New to Smoking

[Tonto]

Ok...I'm a little new to smoking & need some advise....

What is a nice easy simple thing to smoke in order to get into the swing of things?

[Not A Nice Person]

[lol] [lol] [lol]

I was all [wtf2] until I saw what section this was in . . .

Wood-fired smoker, I'd say turning fresh sausage into smoked sausage, or beer butt chicken, is about as easy as it gets. Brisket's not hard, really, just time-consuming.

Electric smoker, the kind that looks like a big can, stick a turkey in there. Practically goof proof.

NANP™
[cigar]

[Tonto]

Here's what I picked up last year...

[Not A Nice Person]

Sweeeet.

Raise the chimney stack height with a section of pipe, learn to regulate the temp, and you're good to go. Slow stuff like brisket goes on the far end from the firebox, beer butt chicken goes right next to it. Presmoked sausages go IN the firebox when the coals get low, about half an hour to an hour before serve time.

Ribs are kind of tricky. Some do 'em fast, some do 'em slow. Slow is better.

Mark's the one around here that really knows what he's doing, though. Where is that guy when ya need 'im?

NANP™
[cigar]

[Mark]

Jan, Pork butt or Shoulder is the easiest thing as it is very forgiving to temp swings. 

Fire up your smoker, get it to 275/300, throw the butt on and let it stabilize around 225/250.  Usually it's about 1-1.5 hrs per lb.  You can do it all the way up to 300* if you are in a rush.  It will stall around 165* as this is when all of the fat starts the "melt" away and lubricate the meat, so dont worry, wait it out as it will seem like forever.  Soon enough it will start to climb and you will be at 200* in no time.

[Tonto]

Thanks guys!!!

 

[Tonto]

Sweeeet.

Raise the chimney stack height with a section of pipe, learn to regulate the temp, and you're good to go. Slow stuff like brisket goes on the far end from the firebox, beer butt chicken goes right next to it. Presmoked sausages go IN the firebox when the coals get low, about half an hour to an hour before serve time.

Ribs are kind of tricky. Some do 'em fast, some do 'em slow. Slow is better.

Mark's the one around here that really knows what he's doing, though. Where is that guy when ya need 'im?

NANP™
[cigar]

How will that affect the smoker?

[Not A Nice Person]

Improves the draw and gets more smoke into the chamber; also, you can get the heat up a bit faster when you open the woodbox vents because of the increased flow. A lot of the guys down here have offset smokers where the chimney's on the end instead of the lid, and they'll put 4-6 of pipe on it.

NANP™
[cigar]

[JoeBob]

Ok...I'm a little new to smoking & need some advise....

What is a nice easy simple thing to smoke in order to get into the swing of things?

LOL, post of the year right there.
Like NANP, I was all like "wtf?".
Tonto, I'll send you some Thompsons and Macanoodles if you want!


The only smoking I ever did was back in college, my fraternity would rent a huge smoker and make pork ribs. Gosh they were good.

The recipe?

Get up REALLY early (generally after a long night of drinking)
Unload the wood from the bed of the pickup truck of one of the freshmen.
Try to light the wood.
Keep trying.
Keep trying....
Wait for the temperature to get high enough
Put meat in smoker
Wait
Flip meat
Wait
Serve

:?

[Skipper the cigar aFISHinodo]

wow, Jan... Kick Ass!

 

The secret is in the brine. Smoking is the easy part.

My preference is to smoke fish. But it's probably the hardest.

Listen to the others tho, they definately know more than I do. But if you want to know what the pitfalls are, reach out to me. I still trip over them.