I keep a cooking log. Weight of the cut, where I bought it, airflow % (vents), external temp, wood, rub blend, internal temp/time, sauce, and a final summary. Through it I've developed a base for my rubs/glazes/sauce so if I want to change something up it's an ingredient here or a profile there and not just mixing and matching.

During the week, I limit myself to smaller cuts of meat that don't take to much time. Sundays I break out the larger cuts that take all day. I use a propane fired Brinkman vertical smoker which makes setup a lot quicker too. 15 min after lighting, I'm at temp and ready to start cooking.

When I started I did, but i've settled into flavor profiles I like for most everything I cook so now it's second nature. Now I have people buying meat for me to cook for them and there are never any leftovers, that's all the conformation I need to know I'm doing it right.

Any of you guys do any curing? I cured this pork loin for 6 days for some back bacon, smoked at 175. I enjoyed it and want look into curing some other cuts.

http://img846.imageshack.us/img846/2361/backbacon.jpg

I do a fair amount. I cure venison sausage, I cure salmon. I've not done a ham though it looks good. I made a shitload of venison sausage last fall. Probably 20 lbs. My freezer died and it all went bad. Dammit!!!! I will be making another huge batch first rainy sunday this fall.

With Matt Cassel at QB, every Sunday this fail is going to be rainy...

Cheater!

http://uploads.huckshut.com.s3.amazo...rs-480x320.jpg

I was watching DD&D last night and he was in Mississippi with some Chinese family.

They had the "grills" setup in their carport - 4 giant, gas-fired woks. Food looked absolutely incredible.

So you shot the deer then cured it, shit that's all you had to tell Nucky. Actually, that sounds really good. I cure a fair amount of salmon as its my wifes favorite. I haven't gotten into sausage but I'd like too./sig potential. I'd also like to play around with cold smoking some cheeses.

yeah, I like experimenting some. Particularly with fish and sausage recipes. I've pretty much got my ribs, butt, and brisket where I like them. The strangest thing i've heard of being smoked was a guy Phobia knew that smoked hard boiled eggs. One thing I've been wanting to try is curing and then smoking some catfish. Never know till you try i guess.

I read about someone smoking some water and freezing it for ice cubes for their bourbon, maybe I read that here, I can't remember.

I'd like to get into some charcuterie, I got a rock wall dungeonesque basement that stays pretty cool that I can envision with hanging hams and sausages.

Yep, it was here. I remember reading about the ice cubes here.

Good lord man! Did you get that thing off a brontosaur? Looks good though.

ROFL ROFL

I figured I'd catch hell for using propane. At least I don't use an electric model :)

Shit, by the time I get home at 5 and set any of that up, I wouldn't be eating until after 9 for something that only took 4 hours to cook!

And "real" men like me use charcoal smokers but they sure are kind of a pain in the ass!