Slowly smoking

[Tab]

I got a smoker (a Masterbuilt 30" electric) and have started working with it. Not ready for prime time yet, but what I put in comes out really juicy and excellent. The taste is blocking me a bit. I think I overdid it with smoke, and now just put in a few chips, keeping the smoke level down. Internal taste seems to be lacking. I think what I really want is to smoke stuff and finish them on a grill, but the only reason I have the smoker to begin with is because I don't have a grill anymore (marital reasons: grill or smoker - pick one). That said, I might be able to justify both.

Anyone else doing smoking and what are your results?

- t

[Major Nikon]

1. Your mistake is quite common for beginners

Too much smoke can result in bitterness or other off flavors. It's very easy to overdo it, especially with smoker designs that don't move very much air through the smoke chamber. Fruit woods like apple and cherry are milder and more forgiving. Mesquite is stronger and much easier to overdo it. Hickory and pecan are somewhere between those. Many people will smoke only for say 1.5-4 hours and then wrap the food in foil for the rest of the cook. At that point you can even finish in the oven if you wish.

How I do it depends on what I am cooking. For rib roasts I will smoke for about 3 hours, then finish in the oven. For pork shoulder or brisket I cook completely in the smoker without wrapping. For ribs I will smoke them for a couple of hours, wrap them in foil for 3 more, and then finish them on the grill. Regardless of how I do it, the smoke in my electric smoker only lasts for 1-3 hours depending on whether I use chips or chunks, which is plenty of time to add enough smoke flavor.

[Laura PourMeADrink]

2. Was just in SYV, CA and the streets are filled with the

incredible aroma of what they say is "red oak" on bbqs and restaurant grills.

Went to a great restaurant in Santa Ynez CA and if I could have bottled the smell of the red oak in the wood-burning kitchen - would have paid anything.

About just basically adding wood chips to charcoal...I watched the
Cook's Country Kitchen episode (where they have a team of chefs trying
to create the very BEST technique for this dish or that dish.)

It was a show about grilling chicken and smoking it at the same time.

Steps:
Soak Red Oak chunks
Wrap Soaked Red Oak in tin foil packet (stab holes in it to vent)
On Half charcoal grill:
Throw in unlit natural charcoal
layer next with smoking packet
layer next with lit charcoal
put grill on
place half chickens with dark meat end toward coals - but not on them


Cook for 1 hr.

Best Chicken ever.

[MrMickeysMom]

5. Man, that sounds great...

I wonder where I can get red oak chunks in PA? I'll have to look.

[Tab]

7. Perhaps at a butcher?

I'm sure you can order them online, but I have a local butcher that also stocks up smoking chips and stuff. A quick phone call could tell.

[Jenoch]

3. I have overdone the smoke

and the ribs tasted like a campfire. I smoke pork ribs for about 3 to 4 hours at about 225°. I then either wrap in foil and cook until the meat is tender and not falling off the bone, or I put the ribs in the slowcooker until tender. I sometimes freeze the slabs of ribs after the smoke time and then put the frozen ribs into the slowcooker. A few minutes on the grill at the end will give me the texture I am looking for.

I pretty much do the same with pulled pork.I smoke it and finish in the slow cooker. The advantage with the slow cooker over the entire time in the smoker is that the juice stay in the crock instead of evaporating away. I pull the pork and put the smokey juices back into the pork.

[MrMickeysMom]

4. I've been most experienced with birds (turkey) and use brines

I would brine something overnight, rinse, pat dry, get in room temp an hour, then smoke it around 325 for a few hours, maybe finish in the oven if not done by then. I use charcoal, and wood chips of mostly apple, cherry and little hickory.

I get my smoker up to temp and keep a pot of hot water pretty full in the chamber under the bird's grid. This seems to enhance and not overwhelm the smoke flavor.

[Tab]

6. I'm not brining

I went through a brine period a few years ago and I'm tired of brining. Everything's super juicy anyway, so that's not an issue (although it might help with infusing flavor). A chicken roasts up great, but the skin gets greasy and smoky and doesn't settle well in the stomach. The other things I'm smoking seem overly smoky and greasy. I can cut the smoke easily enough, the greasy taste somewhat confounds me, though.