Smoking Your Meat

[bazmlb]

I must say i am a bit more than impressed by everyone's input

I must say every smoker is different so times and such will vary by the equipment used.

wood is also an issue as some will get bitter tasting with over smoking and others richer , the best advice i can give anyone is keep smoking and document your work so you can adjust and advance as time and batches go by , the recipe posted looks good and i can bet tastes great .

I have to run but when i return Monday i will check and reply again.

and gerd the cost you you is now 2+ beers you owe me

Here some pictures of a more serious smoker, some of you may recognise it.

[bazmlb]

Ribs went in at 2:30pm after sitting in a tub marinating in the rub overnight.

[bazmlb]

Well after a lot of waiting, we ended up with these. Once cut the smoke ring was quite visible.

[DMCGARRY]

I have a gas BBQ and it came with a small smoke box that fits inside the gas BBQ. I have tried several times to smoke some food but it always comes out very dry. Looking for some tips on how to best utilise the smoker box inside a Gas bbq.

Things I have tried in the past:

1) Turning one side of the bbq on and placing the food on the elevated level in the BBQ and letting the smoke penetrate the meats. This did not work and the meat became very dry.

2) Using the smoke box for the start of the cooking process and then placing the meats in tinfoil and letting them slowly cook. This worked the best but it was hardly smoked meat.

3) Just BBQ the meats normally and having the smoke box inside the bbq. Again this worked but there was not a lot of smoke flavour.

Not even sure if this system will work 100% and I might have to splash out and make a smoker following some of the designs posted earlier.

Thanks in advance for any tips.

Reason for Edit to add a link to a smoker box demonstration using a gas grill.

http://www.vitalrecipe.com/view/d4uz64w69/using-a-bbq-smoker-box-on-a-gas-grill/

Edited August 29, 2010 by DMCGARRY

[bazmlb]

What temp were you running at? 225f is the magic figure I have found, hotter and it will dry the meat out or burn it.

[DMCGARRY]

Thank you bazmlb,

I will try the magic number of 225F next time i fire up the BBQ. I think i will try with something easy like drunken chicken and see if I can achieve the results I am looking for.

Cheers,

[MaiDong]

I've been a bit pre-occupied to continue with my smoker but I'm going to give it a try tomorrow, I'm concerned about a couple of things though...

I was just going to put the coals in the bottom of the pot and the soaked wood on top of the circular grill but if I need to tend to the coals all the time it might be a bit awkward. I still really want to get a hotplate in the bottom of the pot as I think it'll offer a better constant low heat, coals will fluctuate all the time.

A friend suggested using one of the single grill units from mackro or similar, placing it under the pot with a funnel guiding the smoke into the small hole, he also suggested using a small gas burner with a funnel also, I thought that might use a lot of gas so I'm a bit split between what I'm actually going to try tomorrow.

My neighbour cut a nice branch from his Lamyai tree today so I'm going to remove the bark and soak it tomorrow before giving the actual smoking a try, has anybody got any ideas about what would be the best way to keep a semi-constant heat with coals or perhaps you think the grill/funnel idea is best?

Thanks in advance, I would love some guidance!

[bazmlb]

My neighbour cut a nice branch from his Lamyai tree today so I'm going to remove the bark and soak it tomorrow before giving the actual smoking a try, has anybody got any ideas about what would be the best way to keep a semi-constant heat with coals or perhaps you think the grill/funnel idea is best?

Thanks in advance, I would love some guidance!

To prepare wood for smoking, it should be cut and dried for 6 months before using it in the smoker. I never soak the wood, always use dried wood, before the wood reaches the point of smoking all the water you soak it in will be evaporated and just delay the point where the smoke begins.

References:

http://www.ehow.com/how_5635316_prepare-oak-smoking-meats.html

[thaigerd]

My neighbour cut a nice branch from his Lamyai tree today so I'm going to remove the bark and soak it tomorrow before giving the actual smoking a try, has anybody got any ideas about what would be the best way to keep a semi-constant heat with coals or perhaps you think the grill/funnel idea is best?

Thanks in advance, I would love some guidance!

To prepare wood for smoking, it should be cut and dried for 6 months before using it in the smoker. I never soak the wood, always use dried wood, before the wood reaches the point of smoking all the water you soak it in will be evaporated and just delay the point where the smoke begins.

References:

http://www.ehow.com/how_5635316_prepare-oak-smoking-meats.html

We do smoke meat, bacon etc. every week a few thousand kg and we soak our wood.

Gerd

[bazmlb]

My neighbour cut a nice branch from his Lamyai tree today so I'm going to remove the bark and soak it tomorrow before giving the actual smoking a try, has anybody got any ideas about what would be the best way to keep a semi-constant heat with coals or perhaps you think the grill/funnel idea is best?

Thanks in advance, I would love some guidance!

To prepare wood for smoking, it should be cut and dried for 6 months before using it in the smoker. I never soak the wood, always use dried wood, before the wood reaches the point of smoking all the water you soak it in will be evaporated and just delay the point where the smoke begins.

References:

http://www.ehow.com/how_5635316_prepare-oak-smoking-meats.html

We do smoke meat, bacon etc. every week a few thousand kg and we soak our wood.

Gerd

Lucky Buckwheat isnt around to see you post that

[bazmlb]

One of the reasons to soak chips (not Chunks) is to prevent flare up of the chips, if the chips are packed well enough in the smoker tray and the tray has only a small opening only letting smoke out and not air in then they really dont need to be soaked.

[MaiDong]

My neighbour cut a nice branch from his Lamyai tree today so I'm going to remove the bark and soak it tomorrow before giving the actual smoking a try, has anybody got any ideas about what would be the best way to keep a semi-constant heat with coals or perhaps you think the grill/funnel idea is best?

Thanks in advance, I would love some guidance!

To prepare wood for smoking, it should be cut and dried for 6 months before using it in the smoker. I never soak the wood, always use dried wood, before the wood reaches the point of smoking all the water you soak it in will be evaporated and just delay the point where the smoke begins.

References:

http://www.ehow.com/how_5635316_prepare-oak-smoking-meats.html

Thanks for your imput bazmlb the article you link to mentions oak, is 6 months required for all types of wood? If so I suppose I'll have to go to homepro and hope they have some bags of woodchips!

[bazmlb]

My neighbour cut a nice branch from his Lamyai tree today so I'm going to remove the bark and soak it tomorrow before giving the actual smoking a try, has anybody got any ideas about what would be the best way to keep a semi-constant heat with coals or perhaps you think the grill/funnel idea is best?

Thanks in advance, I would love some guidance!

To prepare wood for smoking, it should be cut and dried for 6 months before using it in the smoker. I never soak the wood, always use dried wood, before the wood reaches the point of smoking all the water you soak it in will be evaporated and just delay the point where the smoke begins.

References:

http://www.ehow.com/how_5635316_prepare-oak-smoking-meats.html

Thanks for your imput bazmlb the article you link to mentions oak, is 6 months required for all types of wood? If so I suppose I'll have to go to homepro and hope they have some bags of woodchips!

Heres some more info.

Using dry wood is of utmost importance when cold smoking . We recommend keeping wood chips in a well defined single pile as they will have less contact with air and will smoke better without creating unnecessary flames and heat. By following these rules we achieve 75 – 85 % humidity, creating the best conditions for moisture removal. This in turn prevents the growth of bacteria. Once the moisture content drops low enough the salt present in meat will further inhibit the development of bacteria and the products can hang in the air for months losing more moisture as time goes by.

source: http://www.wedlinydomowe.com/smoking-meat.htm

[MaiDong]

Thanks again bazmlb, off to homepro now!

[MrMoocoltd]

i just posted this on Pattaya forum for all to see and i wanted to share it with all of you also

If you want to see and read about bacon try these links

a link to see how factory bacon is made in a few day with flavoring to taste like smoke and color to look that way

it lasts 3 min

LINK TO THAI VISA PEOPLE THAT USE SMOKERS AND SMOKE BACON AND OTHER MEATS

http://www.thaivisa....king-your-meat/

MAKING BACON EXPLAINED IN A COUPLE OF LINKS

http://thepauperedch...tures-in-h.html

http://uk.answers.ya...22014327AAaFQDg

http://www.3men.com/bacon_making.htm

Introduction

Bacon is made from fresh pork which has been cured (preserved with salt) so that it will keep for longer. There are two main methods of curing:

Dry Curing

This is the oldest method and each farmhouse would have its own recipe and a slab of bacon would be kept in the inglenook above the fireplace. From Saxon times pigs were fattened in oak forests on mast (acorns) during Autumn and cured to provide meat for the family in winter months. Bacon formed part of the rations for long distance sea journeys, heavy salting preserved the meat from spoiling, but by the time it reached the Americas it was tough and more like boot leather than bacon as we know it today.

Wet Curing

The term ‘Wet-cure’ means to immerse in a liquid brine (a salt and saltpeter solution containing useful salt tolerant bacteria) for 3 to 4 days. This is a much milder form of curing, and the meat is cured in the brine under refrigeration. As meat keeps fresh longer at lower temperatures it does not require so much salt. The Wiltshire Cure (Wet-cure) was developed by the Harris family of Calne, Wiltshire in the United Kingdom, and was revolutionary in its time (1840’s). As there were no refrigerators in those days, they used to pack the roof with winter ice to lower the temperature

Unfortunately ‘mass produced’ bacon today is not only immersed in liquid but pumped with water and phosphates to speed up the process and add yield. The more supermarkets squeezed their vendors on price, the more water has been added. True flavor has been sacrificed for profit.

I wrote none of this i just Googled and found this to share with others so you will understand why we only dry cure bacon and use a real smoker to smoke bacon and other meats..

read what other say , not me .

[thaigerd]

i just posted this on Pattaya forum for all to see and i wanted to share it with all of you also

If you want to see and read about bacon try these links

a link to see how factory bacon is made in a few day with flavoring to taste like smoke and color to look that way

it lasts 3 min

LINK TO THAI VISA PEOPLE THAT USE SMOKERS AND SMOKE BACON AND OTHER MEATS

http://www.thaivisa....king-your-meat/

MAKING BACON EXPLAINED IN A COUPLE OF LINKS

http://thepauperedch...tures-in-h.html

http://uk.answers.ya...22014327AAaFQDg

http://www.3men.com/bacon_making.htm

Introduction

Bacon is made from fresh pork which has been cured (preserved with salt) so that it will keep for longer. There are two main methods of curing:

Dry Curing

This is the oldest method and each farmhouse would have its own recipe and a slab of bacon would be kept in the inglenook above the fireplace. From Saxon times pigs were fattened in oak forests on mast (acorns) during Autumn and cured to provide meat for the family in winter months. Bacon formed part of the rations for long distance sea journeys, heavy salting preserved the meat from spoiling, but by the time it reached the Americas it was tough and more like boot leather than bacon as we know it today.

Wet Curing

The term ‘Wet-cure’ means to immerse in a liquid brine (a salt and saltpeter solution containing useful salt tolerant bacteria) for 3 to 4 days. This is a much milder form of curing, and the meat is cured in the brine under refrigeration. As meat keeps fresh longer at lower temperatures it does not require so much salt. The Wiltshire Cure (Wet-cure) was developed by the Harris family of Calne, Wiltshire in the United Kingdom, and was revolutionary in its time (1840’s). As there were no refrigerators in those days, they used to pack the roof with winter ice to lower the temperature

Unfortunately ‘mass produced’ bacon today is not only immersed in liquid but pumped with water and phosphates to speed up the process and add yield. The more supermarkets squeezed their vendors on price, the more water has been added. True flavor has been sacrificed for profit.

I wrote none of this i just Googled and found this to share with others so you will understand why we only dry cure bacon and use a real smoker to smoke bacon and other meats..

read what other say , not me .

Thanks for your post MrMoo, very interesting!

Gerd

[MaiDong]

Sorry for the delay in posting this, I've been so busy, anyhow, here are some pics of my home-made smoker, the results were fantastic, best bacon I've ever had...

I cobbled together some items that were readily available from my local bbq/tupperware shop

I bought some hickory chips from HomePro(B180)

I soaked these for 45 minutes in water, they ended up setting alight despite being soaked and wrapped in foil but they still produced huge amounts of smoke...

We had to cover the bbq with foil as the smoke wasn't going directly up the upturned funnel - it rained and so the smoke was heavier than the air it seemed

We tried pork ribs first, we brushed some oyster sauce on them first as we'd had a few beers and couldn't be bothered to do it properly, anyhow, they turned out absolutely fine, smoked for around 90 mins, hot smoked I have to add as they cooked very well, and were tasty!

Our next attempt was a few days later and I had wet cured some belly with instructions from this website(minus the cure mix, but was fine anyway) Simple wet cure

The results of this attempt exceeded our expectations, we smoked the belly for about 4 hours, topping up the hickory chips each time they burned out, we didn't quite use up all of the chips, if I had used a larger piece of belly, around 2-3kgs then the 1 bag of chips would have been enough.

We were having a bbq anyway on ths evening so we took the belly out of the smoker(which filled our yard with a beautiful hickory smell for a full week later) and this is what it looked like

As the smoker was fairly hot, somewhere between a hot and a cold smoke, the bacon had almost cooked, but we put a few slices on the bbq anyway and it was amazing, a bit too salty for some people but not for me, this was due to my curing process though, not the smoking process.

All in all, a very successfull amateur smoking experience, everything cost a total of around B1000 - B500 of which was spent on the smoker itself, the remaining B500 was spent on the hickory chips and pork, the bacon lasted me around a week of constant eating!

[napalm]

Just a few pix from our smoking sessions here in Phuket

[napalm]

I cobbled together some items that were readily available from my local bbq/tupperware shop

Brilliant, where did you get the metal stand for the flower pots ?

[MaiDong]

I cobbled together some items that were readily available from my local bbq/tupperware shop

Brilliant, where did you get the metal stand for the flower pots ?

That stand is originally for a wok, bought from the same shop as all the other bits

[MaiDong]

Just a few pix from our smoking sessions here in Phuket

Those pics are massive, any chance you can resize them a little bit?

[napalm]

Just a few pix from our smoking sessions here in Phuket

Those pics are massive, any chance you can resize them a little bit?

Yes, sorry about that. I didn't check before uploading them and probably thought that the program would reformat them like Facebook does

[cyborgx]

LINK TO THAI VISA PEOPLE THAT USE SMOKERS AND SMOKE BACON AND OTHER MEATS

http://www.thaivisa....king-your-meat/

Link doesn't work. Shame, I wnat to find other smokers and info on smokers for sale in Bangkok. Anyone know where I can buy a decent Smoker (not just a grill) bbqthai.com don't sell them.

[cyborgx]

gasbbqthailand is the only place I have found so far...

[Lickey]

Saw a Jamie Oliver prog a few weeks ago, he got an old biscuit tin, put some hard wood chips in it, a few fresh garden herbs,bit of olive oil,then a wire mesh support over the top, laid in 2 salmon fillets, put the lid on, punched a few holes in it, put it on gas ring, 5 mins later he had some tasty looking salmon, must be the cheapest and easieist way, gonna do it myself when i have an old tin with a lid!

[garvin123g]

OK.. I may or may not be slightly off topic.. if so excuse me..This forum is about Smoking Meat and that is my objective!!

Question. What is the normal or average length of a Whole Pig; aprox 35 kg dressed, head on in Thailand? is there a range ?

Also, is there a forum dedicated to Low and Slow Smoking or is this it?

Thanks

Garvin