Rusty Bowtie
General Category => General Discussion - Intros => Topic started by: EDNY on June 13, 2020, 06:50:48 PM
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Just fired up my "SmokeVault" smoker...anyone else into smoking foods? Any tricks of the trade you can pass on?
First time using pellets (Hickory) and wrapping them in aluminum foil with small holes seems to be working. In my old smoker I used wood chunks in stainless boxes with small holes. Getting the wood to fit in the boxes was a pain....a lot less work with pellets.
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Mine is a Traeger. It uses pellets for the heat and the smoke. I've had it a couple of years and love it. Lots of different wood pellets available.
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I'm lazy I used propane smoker and hickory or other varieties of wood in the wood chip box...low and slow for a long time...then wrap in foil for last 45-60 minutes until temp of meat is right....
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My son has a smoker. He's really good at it. I'll have to ask him to comment on here about it. He has some tasty recipes!
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My son has a smoker. He's really good at it. I'll have to ask him to comment on here about it. He has some tasty recipes!
That's what I need...BTW my unit runs on LP...first time using pellets...used hardwood chunks in the past. Have a couple of old Hickory trees out back that donate occasionally.
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My son has a smoker. He's really good at it. I'll have to ask him to comment on here about it. He has some tasty recipes!
That's what I need...BTW my unit runs on LP...first time using pellets...used hardwood chunks in the past. Have a couple of old Hickory trees out back that donate occasionally.
Ed, here's the response from my son. Hope it helps.
Slightly different style smoker than I have used. Hickory is a pretty safe wood to use from my experience but definitely check online for suggestions on pairing woods with certain types of meat. This site has a good break down and explanation of the woods - https://kingofthecoals.com/ultimate-guide-smoking-wood/ (https://kingofthecoals.com/ultimate-guide-smoking-wood/) . Also feel free to mix multiple woods that pair. Before I got a pellet smoker, if I did't have chunks I would soak chips in water for an hour or so to get a longer smoke out of them.
Most of the stuff I've done has expanded from recipes online or some recipe books I've picked up over the years. A lot of local meat shops also have rubs they sell that are good and most of the people there are helpful for suggestions on seasoning, methods, or even the cut of meat to try. They can suggest if you need to brine or inject as well as what you should use. A good one is apple juice mixed with rub injection in a pork butt/shoulder for pulled pork.
Only other thing I would suggest is to have a good wireless thermometer if that smoker doesn't have something. Less you open the door to check temp, the better!
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My Traeger is a pellet smoker/grill. It has an electric starting element to ignite the pellets. From there heat and smoke is from the pellets. It regulates the heat very well. I use a remote thermometer to monitor the meat temp. If I follow the recipe/heat/time instructions things come out perfectly every time. Even when I change things up if I get the internal meat temp right things are great. It is easy to use and comes up to temp as quick as my Weber gas grill and is easier to regulate. I have a smoke box for the Weber too. Here are some Treager recipes.
https://www.traegergrills.com/recipes (https://www.traegergrills.com/recipes)
Doing ribs tomorrow! :)