16 lbs of brisket from Costco at $3.99 per pound (and people act like brisket is crazy expensive…), 15 lbs pork butt at $2.29 per pound, 4.87 lbs top sirloin at $5.99 per pound, and about 5 pounds salmon at $11.99 per pound.
I’m going to try to cook the brisket and the pork butt at the same time… I think it’ll fit and not overload the smoker, but I’m a bit worried about that. On the brisket I’ll use 4.5 Tbsp salt, 4.5 Tbsp pepper, 2.25 Tbsp garlic powder. On the pork butt I’ll use 2.5 Tbsp salt, and about 1.5 cups of Memphis dust.
Today I’m smoking brisket, salmon, and lamb. Last night I brined the fish, then got it drying around 10, and started the smoker at 1250. I’ll smoke it until about 1700, then do the lamb to 160℉, then do the brisket overnight. The lamb is 5.7 lbs at $7.99 per lb, brisket 14.2 at $4.99 per lb. Unfortunately the brisket has a ton of fat on it - this was a bad buy. Doing these all at the same time means I only have to clean the smoker once.
I’ll use almost the same setup as last time but .5 Tbsp less salt (only 3.5 Tbsp), I only have 6 cloves of garlic, and I don’t have fresh rosemary so I’m using the dry stuff. Plus, I’m using apple wood.
1120: started smoking!
1420: meat is at 157℉ according to the probe, and Thermapen says that’s my lowest temperature in the meat… Time to come off! Only 3 hours. Now I’m planning to do salmon so I set the temperature to 120℉ and try to cool the smoker off.
I’m back in Texas! And Sarah’s living here for the first time. She had only visited, previously. I’ve already taken her to a local BBQ place that was great, she tried the brisket as did I. Her standards are set high! I’m pretty confident about how this first Texas brisket will turn out though so I’m not worried 😉
I picked up a 15.65 lbs brisket, $2.98 per pound from Sam’s. I ended up cutting more fat off than usual, so that’s not amazing. I also picked up some $8.98 per pound Atlantic salmon (skinless, Sam’s has both), a 3.25 lbs filet and 3.42 lb’er.
Well, we’re still unpacking things, but we’ve been here for a bit. One of the things I was most excited to have arrive is the smoker - not gonna lie, that was a top priority. I’ve been looking forward to having some smoked Salmon again, and Sarah has mentioned it a couple times too.
There’s a Sam’s Club more convenient these days, so I picked up some salmon there. They had Sockeye for about $12 a pound, and “Atlantic” for about $9. I went with the Atlantic to see how it’d go. This looks like the same fish I was buying back at Costco in MD. I’ve heard the Sockeye is amazing - maybe next time. At that price though, I’ll probably smoke some other fish to see how it goes. Trout? This time I picked up two fillets totaling about 5.5 lbs.
Smoked salmon is one of my favorite foods. A luxury, truly. But, it’s much more reasonable when you can smoke it yourself. Salmon prices are at $8.99 a pound at Costco right now, which is a couple bucks more than I’m used to. Still worth it.
I’m using the same recipe I always use, with a bit over 5 lbs of salmon. This salmon was packed a couple days ago, unusually. Normally the Costco salmon on display is all packed the same day. It must sell out quickly, it is always beautiful. This fish still had a sell by day 4 days in the future, though. And it still looked beautiful. There was little liquid in the tray, the fillets were spotless… And they were $1 less per pound than the same day-packed stuff. Unpackaging the salmon, I sniffed for any unexpected scents, and looked for any defects with the fish. I found none.
I ran out of brisket too quickly last time… It makes a fantastic sandwich with Philly Cream Cheese (strangely enough). Then I eat a bunch of salmon on bagels, with Philly Cream Cheese… The discovery that it’s the right cheese for both sandwiches has made shopping easier.
The brisket is 15.5 lbs, $2.99 per pound. Salmon is 6 lbs, didn’t get the price before tossing the package. We have to move in July and I hope I can keep up this hobby at the next stop in life.
Time to try some ribs! I’ll use this recipe with the Memphis Dust dry rub I used on the pork butts. Also - we’re out of Salmon. I’m going to do a double batch of the usual. I’ll just do 6 pounds for four hours, then do 6 more for 4 more hours.
I bought what I thought were 3 racks of ribs - 3 large vacuum-packed things of ribs from Costco. About 30 lbs total. What I didn’t realize is that each vacuum packed bag contains 3 racks of ribs… So I’m going to do 9 racks of ribs. This is stupid and I almost certainly don’t have enough room in the smoker, but it’ll all work out :-)
