Cooking with a countertop indoor smoker

[rotuts]

@YvetteMT

 

just the drumsticks .

 

I plan to ' learn ' with them and move to turkey drumsticks when they go on sale.

 

I plan to

 

1 )  air dry on a rack in the refrig x 24 hrs first .  this is mentioned on better than average BBQ refs.

 

2 )  chop off an inch or so from the bottom of the leg , no meat there , might help the meat contract off the tendons 

      making removal of the tendons easy.  tip from Jacque & Julia.

 

3 )  chop off 1/4 inch off the top , for 1/2 of the legs , to see if this also helps removal of the meat

 

4 )  smoke until almost fall off the bone :  150F - 160 F 

 

save the drippings .

 

 

 

 

Edited Tuesday at 01:56 PM by rotuts (log)

[JoNorvelleWalker]

I made the wrong recipe.  It must be the heat.  I had intended to prepare Smoked Bluefish Pate (Delish! p24).  What I actually made was Smoked Bluefish Salad (Delish! p64).

 

Oh well, I have more smoked bluefish.  The salad is good, but I added far too much onion.

 

[JoNorvelleWalker]

Because of the oppressive heat I did not smoke spareribs tonight.  Things have cooled off a bit and Lord being willing I shall reattempt spareribs tomorrow.  If anyone has suggestions for time and temperature, now would be a jolly good time to share them.

 

[JoNorvelleWalker]

Tonight's Smoked Bluefish Salad was vile.  The red onion was much too much and the salt from the smoked bluefish overwhelmed everything.  It's headed to the garbage.

 

I have more bluefish but it will have to be soaked to mitigate the salt.

 

[rotuts]

Chicken Drums , om sale , S&S :

 

 

I was surprised these were so large .  , very nicely trimmed , and not ' wet '.  CD's @ Market Basket are much smaller , and not as nicely trimmed.

 

and cost more .  go figure.

 

 

on a rack to air dry in the refrg for 24 Hr.  Ive read and seen this mentioned at several reputable BBQ sites.  first time Ive tried it.

 

note :  MC , the Cat is keeping an eye on things , knowing he will get a taste later.

 

 

after the 24 hrs.  its notable that the skin is tight m and the bare meat has no sheen.

 

I decided IDS :  200 F , rotate each hour .

 

 

1 Hr

 

 

 

 

 

2 hrs.    notes very little Jus.

 

total time  6 hrs:

 

 

I temped the jucy lookiing leg , L , thrid up   165 F .  note the jus coming out of the CB  its the shine

 

 

the tray Jus.  very little , no burning .

 

 

opened one CD up  note how jucy it is

 

 

Trimmed for the dinner wrap .  the skin and some of the dry surface  was trimmed for MC , the Cat .

 

he loved it .  I use the jus in the pyrex for the wrap , over on the dinner thread.

 

what I learned :  there is a good reason to refrigerate chicken 24 h on a rack ,  the surface tightens  up significantly

 

and the surface , now dryer , keeps a lot of the chcken jus in the chicken , not on the pan.

 

these CD were remarkably tender and very very moist .

 

a winner many times over , and  I decided to just add the cut off leg to the wrack , rather than toss.

 

and cutting of 1 inch of distal leg , made a difference in the final trimming of the meat

 

and the IDS leg trim is now Vac'd // Fz and will go in the next chicken // turkey iPot for stock.  delightful 

 

smoky aroma , not at all harsh.

 

anytime S&S has these same CD's on sale , Im loading up.

 

easy to IDS , and as tasty as it gets for Chicken dark meat .

 

dont know why recently I get a pic at the end of a post .  usually a dup

 

this is the cleaver and mallet I use to chop off 1 " of the leg.  easier , more accurate , and finger tips not involved.

Edited 9 hours ago by rotuts (log)

[JoNorvelleWalker]

3 hours ago, rotuts said:

Chicken Drums , om sale , S&S :

 

 

I was surprised these were so large .  , very nicely trimmed , and not ' wet '.  CD's @ Market Basket are much smaller , and not as nicely trimmed.

 

and cost more .  go figure.

 

 

on a rack to air dry in the refrg for 24 Hr.  Ive read and seen this mentioned at several reputable BBQ sites.  first time Ive tried it.

 

note :  MC , the Cat is keeping an eye on things , knowing he will get a taste later.

 

 

after the 24 hrs.  its notable that the skin is tight m and the bare meat has no sheen.

 

I decided IDS :  200 F , rotate each hour .

 

 

1 Hr

 

 

 

 

 

2 hrs.    notes very little Jus.

 

total time  6 hrs:

 

 

I temped the jucy lookiing leg , L , thrid up   165 F .  note the jus coming out of the CB  its the shine

 

 

the tray Jus.  very little , no burning .

 

 

opened one CD up  note how jucy it is

 

 

Trimmed for the dinner wrap .  the skin and some of the dry surface  was trimmed for MC , the Cat .

 

he loved it .  I use the jus in the pyrex for the wrap , over on the dinner thread.

 

what I learned :  there is a good reason to refrigerate chicken 24 h on a rack ,  the surface tightens  up significantly

 

and the surface , now dryer , keeps a lot of the chcken jus in the chicken , not on the pan.

 

these CD were remarkably tender and very very moist .

 

a winner many times over , and  I decided to just add the cut off leg to the wrack , rather than toss.

 

and cutting of 1 inch of distal leg , made a difference in the final trimming of the meat

 

and the IDS leg trim is now Vac'd // Fz and will go in the next chicken // turkey iPot for stock.  delightful 

 

smoky aroma , not at all harsh.

 

anytime S&S has these same CD's on sale , Im loading up.

 

easy to IDS , and as tasty as it gets for Chicken dark meat .

 

dont know why recently I get a pic at the end of a post .  usually a dup

 

this is the cleaver and mallet I use to chop off 1 " of the leg.  easier , more accurate , and finger tips not involved.

 

Beautiful result!  Do I understand correctly that the smoking time was 6 hours at 200F?

 

[rotuts]

@JoNorvelleWalker

 

yes.  probably do not need to rotate every hour for the second half , every two hours might be fine.

 

very important to ' air dry ' 24 hrs or so in a refrigerator .

 

the dry surface keeps all the juices in the CD's   a very nice new finding for me.

 

and do not temp.  the whole left by the thermapen oozed juce.

 

Ill be doing this a lot, each sale from S&Shop.   very nice large drums.

[rotuts]

P.S.:  the CD's started out right out of the refrig :  36 F.

 

no seasoning , esp salt.  plain , note the lack of sheen on the CD's justs before IDS'ing

[weinoo]

6 hours ago, rotuts said:

what I learned :  there is a good reason to refrigerate chicken 24 h on a rack ,  the surface tightens  up significantly

 

I actually do this now with most all chicken I cook.  Salted lightly as well.