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.