Backyard smokers

[clarionite]

My beautiful wife suprised me this past weekend with a new smoker.

So far I've smoked chicken, brisket, pork roast... And tonight I'm smoking Salmon.

Next up is Pastrami.

Any of you guys have favorite recipes you'd like to share with a newbe smoker?

[fickman]

I get a lot of great info from thesmokering.com . . . it's a very good web forum.

[brentski]

For some more local guys, texas bbq forum has insights as well.

[RX8er]

What did you end up getting?

I like to experiment with my wood types and the liquids I use for humidity. I have gotten some pretty great flavors using apricot juice or agave nectar and cherry, mesquite, alder and ....For me, I think less rub always is better than more but if you want, you can pile on the rub and sit in fridge overnight and then remove the excess before smoking.

If you are going Salmon, try it with alder.

A couple tips that I am sure you are aware of.....
Wait for a good smoke before you add meat
Heat your liquid up to a simmer right before adding to the box
Always rest your meat for 20-30 minutes after removing from heat. I wrap in a very large towel
Limit opening of the smoke lid.

[The Annoyed Man]

I did tri-tips and brats in my smoker last Friday. Marinated the tri-tip overnight in a generous mixture of Weber's Gourmet Hamburger Seasoning and olive oil. Then I put them in the Big Green Egg at 350º for about an hour over hickory smoke, with several liberal applications of Bone Suckin' Sauce Seasoning & Rub (http://www.buybonesuckin.com/categories ... g-and-Rub/) to the meat while it was cooking. It came out with a nice little smoke ring and medium rare at the center, with just a hint of caramelization at the corners, seared, but not quite with a bark on it. The brats were on the same grill, temperature, and smoke for about 30 minutes or so and were also treated to liberal applications of the same Bone Suckin' Sauce Seasoning & Rub during cooking. You can't really mess up brats, except by undercooking them. These ones were perfect.

The tri-tip nearly melted in the mouth. We served it with roasted potatoes, the brats, and a green salad, and one of our guests brought a home made batch of Boston baked beans. It was a 5 star meal.

I haven't tried alder wood with anything yet, but I've played with oak, pecan, cherry, apple, peach, and mesquite too, but I keep returning to hickory as my "go to" smoking wood. I like mesquite for steak, but it burns pretty hot and it has a fairly acrid bite to it if you use too much, and it is easy to use too much. You can't really use mesquite when you're cooking for a long time. Most times when I use mesquite, I'll smoke with hickory or something else first, and then use the mesquite as sort of a "finish" to the smoke.

[RoyGBiv]

Smoked duck is my favorite.

[clarionite]

What did you end up getting?

I like to experiment with my wood types and the liquids I use for humidity. I have gotten some pretty great flavors using apricot juice or agave nectar and cherry, mesquite, alder and ....For me, I think less rub always is better than more but if you want, you can pile on the rub and sit in fridge overnight and then remove the excess before smoking.

If you are going Salmon, try it with alder.

A couple tips that I am sure you are aware of.....
Wait for a good smoke before you add meat
Heat your liquid up to a simmer right before adding to the box
Always rest your meat for 20-30 minutes after removing from heat. I wrap in a very large towel
Limit opening of the smoke lid.

She bought me one that looks just like this one... But if she paid that much, I'll be a little upset.
http://www.academy.com/webapp/wcs/store ... N=77985508" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I used mesquite for the smoke.

1/4 cup Kosher salt
3/8 cup sugar
3/8 cup dark brown sugar
1/8 cup red pepper flakes


I coated the sockeye fillet with the above rub, put it in a vacuum sealed bag and refrigerated it for 14 hours on one side, then flipped and refrigerated for another 14 hours. I rinsed the rub, then patted the fillet dry and let air dry for about a half hour while my smoker was coming up to temp.

I smoked it at 150-160 for almost 4 hours, till the meat was 150 degrees.

[clarionite]

I did tri-tips and brats in my smoker last Friday. Marinated the tri-tip overnight in a generous mixture of Weber's Gourmet Hamburger Seasoning and olive oil. Then I put them in the Big Green Egg at 350º for about an hour over hickory smoke, with several liberal applications of Bone Suckin' Sauce Seasoning & Rub (http://www.buybonesuckin.com/categories ... g-and-Rub/) to the meat while it was cooking. It came out with a nice little smoke ring and medium rare at the center, with just a hint of caramelization at the corners, seared, but not quite with a bark on it. The brats were on the same grill, temperature, and smoke for about 30 minutes or so and were also treated to liberal applications of the same Bone Suckin' Sauce Seasoning & Rub during cooking. You can't really mess up brats, except by undercooking them. These ones were perfect.

The tri-tip nearly melted in the mouth. We served it with roasted potatoes, the brats, and a green salad, and one of our guests brought a home made batch of Boston baked beans. It was a 5 star meal.

I haven't tried alder wood with anything yet, but I've played with oak, pecan, cherry, apple, peach, and mesquite too, but I keep returning to hickory as my "go to" smoking wood. I like mesquite for steak, but it burns pretty hot and it has a fairly acrid bite to it if you use too much, and it is easy to use too much. You can't really use mesquite when you're cooking for a long time. Most times when I use mesquite, I'll smoke with hickory or something else first, and then use the mesquite as sort of a "finish" to the smoke.

I love brats, but have never smoked any. I tend to par boil my brats for about 5 minutes before I cook them on the grill. I prevents those annoying undercooked suprises.

I like pecan, cherry, apple and mesquite. But my favorite is hickory. I can't find any here though. I can go cut mequite, but hickory trees are hard to find around here.

I grew up in Arkansas. We lived with my grandparents. My grandfather would collect pecans, walnuts and hickory nuts throughout the fall. In the winter, he'd sit in his recliner and shell the nuts. We had ziplock bags full of nuts in the deep freeze. Grandma would make brittle, cookies and pies with the nuts. Hickory nut pie is my favorite. And if you've ever had one, you'll turn your nose up at a pecan pie.

I may have to go visit some cousins this summer and get a load of wood and nuts.

[The Annoyed Man]

What did you end up getting?

I like to experiment with my wood types and the liquids I use for humidity. I have gotten some pretty great flavors using apricot juice or agave nectar and cherry, mesquite, alder and ....For me, I think less rub always is better than more but if you want, you can pile on the rub and sit in fridge overnight and then remove the excess before smoking.

If you are going Salmon, try it with alder.

A couple tips that I am sure you are aware of.....
Wait for a good smoke before you add meat
Heat your liquid up to a simmer right before adding to the box
Always rest your meat for 20-30 minutes after removing from heat. I wrap in a very large towel
Limit opening of the smoke lid.

She bought me one that looks just like this one... But if she paid that much, I'll be a little upset.
http://www.academy.com/webapp/wcs/store ... N=77985508" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I used mesquite for the smoke.

1/4 cup Kosher salt
3/8 cup sugar
3/8 cup dark brown sugar
1/8 cup red pepper flakes


I coated the sockeye fillet with the above rub, put it in a vacuum sealed bag and refrigerated it for 14 hours on one side, then flipped and refrigerated for another 14 hours. I rinsed the rub, then patted the fillet dry and let air dry for about a half hour while my smoker was coming up to temp.

I smoked it at 150-160 for almost 4 hours, till the meat was 150 degrees.

Did the mesquite overpower the salmon a little bit? That's been my experience when leaving almost anything over mesquite for long periods, except maybe thick cuts of red meats, like the above mentioned tri-tip. That's why I usually smoke with the hickory and then just throw some mesquite on toward the end to put a bit of a flourish on the flavor. I just buy my hickory by the bag in chunks from Barbecues Galore. I do the actually cooking with lump charcoal, and I soak the smoking wood chunks thoroughly in water before putting them in the grill; then I put them around the edges of the coals where they won't burn directly in the fire but will produce a good volume of smoke. The heat and smoking eventually converts the chunks of hickory (or whatever I'm using) into lump charcoal itself. Probably half the left over charcoal in my Big Green Egg by now is smoking wood which was converted to charcoal during the smoking process. The BGE is REALLY efficient with fuel—by FAR more efficient than any grill I've ever owned before, and I've had a few. I bought mine this past July and I have used it a bunch of times since then, and this last Friday I finally used up the last of the bag of lump charcoal I bought with the smoker. It seems to consume the charcoal in its entirety, producing very little left over ash, and you only have to add in a little bit more charcoal each time because most of what you put in there before is still there and usable.

[clarionite]

I was afraid it was going to overpower it, but suprisingly it didn't. It's like a cross between salmon and ham. <G>
By far the best tasting I've ever had. I forgot to put any moisture in with it, so there's a little bit more of a crust than I'd have liked. But it seems to have sealed in the moisture very well.

[Lumberjack98]

I also like smokingmeatforum.com. ABTs have turned into a staple with my wife and 3 year old.

[CainA]

Another good place to hang out:

http://www.bbq-brethren.com/forum/index.php" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I have a UDS(ugly drum smoker) that I built. It's cheap and efficient.

Not mine, but just so you know what one is:



Edited to add some more info. If you don't have one already get a good thermometer(or 2) and make sure it's accurate. I have one of these for remote monitoring of temps. so I don't have to be babysitting the smoker at its location:

http://www.maverickhousewares.com/et732.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[RPBrown]

I had a friend bring me some maple wood from New England (yes I have a yankee friend but he likes to shoot). Made for a very nice, slightly sweet flavor on my brisket. Marinated in beer. Other than that, I use hickory, pecan, apple, or mesquite wood.

For those in the DFW area, there is a wood yard (for lack of a better term) that sells all of the above woods and then some at Belt line and Rock Island in Irving. The sell in chunks or quarters in bags of different sizes or by the truck load

[RottenApple]

Beer Can Chicken or, if you use a Fosters Oil Can, Beer Can Turkey (although it can still be a pain to keep it upright). I smoke these on the drum grill my wife bought me a few years back.

[RoyGBiv]

I relocated to TX about 10 years ago from NC.
Now, I do enjoy TX BBQ (especially the beef ribs at Coopers in the Stockyards!), but to me REAL BBQ is PORK.
I make a lot of pork BBQ at home, with homemade no-mayo slaw to go on top.

Here's an example from a few weeks ago..



For Thanksgiving, we hauled the electric smoker with us on vacation and made this smoked turkey breast (bone in).



But my all-time favorite thing to smoke is Duck. Mmmmmmm! This one went about 7 hours in the smoker, plus about 30 minutes in the oven for rendering (you can see the fat in the pan) and crisping. Makes my mouth water just looking at it.. Might have to make one this weekend.



As for recipes and tips....

1. When making ribs... ALWAYS remove the membrane from the back side of the rack before seasoning the ribs. Better flavoring, more even cooking, and your guests will not have to floss that annoying membrane out of their teeth after eating (ick!)
2. I like to use a brown mustard coating before I add my dry rub. This helps the rub stick to the meat better. Some folks use a light coating of honey, yellow mustard also works fine. Use whatever sticky stuff adds a flavor that you enjoy. I'm not a fan of olive oil (or any other oil) for this purpose. Too runny and not the right flavor. YMMV
3. Temperature is key.... Both maintaining a good temperature in your smoker and getting the food to the proper temperatures. Whatever recipe you're following, mind the recommended temperatures. Cooking too fast is bad, cooking too slow is boring and unnecessary. After reaching the final temperature, most things will need time to rest. I like to wrap my finished meats in foil and set them in a portable insulated cooler for at least an hour before eating. Ribs a bit less.
4. First few times, stick to a recipe. Focus on following it and learning the equipment. Then, experiment and have fun.
5. Don't overdo it. Your family may not enjoy it as much as you, be considerate or they might rebel (DAMHIK )
6. RIBS.... I prefer "Back Loin Ribs". Not only are they usually cheaper than "Baby Back" ribs, but the back loin has more meat. I find it's more tender after cooking and there's just more to sink your teeth into. Some folks prefer baby back... not me, not even close.