Cooking with a countertop indoor smoker

JoNorvelleWalker · July 6

I work in a library and since I got the GE Profile I've been reading dozens of barbecue and smoking books. Many recipes call for smoking meat for a while then tightly wrapping the meat in aluminum foil before returning the meat to the smoker to finish cooking. I assume the purpose of the foil is to help with the stall by preventing evaporation from the surface of the meat.

What I don't understand is how meat can smoke while it's tightly wrapped in foil? Sounds counter productive. I thought the way pitmasters traditionally got through the stall was by waiting patiently and drinking beer

Thoughts?

donk79 · July 6

13 hours ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

I thought the way pitmasters traditionally got through the stall was by waiting patiently and drinking beer

You are not wrong!

I never use foil, but I am not in a competition with a time limit. Regarding smoke, I smoke all the way through, but I understand that many say most smoke is absorbed at temperatures below stall levels.

rotuts · July 6

Wrapping gives you Jus , which you add to the Butt

when making pulled pork.

Edited July 6 by rotuts (log)

YvetteMT · July 6

I wrap my butts- I don't drink beer and if I consumed whiskey the entire time I spent smoking butt, I also wouldnt be eating! I smoke to start then wrap to get over the stall, impatient and not a pitmistress so wrapping works. I don't find it sacrifices bark either.

JoNorvelleWalker · July 7

On 1/13/2024 at 10:58 AM, TdeV said:

How does one clean this device? (BBQ sauce drips?)

I have an Anova Oven which does NOT have any self-clean option which I think is a REAL DRAWBACK.

What is this "cleaning" that you speak of? I've had my Anova for years and use it almost every single day.

With the GE Profile indoor smoker the drips go in the drip pan.

**TdeV** · July 7

12 hours ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

What is this "cleaning" that you speak of? I've had my Anova for years and use it almost every single day.

My Anova Oven is revolting inside.

gfweb · July 7

Huh,

My Breville and my Cuisinart steamer are pretty clean without any cleaning.

Odd.

**TdeV** · July 7

1 hour ago, gfweb said:

Huh,

My Breville and my Cuisinart steamer are pretty clean without any cleaning.

Odd.

I'm definitely jealous. ☹️

JoNorvelleWalker · July 8

In spite of the existing heat advisory I used the GE Profile tonight to smoke Plum Chicken Pops from Bill West's The Complete Electric Smoker (p50). First chicken done in my Profile, and the finest legs I have ever eaten. Although I should disclose I am more of a thigh girl than a leg girl. The recipe specified cherry, so that was the wood I used. Total smoking time was two hours at 121C.

rotuts · July 8

@JoNorvelleWalker

Thank you for the ref. to that book. I now have it as an e-book.

Interesting Rx.

it was so hot here last night , all I could do was cogitate on my next Projects w the IDS. ( ' GE ' put to bed )

and I thought Turkey Legs.

I recall Jacque & Julia's TV series where they deconstructed a Turkey , and baked it that way.

I used to do that , and added a step in removing the meat from the frame .

however , J&J suggested chopping off an inch or two from the leg end ,

and after roasting one could easily pull the leg tendons out of the cooked meat.

Ill try that in the IDS , and , added to J&J's work , also chop off 1/2 inch of the joint at the thigh end

thus removing most of the tendon's

as soon as turkey legs come on sale.

Ill practice using the times and temps from the West Rx , on CkLegs

on sale of course.

rotuts · July 8

Bill West's The Complete Electric Smoker is a fine book.

its giving me many ideas

thank you , @JoNorvelleWalker

Ive sent the eBook to the WHPS

https://forums.egullet.org/topic/164538-cooking-with-a-pellet-grill/#comment-2364331

for study.

a P.S.: circular justs showed up CkLegs on sale next week. and its going to be cooler

surprised.gif.8920b222fb793fcf05b82829f02c29e8.gif

Edited July 8 by rotuts (log)

**ElsieD** · July 9

Except that when I go to place the order I get a message saying they won't ship to my address. Following up with Amazon.

rotuts · July 9

Lets remember : the IDS is not perfect.

but can be worked with

and , if iin-door is meaningfull

its the right deal.

when one works with is , and the rest , is well woth what you get.

rotuts · July 9

@gfweb

1) buy it .

2) park it .

3) wait for it.

4) sleep much better.

QED

I did.

YvetteMT · July 10

17 hours ago, ElsieD said:

Except that when I go to place the order I get a message saying they won't ship to my address. Following up with Amazon.

I had the exact message, for the first time, over deodorant of all things! The other $300+ of stuff was no issue.

**ElsieD** · July 10

2 hours ago, YvetteMT said:

I had the exact message, for the first time, over deodorant of all things! The other $300+ of stuff was no issue.

After talking to several Amazon people, I still don't know why they won't ship to Canada when they say they will. They even have import charges showing. In the end, when I add it all up and do the exchange rate conversion, buying it no longer makes sense. I'll wait until GE starts selling them here. Not that I'm going to buy one, mind you, but more as an um, curiosity.

**TdeV** · July 10

I can hear you trying to resist the enabling, @ElsieD.

"Resist, resist, res . . ."

😂

JoNorvelleWalker · July 12

Tonight I'm smoking another hamburger. This time half a pound over mesquite rather than a third of a pound with oak. Same smoker temperature of 135C. My last burger was over done. This time rather than using the Profile's probe I'm relying on my BBQOVN, a Meater clone with a horrible user interface. I plan to check at 56C. And hope the probe battery doesn't die sooner.

JoNorvelleWalker · July 13

Last night's mesquite burger was quite good, though I saved half of it for later. As I said I pulled at 56C. Surprisingly both the BBQOVN and the Thermapen agreed. Smoking time was about 45 minutes The meat looked uniformly pink like I would expect at 56C. The burger actually looked like it had been cooked sous vide: no gradient. But with a Mailliard crust. No searing necessary.

Result was easy enough for me to chew. I worried a little because of food safety concerns over ground beef at that low temperature. So far I'm still alive.

Also last night I came home from the store with a lovely thick fillet of bluefish and a couple lemons. The fishmonger kindly cut off the thin end of the fillet before weighing. The thick piece I got home with was a little over a pound. Very nice, no bones. I cut the fish into three portions. A whole fillet would not fit in the GE smoker. Conveniently the GE has three shelves. I made a brine and let the pieces sit overnight.

The plan was to remove the pieces from the brine before I left for work so that they could dry and be ready to smoke after I got home. As it happened I fell back asleep after my alarm went off, and the pieces remained in the brine all day. They are now dried off and in the blast chiller till tomorrow.

JoNorvelleWalker · July 15

The GE Profile bluefish was a revelation. Smoked over hickory, two hours at 102C, then a further two hours at 77C. It was like fish candy! Normally I avoid the skin of oily fish but the fat of the bluefish skin melted and the skin melded with the delicious meat. Sadly the result was overly salty, as expected after the unintentionally long brining time. I was minded of the Finnan haddie my dear mother prepared back in the early 1950's. As I recall she steeped the smoked fish in milk to attenuate the salt.

The remaining pieces are now vacuum sealed in the refrigerator. I assume they should keep for a good long time.

rotuts · July 15

@JoNorvelleWalker

does the IDS now have a ' fishy ' aroma ?

I might try something w fresh salmon.

JoNorvelleWalker · July 15

5 hours ago, rotuts said:

@JoNorvelleWalker

does the IDS now have a ' fishy ' aroma ?

I might try something w fresh salmon.

No, the bluefish had no fishy smell when I bought it or when I cooked it. The smoker smells, well, like smoke.

JoNorvelleWalker · Wednesday at 07:01 PM

I read in one book that smoking fish makes your smoker smell like fish. Some advocate for having two smokers, one for fish and one for everything else. That would solve @gfweb's dilemma!

I have not been careful about clearing smoke before opening the door of the GE, and since I've been using it a good bit the smoke smell in the apartment is noticeable. Smoke detector still silent, and CO detector reads zero.

Last night I shredded half the remaining smoked bluefish and made seafood paella. Not bad. If anything the dish was under salted. In addition to the fish I used a can of smoked mussels which had salt as an ingredient. Tasting some of the shredded fish alone I was delighted that it was not too salty. I may try making some sort of smoked bluefish dip if I can find a recipe.

Today is a day off from work, and I planned to smoke a pork belly. But the heat and humidity is awful. Heat advisory in effect tomorrow.

rotuts · Wednesday at 08:15 PM

@JoNorvelleWalker

take your time w the heat.

I have w my IDS.

IVe found cleaning the door // interior w rubbing alcoihol works very well .

using a paper towel or three . no residual commercial aromas .

the grates and drip pan : in the sink in the usual manner or dishwasher if you do that.

when cooler , Ill try some TJ's fresh salmon , one way or another.

JoNorvelleWalker · Wednesday at 08:58 PM

The pork belly is in the smoker, seasoned only with salt and pepper. I plan to finish the meat with a sweet Japanese style sauce when it is almost done. Dinner may be close to midnight, but what else is new?

The wood is Kona Sweetwood Blend. Some pit people say use just one wood for a year. Others say choice of wood is the first ingredient. Then some people smoke skin side up, others smoke skin side down. I decided on skin side down. Most say score the skin, others say very bad. I did not score the skin on mine.

Temperature is another can of worms. I am smoking at 110C. My hope is to slice the pork belly, so I plan to pull from the smoker at about 90C, as measured with the BBQOVN probe.

Did I mention it is hot?

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