Lucky pig Test Kitchen

08/02/2024

13 1/2 hours and we’re done. Letting it cool down and off to the warmer for a few hours. Cooking brisket on the ole hickory is a lot easier and not as hot as demolition work. I ain’t touching nothing that makes me sweat today.

08/02/2024

Briskets been on since 10pm. Probably another hour and a half till wrapping then another 3 or so till holding time. 225 all night with oak wood.

07/31/2024

Little early brisket trimming for a Thursday night cook. May try a little dry brining.

07/26/2024

Off to the warmer until time to deliver.

07/26/2024

What to do with pieces of meat that you trim off of the ribs? I don’t throw em away. I either chop up and freeze (after cooking)for beans or better yet, it’s the cook’s samples.

07/26/2024

Making the ball valve modification to the firebox on the ole hickory has in my opinion given me a much cleaner smoke. Burning oak now and will go to cherry later.

07/12/2024

Probably not the most cost efficient but man it’s really good. Marinaded in allegro brisket/fajita marinade overnight, seasoned lightly with plowboys bovine bold rub. Pat as dry as you can, season, set smoker temp to 180. I originally was going to use the Weber pellet grill set on smokeboost but decided to just use the electric smoker using oak chips. Ran for six hours flipping one time about half way. Man oh man….I’ll have to just hide it from myself. Also I’ll be buying a whole top round roast and slice 1/8” slices myself because this little bit was around $17 pre-sliced. It was only slightly over 2 lbs pre smoked.

07/10/2024

Clean out time on the Weber summit kamado. Goes up in temp very quick.

07/10/2024

Fresh batch of one pound bags of Nell’s sweet heat in stock. $10. I know it’s hot but we all still gotta eat and ya still cooking/grilling/smoking/baking and air frying and ya know this will season anything,anyway you cook it.

07/10/2024

Doing a small cook today so I fired up the Weber summit kamado. Going all Hickory wood on this for a good ole southern bbq taste. The summit is as a set it and forget it as any pellet grill and probably more. I’ve let it go 16+ hours before on one load, no touch.

07/09/2024

Pecan smoked olive oil.

07/09/2024

Cheese is smoked so I switched over to pecan wood to smoke some olive oil while I’ve got things going.

07/09/2024

Smoking cheese today. I really like these chips for the cold smoke attachment, they feed great due to the consistent small size. We get them at Menards but all I can ever find is apple. It works well with cheese though.

07/06/2024

Got a few things on and fixing to put some burgers,sausage and hotdogs on. It’s not terrible hot today at the outback shack.

07/05/2024

Here’s my way of prepping a bunch of burgers. I start with a cold roll of hamburger,in fact you can put in freezer a little bit because the colder the better. I mark about 3/4” marks and slice still in the package but stop before going all the way through the bottom wrap. Lined a full size sheet pan with parchment paper, after slicing I use both hands and press edges while pushing towards the middle to get a firm patty. Seasoning as I stack, using parchment paper between layers. Some way I got 25 from one roll and 24 from the other lol. Wrapped in plastic film and refrigerate until tomorrow. Works for me.

07/04/2024

2 1/2 hours in, another 2 1/2 to go. We’ll be delivering these.

07/04/2024

Happy Independence Day! Time to fire up the ole hickory and get these ribs seasoned up for a few folks.

07/03/2024

Doing a no touch, no trim brisket on the drum. Letting the drum determine to cook temp. Thinking about doing the blacks bbq method of cooking till 165/170 chill down and refrigerate overnight then back on smoker till probe tender, no wrapping. Then again, I’m may go another direction altogether. So far it’s cooking pretty fast.

06/28/2024

When you’ve got tomatoes this big and pretty it’s time to smoke some bologna to make sandwiches to go with them. From experience, use plain ol bar s bologna. Tried some expensive gourmet bologna once and it was too dense to get smoke. Cut some groves around both ways , use mustard as a binder for the rub ( I use spicy brown but regular works as well) I mixed Nell’s with fiesta brand brisket rub and a little black pepper for the rub. Smoke at 225/250 ( lower temp if heavy sugar in your rub) smoke for 3/4 hours. I use oak or pecan wood for smoke. I have sauced some in the past and didn’t care for it but then I’m not a big fan of sauced up anything, so I’m leaving this plain. Remove when done, slice,wrap and let sit in frig for a day or two to absorb the smoke. Fry it,heat up or eat it cold. It’s fantastic.

06/24/2024

I’ve gotta say ( yes, I always get one slice) this brisket turned out fantastic! I’m not always 💯 percent happy with my own cooking,but I’ll brag on this one. Good cow evidently. Low and slow with a mix of pecan and cherry wood on the ole hickory cto. Didn’t have to trim much to begin with on this one and finished with a good amount of meat. Tender, juicy and delicious. And…..it’s not ours. lol. Chilling down to vac seal tomorrow. It’ll reheat great.

06/24/2024

Another brisket off the list getting done. Got a couple more waiting but I don’t have any more right now. Gotta go to Sam’s again. They’ve been pretty consistent lately with decent briskets. Btw……it’s hot today lol.

06/22/2024

06/22/2024

Brisket came off at 3 (8 hrs) rested for an hour and sliced it up to reheat tomorrow for a gathering with friends up at the lake. These flats are pretty much double the cost of a full comparable packer but man they are so much easier to cook and slice. Wasn’t dry either, I had to give it a try.

06/21/2024

Putting a little smoke on a 9 1/2 lb brisket flat. Brisket flats are a whole lot less involved but they’re expensive. And easier to dry out.

06/14/2024

I had a couple things to try today. One was firebox mod on the cto to be able to burn just charcoal and wood with a cleaner burn. To keep some rating to use inside a restaurant they can’t add a vent at factory on gas cto’s. But you can run charcoal and wood without gas just had to leave firebox cracked a little. This fixes that. Anyway,works great. Second, and I’ve seen it done before, was to cut ribs into individual bones and smoke. Gets a bark on all sides and takes only about 3 hours. I sauced these to stick with original recipe I saw but next time I wouldn’t since I’m really not a sauce fan. They taste pretty good though. Success on both I’d say.

06/11/2024

My first start to finish with 💯 percent wood on the Santa Maria with a big tri tip. Threw in a couple chicken breast too. I need to find some red oak to be “authentic “ lol. I’d like to get some hands on lessons from a true Californian on doing these on a Santa Maria grill. I can make one pretty on a smoker but got a little char on these but turned out pretty good. And since we had an option for catfish tonight in town ( imad food trailer) we went and blew our diet with that so I’ll vac seal all our cooking for later.

06/11/2024

Cheese is smoked and wrapped in parchment paper till tomorrow. Thought I’d go ahead and marinate this tri tip for tonight. Need/want a chamber vac so I can vac seal liquids making it easier to marinate things. Gonna do a reverse sear on this and might break out the Santa Maria grill for this although I’m not an expert on it.

06/11/2024

Smoking a few blocks of pepper jack and onion cheese this morning while it’s nice and cool this morning.