Food Smokers and Smoking Tips/Tricks/Techniques

I read mixed opinions on oak regarding flavoring. Some say it's strong, others it is mild. I'll just try it and see for myself I guess.

 

Read up on the different varieties in your area. There are 2 main varieties, black and white and then subspecies from there. I use the black or tan (sub). The larger growing (white, valley) are softer and don't work as well and don't give off as good a flavor. But give what you got a try.

 

Mainly red and white here. Red oak should be good. I may go back and grab some to split and try it as the main fuel. Not sure if my unit can handle splits though. Checking that now.

 

I've heard red is awesome, but I do know some burn hotter than others. I also like manzanita but it burns extremely hot and will burn out a fire box in no time. So it may be worth a test burn of what you can get. Even a "seat of the pants" open fire test will give an idea of what's going to happen in your fire box.

 

I'm in the NE, don't know what manzanita is. I was thinking of splitting some oak down to like 2" or so and trying that.

 

It's a low growing brush that, over time, can get upwards of 6-8" in diameter. It's hard and gnarly when it's green and brutal when it's dry. But I top them and then cut the trunks into thin rounds as it's standing. It's similar to mesquite but usually doesn't near as tall. Very prominent in NorCal.

 

Sounds like locust wood here. Need a diamond tip chain to cut that shit.

 

Oh yes. Sounds like they're in the same category.

 

Found a good price on a quality shoulder. Tiny little guy coming in at 7lbs. Separated the money muscle from the cap. Going to knock out sum burnt ends. Little injection with some down and dirty rub. Slapped it in Old Reliable. See ya in a few hours

 

What smoker is that? I've often thought about having a piece of sheet metal cut for my little webber to make a sleeve for doing dinners. It's mostly just my wife and I so it would be very handy.

 

...it looks like a cut off deep fryer pot.

 

It's just a smokey joe that I put a 32qt tamale pot on and slapped to 18inch weber charcoal grates in. Thing is champ. Goes everywere with me

 

That is freaking genious. I'll have to check to local flea market. There's a few vendors that sell large pots very inexpensively.

 

https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B01G7GZBYA/thevirtualweberb

Here's the one you want
Just look up mini WSM builds. There's just as many build threads as there are people bitching about gen3

 

I think I got about 70 bucks into it total. Super cool cooker you can use as a smoker or a grill. I have two racks in mine with option to add a third water pan as well. I get about 5hrs out of 3/4 chimney. Takes about ten minutes to bring to temp and 20 to cool down. The plus of it is, it's totally mobile. Camping,boats,tail gate. We're ever it's need...

On that note. The wind kicked up to about 35-40mph. Old reliable is taking a beating. She cooled down a little,but still done work

 

Yes sir. That is it. Maybe next weekend I can make it over to the market and check them out. I just set my deep fryer pot on the grill and it's too small in diameter. But for $35, that's cheap figuring I have zero dollars in it now. I picked it up in a park in San Diego. 2 girls set it up brand new, dropped in some coal, cooked 4 burgers, ate, rolled up their blanket and left it. I let it set for a few hours, dumped the hot coals out of it into the "hot coals" dump and brought it home.

 

Wrapped, taken to 140f, reverse seared, rewrapped and let sit for about an hour in a cold microwave.

 

Much yum

 

Wife was sick all weekend and I was super busy so I ended up not smoking anything.

 

Looking forward to left overs for lunch