Anyone Here Smoke?

[mikethompson]

Kind of interested in getting a little smoker and trying my hand at doing some light smoking. Anyone have any experience or pointers? I'm not looking at building a giant rig or smokeshack or anything, just something along these lines:

There is just something appealing about cooking slowly with smoke.

 

[timt]

Sure do! I don't have a big, fancy rig either, just a Webber grill. I just pile some coals on one side and keep the meat off of direct heat and it works like a charm. For my family, it's all I really nead. My wife doesn't eat meat and my kids and I don't eat a ton. About 3 racks of baby backs or whole cut up chicken is about all we can kill. I've got an electric smoker that uses pellets but I haven't tried it out yet.

 

[haparnold]

Dry the meat drier than you think you need to, smoke very slowly, and pack more lightly than you think you need to.
Oh wait, never mind...

 

[redglow]

+1 on the Weber. I also have a Big Chief electric smoker. Does a great job. But only gets up to 165 degrees. So, cooking is usually a necessity after you finish smoking.
I do enjoy it.

 

[ashdigger]

I love smoking fish, I just forget which end to puff on.

 

[timt]

Yeah, with the Weber, just crack the lower and upper vents to keep the temp down. I've got a cheap probe thermometer with a transmitter that I stick in the top vent and just go about with whatever I'm doing, (sitting on my ass with a pipe) with the receiver close by keeping track of the temp and time. One chimney charcoal lighter's worth of charcoal seems to always be enough for 3-5 hours.
I like hickory chips for chicken and cherry or apple for ribs but sometimes it's whatever I have handy. It's all good.

 

[alaskanpiper]

Points for thread title. My experience is extensive, but only in one specific area.....fish. Mostly salmon. I smoke 20 or 30lbs of it a year, all in a cheap ass, super effective big chief. My favorite is alderwood, but Applewood is great too, or if youre a real pipe nerd, cherrywood is an excellent option

 

[jaytex1969]

Going to attempt hobbling out to the garage today and talking my wife through cooking a marinated pork loin in the Weber, Alton Brown style. (slightly off heat, 3-5 minutes per side, rolling 90 degrees each time until temp of 140 reached)
It usually comes out perfect. Our local, slightly fancy grocery made up a fresh heirloom tomato based marinade for it.
I just gained a pound thinking about it....

 

[cobguy]

Mike, I've got a smoker just like that one and it works great.

The biggest thing to remember is that those thermometers are pretty inaccurate.

A probe that goes into the meat itself is quite handy and keeps you from over-cooking.

Plus, if it's wireless, you can monitor the meat while drinking a beer on the back porch.

 

[mikethompson]

Thanks for all the feedback guys. I've read that those thermometers are inaccurate. I've started catching some of Steven Raichlen's show and it set the gears in motion.
I can find a few from local places for around $100CDN and figure it might be worth a shot.

 

[canadianpuffer]

I went on amazon and bought the “amazen” smoke tube. Takes trager pellets and works like a charm in my regular bbq. Check out YouTube and see.

 

[mikethompson]

Canadianpuffer, I did come across something like that. Interesting idea to make the BBQ a smoker, but I'm worried that with all the vent holes on the back of the grill, a significant amount of smoke would dissipate through the back. Did you find that anything like that happened?

 

[newbroom]

Handy man's secret weapon those vents.

 

[canadianpuffer]

@mikethompson - not at all. It produces enough smoke to fill and the back vents just act as a chimney. I’ve had the tube for 3 years now and I can’t imagine buying an independent smoker now. You even see those tubes on YouTube bbq pit bosses use them as supplementary smoke sources.

 

[shanez]

I have a Masterbuilt electric smoker with bluetooth. I can control time and temperature from the app on my phone which is really convenient.
If I didn't have this smoker I would probably give one of those smoke tubes a try on my grill.
My favorite is smoking jalapenos stuffed with chorizo and cheddar cheese over a combo of apple & cherry wood. You'll want to put some foil under these as they tend to make a mess when you smoke them. Another trick is to add a pan with some beer or cider or whatnot close enough to your heat source to cause some steam to help keep things moist.

 

[elessar]

I have a propane smoker with both the wood and water trays. Did a full pork shoulder a couple weeks ago to make some home made pulled pork for my sons birthday party. 18 hours of hickory smoke and some damn tasty pulled pork if I do say so myself. Hard to beat good old smoked BBQ.
shanez, those smoked stuffed jalapenos sound awesome! Might have to give those a try.

 

[danimalia]

I got a Masterbuilt propane smoker for Christmas. Finally put it together and smoked my first meat yesterday. Tried to do pulled pork. It didn't come out right, but it was still plenty tasty. Looking forward to refining my technique.

 

[jaytex1969]

Keeping it smokey with a classic Weber...

 

[TaneRZ]

Oh, I've seen some topics about this. Don't remember much but surely recall the filing that this is cool stuff.