What's in your smoker?

[Stevez]

[quote=G G;2008600]Did a Roaster Chicken and a 5 lb. New York Strip Roast in the Pit Barrel Cooker today for supper. Other than the chicken taking longer than I thought it went very well. I took the Roast to about 135 and then took it off and tented some foil over it while it rested for 30 or 40 minutes and it was awesome. Chicken was very tasty as well. I love this thing already because I AM NOT a cook, not even close but this thing is so easy anyone should be able to look like a pro.

That roast looks perfect and your pictures are fantastic. I've got a lot of work to do on my photography skills. Thankfully, my food tastes better than it looks.

[Chainsaw13]

Cold smoking a noix de jambon (French for ham nugget). It cured for 9 days in a salt/cure #2 mix, rolled in black pepper, tied/netted and into the smoker. Going to cold smoke for about 6 hours with apple wood, then into the curing chamber for drying. Should take about 3-4 weeks.

[tsolomon]

Just had to cook a brisket today and the largest one they had was just over 3 pounds.

[AdamJoshua]

Saw this posted, this looks like it could have a lot of potential in a smoker.



Bacon & Onion Foil Packet Potatoes

2 to 3 sheets of heavy-duty foil
1 packet onion soup powder
10-12 baby red potatoes, thinly sliced
12 slices of cooked and crumbled bacon
1 small onion thinly sliced and diced
1 cup cheese (optional)
Salt and pepper to taste
3 tablespoons butter
Sour cream for serving (optional)

Spray each sheet of foil with cooking spray. Top each piece with equal portions of potatoes, bacon, 1 packet onion soup powder and mix. Add salt and pepper to taste. Add 1 tablespoon of butter to each serving. Wrap securely.

Grill for 20 to 30 minutes. Or you can bake it in the oven, at 350° for about 35 minutes or till done. Let stand 10 minutes before serving. Serve in foil, topped with sour cream if desired

[Steve]

We had our annual work day at the archery club last weekend. I did up around a 100 pounds of leg quarters to feed the crew.



I experimented with a new rub recipe for this one and they came out even better than I could have imagined!



Finished up what was left over for diner last night



We definately have a new rub at OldChurchBBQ!

[Porch Dweller]

Looks tasty!!!

[T.G]

Velveeta.

Because. Just because.




In case you are wondering, yes, alcohol was involved when this was requested.

[Porch Dweller]

Some St. Louis ribs getting ready for the smoker. I used Memphis Dust for the rub.

[afranco]

Making me hungry !!!

[T.G]

Cooked a small (12#) turkey in one of my drums yesterday.

Sorry, no sliced pictures as it went over to a party at a friends house and it wasn't really convenient to take any.

[MarkinAZ]

Originally Posted by Porch Dweller

Some St. Louis ribs getting ready for the smoker. I used Memphis Dust for the rub.

Great looking ribs James...

Originally Posted by T.G

Cooked a small (12#) turkey in one of my drums yesterday.

Sorry, no sliced pictures as it went over to a party at a friends house and it wasn't really convenient to take any.

Nice looking bird Adam. Your group usually rips and tears at the bird anyways, right?

[Porch Dweller]

Sauced and ready to eat:

[GTsetGO]

did a smoke mac and cheese last night for the Big Game.

also some CC Cookies. Not a big fan of those.

[jonumberone]

Some nice cooks!

Adam, any thoughts on the A-maze-N smoker I see in the Velveeta pic?
I picked one up but have yet to try it. I've been too lazy to shovel a path to the shed.
Was it easy to light and keep going? Any detectable taste difference?
I guess the Macgyvered Coffee can/soldering gun has been laid to rest.
Are you using pellets or dust?

[T.G]

Dom, bearing in mind that I'm using the A-Maze-N smoker for just one or two specific things, the A-maze-N smoker is pretty good, it's not perfect for me, but I think it will be ok for the time being. The irons burn up eventually and have to be replaced, I've been though about 5 or so over 3 years, I couldn't tell you how many hundreds of pounds of cheese was smoked, but it was a lot. They changed the design of the SP23L iron I was using, which probably would work, but I also wanted to see if I could get away from the user intervention that is required with the soldering iron, shaking the can to drop new chips against the iron every 20-25 minutes isn't that big a deal, but it gets old when you have many batches to smoke and you have to lift out the grate with the food each time.

Anyway... I'm burning traeger pellets in it, lighting it takes a few times to get the hang of, getting enough of them lit and burning so that it will sustain itself. Aside from that, they work quite well in it. I tried some sawdust type stuff and the more standard quarter sized wood chips in it, neither really worked that well - the sawdust shreds I had wouldn't sustain a burn and the chips didn't smolder properly, they just flamed the whole time.

I'm still dialing in the times and such. With the iron, the smoker was completely sealed, with this, it needs an air inlet and and open exhaust so for cheese where you need a fair amount of smoke because it's not as absorbent as other foods, I've found that I need to have two ends lit.

I also discovered that the height of the pellets is important, you have to fill it almost to the top rail or it won't burn properly.

My biggest concern when getting it was it heating the chamber up too much and melting the cheese, this has yet to occur with any of the batches of cheese and as easy as velveeta melts, it didn't happen, so that's probably a non-issue.

Taste wise, there is no noticeable difference between it and the iron that I can attribute to it.

[Porch Dweller]

Originally Posted by Porch Dweller

Some St. Louis ribs getting ready for the smoker. I used Memphis Dust for the rub.

A follow-up: this was the first time I've used the full Memphis Dust recipe (including grinding the rosemary to a powder) and WOW, is it tasty. I'm probably going to just throw out all of my other rib rub recipes and stick with it from here on out.

[jonumberone]

Originally Posted by T.G

Dom, bearing in mind that I'm using the A-Maze-N smoker for just one or two specific things, the A-maze-N smoker is pretty good, it's not perfect for me, but I think it will be ok for the time being. The irons burn up eventually and have to be replaced, I've been though about 5 or so over 3 years, I couldn't tell you how many hundreds of pounds of cheese was smoked, but it was a lot. They changed the design of the SP23L iron I was using, which probably would work, but I also wanted to see if I could get away from the user intervention that is required with the soldering iron, shaking the can to drop new chips against the iron every 20-25 minutes isn't that big a deal, but it gets old when you have many batches to smoke and you have to lift out the grate with the food each time.

Anyway... I'm burning traeger pellets in it, lighting it takes a few times to get the hang of, getting enough of them lit and burning so that it will sustain itself. Aside from that, they work quite well in it. I tried some sawdust type stuff and the more standard quarter sized wood chips in it, neither really worked that well - the sawdust shreds I had wouldn't sustain a burn and the chips didn't smolder properly, they just flamed the whole time.

I'm still dialing in the times and such. With the iron, the smoker was completely sealed, with this, it needs an air inlet and and open exhaust so for cheese where you need a fair amount of smoke because it's not as absorbent as other foods, I've found that I need to have two ends lit.

I also discovered that the height of the pellets is important, you have to fill it almost to the top rail or it won't burn properly.

My biggest concern when getting it was it heating the chamber up too much and melting the cheese, this has yet to occur with any of the batches of cheese and as easy as velveeta melts, it didn't happen, so that's probably a non-issue.

Taste wise, there is no noticeable difference between it and the iron that I can attribute to it.

Thanks for the tips, Adam.
I'll likely only use it for cold smoking cheese, nuts, and such.
I feel the rest of my smokers produce enough smoke, so there's no reason to use it for additional smoking.
I see yours is on a rack, close to the cheese.
I was planning on putting mine on the bottom of the PBC.
Should I elevate it some, for better airflow? Or do you think it will be fine sitting on the bottom?

[T.G]

Originally Posted by jonumberone

Thanks for the tips, Adam.
I'll likely only use it for cold smoking cheese, nuts, and such.
I feel the rest of my smokers produce enough smoke, so there's no reason to use it for additional smoking.
I see yours is on a rack, close to the cheese.
I was planning on putting mine on the bottom of the PBC.
Should I elevate it some, for better airflow? Or do you think it will be fine sitting on the bottom?

It's just close to the cheese in that photo because I'm using an old weber 18" grill and it's sitting on the charcoal rack. I suppose I could try to balance it in the center of the bowl, but I just never bothered to because the rack was simpler.

I think it will be fine on the bottom of the PBC, might even work better than the way I have it set up in the photo because the extra distance will disperse the smoke and heat enough that you can put cheese on the entire rack, including directly above it. I would think the extra air space in the PBC will help to keep temps down too.

If I fill one of the 3 channels on it with traeger pellets and light both ends, it runs for about an hour and a half which is sufficient in the weber to smoke most cheeses (some need more, some need less, sometimes the pellets don't smoke as well). I can't say, you might need more time in the PBC because of the extra volume. And, captain obvious chiming in, for cheese and some cured meats you have to do these early in the morning when the air is still cool and the sun hasn't started hitting the smoker.

[T.G]

BTW, Dom, it's interesting that you mention using the A-maze-N smoker in the PBC, my plan when switching over to it was to eventually build a smoker (yeah, another one ) that was much larger than the weber 18 and would hold multiple racks as I'd really like to have the capacity to run 20 lbs or so at once. The weber was just kind of messing around until I had a chance to build the larger one.

[sikk50]

Smoked burgers with feta cheese and caramelized onions