Not everything on this site involves a smoker, and this is one of those — sous vide egg jars I got into a few years back as a make-ahead breakfast. I made a few batches of these, five or six times total, using a custom rig built out of a cooler with a notched lid…
Author: backyardsmoking
Smoked Ribs
I decided to smoke some ribs on a fine spring day — low 60s, no rain in the forecast. I fired up my 22″ Weber Smokey Mountain for three racks of baby back ribs, picked up in a 3-pack from my local GFS for around $8 a rack. I used a Weber-branded rub after removing…
Smoke-First vs. Sous-Vide-First Wings — A Real Head-to-Head Test
The Setup I placed 40 wings in water to thaw them out in advance, then lightly seasoned all 40 with salt and pepper. I split them into two batches of 20, to run a real side-by-side comparison: same total time, same rub, same wood, same finish — just the order of smoking and sous vide…
Smoked Pork Belly
I’ve only tried smoking pork belly once before, and that time I went the burnt ends route with mixed results. This time, I wanted to try something simpler — just a standard smoked pork belly, no cubing, no glaze. I picked up a skinless pork belly from Sam’s, about 4 pounds for under $15. I…
Sous Vide Pork Chops — Perfectly Even Every Time
My obsession with the sous vide cooking process continues. One of my favorite things to cook this way has been thick-cut pork chops. I picked up a pork loin on sale, close to 4 pounds for just over $6 — a great buy, but even at full price, a pork loin is an inexpensive way…
Smoke-Free Sous Vide Chuck Roast — 48 Hours, Edge-to-Edge Medium Rare
It was a washout of a weekend, so instead of smoking something, I did a long sous vide cook instead. I picked up a large, thick chuck roast, over 5 pounds. I gave it a light sear before bagging it, then seasoned with salt, pepper, and garlic powder, vacuum sealed it, and set the Anova…
Overnight Smoked Brisket — My Low-and-Slow Midnight Method
This is my go-to process for brisket — the standard, no-frills overnight smoke I come back to more than any other method. Although the calendar said fall, the temps still felt like summer. Brisket prices had finally come back to earth, though, and I picked one up for just under $26 from my local GFS,…
Sweet Heat: Cherry-Smoked Cinnamon Chipotle Almonds
Why Almonds I prefer smoked cashews, if I’m honest, but almonds are the healthier choice, and they’re an easy way to get extra use out of a smoker that’s already hot from a bigger cook. Sweet Heat That’s what I call this one — raw almonds, tossed with a small amount of olive oil as…
Best Ribeye Ever — Sous Vide, Smoked, and Seared
Decided to mix things up a bit with my new sous vide. I picked up a couple of thick ribeyes on closeout — nothing special, about a $15 purchase. After doing some research, I decided to cook them 2.5 hours in the water at 129°F. Normally that would be followed by removing them and searing…
Eye Round – The French Connection: Sous Vide, Smoked, and Sliced for Sandwiches
I’m still playing around with my sous vide and picked up an eye round on closeout to try something new. The “French Connection” in the title isn’t a crime movie reference — sous vide itself is a French technique, literally translating to “under vacuum,” and this cook leans into that fully: French method, applied to…
Smoke-Free Sous Vide Strip Steak — First Run With a New Anova
I finally got around to trying my new toy — I’d purchased the Anova Sous Vide, Bluetooth edition. I’d done a little research on the method, which is labeled precision cooking: you season the product you want to cook, seal it, and set the target temperature you want it served at. I used my vacuum…
Pork belly burnt ends – first attempt
I decided to try pork belly burnt ends since I was finally able to find some to work with — Sam’s had started carrying uncured pork belly, and at under $15, the price made it an easy, low-risk experiment. The recipe I was following called for cubing it into 2″x2″ chunks, since they shrink…
Brisket Sandwich
Plenty of brisket left over from a recent cook, decided to make a “special” brisket sandwich (not the only thing I do with leftovers — see my Leftover Brisket Breakfast Bowl too). I took a couple of slices of red onion and some mushroom and I sauteed them. I then took some sourdough bread and…
Patio Ribs….
My typical go-to cook on Mother’s Day is ribs. One year my wife headed to California to spend time with our daughter, but the tradition continued anyway — just me, the smoker, and a rack done the way I always do it: the 3-2-1 method. I picked up a rack at $2.88/lb, around $8 total….
Smoked Chuck Roast — A Poor Man’s Brisket
I picked up a prime chuck roast from Kroger the other day and decided to smoke it. I was in a time crunch, since the weather had predicted storms coming in late in the afternoon. I lit about 40 coals in the chimney starter and topped it off with some fresh coals leftover from the…
Smoked Margarita Chicken and Smoked Mac and Cheese
The Marinade It was a beautiful Master’s Sunday and I decided to smoke something since it had been a couple of weeks. I purchased some chicken thighs and a small package of mild Italian sausages. I decided to go with a marinade only and never applied any seasoning to the chicken — a first for…
Beef Burnt Ends — What Went Wrong the First Time (And How I Fixed It)
Decided to try to cook burnt ends for the first time. The normal process would be to cook a full brisket and then separate the point and use it for burnt ends. In this situation I used a fresh brisket and cut the point and some of the flat out and smoked it. I determined…
Smoked Chocolate
Decided to try smoked chocolate, at the suggestion of a friend’s daughter. Completed via a cold smoke, used cherry and oak pellets. I have found that the easiest way to light the pellets is by using my gas grill. It only takes 3 or 4 minutes to get them going. The idea is generate a…
Can You Over-Smoke Cheese? What I Learned
The Mistake I was running low on smoked cheese: white cheddar, sharp cheddar, Colby jack, and a wedge each of un-smoked Gouda and Swiss. It was cold outside, so I skipped the water pan full of ice I’d normally use — a shortcut I wouldn’t take again. I loaded the tube with hickory pellets and…
Smoked NY Strip Roast — A Whole Roast, Not Individual Steaks
My Kroger had a deal on whole/half NY strips this week — a bargain at $4.99/lb. I picked up a 7-lb slab and cut 6 individual steaks off it, vacuum packed and froze those for later. I took the remaining portion, about 3.5 lbs, and kept it as one whole roast rather than slicing it…
Easy Smoked Chicken Thighs — My Cheap, Reliable Go-To
The Easy Go-To I’d been down for a while fighting bronchitis, and hadn’t smoked in two weeks. Even though it was cold, in the 20s, I decided I needed to smoke something — this was shortly before I traveled to Las Vegas for a vendor conference during Valentine’s Day week. Chicken thighs have become my…
Smoke-free Turkey Sausage
Back when I was in diet mode, these turkey sausage patties were in heavy rotation — a simple way to get real protein into breakfast without a smoker involved at all. I made a batch, I ate off it for days, and I did it more times than I could count. It starts with Italian…
Smoking a Pre-Smoked Ham: Is the Extra Smoke Worth It?
I decided to mix things up for Thanksgiving this year. I’d smoked a turkey for several years running, but this time I went with a Sam’s brand Honey Baked Ham instead — $16 for a ham close to 9 pounds, a good price for the size. Most store hams like this are already fully cooked,…
Smoked Tri-Tip — Bringing the West Coast Cut to Middle Tennessee
Some of the smoking sites I follow are always posting about cooking tri-tip, but it’s a cut I’d never actually seen in stores here in Tennessee. It’s popular on the West Coast, sometimes called the Santa Maria cut, and it’s similar to London broil, though a different cut entirely. Much to my surprise, I found…
Cherry vs. Oak Pellets for Cold-Smoked Cheddar
Why Test Cherry Against Oak Most cold-smoked cheese advice tells you to reach for a “mild” wood and stop there. I wanted an actual answer, not a guess, so I ran the same cheese through the same process one week apart — the only variable was the pellet. This batch was a Cracker Barrel variety…
Smoked Salmon
I was all beefed out, after my trip to Austin, so I decided to mix it up with some smoked salmon. I was concerned about keeping it together on the smoker, so I purchased some cedar planks to cook it on. I purchased a 2 lb fillet, which in hindsight was too much. I started…
Smoked Chili
It was time to make smoked chili for a church event. I decided to smoke the jalapenos and the ground chuck. I wanted a strong smoke flavor so I used mesquite. I had a 4 1/2 pound package of beef and I used a cast iron pan that would barely fit on the Weber. I…
Trip to Austin – Beef Barbecue Holy Land
I had to go to Austin for a week of training for work, and planned to try to sample some of the best Austin barbecue I could find. I would have loved to have been able to go to the World famous Franklin Barbecue, but being in class from 8-5 for Monday through Friday it…
Smoked Prime Rib — Simple Rub, Straight Smoke
My local Kroger had rib roasts on sale for $5.99/lb — a nice enough price point that I decided to try smoking one. I picked up a roast just under 5 pounds. Seasoning and Smoking I kept the seasoning simple — just pepper, garlic, and salt, no heavy rub. The smoker ran at about…
Reverse Seared Strip Steaks — Mesquite Smoke, Hard Sear
I picked up some nice-looking steaks at Sam’s and decided to do a reverse sear. To pull this off properly, you need good thick pieces of beef — you cook or smoke them low and slow to a specific internal temp, let them rest, then finish with a short, hard sear on a hot grill….