Food Smokers and Smoking Tips/Tricks/Techniques

Hm. I see these. But, mine are going to be stored in a shed. They're open top right now, but that's just because HF was out of lids

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Bucket-Companion-5-gal-Paint-Bucket-Lid-LD5GRLBK006/303808738

 

Those will work. The ones at Menards are white but the concept is the same.

 

I still prefer Lumberjack Competition Blend to all of the other pellets I've tried. Got a place not too far from me called Family Farm & Home that has started carrying them for $9.99 a bag. I go in and try to pick up 10 or 20 bags every now and then. Will probably head up there next weekend and get 10 bags I'm down to my last bag from my last run.

 

I have hickory and apple at the moment. I'll probably keep hickory or a competition blend as my go to, once the apple goes, I'll be getting maple or pecan I think - I want to try making cookies

 

I used to keep Hickory on it's own but the LJ Competition Blend is Hickory, Maple and Cherry and I really like it. So I ended up switching to it for probably 95% of my usage. I saw a couple of companies have Charcoal Pellets and though about checking those out.

 

I didn't care for the Charcoal pellets.

If you're comparing prices on the pellets, the Pit Boss brand at Walmart is cheaper than anywhere. You can get 40 pound bags for $15

 

I use hickory for cheese. I'm willing to try a competition blend for cheeses too, I'm sure it'll be good. Typically I only do cheddar. Unfortunately I think this thing won't hold a low enough temp. I might put a block on something and give it a whack though and see what happens on the "smoke" setting.

Yeah the apple I got was dirt cheap and on clearance. Can't remember the cost but it was a no brainer to have a backup bag, I like apple so went with it.

Now that I actually care - what's up with pellets? I feel like I remember there being something about oils/flavors being added into some? I think I remember pit boss was good and didn't have that situation, which is how I landed on a bag of their hickory but that was like 2 years ago so I haven't a clue why I did that anymore.

 

I think even the smoke setting will be too high for cheese. You might consider using a pellet tube for smoking cheese, and definitely don't limit yourself on one flavor of cheese!


The Trager pellets supposedly have flavored oils added to them, but I wouldn't buy their brand just because they are so much more expensive. People pay a lot for that brand name, but even their smoker quality has suffered since they sold out.

 

That's how I do it on my barrel grill (which I had used as an offset for years, this thing just popped up on clearance so I grabbed one ). The smoke setting looked like it set to 180, so I'm thinking you're right.

I definitely don't limit on cheeses - I just usually only use cheddar in my kitchen anyway.

I was trying to find a picture of how I do cheeses but it's basically this with a tube instead of a pile of charcoal and chips

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads...cks-techniques.229517/page-2669#post-27390907

(I didn't fill up the smoker this much last night but may have to soon!

That's what I think it was, thank you!

 

Supposedly Traeger has stopped with the added flavor oils and such. Pit Boss seemed pretty decent, but through all of my testing various brands I had the best luck with LumberJack. Good heat that is consistent, when making their pellets they chip their logs and don't use sawdust (no flavor in sawdust which is why Traeger and some others used oils), they seem to burn for a while and most important to me I get excellent flavor from them.

When I run out and haven't made a run I will pick up either Pit Boss or Cabela's (Cabela's is actually made by LJ for most of their pellets except the Comp Blend) and as a last resort I will grab whatever Lowes of HD have in stock and then flush them once I get the good stuff back.

 

Pork belly strips with lobster.

 

Realized I’ve been neglecting this thread!

Last brisket I did… I wasn’t mad at it!

 

Smoked and seared NY strips and wings…

Probably one of the best steaks I’ve ever had!

 

Baby backs done 2.5-1.5-1… Nice compromise between fall off the bone (wife’s preference) and competition (my preference).

 

Pair of no wrap butts for my daughter’s birthday party…

 

I love these Weber kettles.

 

Boneless Pork Butt

 

Pork chops and fries on the pellet grill today.
I prefer charcoal/wood grilling over smoking, but this pellet grill/smoker is just so convenient that I use it about 5 times a week.

 

15.5lb brisket. It just fit on the weber kettle. Smoked with mesquite. 4am start. Served at 6pm

 

Good job!

Did you have to “reload” the charcoal? I’m guessing at least one or you have a 26”…