I know four people who smoke one meat or another , two or three times a month.

If a guy wanted to ask one of these people to prepare a 3 .5 pound meat for them .

whats the correct approach ?

Was thinking of purchasing an 8 pound pork tenderloin,

would offering the fella 3.5 pounds of the meat
be an acceptable offer for smoking mine for 6- 10 hours ?

any guidance you choose to offer would be appreciated.

or is there a better offer , like to buy the wood chips or something

Buy a couple of pork butts, ask him to smoke them both and keep one for himself.

Offering to buy two butts/loins/etc. and they can keep one is a good approach.

It doesn't really take any more work or fuel to smoke two or three pieces of the same kind of meat than it does to smoke one.

quote:

Originally posted by RogueJSK:
Offering to buy two butts/loins/etc. and they can keep one is a good approach.

It's not really any more work to smoke two or three pieces of the same kind of meat than it is to smoke one.

This, but the person has to be in the mood to do the work. I would ask them that when they want to smoke something next, to let you know and that you'll buy the meat for you and them and want 1 or 1/2 for yourself.

^^^^

This approach would work with me. I have a hard time justifying say a whole brisket, but you buy it, I smoke it for 12+ hours or so and we split it. Same for a pork shoulders etc.

I think all of the above responses are good ones. I smoke a lot of different meats, and as stated, it doesn't take much more to smoke two Boston Butt roasts than to do just one.

I agree on offering up two slabs of meat, and have him keep one. Most of us who enjoy smoking meats, really enjoy the process. As another said, the problem may be the timing...it can require a lot of time when you look at the brining, the rub, etc. I would just throw it out there to one of them, and go from there.

I definitely think asking when they may be smoking is a good idea. I would not be happy if someone asked me to smoke on their schedule. That being said if they offered a whole brisket I’d be inclined to do it.

Notice no one mentioned the tenderloin. It’s not a cut you would smoke for that long generally. Not to mention offering a piece of meat worth less than $10 wouldn’t motivate me to fire up the smoker. Tenderloin should be done to about medium. Only a few hours. A pellet smoke guy may do it. A stick burner may be less interested to start the process for tenderloin.

All that also depends on your relationship with the guy. I’d smoke anything if a friend offered to hang out and have a few beers.

Thanks to those taking the time to help out.

Bendable, I second what my fellow meat smokers have said and I'll add an exemption.

There are people I have told, "You buy it and I'll smoke it for you" because they've earned it. I'd be willing to be you have probably done a favor or two and might have a bit of favor saved up. I agree with Frayed as well. Buddies are always welcome.

Otherwise I'd use the same approach as mentioned before, ask when they are smoking next and offer to buy.

I’ve done this for some friends who was looking to have some smoked deliciousness for their events. I only ask for the $45 for the pellets and the cost of the meat. For me, it helps me practice getting consistent results (yes, I’m still learning). He does end up giving me extra $$, so I guess that he likes the results.

The smoker I have is a pellet smoker and it usually gets opened 2-3 times during the smoke. So for a 10-16 smoke my time spent is only about 2 hours. If your friend has a stick smoker, there may be more of an effort to maintain the fire.

Good luck on your quest to get some smoked meats.

You are over the border from me, 3-4 hours away, if you want/need something I’d help out and do some meat for you. That is good timing to let the meat rest in a cooler on the drive down.