smoker in Action

Duration : 0:0:21

Technorati Tags: bbq, bbq smoker, duck

Step 1Use the trash can as the body of your smoker. The body is responsible for holding in the smoke and heat, and keeping the heat even throughout. Homemade smokers have been made with cardboard, coolers, and the hardcore swear by heavy-gauge steel.

Step 2Add heat. Take the lid off the trashcan, and put off to the side. Place the hot plate inside, on the bottom, and in the center of the trashcan. As close to the bottom as you can from the outside, drill a hole in the side of the trashcan to run the electric cord out of the trashcan enabling you to plug it in. Ensure the edges of the hole aren’t so sharp they will cut the cord. Smooth them out with a file if you need to before pulling the cord through. Use the extension cord, if necessary, to reach the nearest outlet. The single burner electric hot plate will providing a reliable, steady source of heat that will require little to no maintenance.

Step 3Add smoke. Fill your wood chip box with wood chips, and place it on top of the electric hot plate. Wood chip boxes are inexpensive and hold more wood chips than the other options enabling you to cook longer without having to add more. If a wood chip box isn’t readily available, anything which will hold a few good handfuls of chips and can sustain the heat from the hot plate and chips can be used.

Step 4Add the grating. Often times the round grating will fit right down into your trashcan and hold steady from the trashcan’s own design. If your grating will not hold firm and steady, drill four 1/4 inch holes evenly spaced around the trashcan about 1/3 of the way down from the top. Slide one of your 1/4 inch steel rods through one of the holes and through the hole opposite the first. Slide your second 1/4 steel rod through one of the remaining open holes and through the other side, creating a cross for your grating to rest on. Place your grating on your steel rods.

Step 5Add ventilation and temperature control. Drill three to four 1/4 inch holes in the lid of the trashcan spacing the holes apart from each other. Place your temperature gauge through one of the holes enabling you to monitor the temperature of your smoker.

Step 6Test your smoker. Plug in your electric hot plate and turn it onto medium heat. Ensure your wood chip box is full of your favorite smelling wood chips. Ensure the grating is secure in its place inside the trashcan and place the meat of your choice upon the grating. Close the lid and as your meat is cooking, monitor the heat of the cooker to determine if you need to adjust the temperature of your electric hot plate. You will want to keep your smoker between 220°F and 230°F for optimal slow cooking. Open the lid once an hour or so to determine if more chips are needed. Cook the meat to the proper internal meat temperature or per the instructions of your recipe for smoked meat.

Step 7Experiment with different types of wood chips from hickory to apple wood. Try different meats or different rubs and sauces on the meats in your smoker. Enjoy the product of your skill and patience for perfection.
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So my mom, step dad and their friend that lives with them are all very very very heavy smokers. the house just stinks. i stopped doing my laundry there because i would leave and my clothes would smell worse with smoke than before they were washed, thats how much they smoke in the house. same exact way. we agreed that it just wasn’t what we wanted. she seemed to understand.
i told my mom when i was 3 months pregnant that i could not be bringing my baby here if they were still smoking this much in the house, i didn’t want to expose her to this and my boyfriend felt the
they never stopped smoking in the house. after Kayla was born we hardly went over there. i actually went against my better judgment and did stop in a few times to try to see my mom anyway, and we went over there for a fourth of july barbecue they had. but obviously not a lot because of what we told them before.

i always invited my mom over and told them (my mom and sister, mainly. my step dad is kind of a creep who refused to hold her one night when we were over there and walked up stairs) to come over whenever and that our doors were always open to them whenever they wanted to see the baby.

well i take a lot of pictures and send them to everyone of kayla, and it just so happens that there are a lot of pictures with other family members. i do my laundry at my dads house (because moms smells like smoke) and they live kind of close to each other). and she gets irritated that i don’t stop over when i do laundry. i call her every single time and tell her im in town, and she’s either at work, at the bar, going out, or no one answers. my boyfriends parents live in western PA over 5 hours away, and they actually drive here to see her at least once or twice a month and my mom gets pissed that there are more pictures with them than she even sees of the baby. but THEY drive here, and when we do go out there its planned at least a month in advance and a big huge thing that we have to orchestrate just to do. i babysit my boyfriends niece three days a week (and get paid for it) in philly over an hour away and take pictures.

what my mom doesn’t seem to get is that there isn’t any time when i just visit people and thinks i just dont want to see her. its not true at all and i’ve explained it several times but she just doesn’t get it. it’s turned into a full scale war. she wont talk to me unless its to send harassing emails claiming she was the first at the hospital when she was born, the last time she saw the baby was when she bought her a swing, my sister bought her presents with her own money because she was such a proud aunt, how can i do this to them and what happened? it’s so dramatic and i feel like i’ve lost control of this situation.

i actually made plans for her to see the baby around thanksgiving twice, and she canceled on both. one was a saturday when we offered her to babysit so we could see a movie and have a date night, and she canceled last minute on us claiming she had a bad virus. meanwhile, the Tuesday following was when we were supposed to spend some time together for thanksgiving, and when i mentioned it she claimed that she would be fine by then and it was probably just a 24 hour bug. then she canceled anyway saying she had to go out to play darts.

you may gather from this that i don’t believe her. she’s an alcoholic and i can’t really reason with her about anything, especially if it’s later in the evening. she’s been telling people i’m cutting them out of the babies life, when all i wanted was to meet somewhere else. she said she would never go to my dads house to see the baby (she’s more than welcome there by everyone) and that i should bring th ebaby to her house.

am i totally wrong for this? i know she my mom, but i can’t feel comfy knowing i’d be exposing my daughter to the smoke. is it wrong to want to meet somewhere else? to ask her to come to our place? how should i deal with her and everything shes saying? she’s said im breaking her heart and disrespecting her by acting this way. shes using the fact that she bought kayla things to guilt trip me. she told me not to give her any BS about the smoke being the issue since my dad smokes (but my dad doesnt smoke in the house only outside and in his car where the baby never goes). im genuinely uncomfortable with my own mother right now, and i need some input. what would you do in this situation?

You are 100% right on this. This problem has nothing to do with you, your baby or other family members. If your mom is an alcoholic, you may want to check out al-anon, which is a support group for people whose life is affected by an alcoholic. This is your mother’s problem and she needs to realize it. Until then, do what you can to help yourself.

Here is my smoker. It is a charbroil model.

http://users.wbsnet.org/n0yk/Char%20Broil%20Silver.bmp

I tried my first smoked picnic (pulled pork) it was tasty however it wasn’t smoked low enough so it wasn’t pull apart and melt in your mouth, but it wasn’t tough.

I am thinking in order to get a consistent long smoke at around 200-225 I am going to have to get like 2 to 3 rows of charcoal ashy and white, then set 2-3 sets of unlit charcoal side by side and that might do a nice long burn. Is there like some rule? like a 2 rows of 10 briquettes will burn at 200 for an hour or something?

Any help would be appreciated.

Smoking is not a "set it and forget it" operation. You have to watch the meat, watch the temperature, watch the coals. Smoke will only permeate so far into the meat, so if you’re cooking at 220-degrees for seven or eight hours, you don’t need to add more smoking wood after the first four or five hours. You do still need to attend the charcoal, though, and add more when necessary to maintain the correct temperature.

time depends too much on type of meat and size

((( Smoked Turkey )))
Smoked turkey is said to be very flavorful. To smoke a turkey, you’ll need a smoker (or a kettle type of grill) and aromatic hardwood chips. The smoker should be set at 240 degrees and slow cooked. Instructions on how to smoke a turkey can be found online.

((( Steamed Turkey (Tin foil) )))
Using a large sheet of tin-foil, line the oven pan and place the turkey in the center skin side up. Take the sides of the excess tin foil and bring them together so the entire turkey is wrapped but leave it a bit loose so that the steam can escape.

((( Deep Fried Turkey )))
Deep frying turkeys has become more popular in the last few years. People that have tried it say the meat is moist but not greasy. This method calls for a large pot with a basket (like a 40 or 60 quart pot) and a propane tank and burner. You must use an oil that has a high smoke point. Turkey’s made this way are sometimes marinated before frying. (Tip: research this method carefully and have a fire extinguisher handy). Associated Content producer Alex Parsons has great tips for how to fry a Turkey.

((( Grilled Turkey )))
A turkey can be grilled like any other meat. A turkey can either be grilled straight on the grates of a grill or in a roasting pan. This can be done on either a gas or charcoal grill. For a barbecued turkey, use any barbecue sauce. The Food Network has basic instructions on how to cook a turkey on a grill.

Roasted ‘

The Washington Post

WASHINGTON — Picture two steaks on a grocer’s shelf, each hermetically sealed in clear plastic wrap. One is bright pink, rimmed with a crescent of pearly white fat. The other is brown, its fat the color of a smoker’s teeth.

Which do you reach for?

The meat industry knows the answer, which is why it has quietly begun to spike meat packages with carbon monoxide.

The gas, harmless to health at the levels being used, gives meat a bright pink color that lasts weeks. The hope is that it will save the industry much of the $1 billion it says it loses annually from having to discount or discard meat that is reasonably fresh and perfectly safe but no longer pretty.

Full article at: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2002818569_meat21.html
From later in the article:

Consumer advocates note that the European Union has banned the use of carbon monoxide as a color stabilizer in meat. A December 2001 report from the European Commission’s Scientific Committee on Food concluded that the gas (whose chemical abbreviation is "CO") did not pose a risk as long as food was kept cold enough during storage and transport to prevent microbial growth. But should the meat become inadvertently warmer at some point, it warned, "the presence of CO may mask visual evidence of spoilage."

How is it, Berdahl and others ask, that something can be deemed "generally recognized as safe" when there is enough scientific debate over the issue to warrant a ban in Europe?

"I just picture a refrigerator truck breaking down in Arizona and sitting there for an afternoon. Then, ‘Hey, we got it repaired and nobody knows the difference,’ and there you go," Berdahl said.

I’m not certain how I feel about your Q yet, but a young man asked a Q that I thought he could use your expertise

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AmTiz_w3ramdx3HEV0kyT6vsy6IX?qid=1006022604847

I know food coloring techniques have been used in the past to mask the browning of meats.. unfortunately, I’m unable to find a site that gives information on what I remember being used..so this isn’t a new thing, just a different technique.. and I am against all kinds of fresh meat coloring, I would rather buy a meat that has the marbling that I prefer for tenderness, even if it has begun browning, than the much leaner pieces that are eye friendly.

I agree, there are too many people out there that will unknowingly accept meats that have not been held to proper temperature simply because the food may appear to be the color it should be, but it would only take a day or two for the consumer to begin purchasing it and complaining, and it can probably be tracked back to the broke down truck…many drivers would automatically decide the food has been exposed to hazardous temperatures and return to the company it came from letting insurance follow up for the loss, but not all are reputable when it comes to gaining a dollar, and selling the meats anyway.