Winter Cure: Mai Tai

This is how I make a Mai Tai:

2 oz aged rum
1/4 oz amaretto
2 oz orange juice
1/2 lime juiced

Pour into a pint glass 3/4 full with crushed ice, a few mint leaves underneath. Throw in the spent lime half and top with seltzer until glass is full.

Smoked Cheese

Nearly six pounds of cheese in total. Gouda, sharp cheddar, and pepper jack. Smoked over combination of Hickory and Applewood. Tight-wrapped and stored in the fridge. Cheese gets better with age.

Smoked Beef Brisket

I smoked this brisket back in May. Over 10 pounds of certified Angus BEEF! It was more like a braised brisket as opposed to a traditional Texas style BBQ brisket, due to the pan of beer/apple juice/onions/jalepenos/bay leaves/etc... steaming underneath the meat. then I decided to just dunk it right into the pan for the last 5 hours or so. Total cook time was 19 hours. It was so tender it nearly fell apart when I transferred it to the cutting board. Sorry no pics of the finished product, after 19 hours I was a bit tired.

BBQ Spare Ribs

Cooked for 7 hours. Smoked with hickory and applewood. Rasberry glazed and sauce served on the side.

Smoked Pork Shoulder

Pitmasters call them "butts". Despite the name, this cut of meat comes from the upper shoulder portion of the pig, considered the "butt end" of the shoulder. Dry rub applied, slathered with yellow mustard, and into the smoker at 230 degrees for 16 hours. Flavored with a combination of hickory and applewood smoke. When done, it was so tender and juicy it practically fell apart while being transferred to the cutting board.

Beef Jerky Time!

First attempt this past weekend at making beef jerky in the smoker. Came out pretty good. Some pieces I should have taken off a bit sooner, but they are still good. Marinade consisted mostly of soy and Worcester sauces with other seasonings.

8 hrs in marinade:


Let dry on some paper towels:


Onto the smoker racks:




Smoked for 4 - 5 hours at around 150 degrees, using 1 hour of Hickory smoke.

Finished product:

Up in Smoke

Got surprised the other day by an early Christmas gift from my boss - Original Bradley Smoker - 4 Rack model. Complete with a variety wood puck-pack and a weather cover! Actually, the gift was really for my 10 year anniversary with the company. What an awesome gift! Two other guys I work with got one too. Just yesterday morning set it up next to my Weber Q grill on the back porch, and put it through its "seasoning" dry run.

Seasoned the OBS (Original Bradley Smoker) yesterday and today doing my first smoke. The menu for today is: baby back ribs, turkey drumsticks, jalapeno poppers, and homemade coleslaw.
Initial prep last night involved making the slaw, brine the turkey legs in a salt/sugar/thyme solution and dry rub on the ribs after removing the membrane. Pre-fridge pic:

Woke up this morning patted the turkey legs dry:

Everything sitting out to get up to room temp. Mixed up a little more dry rub (can't see the brown sugar in the pic):

Made those legs a little happier:

Had to split the ribs into two slabs to fit on the racks:

Cored the jalapeños:

Here's what is going in them: cream cheese, shredded cheddar, cilantro, and green onion:

After stuffing the peppers I recapped them and help with a toothpick:

So far so good:

Into the Bradley:

I'm using mostly maple pucks but threw a couple of cherries in there too. It is taking a long time to get the OBS up to temp, but I expected that with the cold weather here in NY. Boiled the water before putting in the bowl which seemed to help. But I think it was taking the pic with the door open that did the most damage. Well, I'm glad I started early...
...Pulled out the ribs, here's what they looked like before splashing with apple juice, wrapping in foil, and returning to the smoker.

The turkey legs I just moved to the bottom rack, here's what they looked like. (I'm a little concerned about them drying out.)

The jalapenos... well they tasted good. But I think having them on the bottom rack was a mistake, they seem overcooked to me. But the cheese did not leak out and the flavor was there. Maybe a bit too hot even after removing all the seeds and ribs. Must have got a hot batch...

... Well everything is done and was delicious. Turkey legs came out moist and flavorful.

I pulled them apart to use for sandwiches tomorrow. Sorry I didn't wipe the bowl before taking the pic.

Ribs came out great. Not fall off the bone, I actually got lucky, they had a little pull to them and the meat came off nice and clean.


Homemade BBQ sauce, coleslaw, and some Jiffy cornbread.

Can't wait until the next smoke.