col klink

Ah yes, I have that book. You don't have access to good Texas 'que if you can do it at home! There's a recipe for smoked cabbage I've been wanting to try but I keep forgetting. Core a cabbage and put it a stick of butter. Wrap the entire thing in tinfoil and smoke for 4 hours. Sounds really good or utterly disgusting. I'm betting closer to good than bad. What I enjoyed more than the recipes however was the history of bbq in Texas, especially finding out why the best 'que joints serve only on butcher paper and likewise don't serve any sauce except for mustard or hot sauce.

Cool. Was the temp pretty easy to maintain? It sounds like it was. As far as a closed system goes, maybe you could fill the gaps with foil?

After I did mine (I brined the birds and then smoked the turducken) I came to the conclusion that it was a lot of fun and made a really cool show. However, I've done the birds seperately and those came out better than the turducken. Primarly because without stuffing and an open cavity, the bird is smokier. But the turducken presentation was worth the effort. edit: When deboning, I'd do more to butterfly the breast and leg muscles so there is a more uniform layer of meat instead of trying to get all six breasts to line up nicely. What my turducken there were parts that looked really good and parts that didn't.

How long did the shoulder smoke? How much gas did you use and how hot/cold were you able to keep the temp? Did you have to keep the flames high or low? Were you not able to get enough smoke because you didn't add enough chips or is it that gas inherently can't smoke as well as more tightly closed systems?

Don't you hate it when a little piece "falls off"? Nice work peanutgirl! dls, I haven't used any of the electric smokers so I can't tell you much about them but I do know that the WSM is a good product that spits out excellent bbq with minimal supervision (I'm pretty sure the electric smokers require just as much attention though). On the second and third pages of this thread discusses Weber kettles, bullets, barrel smokers and even an electric smoker.

Do you have enough propane for an extended 8 to 12 hour smoking? edit: I'm not really sure how much it would take, but I imagine it would be pretty easy to run out if you're not careful. Good luck and please report back on your experience.

I can't imagine anything larger than 14 or 15 lbs could fit whole in the bullet, but don't quote me on it. Before you go out to buy your turkey, measure you bullet's diameter as well as the height and bring along your measuring tape to the turkey store.

Nice work peanut! Both the turkey and the pork look absolutely divine. How come you're not smoking for Thanksgiving? I am! You probably won't be able to fit a whole turkey large enough for a family on your bullet, but you can always quarter the bird and be able to fit everything on the bullet. Also, you don't have to seperate the breasts. What's the biggest upside smoking your turkey besides tasting really great? It frees up your oven!

I second that.

D'oh! I never got back on the results. The egg trick works like a charm. I boiled the plum wine briefly (Gekkeikan) to drive off the alcohol and after cooling, measured the sugar content with a clean egg. I added hardly any simple syrup and it worked like a charm. When I tried to repeat it however, I was running out of time and didn't wait for it to completely cool. I added even less simple syrup and when it was nearly done, I threw it in the freezer. Three hours later, what came out was a light and frothy semi-frozen mixture that I couldn't form into to balls. I was disappointed at first because I obviously coulldn't place the "sorbet" in a pool of plum wine but it worked out to my advantage. I placed a couple of scoops of frothy sorbet in with a couple of slices of pear slices marinated in plum wine and a sprig of mint. It turned out to be quite nice and different. Next time I'm adding some fresh fruit for a light and refreshing dessert (and more color for pete's sake).

Welcome hobby chef! Chef Fowke, is the garlic step necessary? Have you done briskets with and without that first step of rubbing the garlic? I'm just wondering if you'd be able to taste the difference after salting, spicing, smoking and steaming.

I'm a big fan of bourbon or Irish whisky in my coffee. On a related note (it will be eventually), my aunt and now my mother-in-law like to have their coffee "fluffed." Aunt Kristie picked up one of those milk frothers so you can whip up your milk or cream for your coffee. Well, when my wife and I visited Kristie up in Canada she was showing off her "fluffer" and of course we giggled like little school girls at the other connotation. Since my wife likes milk/cream in her coffee, she would take the fluffed milk. I took the joke even farther and said "no, I would not like my coffee fluffed, however I would like some Man fluff in mine." "What?" "Irish whisky please!" edit: Aunt Kristie now knows the alternate meaning of fluffer.

Why, if memory serves me correctly, I do believe it is our own imminently intelligent MatthewB.

Ok, sounds like it wasn't smoked for long enough then. If you have any leftovers, you can throw them in the oven at 250 to finish it. Your temp was probably right on. What I like about the cork method is that there's absolutely no way for the probe or thermometer to touch the metal so you're definitely getting the temp of the smoke around the meat and not the temp of the smoker itself. However, I'm willing to bet that the temps you read were probably spot on. I've just been gun-shy about temps since my polder started behaving badly.

Congrats on your first smoke! Is that a pork shoulder you're smoking? How big is it? 220 F is perfect for your smoker and 143 F for your pork is perfectly fine too. Shoulders can take up to 12 hours but 8 should be enough. It might not get to the pulled texture but it will still be damn good. As to rotating the meat, what smoker do you have? If it's a WSM, it probably doesn't make much of a difference since they're so well balanced, but it wouldn't hurt and it would ease my mind -- no more than once an hour though. edit: right, the 8 lb picnic. sorry, I've been playing with Mozilla's Firebird and it doesn't like the upgrade.

Apps, it sounds like your brisket wasn't done. But before we jump to that conclusion, which way did you slice the brisket? If you don't cut against the grain, the texture will be quite chewy. Was the meat chewy or the fat chewy, or both? You don't have to worry about spikes up to 300, especially at the beginning. It's near the end of the smoking that you have to worry about spikes, when you're running out of fat and moisture. At 190 however, you're keeping it warm more than you're cooking it How are you taking the temperature? Recently I saw a great idea for taking the temp of a water smoker. Take a wine cork and put your old meat thermometer through the center. Trim the sides of the cork so it fits in one of your upper exhaust vents. The thermometer doesn't touch the smoker and is easily held in place for rather accurate temperature taking. It's also not unheard of for water smokers to take longer smoking tough cuts of meat. My barrel smoker has hot spots, much higher than 225, though the average temp is around 225. Since there really aren't hot spots in a water smoker, you might try upping the temp to 250.

Congrats! 6 - 10 is certainly not out of the question, but it's going to be closer to 10 hours with an 8 pounder. It also depends on what texture you're looking for in the pork because it will be cooked after 2 or 3 hours but won't have that pulled pork texture. Here's a thread on getting that pulled pork texture. The turkey wings will take less than a couple of hours, somewhere between an hour and an hour and a half. David, I picked up a cheapo unit from Target made by Taylor. It doesn't have all of the nice timer functions as my polder but it seems to work. I'm also going to get another probe for the Polder. The old one is really sensitve -- I'd have to pull the chicken out of the oven to get an accurate reading.

Yup, pecan will work. Don't forget, you can cold smoke a la woodburner with a hot plate and sawdust in case a "cold front" doesn't come through.

Oh yeah, not having alder isn't a problem -- maple, oak or any fruitwood will d o a fine job on salmon.

You just might be the only one. Try not to think of duck breasts as poultry but as red meat, especially if your duck is wild. Everytime I get the notion to roast a duck, I remind myself that the breast is always better if cooked to medium rare and I loose the notion. I like to quarter my ducks, reserving all of the excess skin to render it. I throw the legs on first and ten minutes before they're done, I throw the breasts (skin scored in a cross-hatch pattern) in the skillet and let the fat render. Flipping only for the last couple of minutes. This way the skin on the legs are crisp as is the breast skin and I have assloads of sweet, sweet duck fat. Not that this helps any of you to roast your whole duck.

Here in the Duluth, MN area, smoked trout is quite popular. It's fatty enough to absorb the flavor. Until my cold smoker is built, I will continue to smoke my salmon on my hot smoker. My best results have been from brining (1 gallon water, 1 cup kosher salt, 1 cup brown sugar) for an hour or two, slicing the salmon into 4 oz portions (roughly a half inch wide) and getting my smoker's temp as low as possible without letting the fire die which is usually around 175, lower in colder months. Typically the salmon takes about 45 minutes. I have no idea what the temp of the salmon is because it would destroy the salmon to do so, but I'm sure it's not about 150 or 160 degrees. I pull the salmon when the flesh starts firm up. I was never very happy when I smoked the fillets whole, they just weren't smoked enough for me. Then I had a realization, if country style ribs end up smokier than a whole shoulder, why couldn't it work for salmon? I also don't like to throw herbs or spices on the salmon -- I want the smoke to draw out the natural flavors of the salmon. Salmon is too good to waste on herbs. Well, good salmon that is. If you have less than stellar salmon, don't let me stop you from masking away.

The roast was on for 6 1/2 hours. I wanted more time on, but when it reached 125 F, I wasn't going to leave it on any longer. My polder temp probe has been good to me but after three years of intense use, I am going to replace it soon. As for cold weather smoking, not yet. However, I have seen pictures of people throwing a blanket on their smoker for insulation. But that was for a wood smoker like mine, I'd have to think about a kettle.

It's a little long, but my course teaches how to smoke with the bullet. I'd read the Q&A because it has some good tips on how to run effeciently (I don't normally smoke on the bullet). The virtual Weber bullet is also a good resource.

For those of you who doubt the power of the Weber kettle: A 17lb prime rib roast. This image betrays how beautifully red it was. That prime rib was easily the best beef I've ever had -- I get shivers just thinking about it.

I've seen smoking accessories for the Weber kettle, but not for their gas grills. You can check out their website if you like, possibly sending them an email: http://www.weber.com