Well, since we’re sharing. We have some leftover ribs, so I put the meat into some fancy grilled cheese.
(Fancy grilled cheese is sourdough, with mayo outside, and fancy cheese inside).
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Do a pork shoulder sous vide for 12 hours and then smoke for 2 hours. You will understand how it works. Sous vide isn’t about just cooking. Here’s how I like to think of it. Meat isn’t just muscle. We always have some fat in it, even a lean pork loin. Sous video does to meat what confit does to a duck leg and thigh. The process does something amazing to the meat. Denaturing the proteins and making meat butter is the best way I can describe it.
If you have ever watched someone from Mexico make meat for carnitas, you will also understand why carnitas taste the way they do. The meat is cooked in a vat of oil, not really deep fried, but oil cooked. It is pretty interesting how the meat texture changes.
No matter how careful you are with smoking, gravity is your enemy. That is why a rotissiere chicken is different from a plain baked chicken. The fat and liquids in the meat stay contained better.
It is a different texture. Some folks don’t like it that much. I really like it. I do know someone who makes amazing whole pork loins on his Traeger without drying them out. that’s a real art. With sous vide, you are able to control the heat much more easily and never get above the temp that would drive out moisture.
I am no Harold McGee, but that’s my theory.
I guess I can see that. I would think you would want to smoke the meat first though. The raw meat takes on the smoke flavor easier than a partially cooked meat would.
I was born and raised in Texas. There’s nothing I can’t keep from drying out on a smoker. There is a lot of science and art to it. Hint: If you’re having a problem with a meat drying out, coat it in Mayo 
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It’s not just the fat though. It’s the connective tissue that is terribly tough, but it turns into yummy buttery flavor with enough time. Luckily, the temperature for the connective tissue to turn delicious is below the temperature for the muscle to turn grey and squeeze all the life out.
This is why not all cuts benefit equally from low and slow. Even so, there is much to be said for cooking all the way through to proper temp without overcooking the outside, which is basically impossible on the stove.
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In my humble experience, it’s cold meat that takes on smoke. You can SV on day one, cool down the protein overnight in the fridge/freezer, then reheat on the for a few hours. Taking on smoke flavors is about condensation forming on the cold meat in the humid smoker. That condensation traps partial combustion products on the meat surface.
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I just realized I’m not sure I posted anything about Thanksgiving…
I smoked a 22lb Turkey on Thanksgiving on the Pellet smoker. I spatchcocked the bird. It was a brisk 43F outside, so the pit had a hard time maintaining temperature in the ‘smoke’ setting. I ended up bumping it to 200 to put it into temperature control mode instead of smoke mode. I smoked the bird for about 3 hours at 200 and then bumped up the temp to 300. At 4PM, I bumped it up one last time to 350 to crispy up the skin. The bird came off the pit at 4:30PM. The meat was moist and the skin was perfect. I used a wet rub that I found on the web and it added a good flavor to the meat.
I did use my Fireboard to monitor the pit and the turkey during the entire cook. I put the web page with the chart up on one of the monitors in the office and both my BIL and dad would walk by and ‘check the bird’ throughout the cook. My BIL really liked how easy the pit/temp made cooking the bird. I think just that one use has caused him to want to look into getting a pellet smoker.
He works nights and has commented that he would like a way to be able to smoke something for dinner while he slept during the day. I told him I’m not that trusting in technology, but with the right remote temp probe monitoring things, that it might be doable. Especially if you can put an ‘over temp’ alarm on the pit in the event it flares up or catches fire you could safely put the flames out.
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So much discussion about meat smoking and yet, we still haven’t seen any mostly printed cooking machine design from Ryan. Something is very wrong here.
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Seems like a doughnut frying conveyor machine would be doable!
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I’m still practicing, no fancy machines until I understand this cooking thing a bit more…too many variables.
Lots of variables is precisely why you need a robot to control everything, even help you perfect the recipe like Ben’s cookie robot: https://youtu.be/8YEdHjGMeho
As if robots even need justification, I mean really…
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Not sure if I’m happy or sad that my most discussed topic on this board has nothing to do with the CNC…
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So, I see this in my email today…
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Ryan, check out the Green Mountain Grills on Amazon. I bought the little one and have been getting some amazing smokes out of it. It’s WiFi enabled and they have an app that allows your phone to monitor and control the process. You can setup or use a pre-made recipe and it’ll handle the rest as long as you keep the hopper full of chips. I picked mine up in the spring and have done most everything I could think of on it since. Most disappointed with smoking hot dogs, least with salmon (smoked a couple one day after being caught).
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I’ve been looking at them. How do they do for general grilling? Hamburgers and such… I assume it works well, but I feel I have to ask. 
I’ve only used my pit boss a few times for grilling. It goes up above 500 degrees and you can move a slider to have direct access to the flame. It worked well so far.
I can’t speak to the other brands. The removable shield is part of what pushed me to the pit boss.
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Ok folks… Read it all… it’s 1:20 a.m. … I am starved! !s McDonalds still open?
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On the chefknivestogo forum, the second most popular thread after “show me your new knife” is “carbon skillets”. Same phenomenon… we all have multiple off topic interests.
In my experience with forums over the last few years, there are places people go to get and give help. Then there are 10x the forums that are like the locker room. Less substance, more about finding a place to make someone feel better about themselves. The general attitude around here is awesome, check your ego at the door, have fun and learn/help. It’s rare…
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you should know better than to start reading a BBQ thread after midnight 
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Well… Unless you’re planning on putting something in to smoke for dinner the next day, and you’re looking for some last-minute inspiration… 
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