Smoking & Grilling

@Lori-Lindquist Yes you can do that with the Hickory Smoke Powder, but be aware that the liquid smoke we sell isn’t the same stuff you buy in the store! Ours is formulated for commercial application and you can easily ruin a batch of anything. So, yes, just don’t try to use the liquid smoke!

Meat Fact Friday Join us every Friday when we share an interesting and helpful fact about meat or meat processing and how that can effect your product! Meat Fact Friday - Different Cooking Temperatures Why do you need to cook a sausage or other ground product up to 160° for food safety but you can order or cook a steak to medium rare and not get sick? The answer lies in two parts. First, only a very small amount of bacteria or other harmful microorganisms live inside the muscle of red meat. The vast majority of it will live on the outside of the meat where it has been exposed to the environment and contaminated. So, when we get the internal temp of the meat to 145, as the USDA recommends, we know the temperature of the outside of the meat is far higher than 160° and has killed off anything living on the surface. When making sausage you grind up the meat and by doing so you introduce the bacteria that WAS just on the outside of the meat to all of the meat. Even though you are going to reform it into a product that has a clear outside and inside the damage has already been done. At that point we recommend you cook to 160° which is the point of instant lethality. Best Cooking Practices for Sausage<1–(Way to Overcome or use to advantage, try to add link to product) --> Since we need to cook the sausage product to a higher internal temperature we need to be more careful with how we cook it to prevent the fat from rendering out of the meat and leaving you with a dry and crumbly product. We do this with a combination of Protein Extraction careful cooking/smoking schedules that start within 20° F of what the animal lived at and then increasing the temperature in stages. Doing this will prevent case hardening which is where the outside of your sausage either cooks or dries too quickly and it will not efficiently transfer heat to the center of the sausage. Click the link for more information on cooking Cured Sausagge. Shop waltonsinc.com for Thermometers Shop waltonsinc.com for Smokers

Reverse Sear vs. Sous Vide Learn about Reverse Searing and Sous Videing with Walton's and Meatgistics. Watch the video, read the guide, and then post your questions or comments below. Reverse Sear vs. Sous Vide We decided to see which method gives you a more perfectly cooked steak, Reverse Sear or Sous Vide Cooking. We are going to rate these on taste, tenderness and appearance and let you know which was our favorite. Sous Vide Method - We vacuum sealed a Waygu steak that set our Sous Vide Cooker at 125° and let it sit there for 2 hours. Then we are going to pull it out and sear both sides on our grill that we will get as hot as we can. Reverse Sear Method - We set our grill at 225° and put our steak on until it was an internal temperature of around 120°, then we are going to take it off the grill and loosely cover it in foil for 5 minutes while the grill gets to max temperature and then sear it for a few minutes a side. Taste - The taste was exactly the same for each method. This was expected, there wasn’t going to be any identifiable taste difference as we were cooking them to the same temp, using the same seasoning and it was the same cut and type of steak. So this was a tie. Tenderness - They were both really nice and tender, you aren’t going to go wrong with either of these. However, the Sous Vide method was so tender I could have cut it with the plastic fork if I had wanted too. The Sous Vide won this round. Appearance - This was a resounding win for the Reverse Sear method in my mind. The sous vide one took longer to get any bark on it and even when it did it didn’t have a nice firm crust, it was mushier. Once you cut them open the Sous Vide was perfectly pink all the way through where the Reverse Sear had a centimeter or so of darker meat down into the pink. So the winner, in my opinion, was the reverse sear method! I just liked the appearance more and anyone can do it, it doesn’t require any special equipment, just either a grill or an oven and a cast iron pan and you are capable of cooking the perfect steak! Subscribe to WaltonsTV Make sure you subscribe to WaltonsTV and remember to tap the bell next to the subscribed button to get notified about all new videos, plus like and comment on this video, and visit waltonsinc.com and meatgistics.com to find Everything But The Meat! Subscribe to Meatgistics Easily subscribe to any category or topic on the Meatgistics community site by clicking the green “Subscribe” button to get an email each time a new post is made! Shop waltonsinc.com for Ultimate Steak and Roast Rub Shop waltonsinc.com for VacMaster SV1 Sous Vide Immersion Circulator Subscribe to WaltonsTV on YouTube Walton's 12 in Meat Slicer Walton's 8.7 in Meat Slicer

Meat Hacks: Making Bone Marrow Burgers Learn about Making Bone Marrow Burgers with Walton's and Meatgistics. Watch the video, read the guide, and then post your questions or comments below. Meat Hacks The meatgistics User @Denny recently posted a question about how much bone marrow should be added to a burger per lb. Well, I had never done anything with bone marrow before so I decided to grab some and check out the process. I started out with a few beef marrow bones, you can pick these up at your local grocery store or butcher shop. The bones I bought were about 2 inches thick which made getting the marrow out a lot simpler than I thought it was going to be. I just pressed on one side with my thumbs and they came out the other end in one solid piece. After doing all the bones I had set aside for testing this I had 5.7 oz. Once I chopped them all up I wanted to find out how much a Tablespoon of this weighed so we could give advice in both volume and weight measurements, so 1 Tablespoon of this beef marrow weighed 8 grams so .28 of an oz. Now, Denny pointed out that a demo he saw said 3-4 Tablespoons per 1-2 lb of burger, we are going to go with 4 because I always tend to think more is better, so would be 1.1 oz per lb or .55 of an oz per lb. That’s a pretty big range so we are going to test it by using 4 tbsp or 1.1 oz for 1 lb of burger, then 1.5 lb of burger and then 2 lb of burgers. Since the purpose of this is to determine the ratio of Marrow to use we didn’t want any other taste to stand out so we aren’t using any patty mix with this, so just straight ground beef. We also are making burgers with no marrow as a control. So after we grilled all of the burgers the one we added the most bone marrow too was my favorite. The bone marrow adds a really interesting deep flavor but I was most surprised by how much it changed the texture of the burger. It stayed juicier and almost had a creaminess to it that would be hard to replicate with any other ingredient I can think of. I won’t be doing this every time I make a burger, buying the bones, prepping them and then mixing them in did not take too long but it was an extra step but if I had a bunch of friends over and really wanted to impress them with something then this is a really interesting way to make an over the top burger! Subscribe to WaltonsTV Make sure you subscribe to WaltonsTV and remember to tap the bell next to the subscribed button to get notified about all new videos, plus like and comment on this video, and visit waltonsinc.com and meatgistics.com to find Everything But The Meat! Subscribe to Meatgistics Easily subscribe to any category or topic on the Meatgistics community site by clicking the green “Subscribe” button to get an email each time a new post is made! Shop waltonsinc.com for Patty Makers Shop waltonsinc.com for Patty Seasonings Subscribe to WaltonsTV on YouTube Broil King Baron 420 South of the Border Cheddarwurst

I have the a Himalayan Salt Slab, but really didn’t know how to prep before cooking or clean it, so I have only used it once. Thanks for the education on how to use my salt block, great video.

It’s a vinegar, oil, and spice marinade, very popular in upstate NY. Usually chicken cubed in 1"ish pieces and marinaded for a few days, grilled on kabob skewers, and served on a sausage roll. We do halves of game birds, marinade in 2gallon zip locks then indirect grill. Keep some of the marinade to baste with since wild birds are very lean. https://www.amazon.com/Salamidas-Original-Spiedie-Sauce-Marinade/dp/B000RY8Z88/ref=sr_1_fkmr1_4_s_it?s=grocery&ie=UTF8&qid=1531511577&sr=1-4-fkmr1&keywords=county+fair+chicken+spiedie

@raider2119 sGreat post! We were talking about Prime Rib here and how it would be if we Sous Vide it so we will definitely do some testing on that, thanks for the advice and maybe we will do a side by side comparison of Chuck in Sous Vide vs normal Prime Rib? You bring up a great point on the Waygu or Prime. I don’t think I’d feel comfortable enough yet doing Waygu this way, I’ve just had way too good of results with traditionally methods of cooking that to risk doing anything else. Specifically longer cook times, even at lower temps would make me nervous that I would somehow destroy the marbling and tenderness, maybe I will try it some day if I ever have a bunch more Waygu (I can only dream for that to happen again!) Thanks for the input on the Breakfast Sausage, we had also been wondering about that. We sous vide some pepperoni the other day (smoked the rest) and the taste was amazing but the texture and appearance were all wrong, just FYI for anyone thinking about trying that!

Meat Hacks:Cooking cured sausages at the correct temperatures Learn about the importance of protein extraction when making a cured sausage with Walton's and Meatgistics. Watch the video, read the guide, and then post your questions or comments below. Meat Hacks Why is cooking cured sausages at the correct temperature so important? One of the issues a lot of home processors have with cooking snack sticks or other cured sausages is that they end up with an overly dry snack stick. A snack stick is not supposed to be as juicy as a bratwurst but it should retain some of its moisture. There are a few reasons for this, the two most common are that you did not have the correct fat content or you cooked your product at too high of a temperature. You want to start cooking a cured sausage of any kind at a low temperature and gradually step it up 15-20° every hour or so. This allows the meat to cook evenly throughout and retain as much moisture as possible. For snack sticks you really want to start them out at 125 for 1 hour and then 140 for 1 hour before moving on to 155 for 2 hours and then 170 until the internal temp of the meat reaches 160. Some people go right to the 170 degrees to cook the snack stick, this is going to cause a few problems for you. First it is going to dry them out and second if it overcooks the outside of the product it will stop transferring heat to the inside and you end up with a burnt outside ring and an undercooked center! To show you what happens we are mixing and stuffing two batches the exact same way together but we are going to cook some of them with the approved method and some of them we will start out at a high temperature and let you see the results when they are done. The snack sticks are done cooking and as you can see the ones that we cooked at the correct temperature are pretty much perfect. The other batch however are tough, dry and the casing looks very unappetizing as well! So on your next batch of cured sausages make sure you are stepping up your cooking temperatures gradually! Subscribe to WaltonsTV Make sure you subscribe to WaltonsTV and remember to tap the bell next to the subscribed button to get notified about all new videos, plus like and comment on this video, and visit waltonsinc.com and meatgistics.com to find Everything But The Meat! Subscribe to Meatgistics Easily subscribe to any category or topic on the Meatgistics community site by clicking the green “Subscribe” button to get an email each time a new post is made! Shop waltonsinc.com for Snack Stick Seasonings Shop waltonsinc.com for Stuffers Subscribe to WaltonsTV on YouTube Smoked Collagen PK 100 Pro Smoker Smokehouse

Meat Hacks: How to Reverse Sear a Steak Learn How to Reverse Sear a Steak with Walton's and Meatgistics. Watch the video, read the guide, and then post your questions or comments below. Meat Hacks Why Reverse Sear a Steak? Reverse Searing a Steak is a process where you slowly cook the interior of the steak and then finish it off with high heat sear. If you follow this method you should end up with a steak that has the nice red color throughout the entire steak but still get that nice crust on the outside. The process does take a considerable amount of time but I promise you the end results are well worth the time and effort. To begin, let’s talk about selecting the best steak for a reverse sear. You will want to select a steak that is at least 1.25 inches thick, this is to ensure that you do not overcook the product with the initial low heat phase. Next you will want to look at the marbling of the fat and choose a steak with marbling that runs throughout as much of the cut as possible. The important next step that many people ignore is to take your steak out of the refrigerator 45 minutes prior to grilling which allows the meat to come up to room temperature. A cold steak thrown on the grill will not have the same taste or tenderness as a room temperature steak. After you take the steak out to allow it to equalize with the room temperature, then you will want to season it. You have probably heard some people say that salt and pepper is all you really need for a proper seasoning, while this can be true with extremely high end steaks such as Kobe, Wagyu or Heartland, the average and normal steak that we buy at from a local butcher, meat market, or grocery store can definitely benefit from additional seasoning. Our number one choice for steak seasoning is the Excalibur Ultimate Steak and Roast Rub. It is one of our best-selling shakers seasonings for a reason, it is simple yet delicious! Before we begin cooking, we’ll need to pre-heat our smoker to 210-220 degrees. Once it is up to temp and our steaks have rested at room temp for 45 minutes, then place the steaks in smoker and leave them until the internal temperature reaches around 125-135 degrees (depending on the desired level of doneness). This can take up to an hour depending on thickness of steaks and type of smoker. You will need a meat thermometer for an exact and consistent temperature reading. Walton’s recommends one of the fast reading digital thermometers so you can minimize the amount of time the smoker or grill is open. Two of our favorites are the Slimline Digital Waterproof Thermometer and the Folding Probe Thermometer, which may be one of our fastest reading thermometers. Just visit waltonsinc.com and looking under Smoking & Grilling and Thermometers to find one of these thermometers or over three dozen different other thermometers. Finishing by Searing Once our steaks reach the desired internal temp, remove them from the grill and cover them loosely with tin foil. We then have two options for finishing our steaks and searing them. We can either turn our smoker or grill up to 500+ degrees and use the grill grates or we can put a cast iron skillet in the grill or smoker and finish the steaks on that. This holding time is often called napping your steaks and there are different theories on its effectiveness. Since we need to take them off to allow the smoker/grill to come up to temperature, let’s assume that this method is effective. Once your smoker, grill, or skillet is up to temperature put your steaks back on the grill or skillet for about 1-2 minutes per side. This will give it the desired sear, texture, and crispy crust on the outside. We also like to put a dollop of butter on the steak after flipping it one time. In our opinion, a cast iron skillet is the best option for searing a steak and better than just using a plain grill or skillet. Another good option is to use a Grill Grate. We still like cast iron better, but Grill Grates are a great option which is better than searing them directly on a grill because it funnels the heat from your smoker or grill up to the aluminum grates, and doing this will increase the temperature on the surface by about 100 degrees. Once we’ve finished searing for 1 to 2 minutes per side, take off the grill and serve hot! Subscribe to WaltonsTV Make sure you subscribe to WaltonsTV and remember to tap the bell next to the subscribed button to get notified about all new videos, plus like and comment on this video, and visit waltonsinc.com and meatgistics.com to find Everything But The Meat! Subscribe to Meatgistics Easily subscribe to any category or topic on the Meatgistics community site by clicking the green “Subscribe” button to get an email each time a new post is made! Shop waltonsinc.com for Ultimate Steak & Roast Rub Shop waltonsinc.com for Digital Thermometers Shop waltonsinc.com for Grills & Smokers Subscribe to WaltonsTV on YouTube Reverse Seared Steak Ultimate Steak & Roast Rub

Meat Hacks: Safe Internal Meat Cooking Temperatures Learn what internal temperature to cook meat to for a safe meat product with Walton's and Meatgistics. Watch the video, read the guide, and then post your questions or comments below. Meat Hacks The guidelines to use when cooking meat products comes from Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) and the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) in what is known as Appendix A or their Safe Minimum Internal Temperature Chart. Appendix A from FSIS gives us a temperature to cook meat to and how long the meat needs to stay at that temperature to kill a certain amount of bacteria. 160 degrees Fahrenheit is what is typically offered as the suggested cooking temp for many meat products because at 160 degrees, lethality of a bacteria like Salmonella is instant. However, you can still safely cook to a temperature of only 140 degrees, but you must maintain that temperature for 12 minutes. There will be a link in the description below to the full chart in Appendix A from FSIS. FSIS and the USDA also has a Safe Minimum Internal Temperature Chart, which gives us very simple recommendations for a variety of products. We should cook beef, pork, ham, veal, and lamb that is in steaks, chops, roasts, and other whole muscle cuts to 145 degrees and let rest for 3 minutes. For all ground meats (and things like hamburgers, brats, and hot dogs), you should cook to 160 degrees. Switching gears to poultry, all chicken, turkey, or other birds should be cooked to 165 degrees. A minimum of 165 degrees also applies to reheating and cooking leftovers. If you are cooking eggs, they only need to be cooked to 160 degrees, and finally, fish and shellfish only need to be cooked to a 145 degree temp. People do have a tendency to under-cook beef and over-cook pork and chicken, but if you follow the guidelines from FSIS and the USDA, and use a meat thermometer when cooking, you can make sure you are making a safe product and you are doing it consistently every single time! FSIS Appendix A https://www.fsis.usda.gov/OPPDE/rdad/FRPubs/95-033F/95-033F_Appendix_A.htm Safe Minimum Internal Temperature Chart https://www.fsis.usda.gov/wps/portal/fsis/topics/food-safety-education/get-answers/food-safety-fact-sheets/safe-food-handling/safe-minimum-internal-temperature-chart/ct_index Subscribe to WaltonsTV Make sure you subscribe to WaltonsTV and remember to tap the bell next to the subscribed button to get notified about all new videos, plus like and comment on this video, and visit waltonsinc.com and meatgistics.com to find Everything But The Meat! Subscribe to Meatgistics Easily subscribe to any category or topic on the Meatgistics community site by clicking the green “Subscribe” button to get an email each time a new post is made! Shop waltonsinc.com for Meat Thermometers Subscribe to WaltonsTV on YouTube Shop Digital Pen Style Meat Thermometers Shop Waterproof Thermometers

What Wood Flavors To Use When Smoking Meats Learn what flavors of wood to use when smoking meats with Walton's and Meatgistics. Read the highlights here, and then post your comments or questions below. What Is The Most Popular Wood? Hickory is the most popular option, closely followed by Mesquite. Walton’s uses hickory and mesquite for smoking most meats in our smokehouses, pellet grills, and charcoal grills. When To Use Apple Wood? Apple has a mild and subtle flavor that is slightly fruity and sweet. It goes great with poultry, fish, pork, and vegetables. Also great for larger meats like ham, pork shoulder, and turkey. When To Use Cherry Wood? A very similar wood to Apple with a slightly fruity and sweet flavor and aroma. Great for larger meats like ham, pork shoulder, fish, salmon, and poultry. Also a great compliment when burning wood in chimineas. When To Use Hickory Wood? When in doubt, Walton’s uses Hickory wood. The most popular option for smoking most meats. Hickory has a stronger flavor than most other wood types and is an excellent choice for any smoked meats. Also a fairly popular option for use in chimineas. When To Use Mesquite Wood? An excellent all-around flavor and the 2nd most popular wood for smoking meats. Mesquite burns very hot and is perfect to complement beef, chicken, fish, and especially wild game. Recommended for grilling “flame kissed”. When To Use Mulberry Wood? Mulberry is a sweet fruitwood that is not as commonly used as other options, but still acceptable for all types of meats or vegetables. It is similar in density and heating values of oak. When To Use Oak Wood? Oak is a pleasant and versatile wood that is not overpowering. A good choice when smoking and cooking potatoes. Also great with large pieces of meat like large briskets, chops, or steaks. Also a popular choice for burning in chimineas. When To Use Pear Wood? Pear wood provides a very subtle smoke flavor which is particularly good with chicken, but also pork and vegetables. When To Use Pecan Wood? Pecan wood is fairly similar to hickory wood, but it is lighter and not as powerful of a smoke flavor. A bit more subtle, sweet, and mild. Great for all types of meats and vegetables. When To Use Pinyon (Pinon) Pine Wood? Pinyon pine is not meant to be used for smoking meats, but, it is one of the most popular choices of wood for burning in chimineas. Shop waltonsinc.com for Wood Pellets Shop waltonsinc.com for Wood Chips (Sawdust) Shop waltonsinc.com for Wood Chunks

WaltonsTV: Cold Water Bath or Shower Meat Hacks: Cold Water Bath or Shower for Cured Sausages Watch the full video below, read the highlights here, and then post your comments or questions below. Benefits of a Cold Water Bath or Shower for Cured Sausages After you get done cooking any type of cured meat product you want to cool it down as quickly as possible. The cooling cycle is going to help out with 3 different things. First, the cooling cycle helps set the casing to the product and keeps the meat and casings from separately or peeling off. Second, it also helps prevent wrinkling in your sausage casings to make a better looking appearance on the final product. Lastly, the cooling cycle really helps with meat safety and controlling bacteria and microbial growth. Easiest Way to Do a Cold Water Bath or Shower Shower the product directly in your smokehouse. This isn’t always possible though if your smokehouse is not in a place that is moisture friendly or you cannot reach it with a hose. Use a meat lug and a kitchen sink. After cooking, put your meat product into a Meat Lug, set the meat lug at an angle in your kitchen sink, and turn on the facet and let the water run over the product, into the meat lug, and then slowly overflow into the sink. Let the water continue to run from the facet over the meat and overflow into the sink for about 10 minutes until the meat products have cooled completely. So always use a cold water bath or shower to help set the casing to the meat, prevent wrinkling for a better appearance, and practice good meat safety by lowering the temp quickly to limit bacteria and microbial growth. Shop waltonsinc.com for Meat Lugs Shop waltonsinc.com for Everything but the Meat!

WaltonsTV: Use a Thermometer Meat Hacks: Use a Thermometer for Consistency & Safety Watch the full video below, read the highlights here, and then post your comments or questions below. Use a Thermometer for Consistency & Safety Using a thermometer is very easy and can really help in your cooking, grilling, and sausage making to ensure your cooking is consistent each time you smoke or cook meat. People have a tendency to under-cook beef and over-cook pork and chicken. Using a thermometer can allow you to easily know exactly when your product is done and avoid under-cooking or over-cooking and produce a much more consistent cook cycle for a perfect result every time. Thermometers are also great for meat safety to make sure you meet lethality and kill as much bacteria as possible for a safer product. There are tons of options for thermometers available from the extremely small and inexpensive units plus even fancier features and wireless capabilities. Check out the Meat Thermometers page at waltonsinc.com to find all the options available and make your cooking and grilling safer and more consistent. Buy Meat Thermometers at waltonsinc.com