Where do you get your wood for smoking?

JoeV said:
For all the lumber purists out there who look down their sauce covered noses at electric smokers and their neophyte owners, I really don't care if I'm not in that club.
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Sauce ... Wife and I have had many battles over sauce .... I want nothing to do with sauce, Wife insists on it ... Yee Haw!

Don't take this so personal, Joe, I'll venture those of us with wood shun Propane/ Gas, too.

To be fair, judging all smolder smokers by what this/that restaurant is doing would be wrong. I suspect this place is creosote coating their flavored meats for salads and things like their pizza so the customer smells the smoke and thinks their getting a smoked meat. I don't know if the proprietor is clueless or playing on the customers ignorance.

THere are other interesting things about this eatery, like the Calamari, Arugula salad and Crab cakes all had good flavor, just not much of it. Almost as thought the establishment was afraid of offending someone.

But they serve creosote coated meat with bitter that sits on the tongue for an hour ... LMAO!
 
I have never had any problems with Royal Oak. Are you using the RO that says "Made in USA"? They import charcoal also and some of the imported product is pretty poor stuff.

I use Cowboy lump also but the RO I found has bigger pieces and burns longer.
 
i am by far a purist Joe.. i never knocked brinkmann's electric or otherwise.

i have electric,propane and charcoal fired cookers. they all have their good points and all have their bad points
 
Good stuff guys. What a fun thread this turned out to be. :thumb: :tiphat: to all posters!!!!!

Thanks for elaborating on the Brinkman Charcoal smoker Keltin. Makes sense to me. Maybe do a thread on the mods you did to make yours work. That might help others who already have that unit. I know I won't buy one after reading your review. Everyone knows you need air to make the fire burn. :pat:

Great pics Blues Man. Nice looking smoker. Where did you get your digital temp gauges that you had on top? Where all do you put the sensors ...by each rack?

I have quite a few trees down on my back 40. Now I'll have to learn how to tell what kind of tree it is. :pat: I know I have maples back there but if I can't see the leaves I'm lost.....even on some with the leaves I'm lost.

What kind of tree does mesquite come from?
 
Doc said:
Where did you get your digital temp gauges that you had on top? Where all do you put the sensors ...by each rack?
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I usually put one thermocouple through a potato and place it on the top rack with the point right at the exhaust vent. The others go into the meat (not near a bone). I always smoke by temperature not time. I have had large Boston Butts (that are the same weight) get done over an hour apart.

You can order them on-line (Amazon). I picked mine up at Meijers for $15.00 each. They are invaluable when smoking. My gauge on the front is off about 50 F.
 
Doc said:
Where do you get your wood for smoking?
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That's sort of a tricky question with more than one answer.

Like others I get Mesquite and Hickory chunk from 'Box Store'. I get chunk because I can make 'chips' from chunks but not chunks from chips, I've found pre-chipped wood has been chipped too fine so me and Mister Hatchet make the size of 'chip' I figure is needed. But thats for direct heat grilling with lump, not smoking.

I/We live on 1/3 an acre with most of the property surrounded by vacant lots and other peoples trees, Ive gotten my 'flame wood' from dead branches/ dead fall that hasn't fallen yet. Mostly from an apple or oak.

And this last week I took down the better part of the mostly dead apple tree. Let me tell you, seasoned apple sure is a bitch on the saws chain. So now I have a stack of apple. ;)

For flavor woods I've used oak, ash and cherry from my limited woodworking. Bit thats limited.

I have been known to snag some Sassafras wood and root, from the woods, that made a real interesting smoke.
 
Keltin said:
The brinkman charcoal smoker is notorious for being horribly designed. The biggest problem being the fire pan and it’s complete lack of air flow and control. Basically, the “fire pit” in a Brinkman is just another water pan bowl. No holes for air. No grate to lift the coals off the pan’s floor. Nothing. Just a water pan that you stack your coals in. I’ve used many an unmodified Brinkman, and I can tell you that, without air flow, the coals eventually whimper and die out making it all but impossible to maintain good temp. To keep the coals from dying out, you pretty much have to constantly stir them when smoking for longer than an hour.
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This was an excellent post, Keltin! You have expressed a widely-held opinion on the El Cheapo Brinkman.

I must say that I learned to smoke first on that model, but I had the benefit of collective wisdom of the BBQ Forum, so I thought the food I produced was BRILLIANT! And it was pretty good, but the smoker was a bitch to operate.

My boyfriend at the time did the mods for me, and that worked better. Then I got a WSM which was much easier to maintain during a long cook, and I became profecient, thanks to my next boyfriend, who was a great smoker and an excellent teacher.

I still use the WSM's - they are amazing pits!

Lee
 
Keltin said:
:yum:

I never really thought about it either, and always assumed Mesquite was a type of tree (like Hickory). But after this thread, I Googled to be sure and went to that very same Wiki! :lol:

I was actually surprised to find that Mesquite is a smallish tree, typically shrub size. And the bean pods it produces can be used in cooking. I want one now!
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the pods they use to make mesquite flour as well.. non gluton

it is really dark and strong in flavor but much better for you health wise

http://chetday.com/mesquiteflour.htm
 
I second bam's suggestion of building a UDS...they are super simple to build(do you have a drill and a couple wrenches?). I would venture to say that once you get a uds dialed in there is less fiddling with it for long smokes than an electric or propane(unless you get one of those puck droppers). This is why..I can load my UDS with LUMP ONLY charcoal, and disperse a few good sized chunks of wood throughout the coal. Then I drop a few (seriously just about a handful worth of hot coals on top. I put my meat on right away because opening a UDS spikes the temp so I don't want to do that anymore than I have to. I can get 12+++ hours of good burn time, and with the wood dispersed it smokes lightly the whole time...If you had an electric or propane you would for sure have to add wood for smoke a few times I believe....Which brings me to my next point that I don't thinks been covered. When you first start smoking use about 1/2-1/4 the amount of wood as you think you're going to need. You do NOT want white smoke rolling out of your smoker. You want a faint amount of thin blue smoke and that's it. Anymore and you'll get nasty results.
 
pugger said:
Here's a website I highly don't recommend if you're trying to avoid the dark side http://www.thesmokerking.com/smokeporkribs.html

Lots of info & other links - you'll be sorry:dizzy:.

"There's no way out of here, when you come in you're in for good
There was no promise made, the part you've played, the chance you took ..."
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hey thats basically how i do my ribs as well..my UDS will run from 225-260*F depending on the mood she is in. also depends on the cut of meat, every rib tells me when its done when i pick it up with a pair of tongs or the meat pulls back from the bone about a 1/4"

my ribs turn out fine i think..lol

all ribs done on the UDS

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Heh heh!

I've been dying to post boasting pictures of smoked stuff today! I'll try not to repeat what others have posted, but I have a bunch of the four competition categories (chicken, ribs, pork and brisket) :-)

Lee



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Three Dr. Chicken's Double Smoked and Glazed hams for Easter gifts



A slice out of a smoked, injected turkey breast



Another smoked injected turkey breast and corned beef (for pastrami)


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Thinly sliced pastrami (smoked store-bought corned beef)

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Smoked bologna chub

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Beef short ribs
 
Wow QSis! Gorgeous meats you have there. And I so have to do a bologna chub. It's on my short list for sure. Great job!! :clap:
 
Got tired of looking for a virgin...:yum: Screw the smoking, I'm going fishin in the morning. Hey Allen, we got two seats left on the boat. Wanna come along for some Lake Erie perch? Pulling out at 0700
 
Try smoking some of you catch Joe, I've smoke fish a couple of times. It is fairly easy and not long smoking times either, about 1 to 2 hours tops.
 
joec said:
Try smoking some of you catch Joe, I've smoke fish a couple of times. It is fairly easy and not long smoking times either, about 1 to 2 hours tops.
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perch is not great for smoking, it dries up, but i have made some awesome perch jerky..lol

i could go for a nice big perch fry right now
 
Pastrami has to be cured, with a seasoning mix. I think the mix is different from what's used for Corned Beef. Plus, it gets cooked in the smoker, where CB is poached/simmered.

I'd love to go fishing today (even wearing my hat), but, PeppA has errands to run (1st of the month, gotta pay rent, buy a part for the dryer), and I desperately need to mow the yard. I've done a little bit, but may have just killed my only working mower. Dunno, I might have just flooded it. I'll give it a little longer, then I'll try and get it started again.
 
chowhound said:
Is that all pastrami is, smoked corned beef?
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Chow, you can cure your own beef brisket for pastrami, but since it's so much easier to do it my way.

Buy a hunk of corned beef brisket (I prefer the point over the flat), soak it in a sink of cold water, changing the water every half hour for a couple of hours.

Pat the corned beef dry. Slather it with mustart, then season it with either the flavor packet that comes with it, or your own pastrami seasoning mix (whatever you do, don't add salt to your seasoning mix!)

Smoke the corned beef at 225 until the internal temp reaches 190. Let rest, then chill overnight in the fridge. Slice thinly on a deli slicer, and reheat in a steamer basket over a little water with mustard in it. Serve on bulkie rolls, with half-sour pickles and chips or fries.

If you do it right, it tastes just like the deli pastrami!

Lee
 
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