NEED food smoker HELP!!!!

stdreb27

Active Member
Quote:
Originally Posted by DragonZim http:///forum/thread/386021/need-food-smoker-help/100#post_3392013
I put a pan of water in the smoker under the rack where the meat sits the last time I did ribs a few weeks ago. They came out amazingly juicy.
If you boil ribs, you can end up with ribs where the meat literally falls off he bone. (and soggy imo) I've never been able to do that with a smoker. That being said, the flavor of non-boiled ribs is better, with a better texure.
Quote:
Originally Posted by meowzer
http:///forum/thread/386021/need-food-smoker-help/100#post_3392020
HMMM....So when I go to smoke my fresh ham....DON'T INJECT IT???? DON'T PUT IT IN A PAN????
so I just marinade it and rub a RUB onto the outside??
you can do whatever you do that tastes good. Although I typically don't cook in a pan.
 

slice

Active Member
Quote:
Originally Posted by meowzer http:///forum/thread/386021/need-food-smoker-help/100#post_3392052
NO REEF...I did not.....I don't recall that being mentioned till now....I may have missed it though
A couple of thread pages ago, I recommended a pan under the meat with a variety of liquids, water, wine, apple juice etc, but if you followed the step-by-step I posted,
you were probably too blasted at that point to care...

QUESTION: I just bought a bag of HICKORY flavored charcoal.....Do you still need wood with that?
 

reefraff

Active Member
Quote:
Originally Posted by meowzer http:///forum/thread/386021/need-food-smoker-help/100#post_3392052
NO REEF...I did not.....I don't recall that being mentioned till now....I may have missed it though
QUESTION: I just bought a bag of HICKORY flavored charcoal.....Do you still need wood with that?
Try the charcoal and see. I personally would go with cheap charcoal and use good wood instead. You can get bags of wood at home depot or lowes but in your neck of the wood I bet you can go pick up some dead fall for free. Oaks and maybe Hickory should grow there. Mesquite is nice too.
 

dragonzim

Active Member
Quote:
Originally Posted by stdreb27 http:///forum/thread/386021/need-food-smoker-help/120#post_3392055
If you boil ribs, you can end up with ribs where the meat literally falls off he bone. (and soggy imo) I've never been able to do that with a smoker. That being said, the flavor of non-boiled ribs is better, with a better texure.
you can do whatever you do that tastes good. Although I typically don't cook in a pan.
I've never boiled ribs first and I never will... Only benefit I can see in boiling them would be to cook them faster and if I dont have the time to do it right, I'm not gonna make them at all! Boiling will get rid of all the delicious fat that flavors the meat.
Also, technically speaking, if you are in a competition setting, ribs are not supposed to fall off the bone. There should be some chewiness to them.
 

stdreb27

Active Member
Quote:
Originally Posted by DragonZim http:///forum/thread/386021/need-food-smoker-help/120#post_3392107
I've never boiled ribs first and I never will... Only benefit I can see in boiling them would be to cook them faster and if I dont have the time to do it right, I'm not gonna make them at all! Boiling will get rid of all the delicious fat that flavors the meat.
Also, technically speaking, if you are in a competition setting, ribs are not supposed to fall off the bone. There should be some chewiness to them.
Yeah, I agree, I don't dig the boiled texture. (but if your cooking for those kind of girls, it goes over better) Cooks down all the stringy stuff, that gets stuck in the teeth, and if you do it in foil, on the grill, you can cook the good stuff right next to it on the grill.
 

meowzer

Moderator
LOL....I'm not gonna comment on how we cooked stuff....coming from New York....haha
BUT....my mom did boil the chicken before BBQ'ing....and you know we did not use the charcoal grills....LOL...we used the lava rock ones....HEY I STILL DO...I'm telling you...this smoker business is all new to me
 

dragonzim

Active Member
Quote:
Originally Posted by meowzer http:///forum/thread/386021/need-food-smoker-help/120#post_3392348
LOL....I'm not gonna comment on how we cooked stuff....coming from New York....haha
BUT....my mom did boil the chicken before BBQ'ing....and you know we did not use the charcoal grills....LOL...we used the lava rock ones....HEY I STILL DO...I'm telling you...this smoker business is all new to me

Don't worry Meowzer.... I grew up with both charcoal and gas grills but gas was definitely used more often for the convenience factor. I have both myself and if I'm just doing burgersdogs or grilled pizza I will take the gas any day of the week. But, for steaks, chops, ribs or smoking I will definitely choose the charcoal every time!
 

reefraff

Active Member
Nothing wrong with gas. My smoker is electric, looks like a dorm fridge. It has a smoke generator that you load wood disks into to create smoke. Every 20 minutes it pushes another disk out onto the heating element. The "pit master" who is teaching me the ropes is very impressed with this thing. It creates intense smoke and the burnt disks are discharged into the water pan so there isn't a mess to clean up. Of course this convenience isn't cheap either.
 

meowzer

Moderator
Quote:
Originally Posted by reefraff http:///forum/thread/386021/need-food-smoker-help/120#post_3392353
Nothing wrong with gas. My smoker is electric, looks like a dorm fridge. It has a smoke generator that you load wood disks into to create smoke. Every 20 minutes it pushes another disk out onto the heating element. The "pit master" who is teaching me the ropes is very impressed with this thing. It creates intense smoke and the burnt disks are discharged into the water pan so there isn't a mess to clean up. Of course this convenience isn't cheap either.
LOL...This sounds like my type of thing....I love stuff that takes care of itself
next time I use the smoker I am wearing goggles though
I swear I was gonna go blind...it also was very windy out
 

reefraff

Active Member
Back when I was a kid we made a couple smokers out of old refrigerators with steel interiors. Those things worked great. The smoker I have is about the same thing, even has a magnetic rubber seal around the door like a refrigerator. With those you just built an external fire box and piped it into the back. Even used the steel racks that were original to the refrigerators.
 

florida joe

Well-Known Member
Alright already I can’t take it anymore Lois come down to Naples. I will personally slow smoke YOUR MEAT for you if you know what I mean and I THINK YOU DO
 

dragonzim

Active Member
Quote:
Originally Posted by reefraff http:///forum/thread/386021/need-food-smoker-help/120#post_3392353
Nothing wrong with gas. My smoker is electric, looks like a dorm fridge. It has a smoke generator that you load wood disks into to create smoke. Every 20 minutes it pushes another disk out onto the heating element. The "pit master" who is teaching me the ropes is very impressed with this thing. It creates intense smoke and the burnt disks are discharged into the water pan so there isn't a mess to clean up. Of course this convenience isn't cheap either.
Link? That thing sounds damn cool!
 
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