Smokin'
I bought a smoker a couple of weeks ago. Tried to cook some ribs, but it didn't turn out near as good as I expected it to. Anybody got any tips? I also bought one of those marinade injectors. It's pretty cool, but messy as hell. I'd love to hear some receipe's for marinades or sauces for smoking. I came across a version of Applebee's bourbon street steak (which I love) marinade, but it didn't turn out to taste anything like what you get at the restaurant. The funny thing was, it had a shitload of bourbon added to the recipe. It ended up tasting like you were eating a shot of whiskey. Not so good.
posted by jason @ 4:31 PM
11 comments
11 Comments:
Keep an eye on your water, charcoal, and temperature. You never want the temp to get above 200-250 depending on what your smoking and how hungry you are. Get yourself a nice tool to use on the fire.
It's not easy to smoke ribs or brisket. I suggest you practice on roasts or birds.
give your ribs a good boil to soften them up. Aaron has the right idea with roast and birds. Nothing like a good smoked turkey or a pheasant. This is a good bird marinade.
2 cups dry red wine
1/2 cup olive oil
1/4 cup soy or teriyaki sauce
4 scallions, sliced
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon fresh ginger, grated
PREPARATION:
Combine all ingredients in a medium saucepan. Let boil for 10 minutes. Use as a basting sauce or a marinade. If you want to inject this one though, take it easy. Can be a little powerful
Do you add the wood to the charcoal or to the water? I've heard it both ways. Also, how do you prep your charcoal? I used match-light and the food tasted like lighter fluid. I waited the recomended time before adding the food, but when I had to add more charcoal, that's when I got screwed.
That marinade sounds pretty similar to the Applebee's steak one, minus the whisky, and lemon juice. I'll give that a try next time I cook some chicken. I probably won't do a turkey anytime soon as we just had it for Christmas.
basic directions ive used at home stolen from some site not sure where but kept this in my recipe file hopefully it will help you. On a side note never ever use matchlite when smoking your meat. I only ever use it on the regular grill when in a huge hurry. just purchase a charcoal starter or make one on your own out of a coffe can. They are inexpensive and eliminte poisoning your food.
First take the smoker completely apart and set the base (it's short round and has feet) where you want to set up for smoking. Place the metal charcoal pan inside the base and fill with about 6-10 pounds of charcoal. The more charcoal you use the longer the heat will last. Light the charcoal and let it burn uncovered until the coals are almost entirely white and the fire is producing a lot of heat. While the coals are getting ready heat enough water to fill the enamel water pan about 3/4 full. You want the water to be hot so that the burning coals don't have to heat the water for you. Place the water pan in the barrel (the tall part of the smoker) on the bottom hooks and fill with the hot water. Now place the barrel, carefully on the charcoal pan.
Replace the wire racks in the barrel section, one on top of the water pan and the other on the top hooks. Now you are all set to smoke something.
You can use the door to access the fire and add wood chunks to create smoke. One of the problems of these smokers is that the bottom rack (half the cooking area) is no good for smoking. The smoke is only held in the lid section so only the top portion of the smoker works effectively. In general it's big enough to smoke a whole smoker though. Once you have the food on the top rack of the smoker replace the lid and let it go. I suggest an oven thermometer for telling you the temperature. Place it inside the smoker near the food. Check it occasionally. Remember that every time you lift the lid you let out the smoke and a lot of the heat so leave it alone as much as you can.
Now after about 2 to 3 hours the coals in the coals pan will become caked with ashes and the airflow will simply stop. This then causes the temperature to drop and stops the smoking process. Now several people have tried to come up with modifications to the smoker design to eliminate this problem, but so far I really haven't seen an effective solution. You need to get the ash out of the pan to return to a good smoking environment.
Here's where it can get a little tricky but I came up with a solution I call the sift and its a little risky so be very careful. To clear the ashes from the pan remove the barrel section of the smoker to expose the coal pan. Start by standing up wind of the coal pan and with some very thick grill gloves lift the coal pan out of the base. These pans are generally aluminum and don't get too hot but you still need to be very careful. By carefully shaking the pan back and forth most of the ash will fall through the vent slits in the bottom. You can also use something to stir up the coals and get some of the ash to fall through that way.
Once you have the ash cleared out of the coal pan and into the base unit dump the ash out of the base and put the coal pan back in. The ash will contain hot sparks and needs to be put someplace where it can't cause a fire. Now you are ready to add more coals to the pan. The coals you add to the pan need to be burning and ready to go. A charcoal chimney works great here. With the fire restored you can put the barrel section back in place and resume smoking.
I want to emphasis that this procedure is dangerous. Don't do it with shorts on and wear eye protection. The fine ash is murder on the eyes and hot coals are just murder. Make sure that if you elect to do this trick that you do it away from anything flammable and that you have quick and easy access to water.
A few further tips to go by: Don't trust the thermometer built into the lid. I've used a couple of these smokers and each one reads differently at the same temperature. You want to reach a good temperature of about 200 degrees. I use an oven thermometer because it's more accurate. If the temperature gets too high thrown some wet wood chips on the fire. This will lower the temperature a little and build up some smoke. If the temperature gets too low open the little door on the front of the smoker to let additional air in to build up the fire. I recommend starting small and working your way up as you gain experience and get to know your smoker
holy crap. that seems like a lot of work for some smokey chicken.
couldn't you just hold a chicken over a campfire for a couple minutes?
ha!
Well i dont mind shoving chicken on a stick and holding it over a campfire either if need be. However being a meat eater can be time consuming. :)
You boys get so worked up about your meat. And your rubs. And...well, you know the rest.
Jade
I know Jade. Sometimes when I talk about meat and rubs it makes me want to inject my marinade.
Put your wood in a seperate container with water first to get it moist, then put it in the charcoal. Your wood won't smoke if you put it in the smoker water. It's very important to keep the water up because it regulates temperature.
Use good charcoal, but not match-lite. Just use regular stuff. It should take a lot of charcoal to smoke anything.
What are you smoking for the party next weekend?
Looks like all we'll be smoking is 4 inches of snow currently covering the smoker!
Jade
` Mmm.. hic... Whiskey... hic... good to be back from the Tequila country! you should try going there... hic... there's no snow!
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