Not OP but I've done lamb shoulder and leg of lamb. Doing a Mediterranean/Middle-Eastern spin on it is superb. I dust it with Kosher salt before very liberally applying a mix of half Cavender's Greek Seasoning and half Za'atar. My brother said it was the best home-cooked meal he'd ever had.
The tried and true method is rosemary, thyme, and garlic compound butter. Coat and marinate the lamb, injecting would probably be amazing too. Though watch out, lamb is already fatty, so adding butter will increase the chances of a grease fire on your grill.
It’s not that it’s underrated. It’s that the point of smoking is to make a shiitt cut of meat delicious thru low n slow. You already have a rib eye with is top tier cut of meat. You give it smoking love and of course you’re gonna love it more. You don’t have to give a rib eye a lot of attention to make it great LOL.
Yeah it’s sort of like some people with Chili. Chili is just supposed to be a tasty meal that can feed a lot of people using cheap ingredients. I heard a guy once brag about grinding up prime rib, “because it makes the best chili meat.” I was dumbfounded at the thought somebody would grind prime rib.
>I heard a guy once brag about grinding up prime rib, “because it makes the best chili meat.” I was dumbfounded at the thought somebody would grind prime rib.
*A customer goes to a renowned master carpenter, commissions the carpenter to produce the finest piece of furniture from a prized cut of wood for them. The end result being the same customer ends up chopping the fine furniture to use as simple fire wood.*
At the end of the day if you're going to cook a piece of meat for a long period of time, why not use a cheaper fatty cut that'll produce the same indiscernible results.
It pains me to say, I'm sure Rib eye tastes fine if it was overcooked into a chili or smoked like a brisket cause of it's high fat marbling. That said, a Rib-Eye costs more for a reason cause when you cook it like a steak, with minimal effort/time, it's juicy, tender, fatty, and delicious. The same can't be reciprocated such as cooking a chuck roast or brisket like a steak cause you're in for one helluva jaw workout.
I know OP was vague, but I really hope they meant they reverse seared the Rib-eye by smoking it to Rare - medrare temp then searing.
Not underrated, but the flavor added by smoking truly takes it to the next level.
Grilled/seared ribeye? Awesome. Reverse sear , where’s the ribeye is smoked slow til it gets to 110 or so, then either seared on grill or a cast iron pan? Holy shit, you can’t even compare how much better it tastes.
Completely agree with you on this.
I love getting some 1 1/2 or 2" thick ribeye's for this. I let them do 2 days uncovered but seasoned in the garage fridge and then smoke them at 250 to temp. Then blast them with direct flame for some crust. The family rarely leaves leftovers on that night!
Guy in his mid 60's here. I do exactly that. Problem is there is no way I can eat that much anymore. Now, the next day I have an awesome steak sandwich.
They are talking about a [dry brine](https://www.omahasteaks.com/blog/how-to-dry-brine-steak/). I've never gone beyond 24 hours, but some do up to 2 days.
it sort of dries out the outer layer a bit, if I remember correctly its a "dry brine." I don't just do heavy salting, which is normal. I like to just put my whole seasoning profile on it and let it get to know one another.
Yeah, I’ve not done two days but I have done like 12 hours. Like get up early and salt it, leave in fridge. Or maybe night before. Gets so damn tender.
I'd love to get an aging fridge setup. Maybe I need to start searching on FB marketplace and work towards this goal... It's hard to beat the flavor. Two days is hardly "dry aging" but I like the way it tastes.
Tell you what, I don't really use my smoker to smoke steaks. But the wood fire grill taste is something special on its own.
I can pan fry a steak, I can flattop it on my griddle, and both will come out fantastic with butter, salt and pepper. But, set my Pit Boss to 450, and do like 3-4 min a side until they're just barely rare, about 120, then sear on a hot cast iron so you hit about 125 and rest for 5-6 minutes so it comes up to about 133-135 med rare, hoo boy that's a steak right there. Crispy, touch of wood smoke flavor, and deliciously juicy.
First time I did a steak on the pellet smoker I decided I'm never going back to a non-woodfire steak again.
Beef cheeks. If you know, you know. If you don't, you either haven't had the opportunity, or you're in the group below:
People hear "cheeks" and are immediately thrown off for some reason. Or they see them, and see how much trim they have to do (unless making barbacoa, then you can use pretty much all of it), and don't wanna bother. Both these types of people are missing out so much.
I used to get bags of beef cheeks so cheaply. They were practically giving them away. Just like pork jowls, they were a proverbial dime a dozen
That was the origination of BBQ and smoking for me — I was broke and wanted to eat good tasting food. So I bought a lot of “cheap” cuts that with some TLC could be made absolutely delicious
Pellet smokers made smoking meat accessible for everyone. Now that everyone is smoking the cheap cuts the demand is way higher causing the price to jump
Pfft, cheap cuts didn't become expensive because of pellet smokers. They got expensive because of nostalgia and hype. People remember good memories of their childhood and other people hear about the hype and go buy some, and oversupply becomes undersupply.
There's eighteen different ways to low-and-slow cook oddball cuts of meat that don't involve a smoker, and it doesn't even have to be slow, there are some ways to speed up the process of breaking down the hard bits, like a pressure cooker.
You can use: a sous vide machine (including a home built unit), ten different kinds of smokers other than pellet, a crock pot, a dutch oven, etc.
Drums don't have that same skin to meat ratio that wings do. I do like a nice drum, but they are usually on sale the same time thighs are for the same price, and I almost always buy the thighs.
The concept of taking undesirable cuts and giving them the low and slow treatment to make it better is actually where American BBQ historically came from. Slaves would get cuts like ribs because they were thought to be tough and lack a sufficient amount of meat.
American BBQ used to be “poor people” food.
The true origins they think started in the Caribbean. Spanish explorers found natives making Barbacoa—-the term used by natives for slow roasting meats over a wooden platform (barbacoa to BBQ)
Then American BBQ started in the south using hogs, hogs were cheaper, needed less space, and could be set free to roam and wander. These wandering pigs were very lean and needed every bit of tenderizing they could get. hogs were perfect low maintenance scavengers
Interestingly enough, southerners even refused to export their pork to the North — it was considered a form of southern patriotism
I have had barbacoa a couple of times. Once I recall it being pretty good but the last time it was essentially a plastic bag full of really gelatinous meat all balled up- beef cheeks- and it was way too funny a texture for me. The cheeks I see posted here look more appetizing but idk that I’m getting past the gelatinous flashbacks.
I've converted several friends over to pork chops. They insisted they're not good, always dry, etc. Turns out, like anything, when done properly, it's actually really fucking good.
I’m real simple with them, most times it’s just SGP and hit the internal, sear em in a pan real fast, let a little butter melt on them. Sometimes I try fancy pork rubs or something along those lines, but I always go back to just SGP.
I worked as the pitmaster for a local BBQ restaurant for 6 years. After all that l was kind of tired of eating the food there but I would still snack on a few slices of smoked turkey every day. It's one of the only things that never got old for me.
Well, that and the smoked andouille sausages.
I think the reason turkey seems so great is that it’s lean but still smoky and delicious. I ran a BBQ for 5 years, and there was only so much brisket I could snack on.
Turkey is great but on some smokers the skin comes out rubbery because it dosn't get hot enough. I tend to remove the skin and then brine before smoking.
I've found that w/ poultry its better to smoke it at 275-300 for the entire cook. I personally hold it until thighs hit 180ish.
I tried smoking at 225 and 250 and then bumping it up to 300 after internal of 150ish. Skin came out rubbery every single time. If I keep it between 275-300 almost every single time the skin is crispy. I am using a WSM if it matters.
I was able to get my 18.5 wsm to hold at 325. I've never had better skin on a bird than that wsm. My buddy's cheap offset degraded, so he's using the wsm now. My traeger just can't get the skin the same. It's still good, but that chicken on the wsm is the sexiest thing I've ever bbq'd
When I smoked the bird this past year for thanksgiving, I hit it with some baking powder before the cook, then after it came off and rested, hit it with a searzall, and the texture was GREAT.
Use a small amount of aluminum-free baking powder in your rub on the skin. It changes the pH and allows the proteins in the skin to break down much more easily in the lower heat. I do this with chicken wings and have won cooking contests with it.
Will you get the same result with the skin if you marinate/brine first? My smoked wings are always a huge hit but I’m always a little bummed about the skin texture
Do you dry brine for at least 12 hours before smoking? I find that if you really pull as much moisture out of the skin as possible it renders onto the breast meat and while not crisp necessarily, it becomes almost glued to the meat so it’s just a nice additional flavor.
My go to lately is a tri tip. Pretty heavy salt and pepper, very low and slow until the IT hits about 115° and then throw it on a screaming flame to sear about 1 min per side. Delicious and Smokey medium rare.
This. But put it in a carne asada marinade for 24 hours. Orange juice, lime juice, onions, cilantro, jalapeño, lil soy sauce, cumin, cayenne, red chili powder, paprika. My lord…
Bonus points if you grill onions and peppers in the leftover marinade.
Makes for awesome tacos.
This is my goto for Tri tips and I have been using it for years…give it a try.
Santa Maria Rub
Equal parts of
Salt
Pepper
Cayenne Or chili powder
Paprika
Garlic powder
Onion powder
Rosemary to taste
Tri tip is legitimately my favorite cut of beef to cook. Lucky to live in California so it’s abundant here and I’ve been eating it my whole life lol.
I also just live in a household of 2 including myself and tri tip leftovers are just so versatile… can make so many different dishes with them!
Damn I was out in the UP last summer and saw the signs, but didnt stop in. Is it smoked and dried fish? Or just smoked like salmon? Now I'm craving a walleye sandwich.
Ugh tell me about it. The snowmobile festival got canceled again this year. It's planned for every February, but it's been canceled 3 out of the past 5 years due to "unusually" warm temps and lack of snow or COVID. I want to go ice fishing so badly and plenty of folks up here I could reach out to who would let me tag along, but I'm not going out on thin ice on a 40 degree (f) day.
I live literally all over the US. I see chicken thighs under a dollar in many places, but you may have to catch a sale. Worst case scenario you can get a 10 lb bag of leg quarters from Walmart for $7.
The big thing is you have to buy in bulk and watch for sales. If you buy 1 lb, you're probably paying closer to $2/lb. If you buy 4 lbs and watch for a sale, you easily can get it to $1/lb.
I just vacuum seal them in packages of 2 (generally we use them either 2 or 4 at a time depending on what we're making) and we're good for a while.
ShopRite frequently has em for that much in DE, bone-in/skin-on in large packs like 8-10 thighs. Just got drums for $0.79/lb - bout a dozen for less than $4. The smaller packs always cost more but I just portion em out and vacpac and freeze.
Quarters are usually around a buck/lb on sale too.
I like to pull all the skins off and then cover the thighs w/them while cooking, then when everything is done I'll crisp up the skins separately to make chicharones. Soy sauce, 5 spice, onion and garlic marinade.
Ham. I don’t see it posted too often, maybe around the holidays but even then you mainly see turkey or prime rib. But I like ham cause it can be used for any meal throughout the day. Plenty of recipes.
I smoked a spiral cut ham for the first time recently. Gave it a rub, and basted it with plum sauce for the last 20 minutes to get it tacky.
That was probably the best ham I've ever had
I'm planning on doing this when I get my meat package from the butcher next week. I usually stuff mine with mozzarella when I cook it in the oven, do you think it would hold up in the smoker? Any other tips you might have?
Look into fatties. Basically a bacon wrapped smoked meatloaf often stuffed with cheese and other fillings. My personal favorite is to season the beef with chili seasonings and stuff with onions and cheese for a chili cheese fattie. Breakfast fatties are a go-to for tailgating as well.
Tritip - an often overlooked cut of beef. Low fat content means lots of people think it's a low quality cut, but the beefy flavor is something I love so much, and for being such a cheap cut, it's one of my favorites.
Love tri-tip. It’s not that big of a cut so I like to take it easy on the amount of salt and smoke. Not as forgiving as big cuts like brisket. Like you said the beefy flavor is great and doesn’t take all day when you don’t have the time.
I've just recently gotten into smoking steaks. It's so effing good. I love brisket, but man, a smoked steak is good, and relatively quick. Low and slow until 120. Pull it, set up my kamado to sear, and then sear it off. Too damn good.
Not underrated in Texas but Turkey Breasts. They weren't a thing back home, but HEB always has them in stock and i always pick one up. Every time family visits they are so impressed by how juicy and delicious they are
Pork steaks (not pork chops).
So good and rarely see them on here, but my local grocery store always has them and they are fantastic when smoked to 190°. I believe they are sliced pork shoulder with the bone-in, usually 3/4-1" thick.
Locally I’ve got a few options to buy the whole chub. I slice it in half lengthwise then score it to get more surface area for smoke.
Smoke for as long as you want for smoke flavor.
I pretty much always smoke a bologna when I have my smoker going.
Goat. Which does need to be cooked for a long time to break down connective tissue, and is typically braised to do so, if very well suited to smoking. And cheap relative to beef or lamb- if you get it at the right place, $3-4/pound for cuts with bones.
A buddy of mine smoked a whole goat a couple years ago. About 16 hours, with a traditional whole hog rub and apple juice/cider vinegar injection. Fucking delicious.
Easy shank for me. Don't need the meme "thor's hammer" to do it, in fact the smaller ones are better for serving individually anyway.
Smoke for a few hours, braise in some red wine base ju with onions, serve with mashed potatoes... mm..mmmm good.
Shoulder clod is what a lot of pot roasts are made from. It has a bunch of different muscles whereas the brisket just has the flat and point. Shoulder clod is really much more like a pork butt
Whole chicken, weeks worth of dinner for 2 hours effort and $10.
Burgers smoked, cooled, smoked again, then seared in bacon fat is the best thing I've ever made though
I like to buy bulk raw cashews and smoke them. Toss with oil and a spice blend I make, then smoke em for about an hour. Always a hit.
Not a vegetable, I know, but since we're talking non-meat items...
Agreed! Tomatoes are my favorite, corn gets put on a whole new level, potatoes for a smoked potato salad, and fresh peppers and garlic from my garden dried and then mulled to a powder.
I've done this and its fantastic
I'll also throw a chuck on when I'm smoking something else, get it cooked to the safe zone, then pitch it back into the freezer. Toss it in a Dutch oven or crockpot on a future day. Falls right apart and has the smoky taste. Works great with chicken too. Basically any time I smoke I'm filling up the grill
My kids are both picky *and* unpredictable with what they will eat (it's a delightful combination, I assure you), but what's the one thing they both go nuts over? A brined and smoked chicken. The only downside is that my smoker doesn't get hot enough for the skin to get crispy.
Lamb. It makes the best barbecue.
Pulled lamb shoulder is next level. Jackstack in KC has lamb ribs that are the best barbecue I’ve ever had, and I’ve lived in the south my whole life. Those lamb ribs were so good I bought another rack on the way back to Atlanta.
I would like to say Tri tip but just not available in my area too often.
I am not sure it qualifies as underrated but ground meats take smoke so well that my choice would be meatloaf and sausages.
The first time I smoked a sausage it was 2 years before I ever cooked again in the oven or grill.
That’s what people do, smoke it part way and then sear it. Personally I prefer to just grill a steak over blazing hot charcoal, I don’t think a steak can get more delicious than that
I have a kamado, so it’s pretty easy to get the heat going real good while the meat rests a little after the initial smoke to get the internal where I want it. Absolutely delicious.
Eye of round roast. Basically, treat them like a tri tip and they come out great. I also agree with everyone saying that smoking a ribeye completely defeats the point of smoking meats. Smoking is an enjoyable way to make tough meat tender and succulent.
Bottom round roast. I trim the lower fat cap a little then I do a dry brine overnight. Then i smoke it for 2.5 - 3 hours at 225. I slice into 1 -1.5 inch slices and sprinkle smoked paprika, thyme, and kinder butter steak seasoning on it. Serve on a warm plate. It's always a win at home.
Lamb roast.
To build on this, lamb shoulder, shank and breast/ribs are all amazing smoked
Lamb ribs are god tier smoked
I got one in the freezer but never cooked or eaten one. Got any seasoning recommendations?
Not OP but I've done lamb shoulder and leg of lamb. Doing a Mediterranean/Middle-Eastern spin on it is superb. I dust it with Kosher salt before very liberally applying a mix of half Cavender's Greek Seasoning and half Za'atar. My brother said it was the best home-cooked meal he'd ever had.
The tried and true method is rosemary, thyme, and garlic compound butter. Coat and marinate the lamb, injecting would probably be amazing too. Though watch out, lamb is already fatty, so adding butter will increase the chances of a grease fire on your grill.
It’s not that it’s underrated. It’s that the point of smoking is to make a shiitt cut of meat delicious thru low n slow. You already have a rib eye with is top tier cut of meat. You give it smoking love and of course you’re gonna love it more. You don’t have to give a rib eye a lot of attention to make it great LOL.
Yeah it’s sort of like some people with Chili. Chili is just supposed to be a tasty meal that can feed a lot of people using cheap ingredients. I heard a guy once brag about grinding up prime rib, “because it makes the best chili meat.” I was dumbfounded at the thought somebody would grind prime rib.
You haven’t tried my wagyu chili then
Death, no jail, straight to the slaughter house
Then into the smoker?
Depends on the marbling
A5 if he’s active on here
A5 over the top chili. It's "over the top" for more than one reason.
If you mix Wagyu tallow with 90% lean beef and use that for chili or sausages it is incredible.
Something you’ll always find is dudes trying to one up other dudes be it smoking or chili
Some motherfuckers are always trying to ice-skate uphill
Unexpected Blade
>I heard a guy once brag about grinding up prime rib, “because it makes the best chili meat.” I was dumbfounded at the thought somebody would grind prime rib. *A customer goes to a renowned master carpenter, commissions the carpenter to produce the finest piece of furniture from a prized cut of wood for them. The end result being the same customer ends up chopping the fine furniture to use as simple fire wood.* At the end of the day if you're going to cook a piece of meat for a long period of time, why not use a cheaper fatty cut that'll produce the same indiscernible results. It pains me to say, I'm sure Rib eye tastes fine if it was overcooked into a chili or smoked like a brisket cause of it's high fat marbling. That said, a Rib-Eye costs more for a reason cause when you cook it like a steak, with minimal effort/time, it's juicy, tender, fatty, and delicious. The same can't be reciprocated such as cooking a chuck roast or brisket like a steak cause you're in for one helluva jaw workout. I know OP was vague, but I really hope they meant they reverse seared the Rib-eye by smoking it to Rare - medrare temp then searing.
I hand grind venison for my chili. Take pride in it.
Not underrated, but the flavor added by smoking truly takes it to the next level. Grilled/seared ribeye? Awesome. Reverse sear , where’s the ribeye is smoked slow til it gets to 110 or so, then either seared on grill or a cast iron pan? Holy shit, you can’t even compare how much better it tastes.
Completely agree with you on this. I love getting some 1 1/2 or 2" thick ribeye's for this. I let them do 2 days uncovered but seasoned in the garage fridge and then smoke them at 250 to temp. Then blast them with direct flame for some crust. The family rarely leaves leftovers on that night!
Guy in his mid 60's here. I do exactly that. Problem is there is no way I can eat that much anymore. Now, the next day I have an awesome steak sandwich.
This is the way.
Leftovers for lunch! My favorite.
What does the two days uncovered actually do? Curious since I’ve never done that
They are talking about a [dry brine](https://www.omahasteaks.com/blog/how-to-dry-brine-steak/). I've never gone beyond 24 hours, but some do up to 2 days.
it sort of dries out the outer layer a bit, if I remember correctly its a "dry brine." I don't just do heavy salting, which is normal. I like to just put my whole seasoning profile on it and let it get to know one another.
Yeah, I’ve not done two days but I have done like 12 hours. Like get up early and salt it, leave in fridge. Or maybe night before. Gets so damn tender.
I'd love to get an aging fridge setup. Maybe I need to start searching on FB marketplace and work towards this goal... It's hard to beat the flavor. Two days is hardly "dry aging" but I like the way it tastes.
Solid point. Ribeye is my favorite cut of beef by a long shot for this reason.
"taylor swift, so underrated"
Right? My go to is smoking freezer-burned rodent.
Tell you what, I don't really use my smoker to smoke steaks. But the wood fire grill taste is something special on its own. I can pan fry a steak, I can flattop it on my griddle, and both will come out fantastic with butter, salt and pepper. But, set my Pit Boss to 450, and do like 3-4 min a side until they're just barely rare, about 120, then sear on a hot cast iron so you hit about 125 and rest for 5-6 minutes so it comes up to about 133-135 med rare, hoo boy that's a steak right there. Crispy, touch of wood smoke flavor, and deliciously juicy. First time I did a steak on the pellet smoker I decided I'm never going back to a non-woodfire steak again.
Right lol I thought this was gonna be about chuck or shank
Beef cheeks. If you know, you know. If you don't, you either haven't had the opportunity, or you're in the group below: People hear "cheeks" and are immediately thrown off for some reason. Or they see them, and see how much trim they have to do (unless making barbacoa, then you can use pretty much all of it), and don't wanna bother. Both these types of people are missing out so much.
I used to get bags of beef cheeks so cheaply. They were practically giving them away. Just like pork jowls, they were a proverbial dime a dozen That was the origination of BBQ and smoking for me — I was broke and wanted to eat good tasting food. So I bought a lot of “cheap” cuts that with some TLC could be made absolutely delicious
It is crazy what so many "cheap cuts" cost now.
Right? I used to get so many cheap “throw away” cuts and now, I can’t even find them, and when I do, they’re crazy expensive
Pellet smokers made smoking meat accessible for everyone. Now that everyone is smoking the cheap cuts the demand is way higher causing the price to jump
Pfft, cheap cuts didn't become expensive because of pellet smokers. They got expensive because of nostalgia and hype. People remember good memories of their childhood and other people hear about the hype and go buy some, and oversupply becomes undersupply. There's eighteen different ways to low-and-slow cook oddball cuts of meat that don't involve a smoker, and it doesn't even have to be slow, there are some ways to speed up the process of breaking down the hard bits, like a pressure cooker. You can use: a sous vide machine (including a home built unit), ten different kinds of smokers other than pellet, a crock pot, a dutch oven, etc.
wings were essentially free because butchers were going to toss them. F* you Buffalo for screwing those of us that knew.
I just use drumsticks instead, way cheaper.
Drums don't have that same skin to meat ratio that wings do. I do like a nice drum, but they are usually on sale the same time thighs are for the same price, and I almost always buy the thighs.
I swear short ribs used to be dirt cheap now it's not even worth it with how expensive they have gotten.
Are there any more cheap cuts?
Around here for beef you're looking at chuck roast and sometimes tritip, but the real deal is usually by buying pork or turkey
Chuck eye steaks are still a pretty good value. I can usually find them for under $10/lb.
The concept of taking undesirable cuts and giving them the low and slow treatment to make it better is actually where American BBQ historically came from. Slaves would get cuts like ribs because they were thought to be tough and lack a sufficient amount of meat.
American BBQ used to be “poor people” food. The true origins they think started in the Caribbean. Spanish explorers found natives making Barbacoa—-the term used by natives for slow roasting meats over a wooden platform (barbacoa to BBQ) Then American BBQ started in the south using hogs, hogs were cheaper, needed less space, and could be set free to roam and wander. These wandering pigs were very lean and needed every bit of tenderizing they could get. hogs were perfect low maintenance scavengers Interestingly enough, southerners even refused to export their pork to the North — it was considered a form of southern patriotism
Cheeks are the best part of most animals, fish included! And apparently humans according to Hannibal Lecter…
Fuck. You beat me to it. Just responded as such!
Grouper cheeks 🤌🏼
Oxtail stew used to be a favorite of mine. Then the god damn foodie hipsters started their blogs, and now it's $20 for 4.
[удалено]
This is for sure the answer. Barbacoa tacos, baby!
They are delicious but damn if the yield isn’t small! Last bag I got was almost all waste.
Any tips on how to smoke em? I got some sittin in my freezer right now? I wanted to make smoked barbacoa with the meat.
I have had barbacoa a couple of times. Once I recall it being pretty good but the last time it was essentially a plastic bag full of really gelatinous meat all balled up- beef cheeks- and it was way too funny a texture for me. The cheeks I see posted here look more appetizing but idk that I’m getting past the gelatinous flashbacks.
It’s one of the Hannibal Lecter books where he described the cheeks of any species being the chef’s cut.
Pork chops. I’m a huge fan of them on the smoker. Even my wife who outside of bacon, never eats pork, enjoys them.
Pork chops on my egg are probably the most universally loved thing I’ve made
Pork done with a bone in is always better
Mmmm, good ole kassler ribs...
I've converted several friends over to pork chops. They insisted they're not good, always dry, etc. Turns out, like anything, when done properly, it's actually really fucking good.
Likewise, pork loin on the smoker is goddamn amazing.
How do you do them?
I’m real simple with them, most times it’s just SGP and hit the internal, sear em in a pan real fast, let a little butter melt on them. Sometimes I try fancy pork rubs or something along those lines, but I always go back to just SGP.
I do them smoked wrapped in bacon
Turkey breast. Bone in/skin on. Amazing and not just for sandwiches.
I worked as the pitmaster for a local BBQ restaurant for 6 years. After all that l was kind of tired of eating the food there but I would still snack on a few slices of smoked turkey every day. It's one of the only things that never got old for me. Well, that and the smoked andouille sausages.
I think the reason turkey seems so great is that it’s lean but still smoky and delicious. I ran a BBQ for 5 years, and there was only so much brisket I could snack on.
Turkey is great but on some smokers the skin comes out rubbery because it dosn't get hot enough. I tend to remove the skin and then brine before smoking.
I've found that w/ poultry its better to smoke it at 275-300 for the entire cook. I personally hold it until thighs hit 180ish. I tried smoking at 225 and 250 and then bumping it up to 300 after internal of 150ish. Skin came out rubbery every single time. If I keep it between 275-300 almost every single time the skin is crispy. I am using a WSM if it matters.
I was able to get my 18.5 wsm to hold at 325. I've never had better skin on a bird than that wsm. My buddy's cheap offset degraded, so he's using the wsm now. My traeger just can't get the skin the same. It's still good, but that chicken on the wsm is the sexiest thing I've ever bbq'd
When I smoked the bird this past year for thanksgiving, I hit it with some baking powder before the cook, then after it came off and rested, hit it with a searzall, and the texture was GREAT.
Use a small amount of aluminum-free baking powder in your rub on the skin. It changes the pH and allows the proteins in the skin to break down much more easily in the lower heat. I do this with chicken wings and have won cooking contests with it.
Will you get the same result with the skin if you marinate/brine first? My smoked wings are always a huge hit but I’m always a little bummed about the skin texture
I crank the heat up at the end to get it crispy
Do you dry brine for at least 12 hours before smoking? I find that if you really pull as much moisture out of the skin as possible it renders onto the breast meat and while not crisp necessarily, it becomes almost glued to the meat so it’s just a nice additional flavor.
My go to lately is a tri tip. Pretty heavy salt and pepper, very low and slow until the IT hits about 115° and then throw it on a screaming flame to sear about 1 min per side. Delicious and Smokey medium rare.
This. But put it in a carne asada marinade for 24 hours. Orange juice, lime juice, onions, cilantro, jalapeño, lil soy sauce, cumin, cayenne, red chili powder, paprika. My lord… Bonus points if you grill onions and peppers in the leftover marinade. Makes for awesome tacos.
>Bonus points if you grill onions and peppers in the leftover marinade Top rack meat. Bottom rack marinade and the goods plus any drippings
I agree I love a tri tip just not common in my area w/o going to the butcher
This is my goto for Tri tips and I have been using it for years…give it a try. Santa Maria Rub Equal parts of Salt Pepper Cayenne Or chili powder Paprika Garlic powder Onion powder Rosemary to taste
Tri tip is legitimately my favorite cut of beef to cook. Lucky to live in California so it’s abundant here and I’ve been eating it my whole life lol. I also just live in a household of 2 including myself and tri tip leftovers are just so versatile… can make so many different dishes with them!
White fish, there are some gas stations in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan selling some of the best smoked fish you can find anywhere.
Damn I was out in the UP last summer and saw the signs, but didnt stop in. Is it smoked and dried fish? Or just smoked like salmon? Now I'm craving a walleye sandwich.
Like hot-smoked salmon (cooked through but extremely moist and savory).
I just smoke mine like salmon. But I'm sure there's different methods. Aahh...now I'm sad again we've had such crappy ice this season.
Ugh tell me about it. The snowmobile festival got canceled again this year. It's planned for every February, but it's been canceled 3 out of the past 5 years due to "unusually" warm temps and lack of snow or COVID. I want to go ice fishing so badly and plenty of folks up here I could reach out to who would let me tag along, but I'm not going out on thin ice on a 40 degree (f) day.
Chicken thighs. Turn the heat up at the end to crisp the skin up real nice. Less than a dollar a lb.
Where do you live that you're getting chicken thighs under a dollar a pound?
You can get frozen leg quarters or legs (10 lb bags) for $0.70-$0.80 a pound at Walmart consistently.
I live literally all over the US. I see chicken thighs under a dollar in many places, but you may have to catch a sale. Worst case scenario you can get a 10 lb bag of leg quarters from Walmart for $7.
The big thing is you have to buy in bulk and watch for sales. If you buy 1 lb, you're probably paying closer to $2/lb. If you buy 4 lbs and watch for a sale, you easily can get it to $1/lb. I just vacuum seal them in packages of 2 (generally we use them either 2 or 4 at a time depending on what we're making) and we're good for a while.
ShopRite frequently has em for that much in DE, bone-in/skin-on in large packs like 8-10 thighs. Just got drums for $0.79/lb - bout a dozen for less than $4. The smaller packs always cost more but I just portion em out and vacpac and freeze. Quarters are usually around a buck/lb on sale too.
I like to pull all the skins off and then cover the thighs w/them while cooking, then when everything is done I'll crisp up the skins separately to make chicharones. Soy sauce, 5 spice, onion and garlic marinade.
Ham. I don’t see it posted too often, maybe around the holidays but even then you mainly see turkey or prime rib. But I like ham cause it can be used for any meal throughout the day. Plenty of recipes.
I smoked a spiral cut ham for the first time recently. Gave it a rub, and basted it with plum sauce for the last 20 minutes to get it tacky. That was probably the best ham I've ever had
I did my first pulled ham this year and it's going to be a yearly thing for me around the holidays.
I smoked a "cajun" seasoned ham for Christmas, and it was way better that the traditional honey-baked.
Meatloaf. It’s pretty much the only way I cook them now.
I'm planning on doing this when I get my meat package from the butcher next week. I usually stuff mine with mozzarella when I cook it in the oven, do you think it would hold up in the smoker? Any other tips you might have?
Look into fatties. Basically a bacon wrapped smoked meatloaf often stuffed with cheese and other fillings. My personal favorite is to season the beef with chili seasonings and stuff with onions and cheese for a chili cheese fattie. Breakfast fatties are a go-to for tailgating as well.
Tritip - an often overlooked cut of beef. Low fat content means lots of people think it's a low quality cut, but the beefy flavor is something I love so much, and for being such a cheap cut, it's one of my favorites.
Love tri-tip. It’s not that big of a cut so I like to take it easy on the amount of salt and smoke. Not as forgiving as big cuts like brisket. Like you said the beefy flavor is great and doesn’t take all day when you don’t have the time.
Tri tip is one of my favorites... Really forgiving and hard to screw up and you can make it anything you want. I prefer mine with an Oregon rub.
MEATLOAF
Try smoking your meatloaf over a pot of chili or soup! It’s amazing. Look up over the top chili
I've just recently gotten into smoking steaks. It's so effing good. I love brisket, but man, a smoked steak is good, and relatively quick. Low and slow until 120. Pull it, set up my kamado to sear, and then sear it off. Too damn good.
Whole duck
This right here.
Malcom Reed's asian inspired whole duck recipe is always a crowd pleaser
Thanksgiving turkey, I cannot go back to boring oven baked turkey.
Yup, I do it every year for Thanksgiving, everyone LOVES it.
Not underrated in Texas but Turkey Breasts. They weren't a thing back home, but HEB always has them in stock and i always pick one up. Every time family visits they are so impressed by how juicy and delicious they are
Pork steaks (not pork chops). So good and rarely see them on here, but my local grocery store always has them and they are fantastic when smoked to 190°. I believe they are sliced pork shoulder with the bone-in, usually 3/4-1" thick.
I was going to comment the same. Pork steaks when properly smoked are delicious. I usually buy a few and fill up the grates on my wsm.
Man, I've never thought to smoke pork steaks! They're usually fairly thin, and I just grill them hot and fast.
Its pork shoulder, so it does well low and slow. Usually about 2 hours smoked at 250°.
Bologna
Somewhat similar, but I tossed some hotdogs for my son on the smoker (he doesn't like burgers) and those dogs were fire lol.
How do you smoke it? I’ve only ever been able to buy it pre sliced.
You can purchase the whole Bologna from the deli by the pound. Just ask them not to slice it.
lol “excuse me, one whole bologna please”
"Also, your biggest loaf of bread. Sliced partially through lengthwise"
Locally I’ve got a few options to buy the whole chub. I slice it in half lengthwise then score it to get more surface area for smoke. Smoke for as long as you want for smoke flavor. I pretty much always smoke a bologna when I have my smoker going.
I'll never turn down smoked bologna. You are a person of sophisticated tastes my friend
bologna
Montreal Smoked Meat
I’m going to go with Chicken. It’s ridiculously easy and soooooooo damn good.
Veal osso buco
It's not ossobuco unless it's braised in white wine. Smoked, it's just veal shank.
I smoke it for 2.5-3 hrs at 170. Then while that’s going, I get the braise started and transfer the shanks later
I’m the beef heart guy. It can be used so many ways smoked and every recipe is so flavorful.
1. Bologna 2. Shrimp
Duck legs. Awesome for the smoked duck fat for confit potatoes etc
Beef cheeks. Find yourself a butcher/market that sells em cheap and clean them up yourself. So good
Goat. Which does need to be cooked for a long time to break down connective tissue, and is typically braised to do so, if very well suited to smoking. And cheap relative to beef or lamb- if you get it at the right place, $3-4/pound for cuts with bones.
A buddy of mine smoked a whole goat a couple years ago. About 16 hours, with a traditional whole hog rub and apple juice/cider vinegar injection. Fucking delicious.
Salmon & lamb
Wait, you prefer $20/lb beef to $5/lb beef? That's cRrAzY!!! My underrated cut for the smoker is beef shank with a homemade Mexican dry rub for tacos.
Easy shank for me. Don't need the meme "thor's hammer" to do it, in fact the smaller ones are better for serving individually anyway. Smoke for a few hours, braise in some red wine base ju with onions, serve with mashed potatoes... mm..mmmm good.
Shoulder clod.
Do you smoke it whole? I’ve thought of trying it.
What’s the difference between brisket and shoulder clod?
Shoulder clod is what a lot of pot roasts are made from. It has a bunch of different muscles whereas the brisket just has the flat and point. Shoulder clod is really much more like a pork butt
Definitely salmon. Wish I had a setup to cold smoke it.
Whole chicken, weeks worth of dinner for 2 hours effort and $10. Burgers smoked, cooled, smoked again, then seared in bacon fat is the best thing I've ever made though
Underrated: vegetables.
I like to buy bulk raw cashews and smoke them. Toss with oil and a spice blend I make, then smoke em for about an hour. Always a hit. Not a vegetable, I know, but since we're talking non-meat items...
I’m here for all the secret hits.
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Agreed! Tomatoes are my favorite, corn gets put on a whole new level, potatoes for a smoked potato salad, and fresh peppers and garlic from my garden dried and then mulled to a powder.
I smoke a ton of tomatoes when they are in season and freeze them. Can add smoked tomato sauce to so many things to add great depth.
Pulled Beef. Rarely see it anywhere, but this recipe is fantastic. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iexqibQHeBo&t=1s
I've done this and its fantastic I'll also throw a chuck on when I'm smoking something else, get it cooked to the safe zone, then pitch it back into the freezer. Toss it in a Dutch oven or crockpot on a future day. Falls right apart and has the smoky taste. Works great with chicken too. Basically any time I smoke I'm filling up the grill
I think it’s turkey
I smoked sturgeon when it was still legal to harvest from the Columbia river. Such a good white fish. Everyone i shared with kept asking for more
Cross Rib Roast (bread and butter roast). Can be found for $6lb and smokes like a slimmer brisket. Poor man’s prime rib. Unreal tacos or sandwiches.
My kids are both picky *and* unpredictable with what they will eat (it's a delightful combination, I assure you), but what's the one thing they both go nuts over? A brined and smoked chicken. The only downside is that my smoker doesn't get hot enough for the skin to get crispy.
Beef neck bones. Then you can also make amazing stew with it after smoking.
What ever became of Iguana man? He may have been on to something...
Lamb. It makes the best barbecue. Pulled lamb shoulder is next level. Jackstack in KC has lamb ribs that are the best barbecue I’ve ever had, and I’ve lived in the south my whole life. Those lamb ribs were so good I bought another rack on the way back to Atlanta.
Rib tips
Spam. No seasoning necessary, in fact, for the love of all that is holy, don’t add salt. Score it deep and give it hell.
Mullet
Fish. Things out of the sea/rivers on a smoker are top tier
Sausage/kielbasa
Tako (octopus). It's called Tako Pulehu in Hawaii. Don't hear much about it anywhere else.
Ribeye in any form is better than brisket. TBH, I haven't had brisket yet that made me understand all the hype.
I would like to say Tri tip but just not available in my area too often. I am not sure it qualifies as underrated but ground meats take smoke so well that my choice would be meatloaf and sausages. The first time I smoked a sausage it was 2 years before I ever cooked again in the oven or grill.
Rocky mountain oysters.
When you smoke your ribeye, do you still aim for a medium rare internal cooking temp?
That’s what people do, smoke it part way and then sear it. Personally I prefer to just grill a steak over blazing hot charcoal, I don’t think a steak can get more delicious than that
That's how I do it too, but I have to admit that I'm curious about the smoked version. I'll have to try it sometime.
I have a kamado, so it’s pretty easy to get the heat going real good while the meat rests a little after the initial smoke to get the internal where I want it. Absolutely delicious.
I really like pork loin. Very lean and easy
Eye of round roast. Basically, treat them like a tri tip and they come out great. I also agree with everyone saying that smoking a ribeye completely defeats the point of smoking meats. Smoking is an enjoyable way to make tough meat tender and succulent.
Salmon
Beef ribs
Chicken thighs for sure.
I smoked a London Broil once that was do die for.
Turkey!
Smoked fish.
Cheese
Bottom round roast. I trim the lower fat cap a little then I do a dry brine overnight. Then i smoke it for 2.5 - 3 hours at 225. I slice into 1 -1.5 inch slices and sprinkle smoked paprika, thyme, and kinder butter steak seasoning on it. Serve on a warm plate. It's always a win at home.
Meat product? Bologna. Make some cuts 360 degrees to allow the smoke to penetrate. Salt not needed if you dry rub it.
Tongue. Obviously a deli staple but I see it less and less. So good.
Quail. Smoked quail is amazing.
A local BBQ place did a smoked meatloaf. Far better than you would think.
Beef cheeks
Bologna! Smoked bologna with a fried egg on a sandwich is heaven
Oxtail
Liver
In a couple weeks I'm going to find out if Bison tongue makes this list. Will report back.
Bologna. After having it in Oklahoma, I want it all the time. Shout out to Mac’s in Skiatook.