Smokers? My son-in-law just starting smoking things on his smoker. It is a wood-burning type.
- Thread starter dawn_mo
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michael-in-phoenix
Well-known member
Is it a water smoker or a side-box smoker?
low and slow
1) Only use hardwoods. Softwoods (trees that have needles instead of leaves) will ruin the flavor. You're lucky in MO with all of the great hickory available. Hard to beat hickory for smoking.
2) I sometimes add green coffee beans to my mix. when they are green they have been dried and look really dry but they contain a heavy concentration of oil and will add both heat and smoke so use accordingly
3) A few years ago I was gifted with some oak that had been aged and seasoned in the open elements for several years, complete with moss and decay. I used this for both open fire cooking and smoking and It imparted a phenomenal flavor. I have not been able to completely replicate this with other aged oak but recently found a large and severely decayed old oak tree stump. This must have been out in the elements for a decade or more. In bad shape but smoking with it this summer has worked out great. Most of the black widows, worms and other creepy crawly things living in it come out when I cut it up before burning it, but maybe it is the grubs adding that magical flavor... smileys/wink.gif
4) don't start your fire with chemicals. It definitely imparts flavor and not good flavor. use one of those firestarter chimneys. Same applies for charcoal bbq. I got one at a garage sale for a buck and then never used it. I finally tried it years later when I ran out of lighter fluid. What a dummy! Once you switch you will be a believer. I actually find it much easier to use the chimney than lighter fluid. I use some paper or paper towel soaked in discarded frying oil and make a donut at the base of the chimney below the wood or briquettes. That's it and it is usually going full in a minute or so.
5) don't use charcoal in your smoker. Most smokers have a convection which will suck the charcoal ash into your food.
6) I've added stuff to my soak (like wine, fruit...etc) but I'm not sure how much benefit I actually saw to this.
7) I have one of those cast iron melting pots. I put water in this and place it in the fire. It adds steam to the smoke and depending upon what you are smoking this is a good thing.
http://i.c-b.co/is/image/Crate/LodgeCastIronMeltingPotS13/$web_zoom$&/1308302306/lodge-cast-iron-melting-pot.jpg?hei=302&wid=300
1) Only use hardwoods. Softwoods (trees that have needles instead of leaves) will ruin the flavor. You're lucky in MO with all of the great hickory available. Hard to beat hickory for smoking.
2) I sometimes add green coffee beans to my mix. when they are green they have been dried and look really dry but they contain a heavy concentration of oil and will add both heat and smoke so use accordingly
3) A few years ago I was gifted with some oak that had been aged and seasoned in the open elements for several years, complete with moss and decay. I used this for both open fire cooking and smoking and It imparted a phenomenal flavor. I have not been able to completely replicate this with other aged oak but recently found a large and severely decayed old oak tree stump. This must have been out in the elements for a decade or more. In bad shape but smoking with it this summer has worked out great. Most of the black widows, worms and other creepy crawly things living in it come out when I cut it up before burning it, but maybe it is the grubs adding that magical flavor... smileys/wink.gif
4) don't start your fire with chemicals. It definitely imparts flavor and not good flavor. use one of those firestarter chimneys. Same applies for charcoal bbq. I got one at a garage sale for a buck and then never used it. I finally tried it years later when I ran out of lighter fluid. What a dummy! Once you switch you will be a believer. I actually find it much easier to use the chimney than lighter fluid. I use some paper or paper towel soaked in discarded frying oil and make a donut at the base of the chimney below the wood or briquettes. That's it and it is usually going full in a minute or so.
5) don't use charcoal in your smoker. Most smokers have a convection which will suck the charcoal ash into your food.
6) I've added stuff to my soak (like wine, fruit...etc) but I'm not sure how much benefit I actually saw to this.
7) I have one of those cast iron melting pots. I put water in this and place it in the fire. It adds steam to the smoke and depending upon what you are smoking this is a good thing.
http://i.c-b.co/is/image/Crate/LodgeCastIronMeltingPotS13/$web_zoom$&/1308302306/lodge-cast-iron-melting-pot.jpg?hei=302&wid=300
If you have a smoker, you must try Cyn's smoked almonds!! I was the lucky recipient of them
a few years ago; and I still can imagine the flavor... YUM!! (Thx again cyn!)
http://eat.at/swap/forum/index.php?action=display&forumid=1&msgid=218970
a few years ago; and I still can imagine the flavor... YUM!! (Thx again cyn!)
http://eat.at/swap/forum/index.php?action=display&forumid=1&msgid=218970
What Paul says. Also flavoured woods such as apple and pear are ideal for pork. I'll see if I can
find our favourite smoking rub recipe.
And pork back ribs, looooong and sloooooow, come out slightly pink and raw-looking but are just so superb. They never made it to a meal.
We also added other woods such as mesquite to pump up the flavour of ordinary hardwoods.
find our favourite smoking rub recipe.
And pork back ribs, looooong and sloooooow, come out slightly pink and raw-looking but are just so superb. They never made it to a meal.
We also added other woods such as mesquite to pump up the flavour of ordinary hardwoods.
Have had 3 or 4 smokers, the first being the "torpedo" type
with the water insert and finally a side firebox. LOVE to smoke things.
I don't necessarily agree with not using charcoal. I never had a problem in either type and never had ash.
you never want actively burning wood in the side box--it gives an acrid flavor to the food so in my experience, that requires a place to burn the wood to get it to ash, and then adding it to the fire box.
There are good books available--Steven Raichlen's being probably the best.
DS has the pellet burner, and that is easy peasy. He does INCREDIBLY delicious smoked salmon!!
with the water insert and finally a side firebox. LOVE to smoke things.
I don't necessarily agree with not using charcoal. I never had a problem in either type and never had ash.
you never want actively burning wood in the side box--it gives an acrid flavor to the food so in my experience, that requires a place to burn the wood to get it to ash, and then adding it to the fire box.
There are good books available--Steven Raichlen's being probably the best.
DS has the pellet burner, and that is easy peasy. He does INCREDIBLY delicious smoked salmon!!
I consider myself a student not a master and learned mostly by mistakes.
I love smoking or as some refer to it Barbequing... When I travel I make a point of sampling local BBQ. It's my thing... I've experimented quite a bit with it over the past few years in both technique and foods. Everything from various meats, cheeses, veggies, nuts and herbs & spices, salts, pepper. Even desserts.
I've got two of the side firebox smokers, an electric and I also use a small weber. The smokers were from garage sales and the weber a gift. I've also got an outdoor fireplace with grill insert and have also done in the ground pit smoking. When I have the time and resources, I have the plans for one of those outdoor Italian wood ovens... Someday
Sometimes I start smoking the night before/overnight or gotten up at 4 am to have stuff smoking all day on a very low heat to be ready for an early dinner with guests. Professionals/restaurants often do it overnight for the next day's service. Cold smoking can go over weeks time but to me that is more like drying/curing/preserving. The results are a thing of beauty either way. A few summers ago we got a backhoe out and dug a pit about 4' deep and smoked a whole pig. We created the embers covered the pig in wet banana leaves and then filled in the pit with the dirt we had dug. All day long smoke was seeping from the ground. Most people have no interest in that kind of commitment but you can still get great results more in line with the time frame of a common family BBQ.
In my experience using the smokers with the side heatbox, you can definitely have actively burning wood in the sidebox. In fact you can also grill in the sidebox. Many of them are designed for that. It depends upon how you are using it at that particular moment and for what purpose. I've experimented for example with the heat concentrated in the firebox to the far side of the smoke box and grilling onions in the heatbox while smoking meats. Intending to get some of that onion into the smoke. If you create too much heat the food closest to the firebox can cook rather than smoke. If you have too much wood and a high convection it will even suck the flame into the smoke box. The acrid flavor may be a sign of using the wrong wood such as a softwood. I would also avoid certain hardwoods.
For best results specific to smoking, you want it "low and slow" Most BBQ guys will say something along the lines of the lower the heat the better or just recommend "cold smoking" but there is a technical difference there and I'm not sure that the term is always used correctly. This of course (heat) is also in direct relation to cooking time.
Charcoal: I love cooking with good charcoal. Recently I've setup a weber to work like a smoker. I use a mix of charcoal and oak. I don't presoak but the oak I've been using is decayed and even in our relatively dry summer has pretty good moisture. I lined the bottom of the weber (the grill the charcoal sits on) with aluminum foil to create radiant heat and leave a small opening to create a convection. This works great and you can set it up in a way that will give you lesser or greater heat based upon how much charcoal you use and where you put it. If you are motivated you can create a "snake" to burn the coals in a sort of sequence. The convection is not as strong as in the sidebox smokers and I've had not problems with the ash but I'd consider this more of a hybrid solution and not as easy to extend and manage a long smoke the way you can with a sidebox. OTOH every time I've tried using charcoal in one of the sidebox smokers the convection burns the coal to a white ash and sucks it into the smoke box. I used the weber method a few days ago with burgers and the results were amazing. The burgers came out red. That desired "smoke ring" red but on the outside - thoroughly cooked through. Flavor was amazing. That said I would not do this with say a brisket or even ribs which in my opinion would do much better over several hours on a very low heat high smoke. Brisket maybe 10 hours or more...
I love smoking or as some refer to it Barbequing... When I travel I make a point of sampling local BBQ. It's my thing... I've experimented quite a bit with it over the past few years in both technique and foods. Everything from various meats, cheeses, veggies, nuts and herbs & spices, salts, pepper. Even desserts.
I've got two of the side firebox smokers, an electric and I also use a small weber. The smokers were from garage sales and the weber a gift. I've also got an outdoor fireplace with grill insert and have also done in the ground pit smoking. When I have the time and resources, I have the plans for one of those outdoor Italian wood ovens... Someday
Sometimes I start smoking the night before/overnight or gotten up at 4 am to have stuff smoking all day on a very low heat to be ready for an early dinner with guests. Professionals/restaurants often do it overnight for the next day's service. Cold smoking can go over weeks time but to me that is more like drying/curing/preserving. The results are a thing of beauty either way. A few summers ago we got a backhoe out and dug a pit about 4' deep and smoked a whole pig. We created the embers covered the pig in wet banana leaves and then filled in the pit with the dirt we had dug. All day long smoke was seeping from the ground. Most people have no interest in that kind of commitment but you can still get great results more in line with the time frame of a common family BBQ.
In my experience using the smokers with the side heatbox, you can definitely have actively burning wood in the sidebox. In fact you can also grill in the sidebox. Many of them are designed for that. It depends upon how you are using it at that particular moment and for what purpose. I've experimented for example with the heat concentrated in the firebox to the far side of the smoke box and grilling onions in the heatbox while smoking meats. Intending to get some of that onion into the smoke. If you create too much heat the food closest to the firebox can cook rather than smoke. If you have too much wood and a high convection it will even suck the flame into the smoke box. The acrid flavor may be a sign of using the wrong wood such as a softwood. I would also avoid certain hardwoods.
For best results specific to smoking, you want it "low and slow" Most BBQ guys will say something along the lines of the lower the heat the better or just recommend "cold smoking" but there is a technical difference there and I'm not sure that the term is always used correctly. This of course (heat) is also in direct relation to cooking time.
Charcoal: I love cooking with good charcoal. Recently I've setup a weber to work like a smoker. I use a mix of charcoal and oak. I don't presoak but the oak I've been using is decayed and even in our relatively dry summer has pretty good moisture. I lined the bottom of the weber (the grill the charcoal sits on) with aluminum foil to create radiant heat and leave a small opening to create a convection. This works great and you can set it up in a way that will give you lesser or greater heat based upon how much charcoal you use and where you put it. If you are motivated you can create a "snake" to burn the coals in a sort of sequence. The convection is not as strong as in the sidebox smokers and I've had not problems with the ash but I'd consider this more of a hybrid solution and not as easy to extend and manage a long smoke the way you can with a sidebox. OTOH every time I've tried using charcoal in one of the sidebox smokers the convection burns the coal to a white ash and sucks it into the smoke box. I used the weber method a few days ago with burgers and the results were amazing. The burgers came out red. That desired "smoke ring" red but on the outside - thoroughly cooked through. Flavor was amazing. That said I would not do this with say a brisket or even ribs which in my opinion would do much better over several hours on a very low heat high smoke. Brisket maybe 10 hours or more...
Low and slow is definitely the barbecue mantra--and BBQ
in the South is a noun, not a verb.
I have just never experienced the problem with charcoal ash, but I also don't open the vents so much that there would be that much convection. that would be a problem with wood ash also, I would think, unless it is so great that it is sucking up used ash on the bottom of the sidebox. I start fresh each time.
I definitely don't use soft wood. Ick!! LOL
But it is a fun hobby. Folks loved the chickens I fix for Christmas gifts--with my BBQ sauce.
DS made himself an electric smoker that is pretty neat--two large ceramic planters for the chamber. I'll try to find the picture/instructions. it makes smoked meats as delicious as all you can do for hours and hours in a sidebox--which he also has.
Smoked salmon steaks are incredible--not cold smoked, but not exactly hot either.
in the South is a noun, not a verb.
I have just never experienced the problem with charcoal ash, but I also don't open the vents so much that there would be that much convection. that would be a problem with wood ash also, I would think, unless it is so great that it is sucking up used ash on the bottom of the sidebox. I start fresh each time.
I definitely don't use soft wood. Ick!! LOL
But it is a fun hobby. Folks loved the chickens I fix for Christmas gifts--with my BBQ sauce.
DS made himself an electric smoker that is pretty neat--two large ceramic planters for the chamber. I'll try to find the picture/instructions. it makes smoked meats as delicious as all you can do for hours and hours in a sidebox--which he also has.
Smoked salmon steaks are incredible--not cold smoked, but not exactly hot either.