbone went in my stock bag in the freezer). About 2.5 hours on the lower rack of the WSM (with ribs dripping down), and another 20 minutes or so at 400F inside to get those last 20 degrees of cookedness and crisp up the skin a bit.

Best compliment: "If you told me you'd put crack cocaine in the turkey and ribs, I'd have to believe you."

Yesterday I dusted off the Weber for the first smoke session of the year! It was a practice run to get ready for a summer of smoking meat. Chicken leg/thigh from Los Portrillos and spare ribs from Tony's Finer Foods. These chicken quarters came with a nice bonus of the spine attached to the thigh bone, which went into my bag o' scraps for stock-making in the freezer. These got a coat of mustard and a Spice House ancho chile rub. Cooked with Kingsford briquettes and hickory:


Eight hours later:


I'm pretty happy with the first smoke of the summer but I am still having problems keeping the temp up for the entire cooking time. The spare ribs needed abut 30 min in the oven to finish cooking and get tender. It's something to work on in the next few months.

For my first foray into GWiv's Low and Slow 2, I committed heresy and fired up some wood chips in a foil pan over my gas grill...
but then again, I was just trying to impart a little smoke flavor in some corn and tomatoes for the Maque Choux, and didn't want to mess with coals for less than an hour's burn.

The recipe is very very tasty... but needed a little more salt than called for (especially if you're subbing your barbecue rub for salt), and I added a splash of cider vinegar to replace the hot sauce found in a lot of other maque choux recipes.

Thought of youse guys:

Did some jerk chicken this weekend, trimmed legs/thighs with good old standby Walkerswood Jerk Paste. When smoking chicken I've always had the problem of rubbery skin that slides off in one big sheet when you bite into it. I've been trying to get that bite-through skin with indirect heat, to no avail. But this time, I decided to finish the chicken right over the charcoal chamber after 3 hours of smoking:


This really did the trick! The final sear rendered out a bunch of fat so I ended up with super-crisp bite-through skin and juicy (not greasy) meat. Really loved these results.



The only thing which could use some improvement, was that the jerk spice flavor got a bit too muted over smoking period, so next time I'll make some kind of mop to apply at the end.

Looking for BBQ guidance and think applied science might yield and answer for me.

I'm regularly buying rib tips from Gene's deli on Belmont near Laramie. Great thing about them is Gene's is offering their own product that they chop off of primal cuts of pork themselves, which gives a size and product consistency. They aren't like say a Amity product in the 30lb boxes. this Genes' product is so consistent what I buy in the Winter is the same size and fat consistency as something I buy now in June. They are also really cheap too.

So what I'm experiencing is a lack of juiciness. My technique is giving me great flavor, and dining experience. I'm just not sure what is causing the lack of juiciness. It might be the product itself or it might be my technique. My goal would be to create on a regular basis from this Gene's product, the same experience I'm getting when I order tips from a place like I-94 Rib House the one off of Halsted and like 99th.

Here's what I'm doing:

Tip meat/bones are one whole length usually 12-16 inches not chopped down portions.

UDS smoker
lump charcoal
oak chunks

keep smoker between 225 and about 250.

cook can be anywhere between 3 hours to 5 hours

I pull out sections of the product and chop it down to say a 2inch thick portion to test toughness until I feel tenderness is right during the cook. This yield the thicker pieces tasting as close to right as I can get, but the thinner cut towards the end of the length get's more leathery .

any thoughts?

that jerk looks on point

I guess great minds think alike because about 24 hours before G Wiv posted this pic, I had already purchased a whole, 4-pound Romanian bologna, which I smoked for some friends and family last month . . .


Smoked Kosher Bologna from Romanian

I served it sliced into 1/4" planks on white bread with yellow mustard and cole slaw (optional). I love Gary's scoring method, which produces what could best be described as a Bologna Blossom. I've been thinking about this for the several weeks since I made it and am pretty sure I'm going to make it again very soon.

=R=

how does a whole balogna get served and plated?

kenji wrote:

On a positive note, it's almost turkey fryer season!

Terribly sorry to say that kenji has just passed away.

http://www.lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=23188&start=210&sp=501915

Geo

I had a potluck this weekend and with the unseasonably warm weather I decided to fire up the Weber. The potluck was a competition so I wanted to do something with a little presentation value. I grabbed a whole pork loin and unzipped it into a flat sheet, cross-scoring it to increase the surface area.


Gave it a rub with some Jamaican jerk spice paste, rolled and tied it back up:


After 3 hours over hickory smoke, 145F internal temperature:


I was pretty happy with how this one turned out. It was highly polarizing at the party. Quite a few people raved about it, but just as many people were turned off by the strong flavors and spiciness of the jerk paste. Can't win em all I guess.

So it's been a while since I've fired up the ol Weber. I had people over for a party this weekend so I decided why not? Well that turned out to be a semi-mistake as standing over a charcoal fire for six hours last Saturday in the sweltering heat was not a great time. Now that I’ve done that, I don’t need to fear hell.

But anyway, the ribs came out great with perfect texture, maybe the best I’ve done so far! GWiv rub, 5.5 hours over lump charcoal and apple wood:


Just the first of many smoke outs this summer.

New favorite chef's bite: after slicing up a nice fatty brisket, scrape all the fat, burnt crust bits and meat shreds into a pile of brisket butter. Spread on a Trisket with a bit of picked red onion.

Think of it as Texas Nduja

Hi,

For my circa 1981 Weber Smokey Mountain, I have replaced the charcoal chamber ring and charcoal grate (several times over). The bottom third has now been fully replaced.

I am still on the original water pan. Now that I said this, when I go out next to look at it, there will be a hole.

I have two pork shoulders I plan to smoke and a potential time issue.

When the pork is ready to be pulled, I may not have time to handle it. Should this occur, I may have to refrigerate it and deal with it the next day. I have the impression cold pork may not pull easily. If that is true, can this be remedied by gently rewarming the pork, then pull? Any tips?

Or can I smoke it halfway one day to finish the next?

If it cannot be remedied in a better way, I may just make carnitas instead with one and Korean Bo ssam with the other.

Thanks for any thoughts.

Regards,
Cathy2

Cathy2 wrote:I have the impression cold pork may not pull easily. If that is true,

Yes, true.

Cathy2 wrote:can this be remedied by gently rewarming the pork, then pull?

Yes/yes.

Cathy2 wrote:Any tips?

Temper the pork on both ends. By which I mean, don't put two steaming hot pork shoulders directly into the fridge. Conversely, when reheating don't put straight from the fridge into the oven to "gently rewarm"

When pulling add moisture, small amounts of warm apple juice or warm apple juice with a little vinegar, and light dusting as you go along of whatever rub you used to reinforce flavor.

Pull on rimmed sheet pan or large bowl so not to loose juice/moisture when pulling.

If the meat is steaming when you pull that steam represents moisture loss. This applies to fresh from the smoker or reheat.

If you get (very) behind when reheating/pulling cut into chunks to facilitate quicker reheat, this is not optimal.

Read/reread reheating instructions in Low & Slow 1

Buy a new water pan before you need it so you don't find yourself cursing a slow leak water pan in the moments before putting a load on your WSM.

There is a good chance, but with Brinkman's bankruptcies its hard to tell, that the linked Brinkman charcoal/water pan is the perfect replacement for your WSM water pan. It takes capacity from 1-gallon to 2-gallon. ---> Link

I just dealt with a hole in the water pan. Back Yard Barbeque in Wilmette doesn’t carry it - suggested I order from Weber. Took a while to get and shipping was quite expensive.

I went to the wrong high school.
Texas Varsity Barbeque Team

lougord99 wrote:I just dealt with a hole in the water pan. Back Yard Barbeque in Wilmette doesn’t carry it - suggested I order from Weber. Took a while to get and shipping was quite expensive.

My order was just over $50 and did not pay shipping. When the box arrived, I was really glad not to be paying shipping. The box arrived with the parts sitting side-by-side with lots of extra room and not stacked. I would have been very unhappy to pay the freight for a poorly packed box.

Somewhere I have two Brinkman water pans I have yet to use. Hope I can find it when I need it.

Regards,
CAthy2

HI,

I had not used my WSM for a few years until this week. I was expecting to encounter a lot of water in the bottom bowl. It was clean and dry from the last cook.

I noticed the side door was placed upside down not allowing any water to get inside. This was a mistake worthy of repeating.

Regards,
Cathy2

Cathy2 wrote:HI,

I had not used my WSM for a few years until this week

So you do not subscribe to the title of this thread.

I smoke meat every .... month or so.

Now getting settled into Portland, and working on my grill/smoker situation. Right now I have a WSM and am getting a gas grill. PDX has frequent burn bans, due to both air quality and fire hazard, so the smoker may be used a lot less than it did in Chicago. Nonetheless, it's got a spot. My question, here, is safety. You can see in the picture that it's on cement board, on a wooden deck. There is a thick plastic overhang that is a bit more than 5 feet away from the top of the cooking surface, and the area next to the grill where I plan to put my chimney starter (where the lid is) is not under the overhang.

Can I put the whole thing under the underhang, and not worry too much about melting the plastic with the starter? It would be on the bottom of the grill itself then, and well beyond 5 feet from the overhang, but I know flames and heat shoots up. If I need to leave the starter beyond the overhang, do I have to put it on cinderblocks, or can it sit right on the 1/4 inch cement board?

I have the smoker itself under the underhang because it will rain 9 months out of the year, and I find it annoying to stand in the rain to grill. I could slide it further out, and the smoker would be out from the underhang, and I would still be able to mostly be out of the rain if this current arrangement is still likely to be too hot. In Chicago we put backer board on the house and on the deck uprights too because I got the starter too close to the vinyl siding and it melted, so I'm a little sensitive to the heat issues.