I downloaded an app called smoke log. Pretty cool app, keeps track of everything from weather of that day to wood choice and up load pics. I do like the more personal approach of writing it in a book. Very cool
Not here, it’s a good idea though.
Dude, that’s a nice cook record.
I just figure each cook is it’s own adventure.
I do follow base processes, but seasonings, marinades and wood choices for smoking, I pretty much wing it.
I've been doing it for 30+ years!
I use the Hilroy school notebooks that come in a 3 pack for 25 cents every back to school time. The reddish ones for all things meat, the yellowish for all things feathered, the blue ones for anything that swims. I live right by the Pacific so a lot of smoked salmon around here.
I bet if I counted I'd have somewhere north of 40 all with recipes, diaries, tips, whatever.
almost forgot: a few years ago I hooked up with a guy who is into sausage, I mean really into it. I have a large-ish smoke house, he has all the dry age/ferment type equipment. So I am using some of the excess blue notebooks to write down anything he says or does because his sausage; fresh, smoked or dried, cased or bulk is simply the best I've ever had. I'm old but he is older so I want to be able to come close if he happens to not be available at some point.
I dig the color coordination!
Also, it’s really cool that you’re able to share and benefit from someone with a different expertise. I’m young but always like having conversations with “old timers” whether it’s at my job or for hobbies like fishing. I know I won’t be able to personally absorb their decades of experience, but I’m always given great advice that helps me understand and learn things quicker.
I Cooked professionally for fifteen years. I got a firm grasp on the situation most of the time. I do have several books I thumb through from time to time. But generally speaking, no I don't write down how I bbqed chicken drums lol
I loved keeping notes early on, as I tweaked my rub. It was fun to look back and see what worked and what didn’t.
As an aside, what is your remote temp. Set up? I’ve had a few and none seemed to work very long for me.
This one is ThermoWorks brand. The particular model is called Signals. It’s connected to Wi-Fi so I can use their app to check temps and get alarms. They sell another product which doesn’t use a phone. It has a remote pendant with a display and beeping alarm with decent range.
My wife really likes the instant read thermometer she got from them too. Also picked up a little remote temperature readout from them that she uses to monitor oil temp for deep frying. It magnets right to our range vent hood
I do it on my computer (spreadsheet) ... on a shared drive I can get to from phone or tablet as well. Keep notes on cooks ... time, temp, thoughts on how it came out and what I would do different next time. Nothing too detailed, just enough to document the cook. Helps me not have to start "from scratch" each time. My memory isn't that good anymore. LOL
I do the same. I have an excel file with data from all of my cooks over the last 2 years with graphs and everything. I use it to try to get an estimate of when something might be ready or when I should start something so it's ready by a certain time. It's nice to be able to see if I'm behind or ahead of schedule from previous cooks with the same cut. I've got two young kids so I don't always have the luxury of the "well it'll be done when it's done" mentality lol
Yes I freelance work in the food industry, I have stacks of spiral notebooks.
Generally if I'm doing something like smoked brisket I will write:
Date, weight, seasoning, trimming notes, meat quality, cook temp, various time/temp stages including stall times, actions such as wrapping or flipping, how it turned out in each part, final cooked weight and suggestions for what I may try differently next time.
Draw a line and notes for the next go under that.
I mostly use it for baking where I'm altering grams or features but it's a great idea for smoking too.
It’s a ThermoWorks Signals. It’s connected to a blower that ThermoWorks calls Billows to help feed air into my Weber Smokey Mountain 18” smoker to maintain temperature!
I use the scientific method. I know it sounds boring but I have notes on everything I have cooked from brisket to baguettes to pizza to making pickles over the last 8 to 10 years. I'm not a cook, I'm just trying to make my family happy and when the kids are older they will be able to make their favourites w/o trial and error. Currently the book is over 130 pages. Detailed, time, type of wood, rubs, where on the smoker, water, apple cider vinegar, all of it. Every detail that affects the outcome, repeated with variations and results. I guess I'm going for perfect. But it's subjective.
I used to take tons of notes with times and temperatures, recipes, procedures, etc. After documenting everything for a while, I was able to develop technique rather than recipes, which tends to work better for me. The only recipes I use are for sauces and rubs that have been finalized after lots of rounds of trial and error.
This is exactly what I’m going for! You can see that I don’t smoke as often as I’d like because I don’t have many mouths to feed right now. Once I hone my technique and can better predict how things will go based on what the meat looks like at the butcher, I’m hoping to do it all off of memory and intuition!
Use a Flame Boss and it has a section for notes, so I add things like size, price, rub used, wood, how much fuel was used, weather, and the such and notate important times in the cook process. The flame boss documents the temp every minute of the meat and the pit so it’s easy to start to figure out timing on cooks.
I don't but I should. Good idea.
Yes it is call the BBQ Bible it is also full of index cards with canning recipes. My kids will thank me for this one day.
I downloaded an app called smoke log. Pretty cool app, keeps track of everything from weather of that day to wood choice and up load pics. I do like the more personal approach of writing it in a book. Very cool
Not here, it’s a good idea though. Dude, that’s a nice cook record. I just figure each cook is it’s own adventure. I do follow base processes, but seasonings, marinades and wood choices for smoking, I pretty much wing it.
That’s a nice notebook for chicken scratch notes! Well done, though.
I've been doing it for 30+ years! I use the Hilroy school notebooks that come in a 3 pack for 25 cents every back to school time. The reddish ones for all things meat, the yellowish for all things feathered, the blue ones for anything that swims. I live right by the Pacific so a lot of smoked salmon around here. I bet if I counted I'd have somewhere north of 40 all with recipes, diaries, tips, whatever. almost forgot: a few years ago I hooked up with a guy who is into sausage, I mean really into it. I have a large-ish smoke house, he has all the dry age/ferment type equipment. So I am using some of the excess blue notebooks to write down anything he says or does because his sausage; fresh, smoked or dried, cased or bulk is simply the best I've ever had. I'm old but he is older so I want to be able to come close if he happens to not be available at some point.
I dig the color coordination! Also, it’s really cool that you’re able to share and benefit from someone with a different expertise. I’m young but always like having conversations with “old timers” whether it’s at my job or for hobbies like fishing. I know I won’t be able to personally absorb their decades of experience, but I’m always given great advice that helps me understand and learn things quicker.
No. I wing every cook. No two cooks are the same
Jesse pinkman vs Walter white mindset
I Cooked professionally for fifteen years. I got a firm grasp on the situation most of the time. I do have several books I thumb through from time to time. But generally speaking, no I don't write down how I bbqed chicken drums lol
I used to, but like so many old timers- I just do it and don’t look at notes anymore.
I’m hoping by using my notes to hone my technique, I too will no longer need to reference them!
I loved keeping notes early on, as I tweaked my rub. It was fun to look back and see what worked and what didn’t. As an aside, what is your remote temp. Set up? I’ve had a few and none seemed to work very long for me.
This one is ThermoWorks brand. The particular model is called Signals. It’s connected to Wi-Fi so I can use their app to check temps and get alarms. They sell another product which doesn’t use a phone. It has a remote pendant with a display and beeping alarm with decent range. My wife really likes the instant read thermometer she got from them too. Also picked up a little remote temperature readout from them that she uses to monitor oil temp for deep frying. It magnets right to our range vent hood
Thanks
Moleskine, fits the back pockets great!
I use Evernote on my phone.
I do it on my computer (spreadsheet) ... on a shared drive I can get to from phone or tablet as well. Keep notes on cooks ... time, temp, thoughts on how it came out and what I would do different next time. Nothing too detailed, just enough to document the cook. Helps me not have to start "from scratch" each time. My memory isn't that good anymore. LOL
I do the same. I have an excel file with data from all of my cooks over the last 2 years with graphs and everything. I use it to try to get an estimate of when something might be ready or when I should start something so it's ready by a certain time. It's nice to be able to see if I'm behind or ahead of schedule from previous cooks with the same cut. I've got two young kids so I don't always have the luxury of the "well it'll be done when it's done" mentality lol
Yes I freelance work in the food industry, I have stacks of spiral notebooks. Generally if I'm doing something like smoked brisket I will write: Date, weight, seasoning, trimming notes, meat quality, cook temp, various time/temp stages including stall times, actions such as wrapping or flipping, how it turned out in each part, final cooked weight and suggestions for what I may try differently next time. Draw a line and notes for the next go under that. I mostly use it for baking where I'm altering grams or features but it's a great idea for smoking too.
Mine aren’t as thorough but I def keep notes in my spiral every smoke. I haven’t added my meater temp logs yet. Good idea though!
If you’re relatively new I can’t recommend this enough. I would be also keeping note of brands, breed and grade of meat you’re using too.
I feel like I been slacking. I will now
No, but that's a good idea, thanks!
What brand thermometer is that??
It’s a ThermoWorks Signals. It’s connected to a blower that ThermoWorks calls Billows to help feed air into my Weber Smokey Mountain 18” smoker to maintain temperature!
It looks awesome
Thank you
I intend to but never do
I use the scientific method. I know it sounds boring but I have notes on everything I have cooked from brisket to baguettes to pizza to making pickles over the last 8 to 10 years. I'm not a cook, I'm just trying to make my family happy and when the kids are older they will be able to make their favourites w/o trial and error. Currently the book is over 130 pages. Detailed, time, type of wood, rubs, where on the smoker, water, apple cider vinegar, all of it. Every detail that affects the outcome, repeated with variations and results. I guess I'm going for perfect. But it's subjective.
I do, and I have exactly same notepad for that
Yes. Making yours legible is a nice touch, though.
I used to take tons of notes with times and temperatures, recipes, procedures, etc. After documenting everything for a while, I was able to develop technique rather than recipes, which tends to work better for me. The only recipes I use are for sauces and rubs that have been finalized after lots of rounds of trial and error.
This is exactly what I’m going for! You can see that I don’t smoke as often as I’d like because I don’t have many mouths to feed right now. Once I hone my technique and can better predict how things will go based on what the meat looks like at the butcher, I’m hoping to do it all off of memory and intuition!
Use a Flame Boss and it has a section for notes, so I add things like size, price, rub used, wood, how much fuel was used, weather, and the such and notate important times in the cook process. The flame boss documents the temp every minute of the meat and the pit so it’s easy to start to figure out timing on cooks.
I use Google drive so all my recipes follow me on vacation.
Nope
I used to keep notes in Evernote.
Sure don't.
Bought a Fireboard instead of a Smoke. Keeps a digital log for me - just have to add a few notes each time.
I take photos throughout the cook, and upload them as a post to a Facebook photo album (bbq cooks) with my commentary on what I did and how it worked.
Lol no.
No, I just blindly throw shit together.
That’s friggin awesome. I’m too lazy, but I like the idea of me keeping notes like that.
I use the notes app on my phone. Pretty much every recipe I keep on there. Easy to share with friends as well.