Smoking Meat...

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Cocko

Oh Dear..
Joined
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I have just ordered my smoker and hope this thread can thrive on peoples experience of smoking meat or using their smoker to make, slow roast, jerky etc...

Recipes?

Procedures?

tips and tricks?
 
I use my brewing burner, a 20 L alu pot and a $2 upside down SS sieve.

French oak makes nice bacon, it's all a prick to clean and my temp control is next to zero (so no cold smoking for me at this point).

Love the super smoky bacon I make with it though.

My tips for hot smoking?

Get the smoke rip roaring before adding any meat or other product. When adding the meat/whatever, turn heat down to the appropriate temperature to get whatever it is you want about 3/4 cooked, covered with foil or somesuch then turn the smoker off and let the smoked goods sit inside and rest, covered until cooled.

I love meats but try tomatoes too.

Slice a roma tomato logitudinally.

Sprinkle with salt, pepper, a thin slice of garlic and some thyme. Smoke as sugested above. Should be so soft you almost can't pick it up.

Try with cherry tomato halves.

As above but blitz into a sauce and add to a meat dish.

Try with kangaroo.
 
We should probably identify what we cook with too.

I use a Kamado Joe. I wanted a Big Green Egg but you cant get them in WA anymore and managed to negotiate a great deal on it compared to the other options of Primo etc...

I first started smoking on a home made ugly drum smoker. it was a 40l oil drum. I fabricated (stole an electric steamer insert from mums) charcoal box. It had holes in it already so i put some nuts and bolts in it to make a stand. From there i bought a wok from the Asian supermarket for super cheap, sprayed everything with kettle paint and began learning. Add two cheapo cake stands and i had two shelves.

Took me about three years before i thought about upgrading, but as manticle intimated, temp control begin to play an important part in smoking meat.

One of the better tips i picked up was to wash the meat, dry it, then rub it with mustard, then apply your dry rub. The mustard really helps the smoke flavour penetrate the meat and you get rosy smoke rings in the meat too. My favourite thing to cook is pulled pork, using pork forequarter and my house rub. Once the pork is pulled i mix in a bit of home made kansas city bbq sauce and either have it on a bed of cheese and home made bacon mash or in a bun with some spinach. It also goes well with orange soda bbq sauce too.

Tomorrow I have 4 pork hocks and a few sausages to smoke for the family. Ill give an update on the result if anyone is interested.
 
We should probably identify what we cook with too.

I use a Kamado Joe. I wanted a Big Green Egg but you cant get them in WA anymore and managed to negotiate a great deal on it compared to the other options of Primo etc...

I first started smoking on a home made ugly drum smoker. it was a 40l oil drum. I fabricated (stole an electric steamer insert from mums) charcoal box. It had holes in it already so i put some nuts and bolts in it to make a stand. From there i bought a wok from the Asian supermarket for super cheap, sprayed everything with kettle paint and began learning. Add two cheapo cake stands and i had two shelves.

Took me about three years before i thought about upgrading, but as manticle intimated, temp control begin to play an important part in smoking meat.

One of the better tips i picked up was to wash the meat, dry it, then rub it with mustard, then apply your dry rub. The mustard really helps the smoke flavour penetrate the meat and you get rosy smoke rings in the meat too. My favourite thing to cook is pulled pork, using pork forequarter and my house rub. Once the pork is pulled i mix in a bit of home made kansas city bbq sauce and either have it on a bed of cheese and home made bacon mash or in a bun with some spinach. It also goes well with orange soda bbq sauce too.

Tomorrow I have 4 pork hocks and a few sausages to smoke for the family. Ill give an update on the result if anyone is interested.

Pics please. :icon_drool2:
 
use a rebadged hark from aldi.
i really like my meats low and slow, nothing better than cooking at around 90-100 for at least 6 hours.
i normally brine my meat for minimum of 3 days.
lots of reading over here
http://aussiebbq.info/forum/index.php
 
Also, have been reading about 'rubs' for the meat.

When do you 'rub' the mix into the meat? Is that pre- smoker or after?



EDIT: Sounds like I am being smart but am being sincere here.
 
One of the better tips i picked up was to wash the meat, dry it, then rub it with mustard, then apply your dry rub. The mustard really helps the smoke flavour penetrate the meat and you get rosy smoke rings in the meat too. My favourite thing to cook is pulled pork, using pork forequarter and my house rub. Once the pork is pulled i mix in a bit of home made kansas city bbq sauce and either have it on a bed of cheese and home made bacon mash or in a bun with some spinach. It also goes well with orange soda bbq sauce too.

I love pulled pork any way, and smoked would be awesome! And great tip about the mustard, thanks...
 
You guys know who you're talking to when you say "pulled pork" right?

Just exercise some caution, is all I'm saying.
 
It also goes well with orange soda bbq sauce too.

More about this please.


I use a home built electric cold smoker. It's quite fancy, not my first build and i've been learning as i go.

It has seperate controls for the remote smoke box, cabinet element and fan....

Most have seen it before in Jerky and Bacon threads, but here goes.


smokernew5.jpg


smokernew7.jpg


smokedchicken1.jpg
 
That is very immature Bum.

*ahem*

I used to use a ghetto smoker I made out of stacked 20L drums, but I ditched it when I moved. I have a 40gal ss drum I bought to use as a smoker, but due to lack of time and space, I have ended up often using both my small gas Weber and my normal sized kettle Weber to hot smoke things. I was going to go all out with kitting the drum out into an insulated PID controlled electric oven with different options for smoke, but it will be a project for another day.

I really like apple wood and oak, but mesquite is good and hickory gives that super barbecuey flavour for marinated pork.

I know that this is not revolutionary, but it is quick and delicious. Mix liberal mined garlic with some oil and coat lean, thin pieces of chicken and use high humidity and high smoke and relatively low temp to half steam and smoke the chook. It turns out really tender and succulent, but super flavourful. Great next day.
 
Tomorrow I have 4 pork hocks and a few sausages to smoke for the family. Ill give an update on the result if anyone is interested.

So?




Thanks for the links mate!

Its like I am starting brewing again, so much to learn.....

Will post pics of first attempt.

FARK smoking meat is exciting.



jyo, not like that, actually using smoke on to flavour/cook meat product. :eek:
 
did some cheap wollies sausages tonight. 1 hour with oak pellets and mixed sawdust in there.
bloody lovely.
this is how easy it is mate.
 
did some cheap wollies sausages tonight. 1 hour with oak pellets and mixed sawdust in there.
bloody lovely.
this is how easy it is mate.

FARK! stop posting mate, you are killing me :p

Hopefully it arrives by this weekend..

Do you do jerky in yours?
 
havent tried jerky yet, done a shit load of roasts, snags and other things. heres some pics just to torment you further
lamb fillets
70460147-orig.jpg


stuffed baby capsicums
11042011118.jpg

whole chook
04042011108.jpg


cheap snags
10032011091.jpg


low and slow grain and above mentioned lamb fillets
F8B233BB-orig.jpg
 
For the record smoke makes cheap snags about 1,000,000 times better, but if you smoke really good meaty pork snags it is life changing. Man I wish I had regular hours and time to do stuff like make proper sausages and smoke them. I have a sausage stuffing attachment on our Kenwood Chef that I have never used.

Cocko's enthusiasm is contagious; probably other things about him also. Ooooh!
 
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