[Jocelyn:McAuliflower]

It's a Bradley electric smoker, non-digital (though I may modify that here soon with some help).

I've done two rounds so far with the apple wood pucks that mom got me, one round of cold smoke, and one of hot.

Cold Smoke
The cold round maintained a temperature just under 100F, without playing around with ice packs. I racked up a pan of salt, a pan of sugar, some fresh peeled garlic cloves, a small mason jar of freshly made butter, a pan of maple syrup, a pan of almonds and 12 split jalapeños. whew! Apple smoked them for 3 hours, damper just barely open.
- the salt is just barely tan on the top layer. Same with the sugar. Placing the salt on the top rack was good as it caught some condensation- which doesn't hurt it.
- the butter indeed melted, which turned out better than I planned as now I have smoked ghee. Used this for grilling elk steaks the other night- its an excellent touch! Used it on shrimp too- whooee! Next year I'm making everyone smoked ghee for their Christmas present.
- I haven't spiced up the almonds yet. I think I may praline them too.
- gonna take the jalapeños, er I mean chipotles to some homemade adobo sauce this weekend. And thus fulfilling another food fantasy I've had bookmarked for awhile! Though, my chipotles are green.
- haven't tried the syrup yet. I was inspired by Ideas in Food's smoked maple syrup tapioca with fizzy fruit. The fizzy fruit is really fun- using the ISI to carbonate them puffs them up like little satsuma pillows!

Hot Smoke
Tuesday I popped in some ribs and a pork shoulder that had been sitting in some dry rub for a couple days. I smoked those with apple again, for 3 hours as well. The aim was to get the air temp up to 230 - 250F, however it took 2 hours to get to 200F. If this were non-electric heat, I would have opened the damper more to get the heat up. Not sure what I'll try since its electric. It was extremely cold and windy out- maybe it was just the weather (we have this set up on our front porch).
- last night I finished cooking both of those off in the oven. Finally! I was a bit obsessed with the whole issue of "how will I know when it's done?". I learned to just leave it in a 250F oven and check a couple hours later. Now I realized I should have used the crockpot instead of two nights of cooking in the oven.

And finally we are going to have the pulled pork tonight. Whew!

Lesson learned- need more ribs. And bake them an hour or two less than the pork shoulder. And do more butter! Also, a 2.5 lb pork shoulder does not a lot of pulled pork make

Hrmm- what to smoke next?

[AngryRhino]

Excellent thread, thanks for starting it!


re: green chipotles - red jalapenos are traditionally used for this; jalapenos turn red towards the end of the growing season. Not sure if there is any difference in taste though.

What to smoke next? Cheese, pork chops, more ribs, fish (trout perhaps?) and more ribs it seems.

I've received 1/2 of my Christmas gift so far - 42 pounds of assorted smoking woods. Cherry, Apple, Hickory, Grape Vine, Persimmon, Sassafras and a few others in this batch...not sure what the other 42 pounds contains yet. Heck, I'm not even sure what I should use some of these woods to smoke. Persimmon and Sassafras?

Add to that a bullet smoker a friend is letting me play with indefinitely and I think I have a busy year ahead of me! I'll try to post follow ups when I can.

[duck833]

Try some salmon, use alder or apple if you have it.

And get back on the butts, try a larger size and get it to 190-200 internal. You can always use left over pulled pork for enchilatas etc.

Other items you might wish to try and some links:

Bad Byron's Butt Rub

Hawgeyes.com

Dizzy Pig Company

[Knobcreeky]

AngryRhino, on Jan 4 2008, 09:52 AM, said:

Persimmon and Sassafras

Interested to hear the flavors of these.

Some stuff I have smoked: clams, oysters, onions, turkey, prime rib, steelhead, pre-baked potatoes.

Smoked trout rocks!

[duck833]

Do some research on the Persimmon and Sassafras. Somewhere I remember that they are not good smoking woods.

[duck833]

Yep, brain box still working:

found this on the virtual weber bullet site.


Woods To Avoid

The conventional wisdom is that cedar, cypress, elm, eucalyptus, liquid amber, pine, redwood, fir, spruce, and sycamore are not suitable for smoking. Some people say that sassafras is also inappropriate for smoking, yet it is available from some mail-order wood suppliers.

When in doubt about a particular smoke wood, play it safe--don't use it until you confirm with a reliable source that it's OK for use in barbecuing.

[AngryRhino]

duck833, on Jan 4 2008, 01:16 PM, said:

Yep, brain box still working:

found this on the virtual weber bullet site.


Woods To Avoid

The conventional wisdom is that cedar, cypress, elm, eucalyptus, liquid amber, pine, redwood, fir, spruce, and sycamore are not suitable for smoking. Some people say that sassafras is also inappropriate for smoking, yet it is available from some mail-order wood suppliers.

When in doubt about a particular smoke wood, play it safe--don't use it until you confirm with a reliable source that it's OK for use in barbecuing.

Paging CiderHouse Dale...paging CiderHouse Dale

I saw that the other day as well...made me a bit nervous to try it. I wish I could understand what they mean by "inappropriate." The line above that is more clear when saying "not suitable." Dangerous/deadly? Not a "traditional" source for wood smoke? I plan on much more book and web research before I use the sassafras. And if nothing else, a phone call to the company that shipped them may bring answers.

I did try the persimmon out the other night - a real quick, light smoke on some skirt steak with chili paste rub, cooked on the webber. Soaked the chips in water only so we could gauge the flavor of the wood - the soaked chips gave off a slight nutty aroma. That surprised me as I expected it to be fruity. It had a very light smokiness to it, with a bit of the nuttiness, but very mild. I think I probably should have made a different choice of wood for this meal but I was eager to try something new. The chili paste rub was probably too overpowering for such a quick smoke.

If anyone thinks they have the ideal protein for persimmon, please let me know! Heck, I would even be willing to give a couple chunks of it away if you so desire...just PM me.

[mrg]

I like to smoke Roma tomatoes. Cut them in half and put them on a piece of cheesecloth in the smoker. They make a great sauce, or as part of a filling in raviolis. I assume you have "Charcuterie" by Ruhlman and have looked at the thread on eGullet about the book? Great stuff in there. Making your own andouille is wonderful....being able to make it as spicy as you like and as smokey as you like.

I smoked a duck last week and finished it in the oven so I'd get to save some of the fat. Now I've got a nice cup of smoked duck fat - used some in the cornbread pan the other night and plan to do cornmeal crusted trout tonight sauteed in the smoked fat. I make alot of bacon and always save the rinds. I lined the pot for cassoulet with them a few days ago - yum. Added great flavor and body.

If you can find any chanterelles around, they smoke up nicely. When I was brewing alot of beer, I smoked the hops for a batch. Oh yeah, make pastrami! Smoked leg of lamb is nice. As is smoked prime rib. I've got a great dry cure for fish, let me know if you'd like the recipe. Like it says on the package, smoking is habit forming!

[karmalaundry]

mrg, on Jan 4 2008, 01:54 PM, said:

I like to smoke Roma tomatoes. Cut them in half and put them on a piece of cheesecloth in the smoker. They make a great sauce, or as part of a filling in raviolis. I assume you have "Charcuterie" by Ruhlman and have looked at the thread on eGullet about the book? Great stuff in there. Making your own andouille is wonderful....being able to make it as spicy as you like and as smokey as you like.

I flipped through that book at B&N and am trying to find a book that doesn't suggest the use of nitrates/nitrites. Do you know of any?

[mrg]

I don't know of any books that would come right out and suggest not using nitrates/nitrites in smoked meats. The risk of botulism in having meat in an anaerobic environment such as a smoker, for a long period of time, is a scary proposition. I notice that the amounts in Ruhlman's book look high to me, for the curing salts as well as for the bactoferm, or starter culture. I think it's a case of CYA. I'd guess there are sites on line that may have recipes for things without the curing salts.

I know Whole Foods and New Seasons sell bacon without nitrates/nitrites but I have to think the manufacturer would have to take other precautions in production to ensure safety, and I don't know what those are.

[StMaximo]

mrg, on Jan 4 2008, 05:50 PM, said:

I don't know of any books that would come right out and suggest not using nitrates/nitrites in smoked meats. The risk of botulism in having meat in an anaerobic environment such as a smoker, for a long period of time, is a scary proposition. I notice that the amounts in Ruhlman's book look high to me, for the curing salts as well as for the bactoferm, or starter culture. I think it's a case of CYA. I'd guess there are sites on line that may have recipes for things without the curing salts.

I know Whole Foods and New Seasons sell bacon without nitrates/nitrites but I have to think the manufacturer would have to take other precautions in production to ensure safety, and I don't know what those are.

There are country hams that are cured with only salt, prosciutto too. These are typically cured in excess of six months

One of the things that happens without the use of nitrites is that some of the meats don't come out with the normal cured pink color or normal cured flavor.

BTW nitrates (saltpeter) aren't supposed to be used commercially anymore. Nitrites are used in much smaller amounts than they were in the past. See excerpted quote and link below

From http://ije.oxfordjou...t/full/30/1/181 "One aspect of nutritional epidemiology that has received minimal attention in the medical literature concerns changes in US meat curing practices that occurred in the 1920s. Prior to 1923 the level of nitrite detectable in cured meats was extremely high and variable. During that time meat was cured using potassium nitrate (or saltpetre). The conversion of nitrate (NO3) to nitrite (NO2) by nitrate-reducing bacteria during the curing process was responsible for the levels of nitrite found in the meats.11 Nitrite levels as high as 1400 ppm (1 ppm equals 1 mg/kg) nitrite in frankfurters and up to 960 ppm in ham were noted at that time. The average content was 185 ppm.12 There was no regulation of the amount of nitrite permissible in cured meat products and the process produced inconsistent results in terms of meat colour and flavour. In the early 1900s it was realised that nitrite, and not nitrate, was responsible for the preservation and characteristic colour/flavour of the cured meats. In 1923 the Department of Agriculture authorized experimentation using sodium nitrite (instead of nitrate) to cure meats. The experiments were deemed a success and resulted in the formal authorization of sodium nitrite as a meat curing compound. A 200 ppm maximal nitrite concentration was established and the use of nitrate for curing was discouraged.13"

Some other links that may be of interest

http://www.uga.edu/nchfp/how/cure_smoke/ni...s_nitrites.html
http://en.wikipedia....d_preservation)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ham
http://www.extension.umn.edu/distribution/...ion/DJ0974.html

[Jocelyn:McAuliflower]

:excellent:
thanks everyone- there are some great to-do items in here (totally forgot about checking eGullet too!)

[Jocelyn:McAuliflower]

Just spotted a use of persimmon wood for smoking on the blog Chadzilla:

Quote

The entre utilized 'smoking under glass' to.... well, just because. I had just rebuilt the smoke pipe, and it would be a shame not to utilize it. We used persimmon wood splinters to smoke the hell out of our 24 hour braised wagyu shortribs. They were served with our peas & carrots puree and some square tater tots. Dude, are you going to eat your tots?

The smoke is captured in an over-turned pint glass which is also covering the short ribs.

[Knobcreeky]

Jocelyn:McAuliflower, on Jan 26 2008, 12:04 PM, said:

The smoke is captured in an over-turned pint glass which is also covering the short ribs.

Sounds like something we used to do back in the 80's except we subbed out the short ribs for Hash

[Jocelyn:McAuliflower]

Knobcreeky, on Jan 28 2008, 10:08 AM, said:

Sounds like something we used to do back in the 80's except we subbed out the short ribs for Hash

Damn- took me a beat to realize that wasn't meat hash.

(I've obviously been out of Eugene for awhile)

[sylvan]

Knobcreeky, on Jan 28 2008, 10:08 AM, said:

Jocelyn:McAuliflower, on Jan 26 2008, 12:04 PM, said:

The smoke is captured in an over-turned pint glass which is also covering the short ribs.

Sounds like something we used to do back in the 80's except we subbed out the short ribs for Hash

Oh, yeah. I wonder how word of these things spread nationally before the internet?

[StMaximo]

sylvan, on Jan 28 2008, 11:19 AM, said:

Knobcreeky, on Jan 28 2008, 10:08 AM, said:

Jocelyn:McAuliflower, on Jan 26 2008, 12:04 PM, said:

The smoke is captured in an over-turned pint glass which is also covering the short ribs.

Sounds like something we used to do back in the 80's except we subbed out the short ribs for Hash

Oh, yeah. I wonder how word of these things spread nationally before the internet?

Contact High

[Jocelyn:McAuliflower]

I used my smoked sugar in my buckwheat pancakes this morning. Just a touch worked very well.
I can hardly wait for market tomatoes! And peppers...

I have a dozen err 9 oysters left from yesterday. I don't think I have the patience to try smoking them right now. For future experiments though, would I shuck them first? Or do I not put them in alive, but heat treat them first?

[Dan]

Resurrecting an old thread to ask if anyone has suggestions on local stores that carry wood chips for an electric smoker. (A used Little Chief in my case.)

Too bad I didn't think to save the waste when we had our apple trees pruned last year.

------------------------------------
Edited to add:

Sorry, bad search-fu on my part. I found a thread that addresses my question: http://www.portlandfood.org/index.php?show...moker&st=20