anybody smoke meats?
electric smoker?
propane smoker?
charcol smoker?
beef? pork? poultry? fish?
I use an electric of the Big Chief variety, and have smoked steelhead, chickens, pheasants. I buy the chips at local sporting goods store as I am hestitant to use chainsaw chips considering that are probably contaminated wit the chain lubricating oil.
Roy
I have a charcoal one by Brinkman, use Maple, Apple, and Pecan wood chunks that I cut myself. Have cooked Pork, Chicken, Turkey, Beef , Venison, Catfish, Carp, Trout, Salmon, Striped Bass.
A cider block tower and fire box connected with about 4 feet of aluminum duct
Wood fired of course
Turkeys and duck so far, whole pork shoulder next
It’s still a work in progress
I used to have a Brinkman I got at Wally World probably 20 years ago for less than $20. It worked but wasn’t very well made and regulating temperature was a challenge but could be done. It eventually wore out and I replaced it with a Weber Smokey Mountain - usually referred to as the bullet because of it’s shape. It was $150 delivered from Amazon when I bought it a few years ago. It is well made and will last for my lifetime. Temperature control is still the trick but it is easier to accomplish and rock steady if it isn’t windy out.
There are several styles of smoker and you need to figure out if you want a wet smoker or dry (the Brinkman and the Weber are wet smokers which means there’s a pan of water keeping the smoky internal environment moist). Size is another consideration. Both of these are charcoal smokers, which I prefer but I have had good smoked meats off an electric smoker, too.
The Brinkman’s I see at Home Depot look a lot nicer than the cheap thing I bought. They cost a lot more too (but less than a Weber bullet). I suspect they’re like a lot of things in life - you get what you pay for.
Mostly I do pork (shoulders aka Boston Butts and ribs) but I’ve done beef, chicken, fish, and cheese. You need low heat and short times for smoking cheese but it sure is a delicacy. Fish are tricky in my opinion. My father-in-law could smoke fish but I think it was in his genes - he was from Wisconsin and I’m pretty sure had gills somewhere. I’m still learning to smoke fish but I’m pretty good at creating fish leather.<g> Not to brag but my pulled pork and baby back ribs are generally considered pretty good eats by most folks but I’ve had plenty of practice.
What are you looking at doing with your smoker?
Mark, what does smoked ‘Bee’ taste like and how many to make a meal?:lol:
Kelly.
I love to smoke on my Webber. I use charcoal. I have smoked pork, standing rib roast, and chicken and smoked a turkey breast this past Thanks Giving. A big help that I have is a wireless thermometer. You almost can’t screw up if you use one.
I never could spell, Thanks Kelly
I use a large egg-shaped ceramic smoker. Not a BGE, but similar although it is larger and heavier. This thing is pretty versatile, giving you the able to smoke without water while keeping meat very moist as well as bake in it, as well as sear at high temps when necessary.
I’ve never made a bad piece of meat on it. It handles everything from pulled pork to meatloaf. I even made my own ham in it once by brining a fresh picnic ham and smoking it overnight at the lowest fire I could maintain.
I like to use natural lump charcoal - the best I can find lately is Royal Oak. Smoking wood is either chunks or shredded apple, alder, pecan, hickory, cherry, etc.
Norman,
I love to smoke Pork Shoulders, Ribs, Turkey and Fish. Great alternate hobby. I use a propane unit manufactured by a comany called the Great Smoley Mountain Outdoor Smoker. It’s a large unit capable of holding eight full slabs of ribs. Got it on sale at Bass Pro for $150. Easy to use and maintaines temps well.
My son-in-law uses a second hand smoker to do bacon, ham, tri tip and chicken. Trouble is all he uses to burn is mesquite. I took some trout over and smoked’em with some apple wood ships in charcoal. Couldn’t get the taste of mesquite out of it. yech!
smoker we had was one JC and I created from an old double door (vertical) frig. Had stainless racks. Vented out the top for smoke and heat control, used an electric hot plate for heat, an iron frying pan for wood chips. Smoked everything including some wonderful P.R. Jerky made from venison or elk.
That one was inside a converted chicken coop. I think we bought the frig for $10, didn’t work of course but perfect for what we wanted. Pretty easy to gut one. If you go that route, make sure there is nothing plastic in it :lol:
It will melt.
X1
Marinating some, beef right now for a fishing trip on the weekend… I have done every kink of meat you could think of… Love it…
Great sight for those that are interested
Smoking Meat Forums - Welcome to Smoking Meat Forums!
I have a propane smoker and can say I do get great results out of it. ribs, jerked chicken, pork shoulder, turkey.
I started out with an old refrigerator, hanging the trout from the top rack, with a paperclip through the jaw. The heatsource was an old popcorn popper. The kind with the heat element in the bottom of the aluminum pot. I used green apple limbs, cut up with a pair of lopping shears. It worked pretty darn good for trout up to about 14". That is, until the neighbor saw smoke coming out of it and called the fire department. Cost me half of the trout I was smoking to get them to leave me alone.
I wised up to the fact that the old fridge was a hazard to children locking themselves inside and I got rid of it.
I have a large propane smoker for whole chickens , turkeys, roasts, hams and ribs. I use an electric smoker for my fish and jerky.
Rocky
I have had the same one for years now. Works great from Thanksging turkeys to Super Bowl boston butt
I guess technically, I BBQ meat.
I really prefer BBQ over “cold smoking”, especially for salmon.
Normand, the issue is pretty simple in general.
If you’ll be smoking for a couple, three or five people ocassionally and plan on some straight forward smokes go for an electric Brinkman…easy as can be to set up and operate…temp is pretty much steady no real fussing needed.
If you think this will develope into a hobby and invision all night smokes and something you can fuss about with consider a nice heavy duty charcoal/wood burner unit with adjustable smokestacks and a side car…think Chargriller brand.
I prefer my electric Brinkman, set it up and let it go…no planning ahead to light a fire and temper it down and you can do some really nice things with it…I started using smoker pelletts this year and they are awesome.
Don’t know if you found these guys yet BUT great info here:
http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/
These guys tend to lean towards wood burners.