Food Smokers and Smoking Tips/Tricks/Techniques

Yeah, this was terrible, almost threw it out.

I’ll admit on poultry it could use another fifty degrees to crisp the skin up more. If needed I just throw it in the oven on broil for a few minutes.

 

Get a ceramic if you want to spend the $$. They’re awesome and an egg will be my next smoker purchase. But, if you want 80% of the efficiency in the same egg design at 1/4 the price, look at the Chargriller Akorn. It’s double walled steel with insulation in between. It’s basically a thermos you cook in. They’re on sale repeatedly each year at Walmart and Menards for $249.

 

Yeah I can't count the times I heard Myron say he wished he could use an electric smoker because the great flavor the electrons produce.

I'm not saying good food can't come from an electric smoker. I am saying that there is no comparison to foods cooked with an electric source verses food cooked over charcoal. If there was we all just use our electric wall oven or a hairdryer.

 

Flavor doesn’t come from the heat source, I’m thinking it’s the smoke? I wonder why electrics aren’t allowed in any sanctioned barbecue events?

 

Charcoal adds smoke.

 

So your saying a burger cooked over a charcoal fire will taste the same a burger you cooked under the broiler in your oven? Man if so I pissed away a mountain of money on charcoal when I could have just used my wall oven . I could have also stayed a lot warmer too.

 

100% agreed. AMAZN dust maze adds as much, or as little as one wants.

 

Smoked wooly mammoth! Wonder how much charcoal that took?

 

GMG app makes this doable.

 

I have the Traeger brand insulator on mine. It does a pretty good job of reducing pellet consumption and I just leave it on. It’s made to secure over the lid and open with the door handle.

That’s my problem too, sort of: I’m still active duty so anything super heavy will count toward my moving weight and will probably be broken anyway. This is why we can’t have nice things.

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Speaking of nice things, what’s the go to for a remote pit temp / meat temp monitor? Doesn’t need to be a fancy phone-connected thing, just something that can give me accurate readings without going outside and opening the lid.

 

It is conflicting because of your sources, you can't believe everything you read on the internet. The links are to an author that was on the NY Times best seller and also written with a science adviser and validated by many others. There is more than one way to do things, some good some not so good, and some risky. But I would totally understand the salts and curing before doing it myself.

Nothing wrong with that if you like it. That is the only rule in grilling I believe.

Marinate. Put it on a stick. Grill over low heat.

A common question on the ceramic cooker threads is how often do you still use your WSM. Answer is usually a lot. Most people don't have a need to smoke past 12-14 hours either. Not hard or a lot of moving parts to add more fuel if you need to though.

I've gone 12 hours without refueling in the cold on the WSM. A jacket goes a long ways for heat retention and more importantly blocking the wind. With the ATC I never have to touch it if I don't want to. And also means it will run longer if I don't mess with it. And I have more options for smoking and cooking than a ceramic. 18.5" seems to be the sweet spot for fuel consumption. With the stacker and a third rack I can equal the size of a 22" with less fuel. And add a 4th rack with the rotisserie ring if I want, but haven't needed to yet.

 

Never used a BGE, or any of the BGE-alikes, but my WSM will go 14 hours easily on a full load of coal on a low and slow cook. Also, once I get the first hour or two in, I rarely adjust anything, just let it go and watch the meat temps. So,,, just another data point, but if you've got that BGE-alike hardon, only a BGE-alike is going to get you to the (happy) ending.

 

Curious as to what of all these "options" are that a ceramic doesn't offer?

 

Well sure until it rains, snows or the wind starts blowing. But yes in ideal windless conditions I'm sure a thin metal smoker/grill will hold temperature adequately.

I have no problem with the WM or any other smoker. But the fact is a 3/4 to 1" mass of ceramic will have much better heat retention than any gauge metal grill/smoker. Since the thermal mass holds the heat it is more efficient and is not nearly as susceptible to temperature swings. From what I read there are lots of WSM users putting fire bricks or other thermal mass collectors in the WSN to cull the temp swings and keep thing as even as possible.

 

Valid points, but I will argue some over the wind part, I have used my WSM in various wind conditions, and where I use it gets alot of "swirl". On a low and slow the vents are mostly closed so I have no problem with wind. Do note, I am on the Gulf Coast, so no experience with anything close to cold, and rain is a no-no definitely as it cools too much, as you've stated.

BTW, not disrespecting the BGE's, I think they are great in concept, I just can't release the purse strings myself and am willing to make some concessions for it.

Also, Scott, the comment on grilling with a WSM, you are correct, my experience is that it does not work well at all, can be used, but...

 

Things I've done on my BGE:

Hot and cold smoked numerous goodies
Baked bread
Pizza
Stromboli
Baked cake
Baked pie
Calzones
Deep fried
Wok cooked
Dutch oven cooked
Grill at high heat
Grill and medium heat
Roasted chickens, turkeys and other meats
Smoked low and slow
Use as a warmer
Stripped seasoning off cast iron
Seasoned cast iron and steel
Boiled water for noodles

 

bottom line for me is that i have a WSM because i got a good deal on it. if i'd been able to find a ceramic kamado for $200, i'd have gotten it instead. i had actually sent my wife to get the akorn kamado that the store had on clearance for $100, but it was gone when she got there.

 

I see that I may have celebrated a little too much after rubbing my meat yesterday. I apologize for my drunk posting. I promise to not do it again... at least until tonight.

 

wut?!!

 

Exactly, I bought my WSM new and the reason was so that I could get into smoking without spending thousands for a stick smoker or a BGE. I got going for less than $400 including a stock of coal. So all good. Now, if I would have a free $$$ drop, I would seriously consider a BGE or BGE-alike.