Smokers - check in please!

[Black Dog]

Well I've got a cherry tree that is in miserable condition in my back yard so I'm planning on cutting that puppy down and using the wood to make some food. I figure that the other tree that actually produced fruit I can make some sort of sauce with the cherry juice, then build a smoker and use cherry wood and it should be pretty tasty.

 

[JohnMcD348]

Oh yeah, forgot about that one. Cherry is a great wood for smoking. I like it best with pork along with maple and a little oak. Some guys won't use anything but Cherry when they smoke. Pretty much any real fruit and nut bearing tree can be used. I've even used Guava a few times. The important thing is to make sure you season the wood for a few weeks so it has time to dry out good before you use it. You just want the wood and not the saps and resins in it.

 

[Black Dog]

I almost wonder if a guy could soak his chips in some fine brandy or cognac or wine or something to get some of the essences and stuff that could add to it. I've seen Jack Daniels smoker chips before so if you are a DIY type of person you could come up with something totally unique.

 

[bftank]

pics tomorrow, my hobby has gotten me some good deals at napa, and made me some money!

still working on brisket recipe. might need to road trip down to tejas.

smoked turkey every thanksgiving, shoulder of pork, pork ribs, brisket, burgers, steak, peppers, sausage, beans.

gonna have to try that smoked tomatoe sauce out.

i use oak because i get it for free. they are the 4x4x8's used for hauling pipe on flatbeds.

 

[Black Dog]

In my experience, this is a waste of good alcohol:sombrero: You might have better results creating a marinade for your meat with it instead.

I've always wanted to try and make a flambe sauce but my wife won't let me play with fire inside the house.:chef:

 

[snorkel54]

Tonight I'm smoking a 1/2 chicken that we harvested yesterday morning. I'm using some Hickory chunks soaked in water for about a week, and a pan of water in the smoker. So far I've been smoking for 2 hours and we're at 155 deg. I'm going to pull it out at 160 and let it cool.

Yes I have some pics...but not yet.

Share with me some of your favorite recipes please! This is only my second time smoking, so I am a true novice!

Here's how it turned out. 2 hours of smoking and this thing was juicy, tasty, and mmmmmm.......good!

Just Curious. How do you harvest half a chicken?

 

[JohnMcD348]

I almost wonder if a guy could soak his chips in some fine brandy or cognac or wine or something to get some of the essences and stuff that could add to it. I've seen Jack Daniels smoker chips before so if you are a DIY type of person you could come up with something totally unique.

The alcohols and flavors that you'd want to get wouldn't really do well trying to do them yourself. Once the wood has seasoned to a point that it would be good for smoking, it really won't absorb enough fluid to make it work well. Also, the alcohol and flavors you'd want to impart would simply burn off rapidly. I've tried some of the Jack Daniels stuff and really couldn't taste a difference between them and the regular chips and chuncks.

There was a test I saw done once where someone took similar weights of smoking wood and soaked them for varying times and then sectioned them to see just how much water was absorbed. After 1-2 weeks(I can't recall now) the wood chunk that had been in the entire time only absorbed something like 1/8" or less. I've known people who would use apple juice in the water pans of their smokers and after eating what was cooked I can pretty confidently say that the Apple juice really made the back yard smell great during the cook.

 

[Black Dog]

Last week I use some hickory chips on my little Webber grill for some chicken and it turned out pretty well. I didn't do the conventional smoking method at all, I got my coals going nice and hot then poured the chips out of the bag on top of the coals to make a good thick layer. Of course they just ignited into flame but I let them burn for a couple seconds while I put the grill back on and went inside and got the chicken breast. I flopped the breast down on the grill then slammed the lid on and within a second or two the flames were gone and there was a ton of smoke coming out of the vents on top. The chicken turned a lovely orange color on the outside when it cooked and for once it actually didn't stick to my grill, so really it came out perfect.

 

[Maximus Ram]

Well what else is there to do when its raining like crazy outside......fire up the grille and try ones hand at "smoking" a tri-tip. Had it in the freezer, so I thawed it over night, made up a quick marinade(we'll see if its any good), and try smoking it in the Aussie grille I bought over the summer..
Soakes some mesquite chips I had for about an hour,put them in a couple of layers of foil with holes to make a smoke pouch , got the coals to go and I'll check the temp in about an hour to see....its been on for almost an hour already.
Sure smells good when the wind blows this way....:drool:

 

[TeriAnn]

I coming into this thread real late. :chef:

I have a horizontal smoker that has a side mounted firebox. The smoke travels from the firebox on one side & out the chimney on the other. This helps maintain an even temperature which is easier to control (flue at the air entrance to the firebox and another at the chimney and a thermometer at meat level in the rack section.

I get hardwood charcoal which is mostly oak and never use the coal dust/oil mixtures sold as briquettes. I like to play around with different wet wood chips but tend towards hickory for pork, mesquite for beef, Alder or cherry for fish and stay with oak for chicken.

I usually smoke a rack of pork ribs for about 6 hours and a whole brisket for about 11 or 12 hours. Chicken & fish, a lot depends upon the size. Though these days I have mostly been cooking fish by ceder plank grilling. I really like the flavor.

I prefer my smoked meats wet so start with a dryish rub and finish with Sweet Baby Rays BBQ sauce during the last hour of smoking.

I have developed a rub for pork ribs that I love. I apply the rub on the night before and let it sit in the refrigerator overnight for the flavor to absorb.

I brush the rib rack with molasses then pat the molasses coated ribs with a dry mixture of 1/4 onion powder, 1/4 garlic powder and one half mild smoked paprika. Then the Sweet baby Rays BBQ sauce goes on a couple times during the last hour of cooking. I've never had leftovers.

 

[dport]

Somehow have missed this thread until now. Only been smoking for a couple of years. I use a basic propane smoker, that was picked up for FREE in someone's garbage pile. Favorite thing to do is a pork butt, using hickory chips. I have added apple juice to the water pan, but I think it's more a mental thing (haven't noticed a difference in taste). I have decided the only way to eat turkey is smoked! I want to try a pork butt on the upper rack, with a turkey below it to soak up the juices.

 

[martin809]

Yesterday I smoked 2 pork tenderloins and an Elk tenderloin, I smoked with Apple wood and just a hint of Hickory. They smoked for several hours and were awesome when they were done.

 

[TeriAnn]

I have added apple juice to the water pan, but I think it's more a mental thing (haven't noticed a difference in taste).

When I do a pork butt I inject it to saturation with apple juice. The dry rub helps keep the apple inside as the roast cooks. Give it a try.

 

[Black Dog]

We almost need to figure out some sort of a barbeque sauce recipe with apple juice in it that you could mop onto your meet while it is smoking.

 

[07 Elephant]

I did a 4lb bone in dry rubbed butt in our green egg yesterday. It was a faster cook than usual; 4.5 hours at 300 o so. I brought the meat to 176. I'm not sure how long it held there but the result proved it was long enough to work its magic on the fat. We finished it up with some pecos 83; Sweet potatoes on the side....And a bottle of big house red. Sweet pork love. :wings: