food smoking are you a smoker of meats? can you help? share your recipes!

[h4ppy-chris]

anyone got a good BBQ sauce recipe they want to share?

 

[bigmike&nan]

Well thanks an awful lot you guys !!

DO YOU KNOW the kind of trouble this thread got me in. I quietly read the first couple pages of this and went hunting on the internet about smokers. Smoked only a tiny bit of meat while in chef school and love beef jerky. Well doggone it I went whole hog the last week, first spending way too much money on jerky from a nice Marine veteran and then while chatting him up found out the best way to make jerky is YEAH TO SMOKE IT, and here I was back at this thread again.

So enabler that I am I got out on eBay looking at smokers and realized I wanted something pretty "foolproof" and efficient. I know a lot of purists will laugh - by purists I mean the folks that constantly feed a hotbox with wood to keep the temp constant and so on. I read a lot on smoking elsewhere and it seems that the "smoke" gets into the meat in about the first half of the cooking time - so if you are doing a big brisket (drooling thinking of really tender brisket that's been SMOKED) the smoke permeates the meat in the first half.

Well I jumped ahead a bunch and wanted a electric smoker, partly because of where we live (lots of old trees and leaves everywhere) and partly because with very little maint. you get a consistent temperature and good results without using a lot of fuel, propane or spend time tending to it all the time. I found a restaurant supply house selling a Cookshack SM008 smoker, this is the 2008 version of what is now called the SM009-2 - it's got three shelves that are 14x14 and a dial you set the temp with (like an oven). There is a wood box over a heating element (think like in an electric oven) and it's all stainless steel inside, insulated and stainless steel and coated steel outside. It's on casters so it's easy to roll around. I can cook right on my deck without worrying about a lot of sparks and such creating a fire here. Here's a video put out by Cookshack showing the SM009-2, the more current name for the one I got

Now to brush up on my rub recipes and get ready for this bad boy to arrive... Got five different kinds of wood bought (hickory, maple, cherry, oak and apple). The Cookshack only uses about 3 ox. of wood for a 12 hour cycle. Like I said most of the smoke flavor happens in the first half of your cooking time.



I know a lot of purists might look down on something like this but give me time and maybe I'll be selling my own homemade jerky soon. LOL

 

[Oregon Blues]

I've got a small electric smoker. It works really well. It's just the right temperature to get the wood chips smoking nicely. The big smoker with real wood is just for cold smoking.

If you are getting smoke, then the smoker is doing its job. I do a lot of smoking on my propane barbecue. It's so easy and it comes out excellent..

Actually, I am jealous. I'd love to have a large commercial grade smoker.

 

[Oregon Blues]

h4ppy, I have collected a lot of BBQ sauce recipes and what my family likes best is Sweet Baby Ray's. So I save myself the trouble of cooking sauce and buy mine.

 

[h4ppy-chris]

h4ppy, I have collected a lot of BBQ sauce recipes and what my family likes best is Sweet Baby Ray's. So I save myself the trouble of cooking sauce and buy mine.

Ok thank you.

 

[h4ppy-chris]

Well thanks an awful lot you guys !!

DO YOU KNOW the kind of trouble this thread got me in. I quietly read the first couple pages of this and went hunting on the internet about smokers. Smoked only a tiny bit of meat while in chef school and love beef jerky. Well doggone it I went whole hog the last week, first spending way too much money on jerky from a nice Marine veteran and then while chatting him up found out the best way to make jerky is YEAH TO SMOKE IT, and here I was back at this thread again.

So enabler that I am I got out on eBay looking at smokers and realized I wanted something pretty "foolproof" and efficient. I know a lot of purists will laugh - by purists I mean the folks that constantly feed a hotbox with wood to keep the temp constant and so on. I read a lot on smoking elsewhere and it seems that the "smoke" gets into the meat in about the first half of the cooking time - so if you are doing a big brisket (drooling thinking of really tender brisket that's been SMOKED) the smoke permeates the meat in the first half.

Well I jumped ahead a bunch and wanted a electric smoker, partly because of where we live (lots of old trees and leaves everywhere) and partly because with very little maint. you get a consistent temperature and good results without using a lot of fuel, propane or spend time tending to it all the time. I found a restaurant supply house selling a Cookshack SM008 smoker, this is the 2008 version of what is now called the SM009-2 - it's got three shelves that are 14x14 and a dial you set the temp with (like an oven). There is a wood box over a heating element (think like in an electric oven) and it's all stainless steel inside, insulated and stainless steel and coated steel outside. It's on casters so it's easy to roll around. I can cook right on my deck without worrying about a lot of sparks and such creating a fire here. Here's a video put out by Cookshack showing the SM009-2, the more current name for the one I got

Now to brush up on my rub recipes and get ready for this bad boy to arrive... Got five different kinds of wood bought (hickory, maple, cherry, oak and apple). The Cookshack only uses about 3 ox. of wood for a 12 hour cycle. Like I said most of the smoke flavor happens in the first half of your cooking time.



I know a lot of purists might look down on something like this but give me time and maybe I'll be selling my own homemade jerky soon. LOL


looking forward to hearing more about what you have got up too mike. i carn't wait to see some piccys from you

 

[bigmike&nan]

Well I didn't hear from the company I bought the smoker from, so using eBay sent a msg asking them to call - to make sure I paid everything (it seemed so cheap). About an hour later a really pleasant woman called to tell me she had "the boys clean, palletize, strap and shrink wrap the thing - I'll probably get it by Thursday. Also looked all around for a rub recipe - can't tell you how many places I scoured. Eventually bought a recipe on eBay for 75 cents - the guy emailed me it. I had to laugh as it was doggone close to what I have been using all along on my pulled pork. When I visited my mom I made a small batch of this rub to use as a general seasoning (I was cooking up a storm for her, she loved it)...

Here is my old pulled pork recipe - this I did in a dutch oven in the oven. The bbq sauce is very tasty and my rub is doggone close to most of the rib rub recipes I have seen so far.


Big's Pulled Pork Recipe, check out the rub/bbq sauce. I OVEN BAKE my sauce - now I'll put my sauce in the smoker. No fooling.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/165774/bigs-pulled-pork

This recipe seems to cover what most folks use as a "base" rub... the coffee - if you can grind it to a powder, like a really fine espresso. It disappears while roasting and man it's great.


4 Tbsp ground coffee
3 Tbsp coarse salt
2 Tbsp paprika
3 Tbsp brown sugar
2 Tbsp pepper
2 TBS garlic flakes
3 tsp onion powder
3 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp coriander
2 tsp ground mustard


Also most folks seem to rub on plain old american style French's Mustard on their ribs or brisket and then apply the rub into that. The mustard acts as a glue and the small amount of vinegar acts as a tenderizer. ALSO of huge notice is a product called Morton's Tenderquick, this is an essential ingredient if you are making beef jerky and don't want to refrigerate it. WHY ?? Well Tenderquick has a small amount of nitrate and nitrite which act as preservatives and tenderizers all at once. Nitrates and nitrites are used to cure/keep stuff like salamis, jerky, and sausages. You've seen whole salamis hanging in delis on hooks - they keep because of salt, nitrate and nitrite they're cure with. Pepperoni too, it also helps meat keep that vibrant red color (think of pepperoni folks)...

Here's a good basic teriyaki jerky marinade, easy as pie.


1 cup Yoshida's Marinade (Costco and Sam's carry it, awesome stuff)
1 tsp Morton's Tenderquick
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 Tsp Ground Cumin
1 Tsp Ground Cayenne pepper
1 Tsp Red Pepper Flakes
1 Tsp ground black pepper
1 Tsp Garlic Powder
1 Tsp Onion Powder

This lovely little mixture is enough for a good 2 lbs of jerky - dumped into a zippered bag and mixed well, then add your slice meat and marinate refrigerated 24 hours. Remove from fridge 2 hours before using. Place slices of cut meat on jerky skewers or use large paper clips bent as hangers (yeah for American Ingenuity). Hang them in your smoker and smoke at 160 for about 4 hours. The last hour crack the door on your smoker so the product can DRY. Some folks like their jerky fat sliced and moist, others like it thin and tough. I sort of like it in between...

Here's a Cookshack video on making jerky. This cat makes 5 lbs at a time in a smoker much like mine. Can't wait....

 

[slick4591]

I've just retired from my catering biz, but I've cooked commercially since 2003 with a Cookshack. The only thing you can expect it not to do is leave that pretty smoke ring, otherwise you get a consistent product that people keep coming back for. Congrats h4ppy-chris on getting your smoker up and going. I'm sure it will bring happiness to many mouths in the future. That bird was sure nice! And congrats to you Big Mike as I'm sure you will enjoy and make happy faces aplenty!

My Cookshack loaded with 12 happy briskets.

 

[chikinfarmr]

A good chicken rub:

1 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
1 teaspoon ginger
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon onion salt
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon orange peel
1 dash of rosemary


I use an electric smoker with a smoke daddy smoke generator. A little hickory with apple or cherry wood. Good luck. Looks like you have developed a hobby.

 

[jerryb]

rather than type in a couple of recipes that I use I will tell you guys where to find them.

for a basic rub, that can be adapted easily, I like Danny Gouldens all purpose rub. find it here: http://www.cbbqa.org/wiki/index.php?title=BBQ_FAQ:_Rubs along with lots of other recipes that I have not tried. I use danny's on ribs and pork butt.

for smoking fish I like the info and recipes found here: http://extension.oregonstate.edu/fch/food-preservation LOTS of good stuff in here, the basic fish brine and process are what I use.

another thing I like is to buy a corned beef brisket at the store when they are on sale. then I rinse and dry and rub with fresh coarse ground pepper and smoke, MMMMM! good stuff!

cheers
Jerry