So whats everyone planning on making for Christmas? I think I'm doing a 'meat smorgasbord' by smoking spare ribs and grilling some burgers and brats from Fareway.
Smoking Meat Questions and Discussion
- Thread starter Statefan515ISU
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I also swear by Thermoworks. I've got a ThermaPen Mk4 and a Signals unit with the Billows fan. The Signals and fan were a birthday present, and together they're among my most prized possessions. I never had huge temp consistency issues with my Weber Smokey Mountain before, but now I don't ever have to worry about it. That fan keeps me within 10 degrees of my target temp consistently, even over really long pork butt or brisket cooks. It's fantastic.
I go back to my parents' for the holiday and cook a prime rib dinner. I'm really lucky that my grocery store in Wisconsin puts out choice rib roasts for $7.99/lb around Christmas, so I snagged an 8lb roast for about $60. I'll also make a gravy from the drippings, a horseradish sauce, mashed potatoes, green beans and garlic bread. I also cook several other meals when I'm home (including carnitas tacos this year), but that's the Christmas Eve dinner.
When I saw the store with that sale two years ago, I decided to start a traditional meal and just take over my parents' kitchen when I go home. How I wound up loving to cook as much as I do is beyond me; my dad never cooks anything but breakfast food and my mom hates cooking (even though I always enjoyed her food growing up). I'm trying a different potato recipe this time around (I did garlic potatoes the last couple years, but I wanted gravy this year), and I'm going with just sautéed green beans instead of made from scratch green bean casserole (it's a great recipe, but it's relatively complex and I'm gonna have a lot going on in the kitchen as it is).
Educate me please. Every time I've had prime rib, probably only a handful of times in my life, I've never been impressed. To me it's just always seemed watery and flavorless. I see people talking up prime rib, some of my friends included, and I've never been a fan. What am I missing, have I just had bad luck?
It’s definitely different than most steak, since the seasoning is only on the outer edges (although that bark can still do a lot of work for you). It can really benefit from a sauce (horseradish sauce or au jus being the most commonly used). But it’s also a big help if you dry brine it before cooking. Just cover the roast in kosher salt and let it sit in the fridge, uncovered, for at least a few hours (I do this about 24 hours in advance since I usually get bigger roasts). Once you pull it out of the fridge again, season it however you want and start cooking.
I'm with you. I'm sure I could probably make better prime rib than I've had in a restaurant, but the few times I've rolled the dice on the prime rib at a restaurant I've been wholly unimpressed. Either the meat was not good or just blah. Give me a ribeye or a filet over that, every time.
I'm probably going to smoke a pork butt for our Christmas dinner at home. I do have a brisket in the freezer, so I could do that too, but not feeling that adventurous right now. The pork will still be great, just not particularly fancy. I put the wife in charge of the side dishes, but I might come up with something else to smoke for a side.
I'll often throw some baked beans in the smoker for a side, good stuff.
Spatchcock. Get oil/butter under the skin with seasoning.
Depending on how much grate space you have available, I like to spatchcock the chickens that I smoke. Just helps it to cook more evenly and it speeds things up overall. Otherwise, I put whole chickens on a rotisserie.
A decent pair of kitchen shears will work fine. That's all I've ever used.
Also, some folks will go the extra mile and remove the breast bone altogether so the chicken lays even more flat, but it's not critical by any means.
