Smokin.....Oh Yeah !!!

[Tig]

I smoked oysters, salmon fillets, sheepshead fillets, shark steaks, chickens, turkey, and brisket.

I have never heard tell of anyone eating sheepshead, the fish that is. What do they compare to? We get them occasionally while walleye fishing. Good fighters.
Interesting thread. Last summer we had some meat that was nicely smoked and it has won the wife over. I expect we will have a smoker by this time next year.

 

[Bird]

I always assumed all wood was the best way to do it

If you have the time, the equipment, etc., I think you may be right. That's the way most professionals do it, and lots of amateurs as well. My youngest brother just started a couple of years ago and he uses a mix of mesquite and pecan logs and says it turns out great. One of my wife's nephews and his boss compete in cookoffs, have 5 trailer mounted rigs, and do some fine barbecue. And before we moved back to town, our closest neighbor and best friends had an annual July 4th party. They had two big trailer mounted horizontal rigs with the fire box in one end and used nothing but pecan wood (he had over a hundred pecan trees). To give you an idea of the size, though, one year we did one whole goat and 8 of my rabbits in addition to a bunch of chickens, sausage, and I think 10 briskets. But we started the fires and got all the meat into the smokers about 4 o'clock in the afternoon and he even went out to add wood to the fires around 1 o'clock in the morning.

Of course the horizontal rigs take up more space, you need a place to keep the wood, have to dispose of ashes, etc. Out in the country, that's a good way to go. But I'm back in town now, so do it the easiest way I know.

 

[Bird]

I have never heard tell of anyone eating sheepshead, the fish that is. What do they compare to? We get them occasionally while walleye fishing. Good fighters.
Interesting thread. Last summer we had some meat that was nicely smoked and it has won the wife over. I expect we will have a smoker by this time next year.

Steve, I've never fished for walleye. Are you talking about a fresh water fish (as I thought walleye was) or a salt water fish? For many years, we went to the Texas coast each year for Thanksgiving in November when my parents lived down there. The popular fishing was for redfish (red drum), flounder, and speckled trout (known on the east coast as weakfish). Most people cared nothing for the sheepshead and there were no restrictions of any kind. But more and more people learned what good fighters they were, how much fun they are to catch, and I don't think anyone could tell the difference in the taste of a sheepshead fillet and a redfish fillet. I think one thing that kept people from wanting them was a lack of knowledge as to how to fillet them. We cut their throats first and let them bleed out (you can see in the pictures how the dark vertical stripes fade as they bleed out). And then because of the big head, big bones, etc. you only get about 25% of the live weight in fillets. So now in Texas, they've gotten so popular that we have a limit of 5, a minimum length of 10" about to be raised to 12" I think. And you might be lucky to get those 5. There was a time when Dad & I would go catch 15 or 20, go fillet them, eat lunch, and go catch another 15 or 20. Used to keep my freezer stocked since I really like all kinds of seafoods, but no more.

But we haven't spent Thanksgiving on the coast since 1994, and the pictures were when my brother and I just went down there for a couple of day in November, 2001.

 

[wedge40]

Oh yes you can also see some of the white oak chunks that I threw into the burn pan also ! Just a few !

White oak? Didn't know you could use white oak to smoke with. Are there any woods that must stay away from? Besides the obvious like treated or pine or any of the soft woods.. I think red oak has toxins in it?

Wedge

 

[scott_vt]

White oak? Didn't know you could use white oak to smoke with. Are there any woods that must stay away from? Besides the obvious like treated or pine or any of the soft woods.. I think red oak has toxins in it?

Wedge

Good Mornin Wedge,
Actually I was using the white oak as a heat source in addition to the charcoal briquits. The white oak provided some additional heat along with some smoke flavor Im sure !

Yes you are correct on the pine from what i have read so far, no go for smoking !

 

[Wil]

Well this is a good thread.

I have an old Brinkman like Scotty's that I haven't used in quite some time. Not because it doesn't do a good job, but because it required to much baby sitting.
After looking at Bird's Great Outdoors Wide Body Smoky Mountain and reading all of these post about smokin, it wetted my appetite for some good smokin. So I wanted a smoker that I could use with out to much baby sitting. I did a little searching on the web and came up with the Masterbuilt Electric Digital Smoker at Sam's Club and our local store had a floor model and 3 still in their boxes. So it found it's way into my garage and I will have to be trying it out tomorrow.
Glad you started this up Scotty and All of you contributers thanks for your input I can't wait till tomorrow.

__________________

 

[anojones]

Man that looks good! That's the smoker I started with, made some good bbq on it after some practice. As I remember I modified it and added legs to the charcoal bowl so I could lift the whole thing off the fire and add coal that way as that door made tending the fire a chore. That smoker does take some tending, but all good 'cue does. A similar model is the Weber Bullet which is easier to control temp etc- I have a fancy ceramic one now but have a gas grill on the way (gone over to the dark side!) for grilling steaks etc. You might try some lump charcoal (rather than briquets)- works well, easy to light and more traditional without going all wood.

 

[mapmaker]

Scott_vt,
I have been using that same smoker for the last five years and UPS just delivered 4 more to me this week. (Long story) I have always had great results. Two weeks ago I did a 17 lb pork shoulder and have been eating pulled pork sandwiches ever sense. ( The smoked pork freezes very well) Last week I brought it to work and did 20 lbs of chicken for lunch for all the guys I work with.
The one thing I would suggest is to try using natural lump charcoal. I find that it burns longer than the briquettes and that there is less ash. When I was using kingsford, near the end of the smoking I would have trouble keeping the temp up above warm because the ash would be blocking all the air holes in the bottom. The lump does not create this problem.

Happy smoking.

 

[Bird]

Wil, I edited your post to make a link to that smoker. It sure looks good, but of course, costs twice what my smoker did.

 

[Tig]

Steve, I've never fished for walleye. Are you talking about a fresh water fish (as I thought walleye was) or a salt water fish?

The sheepshead I know is a fresh water fish found in Lake Ontario. I've caught few but the largest was near 7 lbs. I'm surprised to find out that it seems to be the same fish you are talking about. I don't recall the stripes being so dark and we put them back as quick as we can. I used to regard it as the only fish that isn't eaten, you have changed all that now. That being said Lake Ontario can do some bad things to the taste of certain fish such as trout but smoking out the fat is the cure.

 

[scott_vt]

Well this is a good thread.

I have an old Brinkman like Scotty's that I haven't used in quite some time. Not because it doesn't do a good job, but because it required to much baby sitting.
After looking at Bird's Great Outdoors Wide Body Smoky Mountain and reading all of these post about smokin, it wetted my appetite for some good smokin. So I wanted a smoker that I could use with out to much baby sitting. I did a little searching on the web and came up with the Masterbuilt Electric Digital Smoker at Sam's Club and our local store had a floor model and 3 still in their boxes. So it found it's way into my garage and I will have to be trying it out tomorrow.
Glad you started this up Scotty and All of you contributers thanks for your input I can't wait till tomorrow.

__________________

Good Afternoon Wil,
I agree on the amount of attention that i spent on that smoker ! A bit labor intensive, I love the looks of Birds' grill but as i stated Im just starting out ! As time goes by I may upgrade.

For fathers day Im planning on doing spare ribs and chicken, so that will be the next adventure, and hopefully it goes well because I have people coming over !

 

[Bird]

Yep, Steve, it does appear to possibly be the same fish, although I had not heard of them being in fresh water before. Of course I knew that the saltwater striped bass and even flounder have been adapted to fresh water. I just checked the Texas Parks & Wildlife website and the state record for sheepshead is 15.25 pounds, although the best I can remember about 8 lbs. was as big as we caught with 5 to 6 pounders being common years ago. And the daily bag limit in Texas is still 5, but the minimum lenght is 13", will be going to 14" on Sept. 1, 2008, and up to 15" on Sept. 1, 2009. In other words, they're getting more scarce all the time. Live shrimp makes good bait, but we generally used fiddler crabs for bait.

 

[Wil]

Bird,

Thanks for squaring that link away. I edited the original and messed it up and could not figure out how to fix it.

My new smoker is my Father's Day present a week early. My lovely wife got a cash award for doing such a splendid job and felt very generous. There is a reason I've stuck around for 37 years. Not sure why she has put up with me that long, but sure glad she has.

Scotty,

Seems like a lot of us started with that smoker and apparently many are still using it, that attest to it's quality.

Cooked Baby Back Ribs, Pork Tenderloin, Beef Brisket and Beef Roast in the new smoker today. Just finished eating, had a little bit of each item, ummmm, forgot how good it was to do it your self.

Now for clean up. All good things must come to an end.

 

[MossRoad]

Yep, Justin Wilson was one of my favorites. ...... he also was a safety consultant ....

I remember his jokes about him being a safety engineer. He always wore a belt AND suspenders!

 

[dmccarty]

Last November we got a 7n1 SS cooker from Cabela's. You can boil water, oil, smoke, grill, etc on the thing. We fried a Turkey for Turkey Day and some oysters a few times. But the main use is a smoker.

I use little pieces of wood in the smoker to both create heat and smoke. We use the starter wood for the wood stove in the smoker. I'll also just pick up hardwood limbs that have fallen and put that in the smoker. Mostly its red or white oak. None of those briquettes. Just wood. No propane either. That stuff is too expensive.

Dead wood from a tree make better BBQ and the price is right.

This weekend I had a ribeye steak that I was going to smoke but it was 100+ outside so that was not happening. Instead I put it in the oven Sunday morning after we made some sticky bun things and hit the toast cycle for 4 minutes. Should have done 3 minutes since the oven was already hot. After 30-60 minutes the oven had finally cooled down to 100ish so I heated it back up with the toast for 4 minutes again. Did this for about 2.5 hours. Should have done 2 and it would have been a bit rarer. It was very juicy. And Good. Not smoked but good.

Later,
Dan

 

[wedge40]

When I first got interested in smoking something all I had was a gas grill with three burners. I tried the little cast iron smoke boxes, but they were a PIA to use. I knew I wanted to have some way to "burn" wood chip. I finally hit upon the idea of using a 6" section of stove pipe to contain some charcoal and would put the chips on that. You had to watch it a little cause sometime the charcoal would cause the grill to get too hot, but it worked like a charm.
Now I have a huge box type smoker.. I'd love to find someone with a hickory tree that I could cut and turn into fuel.

Wedge

 

[tallyho8]

I'd love to find someone with a hickory tree that I could cut and turn into fuel. Wedge

I've got tons of pecan trees you could cut and use for fuel. I love smoking with pecan but I have way more than I will ever use.

 

[wedge40]

I've got tons of pecan trees you could cut and use for fuel. I love smoking with pecan but I have way more than I will ever use.

I did a map search.. You're bascially in New Orleans. About 850 miles away, 1700 miles round trip. Truck gets 15mpg and estimate $4.50 per gallon of gas. That would be around $500 for some pecan. Thanks for the offer though.

Wedge

 

[Bird]

When I first got interested in smoking something all I had was a gas grill with three burners. I tried the little cast iron smoke boxes

I still have that, but don't use it for smoking anymore, just the grill part.

 

[Maxfli]

Last year I bought one of those horizontal smokers with a fire box on the side, Brisket the first time didn't really work out that great, it was ok. Now this year I have done a few Briskets and several pork shoulders. My land is all white oak and Shag bark Hickory. What I am doing different is really stoking the firebox with Oak first, and let it burn down to get a good coal base going. Then add hickory and the meat. The pork shoulders I did last week I smoked for about 2.5 hour keeping the temp 240 to 275 degrees. Then wrapped them in foil, total time in the smoker was probably 6.5 hours. They were a huge hit.