# I need help smoking ribs, brisket and pork



## jsheffie (Dec 4, 2008)

Hi I just bought a mastergriller electric smoker. Can you guys give me some tips on how I should smoke ribs, brisket, and pork butt? I guess what I need to know is:
How long?
What temperature?
How often to replace the wood and what kind of wood should I try?
What is the best way to check the meat temp without opening the door very much?
Any other suggestions would be greatly appreciated

Thank you!


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## jacobsol80 (Aug 12, 2008)

Good questions. The answers are varied and would take quite a few pages to write. I suspect if you carefully review this forum you will find quite a few of the answers in other threads. There are also quite a few good books on the subject including "The Jack Daniels Cookbook" and "Smoke & Spice". A thorough search of the internet will also yield quite a bit of good information. Good luck and have fun with your new toy.


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## fowl_play (Mar 31, 2006)

hey go to this site. the guys on this forum are extremely helpful. and if you cant find it on that forum, someone will probably know about it.

www.smokingmeatforums.com


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## taterdavid (Feb 22, 2009)

i recomend the forum mentioned above also, very helpful group of guys


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## jacobsol80 (Aug 12, 2008)

Get yourself a couple of cookbooks. The "Jack Daniels Barbecue Cookbook" and "Smoke n Spice" are two that I would recommend.


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## tigerdog (Jan 24, 2008)

I found the smokingmeatforums.com site to be helpful. I just got a smoker for Christmas. This week I bought a remote meat thermometer so that I could avoid opening the door as often. You stick the probe into the meat and connect its wire to a transmitter that sends a signal to a receiver that you can keep inside the house. I haven't used mine yet, but I've been told that these are useful, especially as you're learning.


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## MossyMO (Feb 12, 2004)

Jsheffie

With ribs you should not go by internal meat temperature to know when they are done; as a temperature probe is likely to hit bone and give you a much higher temperature reading than what the temperature of the meat is actually at. I look at the meat pull back from the bone and also take a rib bone in hand and get a feel for how secure the bone is in the meat to see if it is done to my personal preference (after a couple racks of ribs you will get a feel for it).

Here is a link to a brisket I smoked, in the thread there is also a link to the original recipe - http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/showth ... ht=brisket

For pork butt the temperature depends if you are making it to slice or pull. For pulled pork I like 195º-200º and for sliced pork I go to 165º-170º.

As far as how long it takes, ribs is one of the few meats you can have done when you plan, for me they take 5 to 6 hours. For roasts, butts and briskets it is a guessing game. You can hope for an hour and a half per pound, but almost every piece of meat has a stall time when the temperature seems to quite rising. This is where membranes and tissue connecting the meat firmly together are breaking down, this stall can last for hours. So always start plenty early if you have a serving time planned; can always keep it warm and moist once it is done.

Tigerdog's remote meat thermometer suggestion is a good peice of advise, I have many.

For wood choices that is pretty much personal choice, but hickory is normally a great smell and taste for quite a few foods.

The previously mentioned website in this thread is a good resource for smoking recipes, but many of the experienced smokers have went (internet politics) to other sites. Here is where most of the old timers can be found - http://www.smoked-meat.com/forum/index.php and http://deejaysworld.net/deejayssmokepit/yabb/YaBB.pl


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## Chuck Smith (Feb 22, 2005)

I know this is an older thread....but I just did a brisket the other day and it turned out great.

It took roughly 1.5 hours per pound.

I found a rub on the internet I felt would taste good and mixed it up.

This is what you will need... Brisket, disposable cake pan or turkey roasting pan (what ever fits in your smoker), rub (what ever you choose to use), yellow mustard, and smoker essentials.

First I took the brisket and trimmed it up a little only a 1/4 of fat on it. Then I scored the meat. Then I went and started up the smoker getting it to 240 degrees. I went back in and put on some yellow mustard (wet mustard) and then applied the rub to both sides. Let sit until smoker is up to temp (240 degrees). I put brisket into disposable pan and and let go for 4 hours. Then I stopped adding smoke and just let cook in smoker. All the while maintaining temp from 230- 240 degrees. Then I flipped brisket in the pan. Let sit for another 2 hours and flipped again until finished. Waited until internal temp of brisket was at 200 degrees. (I checked multiple spots on the meat to make sure all is at 200 degrees). Then brought it in and wrapped pan in tin foil to cover and covered with towels to let rest for 30 mins. Got rest of meal ready. Sliced and enjoyed. Also finished off the left overs the next day in a sandwich.

6 lb brisket took roughly 9 hours.

enjoy.


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## AdamFisk (Jan 30, 2005)

Sounds good Chuck.

At internal temp of 200, how would you guage the meat? Medium rare, medium, well????

Thanks.


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## Chuck Smith (Feb 22, 2005)

It had no pink in it.

It was still moist and tender.

My family does not like steaks more than medium rare the pinker the better is how I was brought up. Yet they loved this brisket. If fact I am doing another one this weekend.

The email that gave me this recipe (smoking-meats.com) said you get it to that temp to break down all the connective tissue to make it tender and moist.

If anyone would like the step by step email I got from them..... Just shoot me a pm with an email address. I will gladly forward it.


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