Smoked Food What you smoke and How

[Gilman]

I'd like to see recipies and your smokers.  I know you have them both, now it is time to share ;D

First attempt at smoking some fish.  Went fishing yesterday and came back with 35# of steel head!  Well it wasn't technically fishing, but I did have to drive up the gorge to where the local indians were selling it for $2.00/lb.  Gunna go get another 40#'s tomorrow.

Here's the fish.  Only going to smoke one today and see how it comes out.


Here's the fish after soaking in non iodized salt and brown sugar over night.


Fish all tucked away in the smoker.  Now just need to add the hardwood.  I mostly smoke chicken in it, probably have smoked 40 of them so far.  Mmmmm I got to go get something to eat.  BRB!  ;)


Got to use a good hardwood, makes all the difference.


No I didn't use the maple burl, but I did use some burl scraps.  ;D

Now just got to wait and wait and wait and see how it turns out.

Oh, almost forgot to post a picture of my baby.


It's a hardwood pellet bbq.  This thing works awsome.  Digital control, just set the temp and use it just like an oven/smoker. I'm going to try smoking a fish in it tomorrow.  Watch out Tom!

[sprucebunny]

My smoker looks kinda like that but ain't nothin digital about it. Usually smoke a couple of hunks of pork butt and 3-4 chickens every other month. Use alder that I go get myself and cut up with the chop-saw. Takes about 6 hours unless I do a turkey; that takes longer.
Got some great rub recipes from "Uncle Billie's BBQ"
It also has a recipe for a Carolina style bbq sauce with NO tomato .Just lots a vinegar ,pepper and a little salt and sugar.

[Buzz-sawyer]

Dont ya have any hickory up there?  ;)
What is alder like? ???

[Gilman]

I usually use alder and apple, but I'm lazy and the maple burl chunks were sitting on the top of the scrap pile.  Alder is about the mildest smoking.  Cherry being the strongest. I don't like cherry, tastes like a house fire.

Wish we had hickory and misquite.  We can buy it but there's no way I'm paying $25.00/bf for a bag of shavings.

Sprucebunny,
Could you post those recipes? I'm alergic to wheat and have to make just about all of my sauces.

[sprucebunny]

From "Uncle Billy's Downeast Barbeque Book"
"Killer Gene's Tar Heel Vinegar Sauce"

2 1/2 cups cider vinegar
1 cup sugar ( I use 1/2 cup)
1/4 cup Tabasco
1/4 cup pickle brine
1 tablespoon granulated garlic
2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons ground black pepper
Combine in clean jar. Shake before use.

The rubs have alot of herbs and spices . The one I've made most often has 5 spice powder in it. Do you like that? They don't have one for fish so give me an idea what you'd like to try one on ( if at all)

[Gilman]

Sure! I'll try anything but escargot once.

[sprucebunny]

Buzz-- No.. we don't have hickory. Wish we did. Alder is assertive. Kinda like hickory but stronger and not as mellow tasting. Easy to overdo it with.

[sprucebunny]

Sebago Pig and Poultry Rub
You're going to have to do some math here cause this makes an awful lot.
3 1/2 ounces granulated garlic
3 oz. Hungarian paprika
2 1/2 oz gran. sugar
2 1/2 oz Oriental 5 spice powder
1 1/2 oz salt
1 1/2 0z black pepper
1/2 oz ground marjoram
1/2 oz grnd anise
1/4 oz grnd sage
1/8 ozgrnd allspice
1/8 oz grnd ginger
Mix it together and rub it on stuff.

Heifer Pat Down
# 1/2 oz cumin
3 1/2 oz granulated garlic
2 1/2 oz salt
2 oz black pepper 1 1/2 oz coriander
1 oz dry mustard
1/2 oz grnd anise
1/2 oz grnd marjoram
1/2 oz lavender leaves
1/8 oz grnd cloves
1/4 oz allspice
1/4 oz grnd thyme
That one I only made once. Didn't like it much but I might a done something wrong.
We must be using different kinds of alder. There's also a chance that I go overboard ;D

[SwampDonkey]

 :D
In about 80 years we'll buck up this pignut hickory I planted on the woodlot. :D

I wish they were native here, I like the flavor.

I like the looks of them steelhead Gillman, although I never did the smoker thing. Here in NB we ate our fish smothered in butter. ;D  BBQ's is for steaks and burgers. :D However, when I lived on the west coast it was very popular to smoke salmon, Iv'e eaten it the same as your preparing it. It tastes pretty good. The pacific salmon has a different texture than our Atlantic salmon. Some of the salmon farms here do smoke it, but I never buy it. It's just something we never grew up with I guess.  I'm sure its good. Beef jerky is something I never have tried, I just don't like the looks of it. Guess I wouldn't have been much of a cowboy. ;)

[Gilman]

When I was a kid my aunt and uncle were fish nuts.  We used to have smoked sturgeon sandwiches made just like tuna sandwich with mayo and pickles.  Mmmmm I sure miss them.

Thanks sprucebunny!  I'll let you know what I think of them. Time to go to Costco and fill up on spices.

With that little smoker I usually only add one or two batches of alder cubes over a 5 hour period.  Gets a little too smokey if you smoke for the whole 5 hours.

[Paschale]

I've never really smoked anything before--do you get some regular charcoals going in the bottom, where the door is, and then add some wet-soaked wood to the top of it, or how does the process work?

If you're smoking for a good five hours, you definitely have got to keep adding charcoal and woodchips throughout the process too, I suppose.

I bought a smoker on clearance similar to yours, but have yet to really give it a serious try.  I'd really like to make some beef jerky using it.  You might have inspired me!   ;D

[sprucebunny]

Paschale-- Yes that's how you do it. Fire on one side and food on the other. I add 5-6 lumps of charcoal an hour. Get the good charcoal- real hardwood  not the petroleum added, easy light stuff.Mostly trial but hard to make an error.

[Tom]

If y'all really get into smoking, look for books on the subject or peruse the Net.  There are different methods of smoking for different reasons. and different meats require different techniques.  
 
Cold Smoking:  the meat is preserved with sugar or salt and smoke is let into the smoking chamber from a separate fire pot.  lots of fish are done this way.

Hot smoked:  is kinda like the food on one side and fire on the other method.  The meat is brought to a temperature where it is acturally cooked.  This method doesn't produce nearly as preserved a meat as the cold smoking. does.

Bar-b-cue:  or just cooking over a wood fire.  smokey wood flavor is imparted but the heat is the most important thing.  Used for  Steaks and the like.

[GF]

I like to smoke with a combination of Pecan and Hickory wood.  I dont like to use charcoal or fluid. I normally light up the hardwood, let it burn down then put the ribs on the rack in the chamber next to the wood and slow smoke about 250 degrees for an hour or so, then wrap them up in foil real tight and keep the heat on around 200-250 degrees for 5-6 hours and let the steam in the foil cook, makes for some tender juicy ribs.

[sprucebunny]

GF- that sounds really good. I often do essentially the same thing but wrapping them and finishing in the oven.Chickens too.
Tom, You're right ;there are different kinds of smoking. I always really wanted to figure out cold smoking . Tried it with a little electric smoker when it was 20 below outside but it still wasn't cold enough and took at least 24 hours that you were supposed to feed it chips once an hour. I love cold smoked salmon ;D I'll even eat very fresh salmon raw. With a little wasabi ;D

[SwampDonkey]

With chicken I speed the process up a bit. I boil it in water till cooked, then take it out to the BBQ for charing and basting with sauce for a few minutes. DanG good and ya don't have to make work outta it. ;D

I haven't even taken time to fire up the 'ole pot this summer. Now its harvest time. :

[Gilman]

Swampy,
The chicken I do opposite as you.  I smoke it then throw it in the oven to finish it off.  Makes it easier to time a meal when you are feeding a group.

What not to do!


Trust me, it doesn't look too bad but it is crunchy and dry.

After a full weekend of moving beams and sawing I got the hair brain idea of smoking overnight.  "Hmm just add a few less briquets and take it off in the morning."  I think the biggest mistake was forgetting to add water to the smoker.

[sprucebunny]

Now you got salmon jerky!! Put a couple of chunks in your pocket in case you get lost ;D

[Furby]

Oooooooops, huh???

[Tom]

Put some in a blender with a little mayonaise and you have a really good dip. ;D
Best if it sits overnite in the frig.

[Gilman]

Good thing I didn't chuck it out yet.

[SwampDonkey]

Gillman:

I was down to the fish hatchery this past weekend and they are raising stergeon for caviar,( $30/lb?) for the Asian market. They are native here also in the Saint John River. In the holding pen they had some over 7 feet long. They also had smolt salmon in other cages. But, from what we were told its like farming potatoes. Nothing wrong with your product just buyers trying to hussle for cheep fish. They tried the water business, but they found its too far to the markets. They shipped $1 Million of bottled water per month and went behind $50,000 per month, didn't take long to shut that operation off. ;)

Gettin back to salmon: In the good old days before hydro electric dams where built, if the family took a hanker'n for some fresh salmon, grandfather just went down over the bank of the river, hopped into the canoe for a bit and caught a nice salmon for dinner. Now the salmon are trucked up and down the river because of the dams. Only one dam was designed with a fish way the rest have fish traps. When the dam on the mouth of the Tobique, which is a major tributary of the Saint John, the salmon tried to jump the dam, which was impossible. They just slammed against the dam, but they kept jumpin. Very few salmon used the fishway, compared to the population of salmon in the River. The Tobique salmon run was the largest run on the Saint John River and the grilse averaged 5-6 lbs, compared to 3 or 4 lbs on Miramichi R. tributaries. We used to throw those small grilse back, it was almost an insult to keep'm because they also needed to be taged if kept. You only had 10 tags. Down below Maqtaquac dam, near Fredericton, we used to see adult salmon over 40 inches porpose over the gravel bars. We used to fish there up until 1986. It was about that time that the landowner that invited us to fish passed away, so it wasn't the same down there without Mr. Bearisto. When I got tired of fishing I'de do some yard work for the old guy, on a volunteer basis.

Happy smokin.......hmmm salmon jerky, naw  :D