Smoking Meat...

[Danwood]

Couple of pics of this weekends smoke-up.

3.5kg Pork leg rubbed with mustard then patted-on Cajun dry rub. I also stabbed holes and poked in pieces of garlic in various spots.
9hr cook, 5hrs with fairly continuous smoke (Almond), 3hrs no smoke and 1hr rest, wrapped in tin foil and a blanket in an esky. Spray basted with Apple juice, cider vinegar and brown sugar mix.
Carved up beautifully. Very moist and went great with pumpkin,carrots,fennel and potatoes, all roasted.
Cheers !

 

[barls]

almost as pretty as what i saw at meat stock today.

 

[Danwood]

almost as pretty as what i saw at meat stock today.

Why, thankyou Sir. That sounded like a good event to attend. What did you try, Barls ?

There was a Cider and Pork fest up here (Coldstream) a few weeks ago, which was pretty good. Brisket from a mob called '7 Fires BBQ' (I think...Cider was a big part of the event) was great. Their espresso BBQ sauce was very tasty.
A taster of Carolina Reaper chilli paste rounded off my day brilliantly. I couldn't stop the hiccups or river of saliva my body decided to produce for quite sometime.

 

[technobabble66]

**** you all.

Now I can see myself entering another hobby vortex that will do neither my health nor my wallet any favours.

...

Thanks a ******* million.

^^ This. x10.
Hate you all.



... Though i think my tastebuds will appreciate it :lol:

 

[barls]

Why, thankyou Sir. That sounded like a good event to attend. What did you try, Barls ?

There was a Cider and Pork fest up here (Coldstream) a few weeks ago, which was pretty good. Brisket from a mob called '7 Fires BBQ' (I think...Cider was a big part of the event) was great. Their espresso BBQ sauce was very tasty.
A taster of Carolina Reaper chilli paste rounded off my day brilliantly. I couldn't stop the hiccups or river of saliva my body decided to produce for quite sometime.

i ended up with the brisket taco. there was some very nice food there but the lines were unbelievable

 

[Crakkers]

Those hark 4 rack digital smokers look pretty good value for money $500 and should go all night

Has anyone had any experience with these?
They look to be pretty good value if they work ok, but I can't seem to find much in the way of independent reviews on them - only from people selling them.
I know that electric smokers, even gas-fuelled ones, are frowned upon by serious smokers, but these just look so easy to use and surely must be capable of producing some reasonably delicious feasts.
I've been using one of those little Gasmate cheapies for a couple of years with some fantastic results, but it's just such a fiddly bloody thing with only one useful rack.
So would one of these Harks be $500 well spent, or a waste of money?

 

[Danwood]

i ended up with the brisket taco. there was some very nice food there but the lines were unbelievable

IMG_1785.jpg

Yeah, tell me about it. These social gathering can be waaaay too social sometimes.

 

[Cortez The Killer]

Has anyone had any experience with these?
...
So would one of these Harks be $500 well spent, or a waste of money?

I've had the hark electric for about 18 months and it's had a real work out. I run it with an a-maze-n pellet smoker which works well. I received an 'aussie smoke bloke' for xmas so I will be switching out to this shortly. It really pumps out some smoke.

The hark itself has been really good. I did however bypass the internal controller and am running it with an auberins controller. I found the internal one to fluctuate significantly say 10*C up or down and it seemed really slow to switch on or off. The auberins PID keeps the temp rock solid. The unit itself is solid and well insulated.

In terms of size they are more than adequate for my needs - deceptively roomy.

Cheers

 

[Crakkers]

Thanks for that info.

Sounds like the internal controller is rubbish, with 10 degree fluctuations. I notice there seems to be 2 different types (maybe one has superseded the other) of control panels. One has a pop-up control box on the top and the other is integrated into the top front of the cabinet. Wonder if one is any more accurate than the other, or if the internals are still the same?

So if the temperature can be accurately controlled, does it make a decent standalone unit, or does it really need a separate smoke generator. I don't really like the idea of spending $500 on something that will need more money spent on it to make it useful.

Cheers.

 

[Cortez The Killer]

Mine has the control panel on the front. From memory the flip up one was the earlier model.

There is a shoot on the side to drop chips etc into the chamber directly above the element. These last 20 to 30 mins before topping up. This method works but requires a little more attention.

I switched to pellets for convenience via the a-maze-n pellet smoker which can be had for ~$75. These run for 9 hours when fully loaded. There is a cheaper / similar model here $55 http://www.bbqspitrotisseries.com.au/p/ez-cold-smoker-tray-for-pellet-smoking/EZ-SMOKER-P

I run the smoker overnight quite often with 22 hour brisket. I don't have any interest in tending to heat / temperature and the thought of gas running unattended worries me. I usually run the smoke for 3 to 4 hours depending on what's in there and the balance of cooking time is really just a like running an electric oven at low temps to get that low and slow flavour/texture. I'll also set it up before I head to work and come home to a cooked dinner.

It has really changed the way the family eats and is great for parties. The temperature fluctuations via the internal controller were consistent enough to give repeatable results. But being a particularly fastidious person with an interest in electronics probably drove me to swap it out. I wouldn't let that sway you against purchasing one.

The unit itself is solid, well insulated and the trays sturdy. The 4 trays give plenty of room too.

I've toyed with the idea of building one from scratch after having got my head around running it but once you factor in the prices of trays, lining, insulation, elements / electronics etc you'd probably exceed the price of the Hark. At one point I also thought I should have got a bigger one like the masterbuilt but honestly I don't even fill the Hark when I host the Illawarra Brewers Union summer beer fest. Also at the time when I purchased I think the masterbuilt gen 2 or 3 was coming out and there wasn't enough info out there about whether they had resolved the issues with the earlier model - not sure what the current situation is though.

The unit has paid for itself with continual good eats.

Hope that helps. Any other questions let me know.

Cheers

 

[Crakkers]

Thanks Cortez, plenty of useful information there.

I'll get onto it as soon as I can organise some spare cash.

Cheers.

 

[cdbrown]

Reading about offsets, I hear they run on wood only, not charcoal, and consequently require more tending to the fire.
Why? Can't they just run on all charcoal too? If not, why not?
Does a programmable PID fan style setup help at all?

I don't want to be up every 2, 3 or 4hrs through the night for an overnight cook (i.e. big Brisket). I don't want to be chasing wood from random places. I don't want to be storing epic quantities of wood.

Other than the cooking space, why should I look at an Offset?

I've got a Hark tri-fire offset and I use lumpwood charcoal, briquettes and those redhead charcoal (hexagonal shaped) and add wood chips or pellets. I haven't tried a cook with just wood as only have jarrah on hand so I stick with the charcoal. I do have to check it regularly but that's only to maintain enough fuel (I do need to investigate a better way) and I only do day cooks - 8 - 10 hours - for dinner.

 

[WE5TY]

Fired up the Weber with the smokenator today... 10hr smoked boneless pork Leg I got on special from Coles. Pulled half and sliced half. Got a brew away too so it's been a good day!

View attachment 87170

View attachment 87171

 

[Siborg]

Dammit, now I'm looking at a new and expensive (time and money) hobby! My missus bought me one of those mini-fish smoker thingys from Rays that runs on a couple of small metho burners. Going to give that a try with some fish and a few smaller cuts of meat to get a taste for it. I don't have the money to invest in a serious smoker, so I've been looking around at cheaper DIY options.

I was looking at a trash-can style smoker, but got turned off by all the discussion around zinc toxicity from the glavanised metal the trash cans use. There is obviously debate about the levels of toxicity from them at smoking temps, but I'd rather not risk it.

Had a look around gumtree and found that those 44 gal food grade drums can be bought for around $20. Might get one of them and look at making a ugly drum smoker.

In the interim, anyone had any experience with the mini fish smokers from Rays? (Link)

Any tips/recipes/wood recommendations? They sell mesquite, malee, and sheoak - which ones work best on what kinds of meat?

 

[indica86]

I am considering a Hark. After getting a Weber Q and tasting home smoked goodness.... yum.


Has anyone used Avocado wood? I have a tree that drops the odd branch,,

 

[BottloBill]

Dammit, now I'm looking at a new and expensive (time and money) hobby! My missus bought me one of those mini-fish smoker thingys from Rays that runs on a couple of small metho burners. Going to give that a try with some fish and a few smaller cuts of meat to get a taste for it. I don't have the money to invest in a serious smoker, so I've been looking around at cheaper DIY options.

I was looking at a trash-can style smoker, but got turned off by all the discussion around zinc toxicity from the glavanised metal the trash cans use. There is obviously debate about the levels of toxicity from them at smoking temps, but I'd rather not risk it.

Had a look around gumtree and found that those 44 gal food grade drums can be bought for around $20. Might get one of them and look at making a ugly drum smoker.

In the interim, anyone had any experience with the mini fish smokers from Rays? (Link)

Any tips/recipes/wood recommendations? They sell mesquite, malee, and sheoak - which ones work best on what kinds of meat?

Maybe look into building a UDS (ugly drum smoker)

 

[aussiechucka]

Just for those who would like to know. Brisbane BBQ festival July 2nd. Craft beer and great food.
http://www.brisbanebbqfestival.com/

 

[indica86]

Anyone have one of these?
http://www.smokai.com
Looks to be a good idea especially with the Weber Q mount.

 

[barls]

Anyone have one of these?
http://www.smokai.com
Looks to be a good idea especially with the Weber Q mount.

yep nice got one mounted in an aldi branded hark.
works well

 

[shaunous]

I hope you 2 are happy. I just bought one for my much used Aldi Smoker