Fiddlebacks and Smokers

[Volfather]

Seeing as how smoking techniques came up on Turkey day, I figured I'd make a thread about how and what you use to smoke meats and veggies. Post up pics and talk about your smokers and how they work for you. Should be fun!!!!!!

 

[Kymedic45]

Oh this is awesome. I can't wait to wake up lol

I'll be back

 

[TLA]

Here is my smoker made by Masterbuilt and I really like it. It holds a consistent temperature and its easy to turn it into a cold smoker for smoking chees. The only downfall is that it doesn't get the skin on turkey and chicken crispy because it will only go up to 275 degrees. This one has bit the dust and I have newer model now but it's still pretty much the same smoker. This is the set up I do sometimes when its raining or snowing outside. Eventually I will get back into using a wood / charcoal smoker. I just need to buy a new one. I used to have a Big Chief smoker but it really wasn't good for anything other than smoking salmon during the summer. I tried using one time to smoke some pork during the winter in -40 wind chills and it took 3 solid days to smoke the pork. I've used my Masterbuilt in -25 ambient and I just wrap it in my old Uhaul blanket. I will just about anything at least once. With that being said my smoked carrots turned out terrible.

 

[TLA]

Here are some of my smoked goodies, cabbage and hot dogs, tomatoes and double smoked extra sharp cheddar cheese. I have to take the outer layer off the cabbage because it becomes to tough to eat. I use it in my smoked bbq coleslaw and it's good fried and served with eggs and toast for breakfast. I use the tomatoes to make a smoked spaghetti sauce. The cheese need to sit in the fridge for at least a day or two before it's ready to eat. You can trim the outer layer off to make it look prettier but I think that's the best as it is the smokiest tasting. I mainly smoke the hot dogs for my two dogs as they go nuts for them and if you have never had smoked hot dogs you are missing out.

 

[TLA]

Smoked turkey, chicken, hearts and gizzards, hot wings. Sometimes I will do a smoked beer can chicken. I always use the skin and carcass of the turkey and chicken to make some good smoky stock.

 

[TLA]

Smoked spiral ham, bologna, sausages and scallops. I always smoke the scallops the day before I eat them. I let them sit in the fridge overnight and serve them cold the next day.

 

[TLA]

Smoked frog legs, shrimp and salmon eggs. I like to serve the shrimp cold the next day after smoking. The salmon eggs are a favorite of mine. I serve with cream chees and crackers or I will just eat them plain and share them with my two dogs.

 

[Texas_toothpick]

Oh gosh!! I have go stop looking getting so hungry.

 

[M4Super90]

I use a Good One Marshall offset smoker. I was taught on a trailer sized smoker my folks had at their ranch growing up, but I can't fit one of those in my yard! My Good one has the best engineering and heat control of any I found for the size. Regularly do pulled pork shoulders, brisket, chicken and ribs. Here's some pics for you:

 

[sonorantree]

Here is my Klose pit. Sorry no food photos available... In the background you can see the adobe oven we built this summer!

 

[GrizzAwoken]

Clearly I need to invest in a smoker ASAP

 

[MajorD]

What a great thread! I am going to learn a lot from this one. I am very simple in my set up. My wife and I live in a condo so any smoking I do is while camping with a Brinkman charcoal smoker or a Weber Jumbo Joe grill. (The largest portable Weber) I am envious of the set ups here.

I typically set up the Jumbo Joe with a water pan, fire bricks or tin foil crumpled to make a heat spacer and charcoal. I use a rack thermometer for my smoke temp and check the meat with a simple probe thermometer. With this set up I can keep the temp anywhere from 225 to 300 depending on my charcoal and wood input. I just recently picked up a dual probe wireless but winter came and I won't be able to do much now.

I have tried smoking for a few years and I've thrown out more meat than I would like to admit. I have over heated, over smoked, dried out, burnt up and anything else you can do bad to meat. I admittedly just didn't put in enough research time. I finally started studying anything and everything I could. Slowly I started to improve my abilities. This year I was able to produce a few slabs of fantastic ribs (not my words ), 2 Boston Butts (I would grade: 1-B,1-A-) and a Brisket. I got sidetracked on the brisket and lost my heat. I recovered and saved it but dried it out slightly. 1 brisket - C. I am slowly logging my methods and becoming very happy with my results.

I have tried many rubs. I, personally, don't care for "sweet" rubs but I try to make things that the entire family enjoys. So far I have found "Oakridge BBQ" to be my favorite rubs. I have had very good success with their products.

Boston Butt. I smoke until 170 internal then foil wrap. It creates IMO a better overall bark.

A small brisket.

A Boston Butt that I didn't foil wrap. The bark tasted fantastic but wasn't very usable.

 

[Kirkwood]

Sadly I gave up smoking about 5 years ago. Man do I friggin miss it. :grumpy:

 

[M4Super90]

What a great thread! I am going to learn a lot from this one. I am very simple in my set up. My wife and I live in a condo so any smoking I do is while camping with a Brinkman charcoal smoker or a Weber Jumbo Joe grill. (The largest portable Weber) I am envious of the set ups here.

I typically set up the Jumbo Joe with a water pan, fire bricks or tin foil crumpled to make a heat spacer and charcoal. I use a rack thermometer for my smoke temp and check the meat with a simple probe thermometer. With this set up I can keep the temp anywhere from 225 to 300 depending on my charcoal and wood input. I just recently picked up a dual probe wireless but winter came and I won't be able to do much now.

I have tried smoking for a few years and I've thrown out more meat than I would like to admit. I have over heated, over smoked, dried out, burnt up and anything else you can do bad to meat. I admittedly just didn't put in enough research time. I finally started studying anything and everything I could. Slowly I started to improve my abilities. This year I was able to produce a few slabs of fantastic ribs (not my words ), 2 Boston Butts (I would grade: 1-B,1-A-) and a Brisket. I got sidetracked on the brisket and lost my heat. I recovered and saved it but dried it out slightly. 1 brisket - C. I am slowly logging my methods and becoming very happy with my results.

I have tried many rubs. I, personally, don't care for "sweet" rubs but I try to make things that the entire family enjoys. So far I have found "Oakridge BBQ" to be my favorite rubs. I have had very good success with their products.

Boston Butt. I smoke until 170 internal then foil wrap. It creates IMO a better overall bark.

I make my own rubs, and use sugar and spices in the pork rub but just salt and pepper on the beef. I cook a little hotter than most (250-275) until I get the desired bark and then wrap for the remainder of the cook. Each piece of meat is different so I just do it by feel & time vs the original weight than internal temp, although it turns out pretty consistently. I do use a water pan, or with brisket I add herbs and veggies to the pan and put it just under the meat.

 

[bonafide]

My wife has a small start up company that produces a table top pizza oven for the 'back yard kitchen experience', but we use it for anything from Pizza, to smoking pork, to baking cookies.

 

[Justarandomguy]

Great thread! It's been raining like crazy for two days straight here, so I'll try to post some pics when it's dry again.

I use an Oklahoma Joe from Walmart, about $270. It is by far the best rig for the money without going the custom or semi-custom high end rout that would push $1000+. This offset smoker weighs almost 200lbs vs a larger Char-Broil at 100. That should give you an idea how thick the steel is. It's all about the thermal mass. Those light weight ones are no better than tin foil.

I have modified it a little though. I lined the bottom under the cooking grate with two rows of fire brick with about a three inch gap between them in the middle. Then I placed unglazed quarry tiles on top with gaps that widen as they go away from the fire box to direct some of the smoke. Both of those add more mass which helps regulate the temp. Be very careful to use unglazed tile though because glazed tile contains lead. It will leach out into your food and poison you!

I can maintain 220 degrees almost indefinitely using the vents correctly. The top vent is by far the most important for the regulation. If I want to do a turkey or chicken, I can open the vents and get it to 350 or more very easily.

I also don't rely on the metal thermometers that come with the grills. They are useless. I only use a digital one that has been calibrated in boiling water. One for the smoker and one for the meat. The one for the smoker is used only for that as it will be black after the first or second use.

The only other thing I didn't do, but maybe should have is line the lid edge with a heat proof gasket, similar to what they use on the Big Green Eggs or Kamado Joe's. It's not a big deal because there is plenty of smoke in the box, it just would seal a little better.

I'm in N Carolina, so can't claim to keep the temp at -20 degrees, but I do use it here all winter with no problem. At the coldest, we only get to about 20, not -20!

I cook just about anything on mine, though I must admit I'm waiting until things cool a little so I can do some cheese and pork belly (bacon) that I haven't tried yet. I love doing Boston Butts, ribs, turkey, chicken, salmon, wings and sausage though. My pork rub has little or no salt as I put that on first.

For Butts, I'll let them go about 12-14hrs depending on the size. I usually don't wrap because I like the bark and you lose a little when you wrap. It just takes another hour or two without the foil wrap, but I'm ok with that. I'll also put a pan of home made baked beans under the butt to catch the juices about 2/3 of the way through cooking it. Holy smokes does that make them good! For the ribs, I'll smoke until done (4-5 hrs) and then sauce them with a whiskey and brown sugar based sauce I make and then crank the heat up to Caramelize the sauce.

Poultry is injected with butter only and then rubbed with oil, salt, pepper, sage, rosemary and thyme. I also spatchcock the birds (remove he backbone completely and flatten them). This cuts the cook time in half or more and let's the smoke flavor go all the way through the bird.

I have a feeling there will be a lot of great ideas shared with this thread!

 

[Justarandomguy]

My wife has a small start up company that produces a table top pizza oven for the 'back yard kitchen experience', but we use it for anything from Pizza, to smoking pork, to baking cookies.

Does the oven burn wood or is it gas? Hard to tell from the pic, but the vent at the top makes me think wood.

 

[bonafide]

Does the oven burn wood or is it gas? Hard to tell from the pic, but the vent at the top makes me think wood.

Charcoal. Can't control even temps with wood. One of the best features is it can hold a low steady even temp throughout the cooking area for long hours.

 

[VANCE]

i use a Kamado Joe Classic for grilling,smoking, & baking

smoked ham

 

[Dman3d]

I think I gained 10lbs looking at this thread. So hungry now! All looks amazing.
Never seen bbq smoked cabbage for slaw, sounds good, shrimp and salmon roe too.