Ribeye Roast in #4

[paidin]

My first cook in the SI #4.  7.7# Ribeye roast bought a while back for $4.99 a pound.
Prep:
covered in worchestershire sauce
sprinkled all over with Montreal Steak Seasoning
Sprinkled all over with garlic powder
let it sit overnight in the garage since I did not have room in fridge and it got below zero outside tonight.

Cook:
put in smoker at 11:30am during lunch break from work
foiled the cover of the smoke box and the floor of the #4
put about 5-6 chunks of hickory from the bag of hickory at walmart
plugged the unit in at set the temp a hair below 225 degrees
went back to work
called the wife to put in potatoes and egg into smoker because I forgot
got home at 4:10pm
cleaned the maverick probes and put one probe in the cabinet and one probe in the ribeye roast
Time    Cabinet Temp    Meat Temp
4:20    162                    129
4:21    176                    129
4:22    198                    129
4:24    208                    131
4:31    216                    133
4:34    210                    133
4:37    208                    133
4:42    217                    135
Pulled the meat and wrapped in foil to await company for dinner
I will post pictures of the ribeye after I cut into it.

Thanks for looking!
paidin

 

[SuperDave]

Nicely done.  I think the rib eye roasts are the easiest things to smoke. 

 

[DivotMaker]

Nice!  Any pics of it sliced?  I usually pull them around 128, and reverse-sear in the oven, so I'm wondering how the 135 looks.

AND, what's the deal with the eggs??  Not sure I've ever seen that before, but I bet they're awesome!  Do you just smoke them raw, in the shell?  I'm definitely going to have to try that!  It looks like the smoke penetrates the shell?

 

[paidin]

sliced it up.  It tasted awesome!  Nicely seasoned and smoked outside with tender and beefy inside.  The potatoes we sliced up and seasoned with butter, olive oil, shallots, and garlic.  The eggs were placed in the smoker raw.  The smoking process cooks the eggs and gives them a slight smokey flavor but also adds an unctuousness that is not possible with boiling or steaming.  Just toss some raw eggs in the smoker next time you smoke for some nicely cooked eggs that work well for all sorts of things such as smoked deviled eggs or just plain dipped in salt and pepper like we enjoy.

 

[DivotMaker]

You SURE that was your first cook?   That roast, and everything else, looks incredible!!  Really nice job! 8)  Thanks for the tip on the eggs, too!

 

[Barrel99]

That is a great looking roast. Doesn't get much better than that. Love the egg idea. Will try that with my next smoke.

 

[NDKoze]

I have heard of a lot of people cold smoking boiled/pealed eggs along with their cheese smokes.

I was going to do it on my last cheese smoke, but forgot to put them in.

Thanks for the reminder to try this.

FYI, if you smoke them pealed, I would only smoke them for an hour or two.

 

[paidin]

I have tried smoking eggs raw and I have tried boiling, peeling, then smoking them.  Peeled eggs really pick up the smoke flavor.  That could be good or bad depending on what you plan on doing with them.  I smoke foods in an electric smoker because I am lazy.  This lends itself to lazy things like throwing raw eggs in a smoker

Thanks DivotMaker, no this is not my first smoke but it is the first smoke in my new #4.  We had 7 people eat that steak tonight so dinner costed about $200 per person, not including the food LOL.

I started smoking on a Masterbuilt Electric 40" smoker.  That thing sucked big time, unless you knew its weakness and how to overcome them.  The final straw for me was wasting 25# of deer snack sticks in it.  The cabinet could not maintain consistent heat so the tops were overcooked and fatted-out while the bottoms were undercooked and dangerous.  I ended up cutting off the bottom portions and finishing them off in the oven.  ugh, they were ugly.  I got rid of it the next day on craigslist.

I then bought a pellet grill and found that to not be stable enough for sausage smoking either.  This grill is my last hope.  If I cannot pay the respect required towards the deer(s) that I harvested by making the best damn jerky/sausage/snacksticks possible, I am going to give up smoking meats and just cook on my weber charcoal kettle grill.  That thing cost me $60 new and also smokes a mean turkey/chicken/boston butt/summer sausage etc.

thanks for looking guys!
paidin

 

[paidin]

Can you explain how it took 4 hours to get close to your cook temp?

Well, it was about 20 degrees outside and I placed the 7.7# ribeye straight from the cold garage into the cold smoker.  I had to work so I cranked the dial to a hair less than 225 degrees and went back to work.  I had to work late and came home at about 4:10 and headed straight to the smoker.  I cleaned the probes on my maverick and put the cabinet probe on the grate near to the meat with the supplied standoff.  I then put the probe in the center of the meat.  I do not like to put the meat probe in right away because I want the inside to heat up some to prevent the probe from convecting heat into the meat where I am measuring temps.

When I placed the probe into the meat, it was nearly done to my surprise.  While I am not exactly sure why my timing was impeccable, my guess is that the #4 might have had some very high swings during the cook while I was at work?  I have read on these forums that we can expect a 20-30 degree swing.  Does that mean it could have been 195-255 degrees?  seems crazy high to me.  Also, I have not taken the PID out of the box yet.  We had a snowstorm two days after I bought the #4 so this is the first time I have had a chance to cook anything in it.

I also was thinking that 135 internal might have been too high but cutting into it at dinner time showed that it was exactly how I like it -medium rare.

 

[DivotMaker]

Paidin, I think your cook time looks right on track for the size of the meat and the internal temp.  You may have read box temps a little low, if your probe was too close to the cold meat.  I smoke prime rib roast at 210°, and your times definitely look inline with what I get.  Nice job!  Btw, don't worry about putting the probe in before you close the door; the convective factor of the probe will iron itself out over time...no worries!

 

[SuperDave]

Cook times were very much in line with the norm.  I think I might have answered my own question seeing that the 4:20 cabinet posting was after you opened the door to clean probes? 

 

[paidin]

nope, I never had probes in there until I got home from work.  I cleaned the probes first then inserted them into the meat.  For some reason, I always feel too lazy to clean the probes until the next time I cook

I plan on permanently mounting the Auber probe into the cabinet but am thinking of making my own nylon mounting system.  I will keep you guys appraised if I get close to a real solution without having to spend $40 on another probe.

 

[1stlink]

Incredible looking roast paidin... eggs & taters not bad either. Definitely on my to-do list!  ;D
That roast looks lonely in your #4, room for 3 or 4 more lol.

PS Where are you located? Based on your pics I'm guessing that you are not my neighbor.. Brrrr

 

[swthorpe]

Nice work, paidin!  I am intrigued by the eggs...how long did you smoke them to have them cooked through?

 

[BedouinBob]

Nice looking roast Paidin. You're making me hungry.

 

[paidin]

Thanks for the nice replies guys.  I am located in Clarksville, TN.  I have a couple of pictures for you guys to look at.  guess what I am going to do with these!

 

[paidin]

Nice work, paidin!  I am intrigued by the eggs...how long did you smoke them to have them cooked through?

I am not sure how long it actually takes to cook an egg, I just stick them in with the meat and they always come out done.  I am guessing maybe an hour and a half minimum?  I think those eggs pictured were in there for about 3 hours.  Nowhere near overcooked.  very tender and a touch of smoke.  If you were to boil them first then peel them then smoke them, you might only need 30 minutes but that would be waaaayyyy too much work.  That goes against the credo of low and slow 'lectric smoking, you know, less work, greater rewards!

 

[SuperDave]

I boil my eggs for 10 minutes to get 100% done (232 degrees?), so, at 225, it can't be awful long to get done.  Time probably more for smoke penetration? 

 

[paidin]

I boil my eggs for 10 minutes to get 100% done (232 degrees?), so, at 225, it can't be awful long to get done.  Time probably more for smoke penetration?

Hi SuperDave, the trick to perfect boiled eggs on the stove is to get the water to boil then take the pot off the heat source and let it sit in the water for 6 minutes.  Perfect boiled eggs (on the stove) without any green yolks.  Uses less electricity too   or gas if you have a gas stove.  I am not sure what the internal temp of eggs needs to be.  I also think soft boiled eggs tastes the best but these smoked eggs turned out darned good also.