Food Smokers and Smoking Tips/Tricks/Techniques

I have the 18.5" WSM and 22" kettle, and for 2 people are perfect compliment to each other IME I also have the Weber Genesis gas grill. Kept a cheap ass POS Charbroil grill going for about 20 years by the time I added up all the parts purchased every year I should just have got the Weber to start with. So when it was time to start over I did.

I know the slow&sear is highly ranked and everyone seems to love it. But it is the most seldom used accessory that I own. My 2 cents, and it is worth what you paid for it

For searing steaks I use the charcoal rails and a second grate sitting on them. I know it is more parts however I can use as many coals as I want or as few and still have them sitting driectly under the steaks for the sear. With the S&S you have to fill that sucker up with a LOT of coals just to get to the bottom of the top grate. I know some put a brick in there as a space filler, but that is one more item. Plus it doesn't go even half way across the grates so your limited to a smaller searing surface than if you use a secondary grate on rails. I like my steaks big and thick so do not use the Sear of the S&S.



I have used it for splatchcock chicken. But have had the same results with rails or baskets so not sure that it adds anything to the process either. Salt that skin an hour ahead of time and it will get crispy!



Other than steaks I use the rotisserie on the kettle a lot. For that you really need a charcoal basket on either side and a S&S will not work for that. Because all meat taste better on a stick. Turkey (here) or a couple of chickens.



I have a rotisserie for the Genesis also. Flavor and taste will not be as good as the kettle IME of course. It is easier to have a pan of food under it to catch drippings and add flavor however. It helps to parboil the potatoes first because they don't get a lot of heat. You can do the same on the kettle but I have always ended up with ash in the drip pan.



Once again most people seem to love the S&S. But for the way I cook and the things I cook, it is my least used accessory. Good luck and either way you can't go wrong with the 22" kettle!

 

You know scott don't need no new fangled machine to make his own charcoal. He just sets stuff on fire then puts it out and makes it that way.

Tortilla machine would be freaking awesome. Place called Don Pablos (chain) used to be by my old house and they did them fresh. Loved those things. Need to find one from somewhere that has gone out of business.

Tonight I will be throwing some steaks on the smoker for about 20 mins or so then I will bring the temp up and sear them. Just some salt and pepper on them for flavor.

 

that would be awesome! you Need to find an Abuelita and have her make homemade ones

 

Great input, thanks! And the pics.... mega wowza.

 

Awesome, a great and smart mod! I picked up the BBQ Guru CyberQ WiFi from the Amazon Lightning deal last year and while expensive consider it well worth it. One thing an ATC will do is allow keeping a constant temp for long cooks in the dead of winter without any manual adjustments. When it is teens below zero when you start gets to teens above and then back down below zero by the end of the cook you can have some pretty large temp swings even trying your best manually. With an ATC it stays constant. My last cook wasn't long only 4 hours for ribs but once it came up to temp it stayed pretty darn steady without me doing anything.



The CyberQ attaches directly to the opening on a bottom vent but I wanted to protect the electronics so found a sump pump hose that fit both the air pump outlet and vent intake perfectly at home depot. The hose gives me about 5 extra connections if I ever need them. Took a plastic box and fit pvc elbows to it so that I could provide fresh air intake and cable management yet still stay waterproof. This is without the lid on obviously. Just did a cook in the rain the other day and I put another large container over this one, wanted to make damn sure it stayed waterproof.



Once you use an ATC for the WSM hard to go back to manual adjustment. But if something happens to the unit it is easy enough to do if you have to.

I am one of the unlucky ones that got a Cajun Bandit door that doesn't fit flush. They didn't put quite enough curve on it and for $50 am a bit more than disapointed. I can say that sucker is pretty stout and trying to bend it to fit by hand isn't going to happen LOL. This summer I get bored and some time will build a jig for it and try to get it to fit better. In the meantime the OEM door I was able to get a lightproof seal all the way around with minimal bending. There are 2 small openings where the bottom tab sits in but very small ones at that and seems to have minimal impact.

I did buy a gasket seal kit and used some of it where the top of the middle section and lid join, all in all she is pretty tight and very pleased with the WSM. Now I need a smoker dedicated to smoking trout.

 

Would be awesome. Nothing like the old world ways at times.

I was just looking at some camping stuff the other day. Bunch of us are going camping in a few weeks, we were talking about menus on Sunday. trying to decide if I want to smoke something ahead of time or possibly bring a small smoker with us and use that lol. Ya ya I know I'm sick, but you know you all are too so don't judge.

 

One of my friends had an issue like this once and he took it up to a local metal shop and they used one of their machines to fix the bend for him. Don't think it cost much at all. If you have any shops like that around you might be worth checking them out.

 

I bring my WSM on all camping trips.

 

I used to eat at this place in Abilene that they had 2-4 ladies working in the kitchen making tortillas...the food was authentic! I used to get tortillas from them, another place and HEB. Up north here Im stuck with store bought unless I make my own. Theres nothing like a fresh made tortilla with some butter and salt

 

Heck ya. Gotta have good food.

 

I've had them a few times. Used to go to this small place that made everything fresh right then and there was an old mom and pop place. Now like you I'm stuck with what I can get from the store most of the time.

 

Ive made some fresh for a potluck and they destroyed all the tortillas I made...I made about 3 dozen and all but 3 or 4 were gone by the end of the potluck...

 

What recipe did you use? One of the things I've liked about the more home made type is they are usually thicker for the ones I've had. Not the paper thin stuff you get from the market.

 

Took me a while to find a good one. I got it down to memory now...

4 Cups flour
2 Tsp of Salt
1 Tsp of baking powder
5-6 Tablespoons of Manteca
1.5 cups of hot water

In a large mixing bowl mix the dry ingredients and the "manteca" then add the hot water, mix until it comes together and start kneading the dough in the large mixing bowl for 5-6 minutes. Dough should be tacky but not sticky. add sprinkling of flour as you go to keep from sticking.

Once your Kneading time is up roll/form into a large ball and let sit in the bowl covered for at least 45 minutes to rest (I usually dampen a paper towel and put that over the bowl then I put a regular kitchen towel over top of that). Roll into golf ball size "bolito's" or balls and cover again (with damp but not dripping paper towel and regular kitchen towel) for another 10 minutes. At the same time you can get your flat griddle warming up on med high heat. After the ten minutes your flat griddle should be up to temp, start rolling out each individual ball of dough one at a time to desired thickness(it takes some practice but once you make a few you can get thicker or thinner whichever you like). and put on the griddle 1 minute max on each side( this varies as the temp of your griddle heats up). I usually do 1 minute on one side and 45 seconds on the other side.

Makes anywhere from 10-14 tortillas depending on size of dough ball you use. Mine arent perfect round but they taste great! You can use shortening, butter coconut oil/grease or leftover bacon fat in place of manteca but oil doesnt have the good flavor.

 

Awesome appreciate the recipe. I am going to have to try this out. Might be a fajita day this weekend. Maybe some brisket soft tacos.

 

either would be great! They take practice but after a while you can get it to a science. I also put the dough balls on a piece of aluminum foil, then cover. Just make sure to spray the foil with some nonstick spray otherwise they are a pain to get off the foil. Or a clean counter works too. But I just do that in case Im making up other stuff and need the counter area.

 

Got my rainproof box for my temp controller. Saw it on YouTube also I had some extra red food grade silicone so I used that to seal the pvc

 

Sum spatchcock love on a Tuesday. After the flip!

 

yumm!

 

I grilled some chicken and pork chop and it must have smelled good to the dog because she followed me into the computer room...and she usually doesnt move for much of anything except someone knocking on the door...lol