Meat for smoking!

[phylodog]

OK, I've been home recovering from surgery for two and a half weeks now and I'm going stir crazy. I stopped by a friend's house on my way home from a Dr's appointment today and picked up a nice load of hickory and cherry wood so I'm going to fire up the smoker this weekend. Wondering if anyone in or around Indy has a secret spot to buy good meat? I've actually had pretty decent luck buying pork shoulders and beef brisket at Walmart but I honestly believe you could make a dog turd taste good after 8 hours in the smoker so I'm thinking I could do better.

Anyone know of a good place to go shopping? Hoping to find good quality and decent prices on pork butt, beef brisket, a couple whole chickens and I may toss a couple racks of baby back ribs in there as well. Here are a few pics of my setup (nothing fancy) and a couple shots of the heavenly delights it has yielded.

Pork tenderloin

Baby back ribs

 

[public servant]

Damnit! Now I'm hungry...

 

[Bigum1969]

Wow, that thread title is likely to attract jclark from the PW thread...

See if you can buy from a wholesale food distributor.

 

[public servant]

I'd find a local meat market. Archer's in Greenwood or Fishers. There is also a place in Beech Grove.

 

[cornfused]

I use to buy alot of what you mentioned from sams club!

 

[IndyMonkey]

I have never been able to find a better butcher than Kincades on Illinois in Indy.L.E. Kincaid & Sons Meat Market - Home Page

 

[snapping turtle]

If you can get up to Anderson IN there is a place on west 8th street called strongs market. Basically and old butcher shop now a butcher shop and market. I like to go get my steaks cut like 1 1/2 inches thick and my chops like 2 inches thick. they will take care of you and it is not drastically expensive as the rent is cheep The emge butcher plant was right acrossed the street from there for years now it is closed ( I think).

If you can afford northside prices in fishers there is archers meat.

In pendleton there is smith farms but they only do cows, no pigs or chickens, but they are free range cows or corn feed whatever you like.

In fisher at the farmers market on olio rd they have the hippies with Kobe beef. Some Japanese beef raised and butchered to standards unheard of in the USA. The price reflects it also. Most likely not a good choice for smoking.

Just don't go to wal mart except for ammo.

The hardest thing I have found about smoking meat is keeping it rolled in the paper and keeping it lit.

 

[public servant]

I forgot about Claus' in Indy on South Shelby.

Claus' German Sausage and Meat Market

 

[SavageEagle]

Value Market in Moorseville has the best prices on bulk meats and it's REALLY good meat. They're bacon is the MMMMmmmmmMMmmmmmmMMMMMMMMmmmmmmmmmmm!

Nice looking setup BTW. What woods do you like better to smoke with?

 

[phylodog]

Hickory is my favorite currently. I've personally smoked with mesquite, apple and cherry also. I've had brisket smoked over oak and it was phenomenal, gonna get my hands on some oak one of these days and smoke a couple briskets with it.

The rub is the key. I rub pork and beef with dry rub the night before and let it settle overnight before putting it in the box in the morning. Makes all the difference...

 

[tyler34]

you should mess with your wood also. I ALWAYS use a blend of wood, normally hickory and apple. IME 100% hickory can be a bit bitter and oak doesn't impart a lot of flavor. if you could ever talk to BBQ competitors they would 99% of the time tell you the same thing.

 

[phylodog]

I'm planning on mixing the hickory with cherry this time around, got a good bit of both today. I've heard others say that hickory can be bitter but I haven't experienced it. My family loves what I bring out of that metal box and its almost always just hickory.

I've had mesquite get a touch bitter but not hickory yet. I tend to smoke on the light side though, maybe that has something to do with it. I smoke around 210* and don't have a thick smoke pouring out of it.

 

[Htrailblazer]

I second Sams club for good prices. Kroger usually has pork butts on sale for less than $1 a lb.

 

[PatriotPride]

Damnit! Now I'm hungry...

Word for word, that was exactly what I thought.

 

[Benny]

Walmart has great prices on everything...Except for meat.

Either go to a local grocery store and get that same meat for cheaper or go to a good butcher shop and get quality meat at a price.

Personally, I do both...You are right though. A pork butt(shoulder) or a whole chicken is going to taste just as good from a grocery store as it will from a butcher.

Steaks and ribs are a different story though.

 

[Roadie]

I second Sams club for good prices. Kroger usually has pork butts on sale for less than $1 a lb.

^this^

Walmart meat is horrid. Usually it's Injected with up to 10% of a salt water solution by volume, vacuum packed at the factory, and shipped to the store...

That being said, I wonder how smoking venison roasts would turn out...

Edit: Just Googled it... Found out since venison is so lean, it needs fat to smoke right, SO, the suggestion is to wrap it in....wait for it.....BACON!

 

[wilbur352]

I am definitely jealous of the smoker, I have been debating whether to buy on or build one. But I would have to agree with an earlier post that Sams Club has good deals on meat.

 

[Arm America]

Hampton's Market, near the intersection of Morgantown and
Smith Valley Road has excellant choice cuts of meat.
I have had great results with Kroger pork butts as well.

For those that may not know, the easiest way to keep your
favorite dry rub on meat to be smoked
is to cover with mustard first.

Smoked meat is just a little slice of heaven.

 

[IndySSD]

I'm not really a food snob, but I enjoy cooking and I like to enjoy what I cook. I can not stomach Walmart or Sams club meats after having been exposed to other meats for cheaper/similar prices that are MUCH higher quality.


I can second Hamptons market if you're out that way but I generally buy my meats now from Costco. Their standard thickness on prepackaged steaks is between 1and1/2" and two inches thick. You can also request certain cuts, thicknesses etc.

Phylo let me know if you want to go peruse some meats at Costco, I may be heading up there today (I usually hit the Castleton Square mall location) or tomorrow.

 

[phylodog]

We normally ball all of our meat at Costco, they're quality is far superior to Walmart. I've had problems finding the cuts I want for smoking there though, mainly the pork butt and brisket. The ribs and tenderloin I posted pics of were both bought at Costco.

I appreciate all of the recommendations guys.