What's your favorite thing to smoke?

This is what you're looking for: pimenton de la vera

(I got mine from a friend who knows I love food and shares discoveries with me, but have ordered other things from La Tienda and been happy.)

Margie

EastCoastMojo wrote:

John Brown wrote: Depending on what I am cooking I will keep a variety of chips around.

What's a good rule of thumb on the wood choice? Is fruit wood always a good choice? Does it matter on if the recipe has a sweet element in the ingredients?

My opinions suck but here goes. If the recipe has a sweet element then I would go with a non fruit chip. I have used fruit chips and mesquite with the wild turkey listed above, and sometimes have even mixed varios fruits or different styles of wood chips.

The quality of chip can make a big difference as well, I try to stay away from the cheaper stuff. Look around and you will be surprised in what you can find.

poopshovel wrote: I've always been curious: When you consider the weight of the fat, is it really that much cheaper?

If you're going to use a calculator, you don't understand brisket.

EastCoastMojo wrote: What's a good rule of thumb on the wood choice?

Don't get too complicated starting out. Hickory is a good default and won't hurt the flavor of anything worth smoking.

Learn on hickory, try Mesquite, and dabble with the fruit woods.

I'm disappointed in all of you that bought your smokers

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Ka2kpzTAL8

Watch the first couple minutes.

I like doing pork shoulder/butt so that I can do pulled pork.

The day before I use ca dry rub on the meat, consists of paprika, chili powder, ancho chili powder, cayenne chili powder, garlic powder, tumeric and salt. Mostly Paprika. I have been using spanish paprika and hickory smoked salt lately for fun.

After putting on the dry rub wrap tightly in plastic wrap and put in the fridge. I also prep my wood chips the night before. I tend to use hickory chips and chunks and try to soak them for at least 12-24 hours.

The next morning I get up. build my charcoal bed, I generally use lump charcoal, the real wood charcoal tends to burn at a higher temp and I like to stay at around 225 degrees.

My smoker has two tiers and a built in water pan that I keep filled. I have done 4 15 pound shoulders at one time for a party last year with great results.

Smoke for about 10-12 hours or until you cannot stand it anymore. Replenish ships and charcoal as needed, usually about every hour or so.

Take off the smoker, let sit for about 30 minutes then proceed to pull, it will still be warm, so I will use fingers and forks. It is good enough on it's own, but bbq sauce is always fine as well.

We eat it straight up in sandwiches, but also works in quasadillas and salads.

I get my meat from Fry/Kroger/King's Super. The Pork shoulder does have the skin still on, I get the Fresh Picnic Shoulder and take the skin off before smoking.

This pic is after about 5 hours.

I have also done 2 turkeys at once, roaster chicken, ribs and salmon. I don't tend to like brisket, but will probably try it later this year.

slantvaliant wrote:

EastCoastMojo wrote: What's a good rule of thumb on the wood choice?

Learn on hickory, try Mesquite, and dabble with the fruit woods.

Y'know the walnut shells that come ground up to use for media blasting? Sprinkle those and some mesquite on the coals. Start with a large salmon.

Nirvana ensues.....

Google Weber virtual bullet. All kind of advice and recipes. I use apple, black cheery and maple chunks when using my smoker. Once you start you will become addicted.

Brisket, turkey, chicken, salmon, venison, whole beef loins, pork loins, broccoli (don't laugh, its incredible), and hams with apple slices top my list.

Great list, but don't forget asparagus, corn on the cob, and tuna.

Cabbage.

Not kidding. Steve Raichlen has a great recipe for it in "how to grill"...it involves bacon (as do all truly spectacular recipes), butter, and a loooooong time in the smoker.

Wow, all kinds of incredible and awesome advice here. And I sure as hell didn't anticipate blasting media would come into the conversation LOL That's awesome!

I'm thinking I may start with the ribs, but I don't know if that's pushing my luck for my first try. I guess we'll just have to go for it!

Oh, and this needs to make it into the 'Say What?' section:

slantvaliant wrote: If you're going to use a calculator, you don't understand brisket.

Smokey hot links are also tasty. If you live near any oak trees you can use local wood and save money. I see myself as an amatuer ecologist making sure the sudden oak death doesn't spread so all the wood I collect is disposed of properly.

Another real tasty choice is good red bell peppers. Not so much smoked though as slowly grilled, they become delicious.

Good luck.

I did a couple turkeys and a brisket so far. For the turkeys, I injected them with apple cider, cut some apples and rosemary to pop in the cavity, filled the water pan with more apple cider, and used apple wood. (Can you tell we have a lot of orchards?) I also did a brisket rubbed with paprika, kosher salt, peper, and brown sugar. I'm doing my first ribs next month and will be stealing Margie's recipe.

John Brown wrote: one bottle Sweet Baby Rays standard BBQ sauce

Man, I'm glad someone else is hip to this stuff. That is a seriously awesome sauce regardless of the fact that you can grab it at pretty much any grocery store for less than two bucks a bottle.

Yes, Margie's ribs are quite stellar, even though I'm more of a "roast 'em in foil, then finish 'em on the grill" rib guy. I like a little more spring to them. Try it, though. You will not be sorry.

As for smoking, I like briskets, salmon and chicken thighs for meats. I also like to fill a pan with various peppers and big hunks of onion and put it on the hot side of the smoker. Man I love me some smoked onions. Although, a good smoked onion fart can clear out about three stories of a standard sized office building. Keep that in mind when cooking.

jg

Sweet Baby Rays has replaed ketchup with us. It comes in big bottles at Walmart and goes on everything.

benzbaron wrote: Smokey hot links are also tasty. If you live near any oak trees you can use local wood and save money. I see myself as an amatuer ecologist making sure the sudden oak death doesn't spread so all the wood I collect is disposed of properly.

I am definately curious about collecting my own wood, I have black cherry, black walnut, oak and apple trees on my property. What should I know about collecting and storing my wood for smoking? I am unfamiliar with sudden Oak death, other than it sounds really bad. What wood would you "dispose" of and how would you do that? We do a good sized closed burn about twice a year as weather permits to take care of yard debris, is that sufficient?

Oh, had someone suggest doing this, although I have not had the chance quite yet.

Lamb

I am thinking that would be quite the tasty. Garlic and rosemary salt rubbed on a leg, then sit in the smoker for awhile.

Man, out of context that would sound really strange

JG Pasterjak wrote: ... a good smoked onion fart can clear out about three stories of a standard sized office building.

Smoked quote of the month, for certain!

Tires

Marjorie Suddard wrote: This is what you're looking for: pimenton de la vera (I got mine from a friend who knows I love food and shares discoveries with me, but have ordered other things from La Tienda and been happy.) Margie

Oh WOW this stuff smells incredible! I just got it in the mail today and I had to open it up to catch a whiff Ribs are waiting in the fridge and I will also be picking up a whole chicken to smoke also. I figure, it's not going to take any longer to do multiple things so why not multi-task. Come on Sunday...

I also read about cold smoking cheeses and I plan to smoke me some cheddar and mozzarella soon!

[edit] OK so I couldn't wait to use the smoked sweet paprika so I decided to use some in tonight's dinner - fettuccini alfredo. I tossed in about 1/4tsp while I was frying the pepperoni slices. Chuck came in the kitchen with this wild look in his eye and said, "WHAT are you making?" And it was yummalicious.

i like to Smoke a fatty ! get a big pork loin and split it allmost all the way through < not all the way and put in sliced ham and sliced cheese maybe some bacon or spinach , Use montreal seasoning on all and then truss it up with butchers twine Julia Childs like and then cook like regular pork loin 2 to 3 hrs rolling as it cooks . cant load foto but heres a link PORK loin

I want to build that DIY smoker. Looks so easy and fun!

I wonder if it will lack the taste of a charcoal type smoker?

The sudden oak death is my pretense for getting free oak woods on public property. I mostly do barbecue, but if you take any nice hardwood and soak it in water you can smoke with it also. No reason to buy wood if you already live near harwood trees, just remember you are volunteering to remove excess fuel(hardwood) to stop another raging wildfire.

EastCoastMojo wrote: I am definately curious about collecting my own wood, I have black cherry, black walnut, oak and apple trees on my property. What should I know about collecting and storing my wood for smoking? I am unfamiliar with sudden Oak death, other than it sounds really bad. What wood would you "dispose" of and how would you do that? We do a good sized closed burn about twice a year as weather permits to take care of yard debris, is that sufficient?

I suggest collecting it, cutting it up into small chunks, and letting it dry. Wood contains a few small amounts of volatiles in the sap (some more than others). While it makes sense to use green wood, most of the smoke you get from it is burning sugars and xylem chlorophyll. Best to dry it, then soak it in water to prolong its smoke production.

As far as which woods to use, its all taste. The best thing I can suggest is to build a campfire with the wood in question and smell the smoke. Smell and taste are very closely related and it might give you an idea.

The nut woods are great if you want a really heavy pungent smoke flavor; pecan, walnut, chestnut. Unfortunately you won't find chestnut anymore unless its chinese chestnut which is not very good for smoking. The heavy hardwoods like Oak are starting to become more popular. I'm personally not a fan of oak, but some like it. My personal favorite is hickory. It seems like it adds the most smoke flavor without getting too overbearing. I now live in TX and there are mesquite trees everywhere, and stacks of mesquite firewood for free on craigslist. I can't wait to give that a try.