Pork loin steaks

[drinksgin (deceased)]

Local place had packs of 3/4" boneless loin chops for $1.99, 8lbs of them are now in the refrigerator sugar curing.
Tuesday, they will be washed, dried and slow smoked over hickory in the new smoker.
This will be the opportunity to check out the replacement hot plate and start seeing how much heat I can get and if I can cool it down some, though I have the big smoker that does cold smoke.

[gitano]

Waiting...

Paul

[sakorick]

Not to hijack but I accomplished a first.  John snagged a 25 pound Spoonbill(Paddlefish) on the Grand down by Brunswick last Wednesday. He and Bobby also caught a large Buffalo on the set line. First, the brine: one gallon water, 1 cup brown sugar, ½ cup salt, ¼ cup soy sauce, 2 tsp black pepper, 2 tsp cayenne pepper, ¼ cup minced garlic. In a sauce pan bring the brine ingredients to a boil and remove from heat. Add ice to the hot brine until it is cold and then pour the brine over the filets in a doubled up freezer bag or covered pot. Brine the catfish overnight in the refrigerator. I then patted the filets dry and used my rub very sparingly on both sides of the Spoonbill and only on the non skin side of the Buffalo. I used Cherry for the smoke....3 large chunks. After 1 hour at 180, I flipped the Spoonbill and left the Buffalo on the lower rack unmolested. Then after 30 miniutes I slathered with K&M white BB sauce. Then I ran the temp up to 200 for the last 30 minutes. Best spoonbill I have ever tasted and I dislike spoonbill! Both the spoonies and Buffalo were succulent! Of course you have to pick the bones out very carefully from the Buffalo! I didn't get a pic of the Buffalo but they looked very similar.

[drinksgin (deceased)]

Never had spoonbill, as it is a shark relative I had thought it would be decent.
We have several suckers here, all taste good, IF you can get by the almost solid bones.
My choice is red horse and white carp sucker but the various buffalos are not bad.
Never replace crappie and the other sunfish, though!!!!!!

[sakorick]

Never had spoonbill, as it is a shark relative I had thought it would be decent.
We have several suckers here, all taste good, IF you can get by the almost solid bones.
My choice is red horse and white carp sucker but the various buffalos are not bad.
Never replace crappie and the other sunfish, though!!!!!!

Agreed!

[drinksgin (deceased)]

The steaks are cured,have been washed and as soon as they are dry, shall be smoked at least  5-6 hours.
Only problem now, is do I use  hickory, mesquite, apple, cherry or pear to smoke it with.

:angel:

[gitano]

Paul

[sakorick]

Kansas City Joe's uses hardwood period They have won every competition there is. I do like Hickory and Cherry the best.....but oak is good too!

[drinksgin (deceased)]

I have smoked/ cooked the steaks, I hope these pictures come out well.

[drinksgin (deceased)]

Lets try again.

[sakorick]

You're killing me! Gosh, they look good.

[drinksgin (deceased)]

I have more or less worked out the controls, the low wattage coil, on the right , needs to be on high and the high wattage coli on the left needs to be on medium. This gave me 190' with an outside temperature of 75'. this is good enough to actually cook the food.
I can cut it down easily.

[gitano]

Nice.

Paul

[22hornet]

Nice work Don. But how do they taste?

[drinksgin (deceased)]

22, in my opinion and I would NEVER be a bit biased, ;<), it tastes as a store  bought ham should.
Slightly sweet, somewhat smoky and very tender.
I did use hickory for the smoke source.