Lyfe Tyme Wood Fired Brisket

7/5/14 - I bought this Lyfe Tyme pit for one reason: wood fired barbeque.  Up until now I have used charcoal for my heat source and wood chunks for smoke flavor.  My focus has been on controlling temperature and charcoal works very well.  I use a chimney starter so I can measure whole or half chimneys of charcoal.  I use an old Weber Smokey Joe as a base to set the starter on.

Since I have not set the backyard on fire yet, I think it works well.  With firebox vent at half open and stack at half open my pit averages around 230F to 250F.  I have had the pit for a year now.  Time to grow up. Charcoal is for wimps.  Real pit men use wood.  Cave men use wood.  I want to be a cave man.

The problem I have with wood is the wood.  My firebox is limited by two support bars for grill. They are only about 13" apart.  I have had little luck finding wood that will fit inside my firebox.  I have managed to collect a lot of smoke wood too big for my pit.  Without a chainsaw (birthday gift anyone?), I have not found a good way to cut it to size.

But wait, they have now started to sell mini logs at local groceries (H.E.B) and sporting goods stores  (Academy).  These babies are 8 to 10 inches long.  Perfect!

They are not "seasoned" naturally so I have concerns about being too green.  I found these at Academy. They are kiln dried.  Good enough for me since no one has bought me a chainsaw for Christmas.

The wife bought me a guilt brisket while she took off to Galveston with her girlfriends for the entire weekend and left me with the 5 year old.  It was a 6 lb trimmed brisket.  Not a whole packer brisket but who am I to judge? I rubbed it with kosher salt and course ground black pepper.  I have some fancy store bought rubs.  I have made my own fancy rubs.  When it comes to slow cooking for hours and hours.  The only flavors that remain are salt and pepper.  The rest are just.....fancy.

I am not interested in building a camp fire.  I want the pit to heat up fast and I want the wood to catch fire fast.  Therefore I used a full chimney of charcoal. I put the brisket on the pit and charcoal in the fire box.  Pit temp reached 220F in 15 minutes.  Once the coals started fading and temp started dropping (235F), I put the first mini log on.  Temp reached 262F in 15 minutes and held for 30 minutes.  I then flipped it and it flashed burned and temp hit 285 and died fast.  I put another mini log on those smoldering coals and repeated for the next 9 hours.  Finally the brisket hit the magic 196F and i pulled it off.  Using the coals of the previous mini log to light the next mini log keptan average temp of 248F over 9 hours.

The trimmed brisket split at both ends.  Weird.  But hey, now I have more burnt ends!

Brisket:  Very Good.  5/16 in smoke ring.  Tested a little tough of tender.  Did not hit that sweet spot and used a knife.  Fat rendered well and was smokey good.  Rub came through and added that extra zip to overall flavor.  No sauce needed.

Meat Candy Time

                                       

5/4/14 Wife is out of town and the weather is perfect.  Time to fire up the pit.  I am ready for some meat candy ribs (See previous post Meat Candy)

                             

I have decided to abandon the meat thermometer and just monitor the smoker temperature.  A meat thermometer is pointless.  A slab has thick and thin areas and the bones heat up different than the meat.  A meat thermometer is not reliable to determine when they are done.  Instead I am using time and technique to decide when to pull off some super tender juicy ribs.

After 5 hours i will start checking for tenderness by using the bend test.  When I lift the thick end of the rack i will see if the skin splits and meat cracks.  I am looking for a 1/4in or larger crack as a sign to pull the ribs off the pit.

Also, I will no longer do the wet seasoning on the pit.  What's the point.  I wrap the ribs in foil for an hour and braise them in fruit juices.  I can easily do this in the oven.  Benefit, it provides a perfect intermission to clean the built up ashes out of the fire box.

                               

Score 28.25:  Very Good.  Beneath a soft jerky candy bark was rosy juicy tender rib meat.  I nailed it on tenderness (finally).  So much flavor!  First the bark was sweet, salty and smokey. It had a soft jerky texture. The rub was in full force adding flavor to every bite.  Pork flavor was excellent. Takeaways:  cut back on salt in rub.  Maybe remove the brown sugar from rub and apply at end.  Cut back on smoke to bring out the wet seasoning flavor.  Also will help in the bark color.  I am looking for bronze not black.

Ultimate Turkey

11/28/13 - My wife triple-dog-dared me to smoke the Turkey on the new Lyfe Tyme pit this year for Thanksgiving. Of course I accepted the challenge. Now all the pressure was on me or we would be eating Peking Duck with Ralfy.

I researched a few recipes and went back to my tried, true and most trusted source: Amazingribs.com. This website is my go-to for all things barbecue. The website manager refers to himself as Meathead. On the site one can find The Ultimate Turkey Recipe. Well, with a name like that how can I possibly fail? Go to the website for specific ingredients and recipes.

First, we need a bird. My first preference was to brine a fresh organic bird. Most turkeys are injected at processing with a saline solution and then flash frozen. I found a one at a Whole Foods for around $75!. After recovering from sticker shock, I thought a $10 frozen 16 pound bird with 8% solution injection sounded just mouth watering.

Next we have to thaw the bird. The website suggested putting the frozen bird in the refrigerator on Friday morning before Thanksgiving. My wife thought that was way too long but Meathead said so. Who to trust? Wife or Meathead? I compromised and started thawing Saturday morning. Wednesday night there were still ice crystals in the bird, so I pulled it out for several hours before going to bed. Meathead was right, but don't tell the wife.

 

Its Thanksgiving morning. Game On! The first thing to do was to prepare the "Gravy" and the bird. I put Gravy in quotations because its not your typical grease and flour concoction. This Gravy serves two purposes. First, it provides a steamy bath inside the pit to help keep the bird from drying out. Second, it provides a thin flavor power packed broth that will penetrate the sliced turkey.

 

Before Turkeyday, find a disposable aluminum roasting pan that will fit underneath the grates of your pit. I have a 16in barrel with bars 16 inches apart that support the grate. I got a 13"W by 15 1/2"L pan. It also needs a volume of 3 quarts or more. This pan was almost 3 inches deep. The length was a little too long. I had to warp and bend the pan to get it out of the pit. Some precious broth was sacrificed for this costly error.

Prepare thawed bird. Place thawed bird in bag in pan. Remove bag and keep every last drop of the melted juices. Remove pop out thermometer and throw in trash. This is not amateur hour. I am a backyard professional!.....aided by digital remote thermometer technology. Remove red ice and neck from cavity and place in pan. Trim loose fatty skin from craw and butt and place in pan. You want a nice open cavity for smoke and heat to flow through. Find that nasty bag inside the butt. Pull out heart and gizzards and place in pan. Throw liver and nasty bag in the trash. Next cut the wing tips off at the joint. Now, remove the bird from pan. These turkey parts, juice and red ice are the stock of our "Gravy". Amen.

Next add 3 quarts of water, apple juice, onions, carrots, celery, sage, thyme and bay leaves to the "gravy" pan. These items are for flavor only. They will not be consumed.

Next prepare bird for pit. First, remove the steel/plastic thingamajig that holds the tops of the drumsticks together. We smoke our turkey spread eagle! This helps the dark meat cook evenly with the white meat. I bet some prude came up with this contraption. How could you possibly raise your Southern Debutantes to keep their knees together and feet crossed and then present a trashy immoral bird on the Thanksgiving Day table?

Second, prepare the wet rub. This is an herb rub mixed with oil. The herb rub consists of parsley, sage, rosemary, thyme, oregano, basil, bay leaf, black pepper and sugar. The oil helps dissolves the flavor of the herbs and it crisps the skin. I chose olive oil. Spread this oily herb wet rub first underneath the skin of the breast and then over the top of the whole bird.

 

Injection. You would never think of frying a turkey without injecting it with some magic marinade. Why skip this step for smoking a turkey. A buttery injection will give this bird a flavor boost and add must needed moistness. I chose a creole butter injection.

Next prepare the aromatic ingredients for the cavity. No stuffing for this bird. Stuffing means just more mass in the center that has to be cooked. We want an open cavity for smoke, aroma, and heat to cook and swirl flavor from the inside out. Place inside cavity onion, garlic cloves, fresh thyme, orange peel and fruit wood chips. None of this will be consumed. I don't know if it works or not but I can testify that my backyard was filled with an intoxicating perfume. My pit smelt so good I placed my nose over the smoke stack to enjoy the aroma. Unfortunately that aroma was super heated to 300F! Ouch!

 

The target temp is 160F deep in the heart of the breast. Stick the remote digital thermometer probe into the middle of the thickest part of the breast. With the bird spread eagle, the dark meat of the thighs and drum sticks can reach a temp of 175F while deep breast meat reaches 160F. Place the bird with drumsticks facing the heat source. The large open cavity also faces the heat and smoke.

Wife wanted to serve dinner at 1:00pm. A 16 pound bird at 325F should cook in 3 hours. I have yet to get my pit to hold a temp as high as 325F. I told the wife it will take 4 hours to cook bird. She was unaware that I didn't have a clue how long it would take. Fired up the pit and bird at 9:00am. Pit struggled first hour to get up near 300F. I figured that was because the cold large bird and cool gravy pan were absorbing the heat. At 10:30 pit finally reached the 300 mark but stayed underneath it most of the cook time. My average pit temp was 271F, well beneath the suggested 325F. However, the internal temp of the bird steady rose the entire cook time. It never stalled or retreated so my anxiety over cooking at a lower temp subsided but my anxiety over finishing too soon rose. This bird was cooking fast! It was rising 40 per hour. At that rate I would be done an hour ahead of schedule. Bird hit target temp of 160F 30 minutes ahead of schedule. Not to fear, stuck bird in a dry beer cooler. By carving time 2:00pm (Ha! Wife was late for once) it was still too hot to touch.

Recipe recommended going light on the smoke. Use oak or fruit woods but not mesquite and hickory. I chose Pecan. I added chunks throughout the process.

 

Results: The turkey was very very moist and tender. After I finished carving the turkey, there was a large puddle of juice. This was much more juicy and tender than frying and so much better than dry-as-bone oven roast. I was disappointed in the the smoke flavor. It was very faint and undetectable. I will go a lot heavier next time. I imagine the gravy steam bath prevented what little smoke there was from ever reaching the bird. The "Gravy" was another disappointment. After I strained all the solids I was left with a water drowned turkey broth with very little flavor. I'll substitute chicken stock for water next time for more flavor. The wet herb rub was a big success. It was a dominant flavor that you could taste in every bite. The aromatics produced a wonderful perfume for the backyard but did very little in flavor. I could not detect anything. The creole butter injection added to the juiciness but I cant testify for its flavor. Probably skip this step next time.

When you get the nod of approval from the Mother-in-law who secrectly prepared and smuggled in a second turkey (just in case I failed), you know you have a new Thanksgiving day tradition.

Meat Candy

11/9/13 - Dropped the wife off for the annual Nutcracker Market.  Its a some what of tradition for the Houston ladies.  Its an excuse to get together with your girlfriends, drink wine, and buy overprice Christmas junk.  All under the guise of supporting the arts, the Houston Ballet.  Just an excuse for wine and shopping, two things Houston ladies do best.

Anyway, I am on my own for supper tonight and there is an Aggie football game on today.  Time to fire up the pit!

I decided to make my fabulous Meat Candy ribs.  I got this recipe from Southern Living a few years ago.  The key is the wet seasoning.  It transforms the smokey porky goodness into Meat Candy!

I wanted spare ribs but the wife likes baby backs so what to do?  Smoke 'em both! No since in wasting all the hard work on one slab of ribs. 

First I remove the membrane off the back of the ribs.  I hate it when I order ribs and there is this plastic sheet on the bottom.  Pure laziness.  It  takes 1 minute to remove.

 

I prepared my secret rib rub.  Its heavy on salt vs sugar.  Light on Black Pepper.  Chili powder for transitional flavor.  Secret spice is cinnamon.  If I don't scorched the ribs the cinnamon flavor comes through so subtle.  Cover both sides generously with the rub.  The salt starts the dry brining process. I leave on counter while I get pit ready.

Smoke? Pecan is the perfect Meat Candy nutty smoke.  You want to go soft on the smoke so you can taste all the great meat Candy flavor.  Will use charcoal and a few chunks of pecan for smoke flavor.

 

Love my pit.  One chimney of charcoal and it hits 238 in fifteen minutes.  Couple chunks of pecan and were smokin.  Put on a chimney about every 75 minutes with pecan chunks.  At hour 4 I pull the ribs off for the wet seasoning.  The meat temp as reached 175 not the 185 target I wanted but its getting late. 

 

Aggs BTHO out Mississippi State! 51 to 41.  Johnny Manziel's last home game.  I am going to miss Johnny Football.  He was stuff of legend and myth.

 

 

 

The wet seasoning is pineapple juice, peach nectar and a little balsamic vinegar.  The core ingredient is pineapple, you can experiment with other nectar like apricot or mango.  Place ribs meat side down in foil.  Pour a cup over the ribs.  Fold up tight and put back on pit for an hour.

 

 

Pull ribs off, discard foil and juice.  I love the fruity steam aroma that rises when you open the foil.  Place ribs back on pit meat side up to dry off a little. 

Try to get internal temp up to 190 but it has fallen to 167.  This is taking way too long. Six hours is long enough for ribs.  I am not waiting until 10pm to eat.  Wife will be home soon and I have to pretend like I'm interested in the junk she bought.

 

 

Ribs:  Good.  As expected the tenderness was not perfect.  Blogging is easy than smoking. Slight tearing and dirty bone.  A nice rosy red interior underneath a tasty bark.  The wet seasoning flavor was deep into the rib and the rub added yet another flavor boost.  The pecan smoke was just right and added another flavor dimension to the ribs.  No sauce needed. 

Sunday stuffed pork loin

11/3/13 - Stuck in the house all day Sunday meant it was time to fire up the pit.  I had a pork loin in the freezer so that solves what to smoke.  I decided to try a stuffed pork loin.  Pork loin is very lean so a good moist stuffing helps offset any dryness. 

So what to stuff it with?  The few recipes I found were impressive but way too labor intensive.  This is not Cafe Bistro.  So I dumbed it down to Stove Top stuffing left over from last Thanksgiving.  I added some apple, pecans and cranberries.  Good enough for the backyard.

The wife came home from the grocery store with mesquite charcoal so I guess that choice was taken away from me.  I had a few mesquite chunks left over so that's that.  Pork loin is delicate so you want to go soft on smoke.  I will use only charcoal and one chunk of mesquite.

The 3lb package of pork lion had two separate loins about 2 inches thick.  First I trimmed the fat and silver.  I "unrolled" each loin by filleting 1/2 inch from the board. You cut sideways at same height above the board until you "unrolled" the loin. I overlapped the two loins so I had about a 8 1/2 inch wide sheet of pork loin.

 

I sprinkled a little Kosher salt to start the dry brining process.  I then spread 2 cups of prepared Stove Top stuffing over both loins and padded down tight.  I then rolled the lion and stuffing like a towel.  Tied the pork loin with string about 1 inch apart to keep everything together.  Looks good so far.

 

After it was tied up, I sprinkled some kosher salt over the outside along with cracked black pepper.  Stuck in the frig uncovered until cook time.

My target temperature is 145F.  Last time it only took about 1 1/2 hours.  Since its a lean muscle, there is not a bunch of connective tissue to break down.  There is no need to go low and slow.  Get the fire hot and go baby go!  Last time I got the pit up to 300F and everything worked out fine.

I started with a full chimney of charcoal with brown paper bags I collected from the Specs liquor store.  Placed the loin in the pit.  Stuck the remote control thermometer in the thickest part.  Placed a chunk of mesquite in the center of the fire box.  Opened the dampener on fire box all the way and dampener on smoke stack 1/2 way for some serious air flow.  Once coals were flaming over the top of the chimney, I poured them over the mesquite chunk.  Burn baby burn!

At 20 minutes fire pit was up to 209F and pork loin was at 63F.  Started another full chimney.  At 45 minutes I put 2nd chimney on.  Fire jumped to 230F and pork loin rose to 79F.  At 60 minutes pit was up to 285F and loin rose to 103F. At 90 minutes pit dropped to 280F but loin rose to 122F.  Cool weather was messing with my temp control.  Started another 1/2 chimney to finish off the loin.  At 105 minutes pit fell to 266F but loin continued to rise to 139F.  Poured 1/2 a chimney of flaming hot coals to get me over the finish line. At 110 minutes pit rose back up to 278F and loin rose to 141F.  Time to set the table! At 120 minutes pit was back up to 286F and pork loin reached the magic temp of 145F.  Let's eat!

Pork Loin: Very Good.  A rosy red interior beneath a noticeable smoke ring.  Near perfect tender and moist.  Smoke was perfect, added a new flavor dimension but did not overpower. The apples and cranberries added a nice texture and sweetness.  Could not taste the pecans.  The stuffing tasted like stuffing.  It needed a sauce or gravy to put it over the top.  Its a lean cut, the stuffing definitely helped to offset the lean pork but a sauce or gravy would have sent the flavor over the top.

 

Father's Day 2013

6/16/13 Fathers Day

When the family asked what I wanted for Fathers day I said wanted fire up the Smoke Monster of course.

Wife likes Baby backs.  I have some wild turkey breast in the freezer.  Hate to waste all that wood on one puny rack of baby backs.  So what the heck, lets smoke a wild turkey breast and see what happens!  That cow patty on the left is the turkey breast.

Ribs:  Good.  Bloggin is easier than smokin.  These ribs were border line tough of tender.  A little tearing and slight dirty bone.  Overall flavor was really good but smoke was too intense.  Wife made some comments.  No sauce needed.

Ribs hit 193F after 4.5 hours.  I left on for another 30 minutes.  Average smoker temp was 250.2.  Used 1.5 chimneys of charcoal and 7 sticks of hickory.



The turkey breast was the biggest surprise.  Pulled the breast off when temp hit 162F after 4.25 hours.  Wild turkey is extremely lean.  So lean that it can get real tough if overcooked.  I always fear gamy flavor so i marinated it in vinegar and lime overnight.  I used lime because we didn't have any lemons.  As expected the thinner portions were tough as leather and were discarded.  The big meaty parts were very tasty but a little dry which was expected.  You could taste the lime which made it even more interesting.  Smoke was really good.  I chopped up the turkey and mixed it with store bought BBQ sauce and had excellent chopped turkey sandwiches all week.  Heck even the wife liked it.  It was so stupid simple I don't think I eat wild turkey any other way.

First Lyfe Tyme Pit Brisket

May 27, 2013.

Brisket: Fair.  Bloggin is easier than smokin.  It had a 5/16in smoke ring! Thank you very much.  Tested Chewy tough.  Could not pull apart the slice.  A knife was needed.  Full mesquite smoke flavor.  Use the sauce.

It took 12 hours for this 10 pound brisket to reach an internal temp of 194F.   Average smoker temperature was 245.6.  Not sure how I blew it on tenderness.   This was one tough piece of beef.  The collagen never really melted away. It hit 160F after 4 hours whcih is when collegen begins to melt.  Internal temp climbed slow and steady.  I really did not witness a stall. When I purchased the brisket I failed to do the bend test.  The bend test is you take the brisket and try to bend it so both ends touch.  If it resists then its too tough. Will not make that mistake again.

Season the Pit

I have a four year who does not mind very well.  The fire box gets gets so hot it will burn your fingerprints off.  So I call the pit the "smoke monster" to instill a little fear in my daughter to not go behind the garage.  The trick or treat jack-o-lantern is to catch the drippings but it also adds spookiness for a certain 4 yrd old an hopefully add to its namesake.

Not sure of the purpose, but Lfye Tyme and others recommend you "season" the pit.  Seasoning the pit is just smoking it without cooking anything.

I took it a step further.  I love cast iron cook ware and very familiar with coating with a little cooking oil to preserve the cast iron and prevent rust.  I did the same.  I coated every square inch inside the pit and fire box.

After it soaked in for a day or two, I fired up the pit for the first time.  I have a remote control thermometer.  Being the Aggie engineer nerd that I am, I of course tracked the rise in temperature.

Stack was half closed and Fire Box vent was half closed. With a full chimney of charcoal it reached 223 degrees in 30 minutes.  Temp rose to 248 after another 15 minutes and stalled at 258.  Added a piece of mesquite to start smoke.  Temperature remained above 229 for the first two hours!  Very efficient design.  With very little effort and fuel, this pit holds a temp around 250F which is perfect for some low and slow BBQ action!

The pit came with a Lyfe Tyme temp gage.  I noticed on the gage the zone marked "Bar-B-Q" is from 250F to 350F.  Most competitors smoke at 225. This pit is a 250F pit.  It takes little effort or fuel to hit that temp.  It takes little effort to maitain range of 240 to 260.  Not quite the magic 225F but I have a life and nobody wants barbeque at 10:00pm.

Put on a 1/2 chimney of charcoal after 2.5 hours and more mesquite.  Temp rose to 281 in 20 minutes and stayed that hot for an hour.  As expected real wood fire really heats up the pit.

Charcoal was completely gone over the next hour.  Added a large piece of Mesquite to cook down for solid wood coals.  Temp in smoker got up to 286.

Once burned down, I put those mesquite coals to good use.  The pit comes with a grill that fits in the fire box.  I cooked two 1 inch thick NY strips over those bad boys for some serious mesquite smoke flavored steaks.  The wife was very happy.

Lyfe Tyme Pit upgrade!

Christmas came in May 2013!

Sun, rain, sprinkler system and too much use finally caught up with the free New Braunfels Smoker.  After four years I am confident I got my money's worth.





The rust was so bad two of the legs popped off as I dragged it out of the backyard.  There use to be a tray at the bottom but it literally broke apart and left a trail of rusted metal to the back of the garage.
Good buy old friend, I wont miss you because I heading to D&S Lawn & Automotive in Tomball, Tx to pick up my brand new 300lb Lyfe Tyme Pit!

I finally graduated from a novice backyard smoker to a...well I'm still a novice, but I have now have some serious equipment!



I will now sharpen my skills with a real wood for heat source and smoke.  I feel so grown up.

Barebque Nonsense

My wife calls it Barbeque Nonsense.

Growing up in Abilene, Tx eating at Joe Allen's BBQ formed my love for mesquite smoked Texas Barbecue.  My love of eating Texas BBQ turned into a passion after my best friend gave me his well used New Braunfels Smoker back in 2009.

The smoker was an upright rectangle box an a offset fire box. Made out of thin gauge steel.  It was very inefficient.  It took 20 pounds of charcoal to cook my first brisket.  I had the hardest time keeping the temp in the smoker above 200 degrees.

 

My first brisket was 9 hours of hard work but the results were perfect and my love of eating barbeque transformed into a passion of smoking. 

 

 

 

After my first brisket, I began experimenting with other meats.  I even created my own sauces and rubs.  Started to develop my own recipes for pinto beans and potato salad.  I dubbed my ribs as Meat Candy and began to share with friends and family.