Food Smokers and Smoking Tips/Tricks/Techniques

Yep, I've never even bother trying any other woods. Growing up in Puget Sound with family that spends all of fishing season in the water, it is just the way it is done. I have done a fair amount of trout the same way and it comes out just as good, especially if I make it to the East side and get some of the big fat trout that actually have pink flesh you can find over there. I have some halibut I was going to try in there too, may get to that tonight as it doesn't need near as long on the smoke.

I've slowly gotten my fiance to start eating seafood, started with smoked salmon, moved on to dungeness crab and now I have her eating tuna sushi, grilled oysters and scallops. She still won't go for the mussels or raw oysters though.

Oh yeah, the only reason to fish for them is for smoker fodder. I will grill and eat kings and silvers all day but chum I pretty much only put in the smoker.

 

Pizzas are killer on the camp chef smoker. I will often stop by and get a papa murphy's pizza (large size or smaller because the family size doesn't fit very well and the edges get burnt) and cook them using pecan wood. Taste like a professional brick pizza oven pizza at a restaurant.

As for pies, I see lots of Traeger recipes but how smokey do they turn out? I should try one before Thankgiving and if it's good then I'll make one before the turkey.

 

That cutting board makes it look like you smoked guinea pig ribs or something

Looks great!

HUGE congratulations! What a great picture. One to hold on to, for sure.

Steaks look like a helluva way to celebrate as well .

That slice looks super tender! Great job on the cook. On Point helps promote a pretty gnarly smoke ring, but running a good, steady cook has a lot to do with it as well.

It'll keep getting better from here, but that tenderness is something people have spent a hell of a long time chasing. To get there in two cooks is mighty impressive.

 

I cooked all weekend and was on the verge of being burnt out for a bit, but catching up on this thread has me hankering for another smoke session already! Time to get this weekend's menu planned.

I know I created another thread for all of this (and I have some updates to put in there at some point), but dammit, I'm going to do a little horn tooting in here, too.

Saturday, we cooked about 600 Pork Belly Burnt Ends for the Open Category in People's Choice. We served with homemade 'Pit-ckles'.



40 or so teams competed - we took 1st!





For the KCBS event, we also took first place in the beans category .

 

Killin it! Nice work boys way to take the W!

 

some people have said to try vine maple, I have tons around me, just havent tried it for smoking fish.

congrats!

 

The guy to the left in the second picture looks Shady A.F.

 

He is shady. He just kicked some guy in the gut and stole his trophy.

 

Got kinda a Pitfaced to ‘em.

 

What a bastage. That just ain't right.

 

Dudeeees this weekend. I did work.

Made some Bacon-Wrapped Jalapeno stuffed with chorizo and cheese meatloaf for a bbq at a buddies house... was a crowd-pleaser.


Then Sunday I fired up the sous vide with a 9 lb pork shoulder. 18hrs in sous vide at 165 deg
Then pulled it out patted it dry re-seasoned and smoked with pecan wood for 2 hrs




Shredded it was going to do carnitas tacos but ended up being more of a pull pork


Also Sunday night at 10pm started a 17 lb brisket.

Used the Unicorn on 2 chunks and OG on the other.




Got up at 3 am and had to redo the charcoal and water bath. Lol my neighbors probably think I'm a tweaker.

530am

Foiled at 165 deg for the duration of cook. reached 202 on the flat early


it was so damn good! This was leftovers, I have a shit ton of pulled pork too. lol




Good times!

E

 

I also decided really need to upgrade. The Cuisinart has been great but it doesn't hold temp at all.

Question is do I go 18 or 22 inch Weber Smokey mountain?

 

If both are in the cards, opt for the bigger one. The fuel consumption won't be much greater on the 22" and the extra space will definitely come in handy from time to time.

For my money, I'm getting a 55 gallon drum and building an UDS with two 22" racks and a domed lid, but I KNOW that I'm biased, there .

 

So like a heat seeking meat missile then.

 

I smoked two cobblers this weekend with hickory. Both turned out great.

 

Same, but you are right that it’s only a guide. All of their recipes involve proprietary spices or sauces. I just use them for planning cooking times and temps.

I’ve been a fishing vessel examiner for a long time. Been on thousands of fishing boats in Alaska and Hawaii. My advice - Don’t eat tuna unless you catch it yourself or you know the person who caught it. Tuna boats are disgusting.

 

Same here. I just look for temps and times. The rest is roll your own.

 

Check the set pin on the auger motor... I sheared mine off so wasnt turning the auger. Ended up just replacing the whole auger motor which came with new pin also.
Good luck

 

what brand is the one with the auger problem?