Food Smokers and Smoking Tips/Tricks/Techniques

Ribs look good Mike. To finish it off, a piece of Triple Chocolate Pecan Pie

 

Yes with ground beef I do. Even though I cook it at 160° still use cure for it. I used to cut meat at Acme supermarkets in the 70's. Yes I use cure LOL.

Thanks Dan! I still have it and it will get eaten tonight after the ribs are done

 

Bacon is in the cure phase...


Will flip it daily and smoke it up, hot smoke, in about 8 days! Given the size of the pieces, one of the on line calculators said it only needed to cure 2-3 days.... Seems short...

Gonna be a long week!

RiskDude

 

Having read through many threads on SMF about Pops Brine and learning that his father ran a store and sold cured meats for years that was inspected over and over because his method was different than others... That was enough for me to try it out.

I'm convinced that the nitrites are well below any maximum amount allowed by the FDA. I personally have no way to test anything and wouldn't know how to go about it.

If someone can point me in the right direction I'd be happy to research it.

Obviously too many nitrites can kill you, but they are also naturally occurring in things like celery so it's not something whipped up in a lab somewhere.

I know my point of view isn't popular with you, so if you care to visit SMF and read a little, you may change your mind. You may not. Honestly, I'm not going to argue with some stranger on the internet about things neither of us are experts on.

Good day.

 

What about whole muscle?

 

I moved to Mn. in 1999 to work at the Mayo Clinic from Asheville, NC where I had retired from the Navy. I started in Research, now on the Clinical side. Didn't mean to imply that you needed to get the lab results yourself like I said I'm sure someone likely has had it done by now. And good chance that it is fine. Your point of view is also fine with me, it is yours. My point of view requires valid test results to know with certainly. With solid methodology that can be verified. And has repeatability. I have absolutely nothing against your view point

 

No I don't. Not that there is anything wrong with it but I normally run at 160° when doing jerky.

 

Thanks, then just store in fridge/freezer, or does it last that long?

 

Well it started off mellow but now there's a couple inches on the ground and still going. Wings didn't mind it though

 

Yeah I do store it in the fridge. Like someone mentioned earlier it is a good idea to let it sit overnight in a bag first to level out. I use a paper bag for mine put it in the fridge then transfer to airtight containers the next day.



If the sons are around it doesn't last even close to a week, doesn't matter how much I make LOL.

Not sure I have room for pie tonight it may be breakfast. Rain and sleet did come, but timing was good.

 

I haven’t read through the rest of the comments yet, but I’d suggest smoking fish in a separate smoker. I’m sure this smoker would work great, but hot smoking fish will leave a fishy smell and taste to anything you smoke in it after.

Some people will say it’s a myth and others will agree with me. I’ll tell you from my experience, it will smell and taste a little fishy after. Obviously, different types of fish will leave a stronger or weaker odor behind.

If you’re cold smoking fish, please disregard.

 

ZZQRVA BBQ in Richmond, VA if anyone is out in that area. Been here about 3 times and each time has been good. Brisket is the best I’ve had and hard to imagine how it can get that much better.

I would not get their pulled pork. For whatever pulled pork seems hard to make for many places I’ve been to. I guess I just prefer the way I make mine. Plate was only about 50 bucks and fed 2 people with some left over to make grilled cheese brisket sandwiches.

 

@burntkat has good taste! I think we'll be seeing that bottle in a few more pics soon enough .

Yeah...you're going to fit in JUST fine in this thread .

Wings look excellent!

It's a nearly endless list of things folks in this thread have tried it on. Ribs, pork loin, chicken, pretzels, bagels, asparagus, potato chips.....

Not at all! I love the concept of a vertical offset smoker. My first smoker was a New Braunfels Bandera, which is a really similar design to that. One of the things that made mine easier to manage was building a fire basket, but that looks like one is included, so you're already a step ahead!

Getting it hot for an hour or so is probably enough to get it going. You can spray cooking oil on all of the inner surfaces and especially around and seams. Seasoning is a perpetual process, though. Every cook leaves a little extra character in the smoker .

"The carcass is put skin down so that the meat can be judged by the content of its character."



That video was hilarious.

I agree with this. The smell usually goes away after another burn or another cook, but it can linger for a bit. Anytime I have smoked fish, I've put more fuel in the UDS than needed for the cook. The fish comes out, another piece of heavy wood (like mesquite) gets dropped in, and I let it run for an extra few hours. That usually keeps it ready for the next cook. That said, I don't smoke fish a ton, so the affect from lots of fish smoking could be much different.

 

Speaking of BBQ places- if you are ever around Phenix Al or Columbus GA, check out a little place called Chicken Comer's. It's been quite some time since I went (mid-90s) but at the time they were in someone's house, and had been since about 1920. The tax man would shut them down, then they would take a week off and reincorporate under another family member's name. Had THE BEST vinegar-based sauce I have ever had, period. Darn nice meat, too.

Now, they seem to have organized and gone on the web- https://chickencomersbbq.com/
I can't swear they are what they were, but I will definitely be ordering their sauce.

 

Thanks for the likes and comments, gents.

They weren't bad at all, especially considering this was my first go with the "one bowl" method- which completely rocks, BTW.

I used Frank's out of the bottle, no butter added in (because I hadn't brought a BBQ glove to handle a hot bowl with). They had a little tang to them, a little peppery kiss, but nothing to challenge you. I think I may add some Huy Fong chili-garlic or Sriracha next time, to amp up the spice a little bit.

Or if I'm feeling really sadistic, I'll just add a drop of Submission sauce. This stuff is WELL named. https://www.hotsauce.com/submission-hot-sauce/ Two drops in a large bowl of chili makes it just about inedible (not that I'm the most stalwart of pepperheads, but I have eaten raw habaneros).

 

How did you seal yours?

 

I'll need to learn what cold smoking is. Never heard of it.

Pretty much, the only thing I'll be smoking is fish. Wife and I LOVE fish dip and that's about the only meat I eat. Deer comes along occasionally.

Do I deep clean a smoker between smokes? Or is it like a cast iron pan that you never wash with soap?

 

The majority of cleaning in mine is getting rid of the ash. Outside of that if it starts looking bad I will give it a quick wipe down. The grate on mine I clean between cooks but nothing fancy on cleaning those.

 

I leave the electric smoker alone for the most part. About once a year we smoke some fish and after that I clean it . Never had any issue after smoking fish with other stuff tasting fishy.

 

Cold smoking is easy and fun. It’s how you smoke cheeses and fish, a few other things too but mostly fish and cheese.

I wouldn’t worry too much about the fishy taste since it seems as though you’ll be cooking mostly fish.

For cleaning, I tend to let it clean itself. After each cook, ill throw a couple more chunks of wood on it and leave the lid off to increase air flow and temp. That tends to cook off all grease and grime. I’ll also clean the ashes up before each cook and I’ll let the grates get sanitized by the heat of the coals warming up.

Every 10-15 cooks, I’ll take a natural fiber brush/broom and dry sweep the sides of the barrel to break down the soot build up.