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HillBilly Steaks is the Devil!

Swissy

Swissy

Livin' the retired life!
Joined
Mar 26, 2005
Messages
4,612
Location
North to Alaska!
Oh man... HillyBilly, you rock.

All these years, I've been doing nothing but smoking salmon. I got some of his ribs in exchange for sending him a fillet of salmon for the Great CP Salmon Smokeoff. DAMN were they good (his ribs :cool: ) and it got me to thinking, if I could do that in MY smoker?!

After cruising his website (Very Cool Site, BTW) and grabbing what info I could, I PM'd Erick and exchanged some more info.

Ahhhh... the results!


I'd say it was a success!! Now the tampering with the recipe starts! :laugh:

Erick, thanks SO much... but sorry to say I won't be ordering your ribs! :laugh: but it does make the box headed your way that much more worthwhile... :whistling:
 
close, but it's a Bradley Smoker... uses its own style of smoke 'disks' which can be a pain, but it automatically inserts a new 'disk' every 20 minutes, and has a tube holding 8 hours worth! Nice to be able to walk away and not worry about it. Also, the heat source is seperate from the smoke source, so I can do a true cold smoke if I want- lox, cheese, etc...

So far it's been a great smoker, and if the ribs tonight are any indication, it's going to start being used a whole lot more! :laugh:
 
Hillbilly Steaks said:
HAHA, VERY NICE!

NOW YOU HAVE TO SHARE WITH ME YOUR SALMON RECIPE! :laugh:
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You BASTID! That's why you were so helpfull...

:laugh:

Aw, crap - here ya go... nothing amazing to be honest- it's more in the smoking process.

1) mix 3 parts Brown Sugar to 2 Parts Canning/Pickling Salt
I do a 4 pound Costco sugar bag to a 2.5 pound jar of salt

2) Spread over fish in a pan liberally, until WELL covered- all sides (except skin side)
you'll notice in my pics that I cut the fish into 'strips' about an inch to an inch and a half wide.

3) let sit until mixture is mostly all liquid- usually about 2-4 hours, depending on amount and thickness of fish

4) rinse of fish and pat down lightly

5) place on racks and air dry until pellicle forms (hard skin forms over meat) usually at least 4 hours, but more is better

6) now smoke-

I do mine for 8-10 hours, under smoke the whole time. I use alder wood. My way of doing it is to start low temp and STAY there for the first 4-5 hours... usually no more than 100 degrees. after about 5 hours slowly start adding more heat, so that in the 8-10 hour range you're JUST starting hitting around 150. If you smoke too hot too fast, a few things happen. First, you get the protein 'goo' on the surface... yellowish goobers that look nasty but do not alter the flavor. (a good hard thick pellicle will reduce this) BUT... it also gives the fish a more 'cooked' taste and texture instead of a smoked one. And, it dries the meat out. And I pull my fish off before it is 'hard' feeling. I've had people say that mine was not done enough, and was not fully cooked- but going for so long the way I do it, it is a combination of a cold smoked lox and a hot smoked salmon.


Another brine that is much easier, is simply a big jug of Yoshida's Gourmet Sauce form Costco. I'll fill a gallon ziplock 3/4 with salmon and top it off with the Yoshida's. Then I put it in the fridge overnight. Rinse, dry slightly (you won't get a pellicle with this) then smoke the same way. Biggest problem is this makes a HUGE mess inside the smoker, as it drips and such.

Man, that made me hungry... after dinner snack anyone? :laugh: Sorry, couldn't resist!!
 
Hey swissy, the ribs look great...one small piece of advice though. Cook them longer. You see in this picture how the smaller or thinner section on the ribs are turning a different color and starting to "sweat" on the outside or let out the moisture?? Leave them in there until they look like that throughout!

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well, by the looks of it, yes. If you're using loin back ribs, the meat should start to pull up around the bottom edge exposing the bone a bit. But a really good tell tale mark is when they get that wet look all over them.

A good guide line is 225-250 for at least 4 hours. I usually take mine off around 5 hours. Every smoker is different, you'll just have to experiment I guess.
 
Hillbilly Steaks said:
well, by the looks of it, yes. If you're using loin back ribs, the meat should start to pull up around the bottom edge exposing the bone a bit. But a really good tell tale mark is when they get that wet look all over them.

A good guide line is 225-250 for at least 4 hours. I usually take mine off around 5 hours. Every smoker is different, you'll just have to experiment I guess.
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Ok, cool... expirementing is SO much fun! :laugh: I did have trouble breaking the 225 degree mark.. ambient temp was only 10 degrees today so made it tough.

But I never did brush with BBW sauce as I wanted to test the full, 'unedited' flavor of the rub and smoke. Next time I'll brush them some...

:thumbs:

and to think I was trying to lose some weight... :whistling:
 
Stop it you two I can't smoke anything till I get in the new house. You guys are really making that look a far ways off. Guess the first thing i'll be buying now is a smoker.
 
Ok you bastages, I got a smoker and never used it yet. Now I'm going to have to break that bad boy out and give it a try. Those smoked ribs look gooooood!
 
Swissy, you really had me thinking about this last night.

Another thing to look for in the ribs is how easily they come apart. If you are slow cooking them at a low temp, its going to take you quite a long time to dry them out. The way I check for doneness in my ribs is you don't want the ribs to just fall apart. that is too tender. when I take them off the cooker with tongs, they should be right at the point where you almost have to grab an end so they don't bend and break. Does that make any sense???

Also, you said you were worried about them drying out.... Where there any spots in the ribs that had pieces of whole fat or grisle?? Because as you cook at low temps, this stuff will slowly melt away. That is the beauty of BBQ. YOu take the most fat, ugly piece of meat (and cheapest too $$$) and slow cook it for 6-12 hours and end up with something of beauty!

BTW, I have a pork shoulder going today!
 
You guys put me and my Weber to shame!!!

As soon as the weather warms up a bit I'll be applying all this knowledge.
 
Man, Im starving now.
What smoker would you guys recommend for a beginner? (ie/ ME !)
Brand? Size? etc.
 
So I bought one of those red garbage can looking smokers last summer for $40, are those things worthless? I think it's a H2O smoker
 
this is what I started with... Little Chief Smoker but bear in mind these are basic units for fish smoking only... not ribs and such.

My present unit is this: Bradley Smoker and I LOVE it... meats, fish, even cheese... cold smoke, hot smoke... and I can set it up and walk away and it will smoke for 8 hours without me doing a damn thing to it. Smoke generation is independant of the heat source, so if you crank the heat up (for ribs say...) the smoke generated stays the same- more heat does not mean more smoke.

Moving parts means possible failure, but so far 2 years and a ton of fish later... no problems.
 
Thanks guys...Would mainly be using it for ribs, shoulder and brisket.
The weber look good and in my price range. Weber makes some quality grills, I currently have one of there charcoal BBQs.
 
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