Help with NY Strips

M

MattENewbie

New member
Hi All:
As the name says, I'm a newbie.  Just got my Model 1 and only smoked my first chicken a week ago.  It came out alright, but the smoked chicken soup the day after was amazing!  I'm trying to smoke a few dry rubbed NY Strip Steaks about 1 lb a piece. I'm hoping to reverse sear them at the end.  Does anyone have any suggestions for temp/time/amount of wood?  Thanks!
 
How rare do you like your finished steak?  I would suggest smoking to 5 - 10 degrees under your desired finish temp so that the reverse sear will bring you to the finish line.  You won't need a lot of wood unless you really like smoke.  I'd think 1 oz. is plenty for a steak. 
 
I usually leave steaks for the grill, but if you do a search for "Steak", you will find several threads discussing this.

BTW, welcome from ND! You are going to love your new smoker and this forum.

For your bird, did you brine?
 
Welcome, Matt!  Give us a little more info on how you like your steaks, and how thick they're cut, and we can help.  I would also like to know what your chicken prep/smoking temp/final internal temp was.  If done right, chicken in the SI is amaaaaazing!
 
Thank you to all!
As for the steaks:  There were 4 (~1 lb. each) steaks - about 1" thick.  I like 'em medium rare, so I was hoping to get them to 145 internal and then reverse sear them just for marks.  They came out OK.  My wife and kids loved them, but they were definitely overcooked and dry.  I set them at 220 degrees on the highest rack with about 2oz. Hickory/Pecan.  The smoke taste was great... however, I ended up taking my kids to the town pool and left them in for about two hours.  When I came back, they were already at an internal temp of 165.  Next time, I will take SuperDave's advice and set the temp right below my target OR make sure I'm home for the last hour.

As for the chicken:  I brined it for about 11 hours (following a recipe that said 12) and rubbed it with an olive oil based rub (also from the recipe).  I think my problem was that my thermometer was in the wrong spot and I took the bird out after 4 hours @ 250.  It was a 6 lb. bird.  When I took it out and checked it again, it wasn't ready - so I finished it in a 375 degree oven for about an hour -Which is obviously where I dried it out.  It wasn't bad - just not great.

One of the things I struggle with is NOT preheating the oven.  Almost all recipes I find for electric smokers say to preheat and I am not sure how to adjust the timing for the SI.  I checked the cooking guide on the forum but found it pretty vague (i.e. it says to cook  a whole chicken for 2-4 hours - and mine was too big for that)
 
The reason it is vague is because other than ribs, most of our cooks are smoked until the meat hits a certain temperature. So, preheating the smoker doesn't have any effect on timing.

The smoke will only penetrate the meat until the internal temp hits about 140 degrees. After that the smoke just sits on top of the meat and if continuous smoke is applied the meat can become over smoked and bitter. So, the reason for starting with cold meat in a cold smoker is to maximize the amount of time in the smoke before the internal temp of the meat hits 140.

For whole chickens/turkey, I usually temp the breast in the thickest part and pull at 165 degrees. In a perfect world the thigh/drums will be around 170-175 at the same time.

It sounds like you may be your own worst critic since the wife and kids liked it. But yeah, 165 on a strip steak would be pretty over down in my book too considering I usually shoot for 135 or so.
 
I Never cooked a Whole Pork Butt before.  I got so overwhelmed at the different sizes, cuts (shoulder picnic roast, bone in butt, etc.), and amounts of skin and fat (not knowing what to trim off)  :o ... that I got a bone in turkey breast I'll try tomorrow.

I'll bounce over to the poultry section to look for advice!  ;)
 
Unfortunately both your steak and your chicken were WAY overcooked.  :-\ Do not preheat the smoker. Cooking by time alone will not give you the results you want. You have to go by internal temperature of the meat (except for ribs since you can't temp ribs). For chicken, cook to 165 in the breast. At 250, your 6 lb chicken shouldn't have taken more than about 3 hours. Maybe even less. You smoked yours for 4 hours, then into a 375 oven for another hour. Yikes! That was probably a pretty dry chicken. For your steaks, 145 internal temperature is already medium, and if you seared and rested, they would probably end up medium well, or even well. 165 is beyond well-done. If I want medium rare, put cold meat straight from the refrigerator into a cold smoker (to maximize smoke time). Set the smoker to 200 degrees (to gently bring the meat up to temp without overcooking the outside). Cook to an internal temperature of about 120. Then reverse sear and rest. My target temperature after the rest would end up at about 135. I know this sounds lower than what a lot of people will say is medium-rare, but it depends on who you are asking. USDA guidelines are quite different than restaurant guidelines when it comes to steak:

MEDIUM-RARE
USDA Guidelines (Before Resting): 145 degrees
Professional Kitchens (Before Resting): 120 degrees to 130 degrees
 
SconnieQ said:
Unfortunately both your steak and your chicken were WAY overcooked.  :-\ Do not preheat the smoker. Cooking by time alone will not give you the results you want. You have to go by internal temperature of the meat (except for ribs since you can't temp ribs). For chicken, cook to 165 in the breast. At 250, your 6 lb chicken shouldn't have taken more than about 3 hours. Maybe even less. You smoked yours for 4 hours, then into a 375 oven for another hour. Yikes! That was probably a pretty dry chicken. For your steaks, 145 internal temperature is already medium, and if you seared and rested, they would probably end up medium well, or even well. 165 is beyond well-done. If I want medium rare, put cold meat straight from the refrigerator into a cold smoker (to maximize smoke time). Set the smoker to 200 degrees (to gently bring the meat up to temp without overcooking the outside). Cook to an internal temperature of about 120. Then reverse sear and rest. My target temperature after the rest would end up at about 135. I know this sounds lower than what a lot of people will say is medium-rare, but it depends on who you are asking. USDA guidelines are quite different than restaurant guidelines when it comes to steak:

MEDIUM-RARE
USDA Guidelines (Before Resting): 145 degrees
Professional Kitchens (Before Resting): 120 degrees to 130 degrees
Click to expand...

Spot-on, Matt!  Took the words right out of my mouth (or keyboard)!  Whether it's in the smoker, or sous vide, medium-rare is 128-129° for me.  I saw 145 and about fainted!  WAY overcooked! 

As for pork butts, don't be scared!  Here's the skinny:  Buy a "bone-in Boston butt," in the 8-10 lb range, and follow this guide:

Brined butt for Pulled Pork

It's not hard, and will give you some fine Southern pulled pork! 8)
 
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