Smokin.....Oh Yeah !!!

[scott_vt]

Good Afternoon Guys,
I have been readin all the threads about smokin that you guys have been postin for years, and Im finally tryin it out ! That makes me a rookie when it comes to this type of thing but I am really excited about it !

Kathleen bought me an early fathers day present, a cheapo Brinkman charcoal smoker. I know that alot of you guys have these fancy ceramic units but I thought I could get my feet wet with this little guy !

I just started her up a while ago, my bottom rack has beef ribs, pork ribs, and the top rack I have brat links and polish sausage !

As you can see in the picture, the unit has a small access door and a temp gage on the lid. The gage reads warm - ideal - hot. Right now my gage is borderline warm/ ideal, so Im thinkin a bit too much on the cool side !

I also have some small white oak chunks of wood that I cut awhile ago, and am wondering if I should add some to increase my heat level ??? Im using Hickork impregnated briquits and I have soaked some hickork chips for more smoke, I threw a handfull on the coals awhile ago !

Sorry, I hate to beat a topic to death but I havent been this excited since I finished restoring my old Super A !

I welcome any advice !

 

[Wayne County Hose]

Good Afternoon Scotty,

Good luck with the new toy. Let us know how it works for ya. I'd like to get something this year. I can remember my Grandma smokin' venison and trout in a smoker that Grandpa made from an old refrigerator. I've got a couple cords of hickory and a little apple left to smoke with. Now I have to get time to go get the fish!

 

[KaiB]

Good deal Scott,

Not too hot, ideal is around 225F to 250F. Toss chips in every now and then. Ribs done when the bone begins to rotate with just a little effort.

You want a rack of pork ribs to take 5 hours or so...

 

[Skyco]

Just be advised one can over smoke the meat. Long low temp cooking makes the best stuff, but be judicous in wood added for smoke. I've ruined some pretty expensive cuts of meat in my early smoking days- got em so smoke flavored they were awful

 

[Bird]

I have concluded that learning to properly smoke meats is a life long process. I started with a Cookin' Cajun upright charcoal smoker (I guess it was made by Brinkman). I used 5 lbs. of charcoal and either hickory or mesquite chips. It had two racks and I smoked oysters, salmon fillets, sheepshead fillets, shark steaks, chickens, turkey, and brisket. Sometimes it was better than others, but it all got eaten. I was later given a smaller electric Cookin' Cajun smoker and there was no way I could use it for smoking meats because it simply got too hot.

I now use the Great Outdoors Wide Body Smoky Mountain gas smoker from Walmart. I try to keep the temperature right around 250 degrees. I have not tried any fish, but have done baby back ribs, short ribs, turkey roasts, pork loin, and of course, briskets. I generally use only mesquite wood chips although I've used hickory alone and a mixture of mesquite and hickory. I know from a neighbor's parties that pecan wood is also very good.

Briskets are my favorite, and are also the most difficult to get right. Very tough meat if done improperly; delicious if done right. One thing I've learned is to look for the smallest briskets. It's better to use two small ones than one big one. I've read that the big ones come from bigger, but older, cattle while the smaller ones are more likely to come from younger and smaller cattle. For everything but the briskets, I do the entire cooking in the smoker. But for briskets, I put them in the smoker for 3 to 4 hours at 250 degrees, then take them out, put them in a roaster pan with lid in the oven in the house for 8 hours at 200 degrees. I have tried a variety of dry rubs, including my own concoction of 2 parts garlic powder, 2 parts paprika, 1 part cayenne, 3 parts salt, 3 parts brown sugar, 1 part cumin, and 1 part chili powder, and most are pretty good. Mine has always seemed to go over well, but in fact, I think it's hard to beat just using a liberal dose of lemon pepper.

My wife volunteered me to provide a ham and brisket for a party at our daughter's house 2 weeks ago. Someone else provided the chickens and I did a 12.78 lb. ham, and two briskets, 7.58 lb. and 9.09 lb. I really expected the ham to be the most popular meat, but sure enough we ran out of brisket while we still had ham and chicken. I got lots of compliments on the brisket and those were done with the lemon pepper.

There is one thing I do that may be a little different. I keep a squirt bottle in the refrigerator in the shop with one-third water, one-third 7-Up, and one-third red wine and I spray the briskets with that when I put them in the smoker and about once an hour after that.

 

[Redbug]

Ohhh, that sounds so good Bird!

I also may keep a squirt bottle like that in my workshop fridge, only do away with the one third water part and take a nip now and then...

 

[Nasty135]

Hi Scotty, I found a SS smoker built just like yours, and found out that my first effort should not be an 18lb. turkey.... Talk about an all day deal...
The wife always says go big or go home: Heck! I am home

Here is some of what I learned:
1. Load that sucker with as much charcoal as it will possibly hold
2. Soak your chips as you have indicated
3. you can fill the upper bowl with wine, onions or other flavor enhancing items
4. Watch your heat indicator and walk away
5. go build something...

Problem issues I have had, Item your cooking is going to take awhile ie: Turkey ...Problem is you add charcoal through the little door ,which is a pain. I ended up using a huge metal spoon of some sort to place coals where I wanted them...secondly , this will be a good modification for you to patent... When my bottom coal pan is finally dying down and the ash is already deep it kinda smothers its to where the heat is way down, so I think it needs some kind of raised coal grille so the ash can fall through to the bottom of the pan to keep the coals kick'n out the heat... Maybe yours has this mine was bought second hand at a yard sale... and I haven't done much about it yet...

I thought about using my leaf blower to blow the ash away from the pan exposing the hot coals but I don't think anybody would want to eat the meat after that...

But anyhow we have successfully smoked goose, & turkey although the turkey ended up a little dry from taking so long, it still had good smoked flavor...Once you get the hang of it...Let us know how it went...

 

[Bird]

Ohhh, that sounds so good Bird!

I also may keep a squirt bottle like that in my workshop fridge, only do away with the one third water part and take a nip now and then...

Dave, for a long time, I've kept a big jug of Carlo Rossi Burgundy or Paisano wine in the shop refrigerator and have been accustomed to mixing about 20-25% 7-Up in the glass with it to sweeten it. But I recently learned to just buy Sangria; it's already sweet enough; doesn't need a mixer. I've read that men are not supposed to like sweet wine, but I'm like the Cajun, Justin Wilson (one of my favorite comedians and TV cooking show hosts) who said "the right wine is the one you like." I think the same sentiment applies to tractor brands.

 

[Redbug]

I don't know Scott you may have started something. Mostly if it's guys with tractors...whatever it is will be on a grill or smoker...and outside. I sure do miss Justin Wilson and his show, nobody has ever come close to filling his shoes in the cooking world.

Barbecue Sauce Recipes - All About Food

http://www.wwf5.com/stuffers.com/content/recipes/sausrecp.pdf

 

[Bird]

Dave, are you familiar with one of Tractorbynet's sister websites, Countrybynet which does have a "Cooking & More" forum?