Food Smokers and Smoking Tips/Tricks/Techniques

We're watching Cowboys and Aliens while we wait for it to finish in the cooler.

 

That sounds tasty too!!!

 

Smoker stabilized at about 184 deg, with the buck board bacon smoking away. I'm excited to see what a longer, slower smoke does to the taste. I fried up some before smoking as a test of saltiness and honestly the flavor wasn't overwhelming. Kind of bland, like a pork chop (makes sense). I think the smoke will do some good things to it. I also sprinkled with fresh cracked black pepper and brown sugar before I put it on the Akron.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U9G18qHPhcM

 

well going to smoke a pork butt in the new smoker tomorrow.. Gotta get up at 5 D: time for bed

 

Pork butt turned out good. Getting some ribs setup to smoke for a late lunch/early dinner.

 

Getting closer to some pulled pork for lunch.

 

Bacon last night off the smoker:


And this morning for breakfast.


Since it's so lean, cooking it over medium heat lets everything in there render out and it fries up like a meaty bacon. I like it!

 

i have a 5 lb picnic shoulder on now and a rack of ribs.
i am trying my amazen pellet tray for the 3rd time in my MES 30. this damn AMZN tray wont stay lit, i torched it had a good fire going, and it smokes nicely for about 15 minutes and dies out, i tried removing the tube feeder and chip tray, i dried the pellets and i just cant get this damn thing to work. anyone have experience with this?

 

Anytime you can teach the GF to smoke the right meat it's a win,win for sure but prepping the wood is the key to achieve maximum results!!!

 

This.. With one of my old "pill" smokers I used the box it came in as a blind or wind blocker to help with temps. Worked like a charm.

 

Never used the pellet model, but the dust ones work flawlessly! Where do you have your damper set? After reaching desired temp I turn mine wide open, so it can draw a bit better.

 

Thighs and baby portabellas.

 

Are you using a pellet smoker? The trays are notoriously hard to keep lit in a pellet pooper. The tube is better for a pellet smoker than the tray but it also can be a challenge. See my post in this thread about pellet dust (post #1969). This has helped keep my tube lit and works pretty good. It works very well for cold smoking but the smoke production diminishes proportionaly as the grill temp goes up.

To create pellet dust spread a layer of pellets on a cookie sheet and spray lightly with water. Wait 20 min or so for the water to soak in then move the pellets around and spritz again. Just keep repeating until they swell up and crumble. I put them in a spaghetti strainer and mush them with my hands to get them in a course sawdust like state. Spread this out on the cookie sheet and bake at low temp in the oven (150f or so) to dry them out. Store in a tupperware container.

For the tube I set it upright and load 3/4" or so of pellets, toss in some dust, then more pellets, then dust, etc... Hit it with the torch until there is a good flame going and let it burn like that for 10 min or more, then blow out the flame and lay the tube down. I've had good luck with this method.

I don't know how long you've had the maze and if you bought it from the manufacturer website or not. You should reach out to the owner (Todd, I believe) and ask about keeping the maze lit in a pellet grill. I've read when others did this he exchanged the maze for a tube, but don't assume this.

If you haven't already done so spend some time reading about the amazin (or however it's spelled) thongs on these forums:

Pelletheads
SmokingMeatForum
BBQ Brethren

 

Buckboard bacon? (Bacon made from the shoulder instead of belly)

 

Exactly.

 

I have a masterbuilt 30inch electric smoker. I tried opening the top vent, closing it, taking the chip feeder tube out, removing the chip tray, moving the maze, and combos of them all. Damn thing won't stay lit unless door is open. So obviously it's a airflow issue. I really wish it would work but it just doesn't. I'll try emailing the guy and see if I can figure it out because I'm very frustrated at this point.

 

Yeah, I tried piping air directly to the tube but there is positive pressure in the smoker so any pipe you put in to passively bring outside air in won't work - air will just be blown out of it. You would need to pump the air in, like an aquarium pump. I thought of doing that but the pellet dust in the smoker tube seems to be working.

 

Can I put dust in my amazen tray?

 

I'm not sure, but that's what I was about to suggest? There is not much difference between the two.