Food Smokers and Smoking Tips/Tricks/Techniques

It doesn't accept smoke as much as raw meat but I'm using the smoker more to give it a sear and a bark at the same time as warming it to temp.

 

That style of smoker in your last pic is like what I am looking at, but no window in the front. That is a nice touch.

I've only really ever grilled with propane, which is why I am considering a propane smoker. The words propane and smoker just didn't seem to fit together in my mind.

 

I always do half apple, half hickory. Mucho bueno every time. For ribs, I use all apple, same bueno.

 

I used to use hickory all the time, then got a bad batch that ruined a few cooks. Lately I've been using cherry and apple 1:1 on most things.

 

I've stopped paying too much attention to the wood I use, as long as it's a light wood. Pecan, cherry, apple, etc. I just used up half a cord of wild cherry from cutting shooting lanes, and I've moved on to commercially sourced pecan. No difference that I can tell.

 

Smoke night tonight.

 

I find oak to be similar to hickory but a little milder and a little nuttier. Can't go wrong there. As far as 2 briskets at once, hell yeah if you have 2 of them. Uses the time and fuel efficiently instead of just 1. No way can you have too much. I slice about half of mine up and put portions in vac seal bags in the freezer. They last a looong time, and a few minutes in boiling water heats them up to good as new.

 

I think @Polymerhead is on the right track... the more I smoke the less I really care about type of wood. Just be careful with mesquite unless you want a very strong, sharp smoke flavor. I do find the apple adds a nice sweetness that some of the others can't quite match, but in the end, it's all so very good.

 

I like apple and mesquite, I also have cherry, hickory. I like these in general.

 

If you can get enough smoke should be pretty close to charcoal or wood chunks . I put wood over burner for like 15 to 20 min. Get nice smoke while its over flame .Once I know its burning good I put it in a pan covering or uncovered depending how the smoke is going .As you can see theres a lot of smoke and that's were the smoke flavor comes from not the charcoal I feel.
Got the Smoke Hallow brand smoker from Sams club. Just modded a little to use wood chunks ( about 4in x 12 in pieces) Had it 3 years now and still doing good. I smoke high temp 325 so never tried low 225 so not sure how low and steady it will be.
This spatchcocke turkey took 1.5 hours and didn't dry out .

 

Very nice! And looks tasty AF.

 

I almost exclusively smoke with apple since I get it for free. But I don't do a lot of briskets either, mostly pork. When I do do briskets I almost always choose mesquite or hickory. Not sure why but it just sounds better to me.

 

My smoke night is tomorrow night. Doing an 8# butt and a 7# chuck roast for a cub scout event on Sunday afternoon. Everyone in our pack loves my butt.

 

I'd do it tomorrow, but the wind and rain would wreck havoc on my overnight smoke.

 

I made a thing to store all my kinds of wood.

 

Great idea.

Morning.... haha. Funny

 

I have, served it New Year's Eve, no leftovers.

 

I just started my smoking.



At least jalapeño sausages in 2 hours. Woot!

 

@scottalot, I've always wondered... why you pre-burn the wood?

 

Love that setup. Is that something u built?