Smoker- recipes and mods

[Pixel Shooter]

If there is enough interest Im willing to create a sticky thread for all smoker recipes, mods done to smokers, pics of smokers- do's and don'ts, likes and dislikes and create our own smoking community. Be great to share recipes and venture our from our usual smoking escapades. If interest follow below as discussed above

I will start with my last thread and I had a few promise candy salmon recipe if we made a sticky. Once we have a few going, I will stick the thread.

Originally Posted by Pixel Shooter

Watching Omega post his smoker threads got me off my butt!

Thought I would try pulled beef on the ol's smoker, did a dry rub and marinated for 24 hours. Tried out my new AMNPS, worth every penny. The hickory pellets smoked beautifully for 7 hours and still had about 3 hours worth left, no reloading ,fuss or muss and pellets cost about a buck for 10 hours. I also added a 90 degree elbow with vents open fully, made a big different, way better drafting. There wont be many wood chip smokes use in my future After 7 hours, wrapped it up in tinfoil and finished cooking for another 3.5 hours to my desired temp, then wrapped roast beef in tinfoil in a blanket filling up all the space in my cooler for another hour and a half and voila.

Dry rub:

Roast Rub (I used it on some chicken thighs too and they came out great!!!):
1 TBSP Garlic powder
1 TBSP Onion powder
1 TBSP Black pepper
1 TBSP Kosher salt
1 TBSP Paprika
1/8 TBSP Cayenne pepper

last minute I did add some brown sugar. I also smeared yellow mustard over the roast prior to putting the rub on, really helped everything adhere, works great. The ym evaporates with no taste to the meat

Smoker set at 225 degrees, smoked for 6-7 hours using hickory wood pellets, waited till internal temperature hit 160 degrees. pulled amnsp out and roast. wrapped roast in tinfoil as needed so no more browning, just cooking time. Put back in smoker until temps hit 195-200 degrees. take out in tinfoil, wrap in towels or blanket and put in cooler (key is no space in cooler) let sit for 2-3 hours. Take it out, will still be hot , should pull apart using fingers and serve to your liking



just put in the smoker


would have looked nicer if between the time I left to grab my iphone the kids didn't cut the strings and already started digging in, urghhhh



now ready to start eating, fell apart with the fingers,didnt need a knife or fork. most tender and juiciest roast beef I have had

[Hollingsworth]

Some ribs I smoked when I first got my smoker.... Delicious.

[Andrzej]

WT hams ready for smoker



Done



Ready for Christmas

[Huntnut]

I built it out of 2x6 spruce. In retrospect I should have gone with 2x4 as some of these boards were badly warped. I had tie straps and come-alongs trying to get them as straight as possible. I ended up covering it in 1/4 inch plywood in order to cover up the gaps from the warped boards. I used 1x1 boards for the shelves. I got the seal for the door from a fireplace store. I use round 3/4 inch wood for hanging sausage.



The burner is from a fish fryer-it's smaller then the turkey fryer burners. I cut down the legs on the burner. The gas inlet is in the fresh air pipe coming in so that the fresh air cools the gas inlet line. The line is wrapped in fiberglass and reflective heat tape. Even without these I turned up the heat so the internal temp was over 300 and the gas line wasn't even warm to the touch. I use a small cast iron pan to burn the chips in. The bottom is a pre cut piece of sheet metal that I can take out and clean as the need arises. I had tried to make a baffle for more even heat dispersion but it didn't work out well hence the burn marks above the first set of shelves that I am going to take off.




I have a temp. gauge about 3/4 of the way up for internal temp of the smoker.



I can control heat and smoke with these.



Have an external thermometer with a probe for whatever is in the smoker.



It is 6 and 1/2 feet tall. The bottom/burner is a foot up from the bottom. The internal dimensions are 32x31 inches and I use about 4 feet of the height. I've done over 30lbs of sausage and over 20lbs of jerky at a time with it.
__________________

[BlackHeart]

Definitely
Here's the Christmas ham


For the ham:

Adjust receive in ratio to weight.
This recipe was for 10lbs of pork shoulder.

8 cups water
4 tsp cure #1
3 oz salt (90g)

Mix and disolve ingredients.
Cut hatch marks into skin / hide just barely through
Inject ham in many places. Especially around the bone to avoid bone sour.
Keep injecting till it won't take any more, and you've hit each muscle.

In remaining brine add:
1 tbs each - garlic powder, onion powder, white pepper, thyme, sugar
4 bay leafs
1 tsp sage

Put ham into 5 gal pail.
Pour spiced brine in.
Ensure ham covered. (I did 2 in the same pail so I had sufficient brine)
If you don't, mix up the water/salt/cure ratio above and add till covered.
Don't be afraid to add other spices you think will work.

I put a heavy glass bowl on top of the hams to keep them under water.
Leave in cold area, preferable around 40 F- refrig, winter unbeaten garage. You don't want them freezing or getting too warm.
Cover and Let hams cure for 7 to 10 days....longer won't hurt. Top up Water as needed.

Smoking day:

Remove and rinse hams.

Cut a piece off, and fry up. If its even a bit too salty soak the hams in fresh water for an hour, test, and repeat if necessary.
Remember that smoking will consentrate the saltiness a but more.

Put the hams to air dry ( I used a small space heater to speed it up, but you don't want it too close or it will over dry areas) Once they Are tacky to touch, into the smoker on low heat (120-140F) for 5 hours, turning and rotating every hour. You'll need a drip catch pan too.

Rub with cracked pepper and chopped fresh thyme leaves.
Turn heat up (180F) and smoke till reddish brown.
Check internal temp. Want to reach 145F If need, finish in 300F oven....watch closely.

Done. Refrig. On day your going to eat, put in roaster with grate on bottom and bake for 1.5hours at 350F. Don't use the drippings from this to make gravy.....it's too salty.
__________________


And the Turkey pieces

For the turkey, it the same recipe.
Make sure to get it tacky otherwise your wasting smoke.
skip the crushed peppercorns and fresh thyme.
And the second stage of smoking can be at 240F
And get the internal temp to 180F for the finish (safe for poultry)

[Pixel Shooter]

If your going to post pics of delicious results, how about giving us the process and recipe's in what you used so we learn hence the reason for the thread

[Bound2Fish]

I think its a great idea as I have been tossing around the idea of getting a smoker for myself.

The title should come with a warning as all this is making me hungry.

[gitrdun]

As promised:

Candy Salmon recipe.
This is a recipe that I use with my Traeger BBQ/smoker. It is an adaptation of several recipes. I took the best of some and combined to make this one. It was successful on the very first attempt. I’ve stuck with it ever since as I don’t think smoked fish can get any better than this.

I just purchase the Atlantic salmon from Costco. The brine below will do about 6 whole fillets. If you want to smoke more, make more brine as you want the fish fully submerged.

· 1/2 Gallon of Water
· 1 Cup Pickling Salt
· 2 pounds of the darkest, heavy-molasses type Brown Sugar. If not available, regular brown sugar will do
· 1 Cup real Maple Syrup

When mixing the brine, I suggest using boiling hot water to dissolve the pickling salt. If not, the fish on the bottom of the bowl will be too salty. Make sure the salt is well dissolved and add the other ingredients afterward.
Clean and slice fillets of salmon (against the grain) into 1/2" slices. Cut the fillets into 8” to 10” long pieces by approx. 4” wide. Do not brine thicker pieces as the center will be more like sushi.

Mix brine and soak salmon slices for 1 to 2 days.

To smoke, use a mixture of cherry, madrone and apple, or alder by itself (that’s what I use). Basically, you want to use a mild smoke. I use a Traeger smoker/bbq. But any smoker should do. The very important thing to remember is to use a mild smoke. In my Traeger, I smoke for 8-12 hours. Check it a couple of times to see how you like it.

NOTE: halfway through the smoking process (4-6 hours), brush the salmon with a mixture of 3/4 Cup honey ¼ Cup dark molasses ¼ cup real Maple Syrup and ¼ Cup water. Return to the smoker for the remaining 6 hours.
Apparently, this is also great for beef and venison, although I’ve never tried it.

[bhguy]

here's a mod of sorts, I just got the small Bradley unit that has the exhaust hose https://www.google.ca/search?q=bradl...2F%3B300%3B288 and I run the hose in my old big chief smoker to cold smoke cheese

[D-Dub]

Let see some smokers! Better to build or buy?

[reelhooker]

This is a recipe I do fairly often. In fact I do maybe 24 or so of these logs a year for different events and occasions...
Cardiologists everywhere love me:

I Start the day with a theme that includes:
3 packs of bacon. Yes, you can use maple bacon if you should so choose.
1kg of Johnsonville's spicy Italian ground Pork Sausage
500g of Johnsonville's Regular ground Pork Sausage
500G smoked dutch Gouda (grated)
And to keep with the theme, for the cook(s): one Bakon flavoured vodka Ceaser.

One Pack of bacon should be cut into 1" chunks and crisp fried. the other two are woven such as this into a "Blanket of Glory"

Then the Sausages-mixed together,topped with the Crisp fried bacon and then finally the smoked Gouda are layered on top:

The cheese goes all the way across the filling, this is just where I happened to take the picture... And ya, we are on to the second Bakon Ceaser by now.
Once you're layers are even, you want to roll this "Blanket of Glory" into the "log of Life" lol:

Coat with a high sugar content sauce. Mine is homemade with about 1 cup of brown sugar to a cup of light soy and some sesame oil.

Let it "air Dry" for an hour or so at room temp then into the smoker at 180c. after 20 minutes start smoke for 1:30min. I like 1 hour of apple followed by 30 min of the JB.

After 30 min flip and re-coat with sauce,
Check your temp and if it's ready take it out and let it set under tinfoil. it should look like this when done:
You then want to slice it and serve.

Smaller Logs (3.5"-4.5") are great served on a slice of toasted baguette with a slice of sharp white cheddar melted on top. Larger sliced are great as burger patties themselves. Once sliced, it can be nice to throw them on the grill for 1 min each side to sear the up. whatever leftovers you have will make the best breakfast sandwich of your life and after that dice whatever is leftover into bacon bits for the most phenomenal Smoked Ceaser salad or on a baked potato.

I have made this with a variety of different seasonings, Methods of serving and types of bacon. It is always good, however you have to ensure that any bacon on the inside is crisp cooked prior to smoking/cooking. If not, you will end up with fatty(not the good fat)portions in your meal.
Hope y'all enjoy,

Reel.

[Andrzej]

Originally Posted by Pixel Shooter

If your going to post pics of delicious results, how about giving us the process and recipe's in what you used so we learn hence the reason for the thread

Sorry I wanted this to be sticky and did not have time for recipes when I've posted pictures.

I found learning about processing meat, that food safety is very important and at first I was concerned with adding too much of nitrates as different recipes vary slightly.
I have developed chart for mixing my wet brine to stay safe, using this brine meat will have 200 ppm nitrates or less.
I use digital kitchen scale accurate to 1 gram ( CT on special 9.99, Costco 19.99)

I use this formula for Hams (would use it for Bear as well) and Canadian Bacon

Formula is for 1 kg of meat ( 1000 grams )
Water 400 mls
Pickling salt by weight 30 grams
Cure no1 ( 5% Nitrates ) 4 grams
Brown sugar 3 grams

example

5 kg meat
take 5x400mls water =2000 mls or 2 Liter
add pickling salt 5x30 gr = 150 grams
add #1 5% Cure 5x4 gr= 20 grams
add Brown sugar 5x3 gr = 15 grams.



Instructions
1. combine water, salt, Cure #1 and sugar together.
2. Immerse ham in pickle for 10-14 days at refrigerator temperature. Overhaul (turn around) hams every few days. Canadian Bacon 5-8 days.
3. Soak for 3 hours in cold running water. Rinse in lukewarm water (86 - 104º F, 30 - 40º C), using a brush to clean the surface.
4. Hang or place on a screen for 12 - 24 hours to dry (in fridge)
5. Stuff in netting or use butcher twine.
6. Smoke with warm smoke (86 - 104º F, 30 - 40º C), for 4 hours until skin develops light yellow - light brown color.
7. Insert ham into boiling water and keep boiling for 15 minutes. This will seal juices inside your ham. Lower water temperature to (176-180º F, 80-82º C) and continue cooking until the internal meat temperature becomes 154-158º F, 68-70º C. A rule of thumb calls for 50 minutes cooking for 1 kg of ham.
8. Place on shelves/screens to cool down.
9. Keep refrigerated.

Pork Hams




First attempt at WT Deer Ham. Looks good and was very good.



That's better post.

[CheeseBurger]

Reelhooker - They call those logs "fattys"

[greylynx]

Has anyone ever smoked a bear ham?

What sort of special processing techniques would be required

Last, but not least, does anyone have a recipe for smoking a bear ham?

[BlackHeart]

Originally Posted by greylynx

Has anyone ever smoked a bear ham?

What sort of special processing techniques would be required

Last, but not least, does anyone have a recipe for smoking a bear ham?

I would think any of the above ham methods would work. The ham I did was nice and fat so maybe a bear would be the same. But I would freeze the bear ham for a few weeks and make absolutely sure of internal finish temp to kill any chance of trichinosis.

[Knot Rite]

I have a broken chest freezer that i am converting to a smoker. I'm thinking of a hot pan if if that doesn't do what i want than I'll go with something like a smoker daddy.

Bobby

[Wild&Free]

Recipe for Smoked Fish (trout/salmon)

I follow a 7:1 ratio in my brine so volumes can be adjusted for taste.

7 cups water and 1 cup coarse salt works for approximately 10lbs of fish. I'm usually doing about 15lbs of coho filets so,

9 cups water
1 cup white wine (something fruity and acidic)
1 cup apple juice
1/2 cup soya sauce
1/2 jar VH medium garlic rib sauce
1/4 cup seasoned salt
1 to 1.5 cups coarse salt
2 tbls onion salt
2 tbls garlic salt
dash or three of worchestershire sauce

If you like it sweet, you can add 1-1.5 cups of brown sugar into the brine or glaze with maple syrup before and during smoking.

After about 4 hours in the brine most of the salt has been absorbed by the meat and you can take the filets out and let them form a pellicle. Longer brine time allows for more of the other flavors to be absorbed.

I use Alder chips for fish, but if you can try cottonwood works really well, but not easy to find unless you cut it down yourself. Smoking time is about 4-6 hours per 1/2" thickness. I like it on the dry side so I'm typically smoking for 12-16 hours on the average coho filet. Little Chief style smoker so no temp settings or cycle times just trial and error.

[unclebuck]

Here is an excellent site. Wild game can be substituted.

http://www.meatsandsausages.com/saus...curing/methods

[covey ridge]

I bought a Bradley last year and only used it a few times. There are a coupe recipes I would like to try but need to know:

1. Can one substitute Morton Tender Quik in place of Sifto Quik Cure?

2. Where can I buy cure 1 and cure 2?

Thanks

[covey ridge]

I recently got a copy of Game - the art of preparation and cooking of game and fowl by Klaus Wockinger. Last printed 1992.

There are some really great recipes including a few for sausage. Most of the recipes call for a small amount of cure, usually 1/2 to 1 tsp. No mention as to type of cure. Any ideas what I should use?

[omega50]

Originally Posted by covey ridge

I recently got a copy of Game - the art of preparation and cooking of game and fowl by Klaus Wockinger. Last printed 1992.

There are some really great recipes including a few for sausage. Most of the recipes call for a small amount of cure, usually 1/2 to 1 tsp. No mention as to type of cure. Any ideas what I should use?

Ultra cure 200 for the Game Salami pg125 and the Smoked Venison pg 126
Ultra Cure 100 for everything else.
I worked for and hunted with Klaus in the mid 90's for about 3 years
I have cooked many of the recipes in the book working by his side.

He mentored me and I lot of what I know game processing came from him.
Only a fraction of what this guy knows ever made it to print. Hugely skilled chef and butcher.

[philintheblank]

My buddy and I fired up the smoker we built to cook up all the boar meat we harvested on our Florida knife hunt. Here are the results

BBQ and maple sausages
Cured hams

We used apple wood and a mixed in some pork fat as these piggies were super lean
We need to practice lacing up our hams, but the taste was superb!

[sven]

Those all look so good, can't. Wait to try one!

[sven]

Which are the best to use that last? My digital ones never last the cords seem wreck or the temp is not accurrate.

[1Heavyhitr]

damn.. I thought this thread would get a lot more interest than it has so far. Maybe when the weather warms up?

[1Heavyhitr]

I really want to get a smoker... I think I'm going to get the master built extra wide propane smoker. Anybody use this smoker? If so how is it?

[omega50]

Originally Posted by sven

Which are the best to use that last? My digital ones never last the cords seem wreck or the temp is not accurrate.

I have used this for the past 2 years and has worked extremely well.
The price is just right. Metal sheath cord has been durable.
http://www.ikea.com/ca/en/catalog/products/80100406/

[Northwinds]

Here's yesterdays project...smoked trout tails.
Brined overnight,smoked in maple for 5 hrs,refrigerated then skinned and re-smoked for a hour the next day.
Tomorrows project .... 200 lbs candied trout

[Huntnut]

Originally Posted by Northwinds

Here's yesterdays project...smoked trout tails.
Brined overnight,smoked in maple for 5 hrs,refrigerated then skinned and re-smoked for a hour the next day.
Tomorrows project .... 200 lbs candied trout

Nice set up.

[Northwinds]

Originally Posted by Huntnut

Nice set up.

Thank you