Summer means smokers!

[Eric]

I'll have to say that the 'reverse-sear' method of cooking steaks produced the best I've ever had.

Really regretting not grabbing my little Weber charcoal grill when we were last in MO. 
Maybe just for these steaks I'll do the searing with my charcoal chimney starter.

[TinkTanker]

Speaking of charcoal, Home Depot (which means Lowe's as well, since they price match) has 40 pounds of Kingsford charcoal for $10. Stock up for the season. I remember one guy last year bought a pallet.

[Eric]

Might be time to shut down this thread, because I can't think of anything more awesome than this smoker:


http://youtu.be/CXryf7hAVH8

[Spooky]

That's pretty cool!

[Eric]

Trying an experiment:  Our local butcher shop sells Angus beef they grow as-well-as locally-grown pork.  They run bulk specials to lower the cost a little (unfortunately we don't have room to store more than about twenty pounds of meat). 

The 10# beef currently runs $71, and comes with
    2 T-Bone Steaks
    2 Delmonico (ribeye) Steaks
    1 lb. Beef-Ka-Bobs
    3 lbs. Ground Round
    1 Tip or Round Roast

The 10# pork currently runs $52:

    1 Boneless Pork Roast
    8 Center-Cut Pork Chops
    1 Ham Slice
    3 lbs. Bacon or Sausage

We've done the beef and pork roasts in our crock pot to some really tasty results.  But I don't see our eating that all the time (it's already a lot for two people) and our freezer had a round, a tip, and a pork roast in it. 
As I spontaneously thought it might be fun to smoke this weekend, I didn't  have time for it to properly thaw.  I ran across a thread of people who also experimented with smoking or oven-cooking frozen meat.  So I thought I'd give it a try. 

I put the meat in the fridge for about 16 hours, which did absolutely nothing (as expected) for thawing.  This morning, I took them out and put olive oil and meat rub (Montreal Steak seasoning for beef and an Amazing Ribs recipe for the pork).  It sat out while the charcoal and smoker heated up.

They're on the smoker now, and I'll check in a few hours. I'll probably pull off the beef at about 130-135 and let it rest an hour minimum. 

Now I just need to see if I can talk Pearl into getting some kaiser rolls and horseradish (or horsey mayo).  Man, the mouth is watering already ....

[Spooky]

Yummy!

[Eric]

Yummy!

It was, indeed.  Kaiser roll and a horseradish + mayo + sour cream recipe that Pearl found.  The only things I think I'd change is actually looking at the "grain" of the muscle before I cook it (like brisket, it needs to be cut perpendicular or it'll be tough); and a little less seasoning as the very peppery Montreal seasoning really permeates.

It does make me wish I had a meat slicer or electric knife to get nice, thin cuts.

[Spooky]

Sadly no open flame grilling aloud on the balcony of my new apartment.

[Eric]

Sadly no open flame grilling aloud on the balcony of my new apartment.

Oh, you moved?!   Sorry to hear about the no open flame grilling.   Electric, maybe?

[Spooky]

Yep, I moved. The past two years I went from renting a two bedroom house, to my brother's, to my (now ex) girlfriend's, back to my brother's and now to a two bedroom apartment. Hopefully done moving for a while.

I'll have to take a look at some electric grills.