Smokin.....Oh Yeah !!!

[jinman]

Woohoo! Look what my sweet little wife got me for my birthday.

Birthday Present

Bird, where did you get the pan you have under yours? Is that a water heater drip pan?

 

[cowboy357]

Congrats on the new smoker Jim, & Happy Birthday . This is a Great thread & sure Makes you hungry looking at all the great food. I have a smoker Like Birds, With the exception its charcoal . Works great though , allthough I Rarely smoke anything untill the colder months , Which is allmost here. Lots of good info in here too, Thanks to All.

CB

 

[Bird]

Jim, that's $10 "auto drip pans" from Walmart under my smoker and grill. They were in the automotive department with the motor oils and oil changing equipment.

 

[jinman]

Jim, that's $10 "auto drip pans" from Walmart under my smoker and grill. They were in the automotive department with the motor oils and oil changing equipment.

Thanks Bird! I'll look there first.

 

[srossman]

Woohoo! Look what my sweet little wife got me for my birthday.

Birthday Present

Bird, where did you get the pan you have under yours? Is that a water heater drip pan?

congrats on the new smoker. I got one last year for Christmas and love it. Just did a pork shoulder in it last Friday and it was great. There is nothing better than slow cooked smoked meat. Post some pics of good eats that come out of it.

 

[scott_vt]

Woohoo! Look what my sweet little wife got me for my birthday.

Birthday Present

Bird, where did you get the pan you have under yours? Is that a water heater drip pan?

Good Evenin Jim,
Wow you must have a great wife !!!

This is kind of funny, because I told Kathleen yesterday that I havent used my smoker in a few weeks and was real anxious to get it running this weekend ! Im thinkin pork ribs and chicken but that may change a bit by then !

I cant tell you how much fun runnin a smoker is..... youll just have to find out for yourself ! I kind of think its the cigar smokin and beer drinkin and watchin the smoker perforn its magic, but heck I dont want to ruin it for you.....

Happy Birthday and have fun !

 

[Bird]

Thanks Bird! I'll look there first.

Jim, there may be some bad news. I was in Walmart this morning and thought I'd just see if he price had changed on those drip pans. They didn't have any, so I happened to see the department manager and asked about them. She knew exactly what I was talking about and said they discontinued them, but she doesn't know wny, nor did she know whether it was all Walmarts or just this store, but she thinks it's probably all Walmarts.

Mine are 25" x 47", stamped "Auto Drip Pan" and "Auto Trend Products".

So I don't know where to find more like them.

 

[intekular]

My new wife and I just got a Traeger grill for our wedding gift from my family and it has been busy ever since.

So far ribs, blackened chicken (for alfredo), burgers, steak...heck the whole works. My old gas grill is now just hanging out.

Love the ham recipes and will have have to give it a try.

 

[jinman]

Jim, there may be some bad news. I was in Walmart this morning and thought I'd just see if he price had changed on those drip pans. They didn't have any, so I happened to see the department manager and asked about them. She knew exactly what I was talking about and said they discontinued them, but she doesn't know wny, nor did she know whether it was all Walmarts or just this store, but she thinks it's probably all Walmarts.

Thanks Bird. I may not need the drip pan. My smoker will be on pea gravel instead of a stained deck like yours. I'll look at AutoZone for a pan instead of Walmart. Perhaps they or O'Reillys have one, maybe even Lowes or HD.

 

[Bird]

Thanks Bird. I may not need the drip pan. My smoker will be on pea gravel instead of a stained deck like yours. I'll look at AutoZone for a pan instead of Walmart. Perhaps they or O'Reillys have one, maybe even Lowes or HD.

Jim, I was in all four of those stores today for different reasons. None of them have the same pans like I currently had, but I was in AutoZone first and they had the Blitz drip pans that look the same except for being 11" shorter. I had a use for one of them, so I bought one for $9.99 plus tax. Later in the morning I was in the O'Reilly's store and they had the identical Blitz pans for $8.49 plus tax (my usual luck)

 

[scott_vt]

Good Afternoon Guys,
Im going to attempt to smoke my first turkey tommorrow ! Ive got a couple of ideas on what to stuff the bird with and Im thinking of draping some bacon over the outside of it for basting purposes, oh darn Im gettin hungry allready ! Pics will start some time tommorrow morning !

 

[Bird]

Yep, Scotty, you'll have to let us know how it turns out. I've never stuffed a turkey before cooking it, no matter how I cooked. We always make the "stuffing" separately. And I've not tried the bacon on a turkey, so it ought to be an interesting experiment.

 

[scott_vt]

Yep, Scotty, you'll have to let us know how it turns out. I've never stuffed a turkey before cooking it, no matter how I cooked. We always make the "stuffing" separately. And I've not tried the bacon on a turkey, so it ought to be an interesting experiment.

Good Mornin Bird,
Well we got a bit of a late start, overslept a bit due to attending an Irish festival last night !

Anyway we managed to get the turkey in the smoker by 9 am so not too bad ! The bird is just over 13 lbs and we stuffed some nice sweet onions inside, rubbed the outside with salt, and then sprinkled some paprika and rosemary on the bird and draped a few strips of bacon on it for basting purposes ! Gosh I just had an egg sandwich and Im makin myself hungry allready !

I will update as the day goes on .....

 

[jinman]

Bird: Thanks for the tip on the Blitz pan and that O'Reilly's has them, there's one in Bowie.

Scotty: It looks like you have that bird going well. I did my first smokin' in my new smoker yesterday afternoon. About the time I was half done, my neighbor who I'd done some tractor work for called to invite us out with them to to dinner to repay the favor. I couldn't turn it down, so all I did was sample the smoked ribs and chicken. We'll make our first meal of it today. I smoked for three hours. The chicken was done, but I finished the ribs in our oven for two hours after cleaning off the rub and wrapping them in foil.

Here are some pictures of the new smoker in action. I cut some pecan chips to use for the smoke and soaked them in water. It only took a double handful of chips to do all the smoking. As you can see in one of the pictures, there was plenty of smoke coming out the vent.

When I started the smoker, it was 72 degrees inside. 50 minutes later, it was 225 degrees. The thermostat maintains the temperature within 5 degrees either side of the set point. Because the heater ran constantly during that first 50 minutes, there was a lot of smoke produced early on and then less as the meat cooked.

I really like this little smoker. It only draws 5.75 amps and does a great job. For the ribs and chicken, I hardly had any drips in the pan and the chicken and ribs are very moist. The only problem was that I had nothing to do but sit and drink beer for three hours while watching the smoker do all the work.

 

[scott_vt]

Bird: Thanks for the tip on the Blitz pan and that O'Reilly's has them, there's one in Bowie.

Scotty: It looks like you have that bird going well. I did my first smokin' in my new smoker yesterday afternoon.

The only problem was that I had nothing to do but sit and drink beer for three hours while watching the smoker do all the work.

Good Mornin Jim,
Good deal, it looks like you got your feet wet pretty quickly ! Thanks for the great pics, that is one nice unit !

I started at 9 am with the smoker in the shade and the outside temp was only 50 degs, and my temp was coming up slowly but now the smoker is in the sun and its just perfect on the temp scale. That tells me that if I want to do much of this in the winter I either need more hot coals or a nice unit like you have ! Either way we are havin some fun today, its a perfect weather day here and the beer should be flowin very soon !

Heres a couple bonus shots of what I do before the beer drinkin starts !

BTW I will post a shot of my bird at noon after 3 hours of smokin !
Had to get some tractor shots in there to keep it legal !

 

[scott_vt]

Good Afternoon Guys,
As promised 1-13 lb turkey on the smoker for 3 hrs!

Somethings of interest happening out there splitting wood and smoking, got to meet MR.chipmunk who has been nibbling my tomatoes in the garden ! I threatened him but he wasnt having it !

 

[mjarrels]

Scotty, I sure wish that I could have lunch at your place tomorrow... A few slices between two slices of bread would sure make for a good lunch!

mark

 

[scott_vt]

Scotty, I sure wish that I could have lunch at your place tomorrow... A few slices between two slices of bread would sure make for a good lunch!

mark

Good Afternoon Mark,
Start drivin now and you might make it in time !

Might need a little "Real Hellmans" !

These shots are just over 6 hrs in the smoker, oh yes, and the Sam Adams summer ale and a Romeo & Juliet Reserva cigar are helping me get through the waiting process !

Mark, you and any of my TBN friends are allways invited, if gas was only $.29 again !

BTW its the last day of summer so I guess the beer is politically correct !

 

[Bird]

BTW its the last day of summer so I guess the beer is politically correct !

That turkey certainly does look good, Scotty. I used to be quite a beer drinker, but just very seldom drink any beer anymore. However, today when I was boiling the brats in beer before putting them on the grill, I drank about half of one instead of pouring it all in the pot.

I really like this little smoker. It only draws 5.75 amps and does a great job.

That looks good, Jim. I think the electric has some definite advantages and is probably easier to regulate the temperature. I considered an electric, but our house is total electric. There's not even any gas main anywhere in the area. So I decided a time might come when I wanted to cook something during a power outage, so I went with propane smoker and grill.

 

[srossman]

Good Afternoon Guys,
As promised 1-13 lb turkey on the smoker for 3 hrs!

Somethings of interest happening out there splitting wood and smoking, got to meet MR.chipmunk who has been nibbling my tomatoes in the garden ! I threatened him but he wasnt having it !

Morning Scott,

that turkey looks really good. Did you do anything special to it before putting it in the smoker? I ask because I have two wild turkeys in my freezer and have been wanting to smoke them for some time. I've read about soaking them in a brine solution but wasn't sure if I HAD to or not. How did the turkey turn out?