Smoking Food & Smokers
 

Looking to see if there's any smoking fans in the area. I've been a huge fan of smoked food for many years now, a buddy of mine purchased a smoker 2 years ago and I'm jealous. Looking to purchase a smoker at some point this year, was wondering if anyone had some advice and opinions on what is a good beginners smoker I can buy and learn with. I've already be told not to cook Brisket on my first try.

I have a traeger and love it. Don't get the small one, you will regret it. Buy pellets from a place that moves a lot because they dry out and fall apart.

spatchcock turkey and if you did nothing else it's worth it.

brisket is a challenge to get perfect but not hard to get pretty good.

I have two smokers, one electric that I use for “quick” stuff like chicken and ribs. Have done pork butts in it with good luck, just not as much smoke as I like. I also have a stick burner that I love. That I cook everything on. This one is a lot more tricky to keep the fire just right.
As a beginner I like the set and forget with electric or propane. I also like the pellet style as well although they can be a bit more costly up front.
Just my .02

I started with a vertical propane smoker, but didn't use it much. On a recommendation I got a Green Mountain Grill Daniel Boone pellet smoker and use it all the time. If money is less of a worry, Rec Tec or Yoder are usually considered the best pellet smokers out there.

My favorites are Smoked Chuck Roast (salt and rest in fridge over night, rub with pepper and garlic powder, in the smoker at 225 until internal meat temp of 197, wrap and rest for an hour, easier, cheaper and just as tasty as brisket), Tri-tip steak (smoke until 130 internal meat temp, rest then throw on super hot grill or cast iron for some crust) and chicken wings (rub with favorite rub, smoker at 410, 20 minutes, flip and cook 10 minutes, flip and cook 5 minutes, nice and crispy).

A good resource including many reviews, recipes and techniques is https://amazingribs.com/

I bought a Masterbuilt electric smoker a number of years ago and it works very well.

https://www.samsclub.com/p/mes145s-d...lp_product_1_2

It's pretty much set it and forget it as it will automatically turn off when whatever you are smoking comes up to desired temp via internal probe or time frame. It also comes with a remote so you can change temperature settings, turn on and off, gives temperature probe readings, etc, etc from the comfort of your home.

I have pretty much smoked everything in it and am very happy with it. I would recommend an electric for your first smoker.

Dan

If you want ease, and superior results
 

Get a Weber Smoky Mountain https://tinyurl.com/thclfuz

I also highly recommend a blower like the BBQ Guru, or similar.

With a blower you can leave this unattended for hours on end. I have cooked brisket start to finish without reloading charcoal.

Great support forum here: https://www.virtualweberbullet.com

You will not be disappointed.

I agree with Dan. I have the Masterbuilt Electric smoker as well. If you’re just starting out it’s short money compared to the cost of a pellet grill and pellet smoker. I love mine. As Dan said, it’s set it and forget it and it has an internal meat probe so you know exactly what the meat temp is without opening the unit.

We purchased a Cookshack Smokette years ago and have smoked hundreds of pounds of meat. We use it weekly and have never had a problem. My suggestion is to buy the best you can afford.

I second the vote for the Traeger... fantastic smoker.

It’s not the arrow, it’s the Indian. There are all type of options when it comes to the smoker. They all have pros and cons.

Watch a handful of YouTube videos and that will lead you to the best smoker for you.

I found the journey up the learner curve quit fast and yummy.

Zing!
 

Great first line...right to the point! 🐻

Smokers
 

Agree with ishoot - I gave a master built electric to hubby several years ago and VERY happy

Don't forget accurate temperature sensing.
 

I have a Masterbuilt propane smoker. If I had to do it again, I'd get an electric. Regardless, be sure that you also purchase a high-quality remote-read thermometer. I have a dual probe with one reserved for the smoking chamber temperature.

My first attempt (brisket) was a spectacular failure when I found that the built-in Masterbuilt thermometer was off by 20 degrees. It's easy to test a thermometer by sticking the probe end into boiling water. If it doesn't read 212, you'll at least have a correction factor. I wish I'd thought of this one brisket sooner.

BTW, thick, smoked pork-chops are quite tasty.

If you have an electric or a propane smoker,you also have an excellent warming oven. They do not have an adjustment for 120/140 degrees but you can "eyeball" it and use an oven thermometer to reach desired temps.
At thanksgiving, with only one household oven we were able to keep side dishes hot in the smoker outside while we cooked rolls.

TX Smoker
 

The Army took me to TX for about three years and I fell in love with the State. True to lore, everything is bigger in TX, including the smoker I bought a year after leaving TX when I became nostalgic.

https://www.lyfetyme.com/

I am super happy with my smoker. It is very heavy duty and won't go anywhere in my lifetime (hence the name). It is a wood smoker, so it requires a bit more work than a pellet smoker (from my understanding), but as Aaron Franklin of Franklin's BBQ in Austin said, part of the fun of smoking meat is getting to play with fire. I couldn't agree more.

To be fair, you pay for these smokers, but I think it's a question of value vs. price.

I use a Kamado Joe wood fired grill. Much more versatile thank anything else. It will produce true smoked BBq. You can also use it as a pizza oven, regular grill, or a regular oven. you can smoke food, bake bread, cook wood fired pizza, sear steaks or just cook burgers.

Thank you for the responses. Initially I was eyeing and offset-vertical char-coal smoker because my buddy has an Oklahoma Joe offset horizontal smoker. Although he loves his, the uneven heat requires rotation of the food; from what I've been reading thus far, a vertical smoker doesn't have that issue. The one that I was eyeing was the Dyna-Glo Signature Series Vertical Offset. Had Dyna-Glo not run out of these, my wife was going to surprise me with it last summer (they were waiting on new order from the manufacturer). I never considered pellet smokers, so I never looked into one but now, I'm going to.
My weekends traveling to NYC for work are nearing an end soon, so I'll have too much time on my hands, I think smoking food will be the right fix for me. I'm looking forward to next fall, when I can get up early on Sunday’s, smoking some food, sit back have a few drinks and watch a Pat's game.
I never considered pellet smokers, so I never looked into them but now, I'm going to.

I was looking for an electric smoker that had the probe feature to monitor internal temp on the meat and adjust accordingly. I saw one in the above comments, but was hoping i could get more recommendations for ones with that feature.

Ever looked into Big Green Egg

Homemade
 

When we lived in NW Louisiana, several of my friends had home made ones, made from old single door refrigerators.

They gutted the insides to the outside metal. The motor and tubing were all removed. The top had a small chimney ( 3-4 in ?) installed with a damper to control smoke and a cap to keep out rain.

They were installed over a fire pit made from cement blocks and lined with fire bricks. A hole in the bottom allowed the smoke to enter the "smoker". Pretty sure sure some of them had temperature probes.

Really worked well, and held a lot of meat, poultry, fish, etc.

Dave

Benzguy - Yes along with Pit Barrel Cooker, both good smokers but your over direct heat, I'm looking for indirect heat, where the smoke cooks the food more than the heat. Big Green Egg, has a heat shield you can use but its still getting a lot of heat.

I've never seen a homemade smoker myself but YouTube has some great videos of peoples homemade smokers and some are very impressive looking.

I have the smoke hollow electric smoker with the probe. Temp was off 12 degrees so I just do the math when cooking.
Other than that it’s great. Holds plenty of meat and the chip box is one of the biggest that I saw when comparing models. Easy to clean as well.

This is the latest version of what I have. It has the meat probe and you can run the unit from your smartphone.

https://www.masterbuilt.com/collecti...lectric-smoker

You could go the cheap DIY route... Turns out that there are lots of sites with instructions for making these.

cooking with wood
 

If you're gonna smoke something, nothing like cooking with real wood and pellet smokers give you that. I have had a Camp Chef (sold with Cabela's name on it) for 2 years and love it. I've done several briskets, ribs, and beer chicken with it and it always comes out great. There are a lot of how-to video's on the Camp Chef web site. The smoker holds the oven temp within 3 degrees of set temp and the meat probe allows me to keep an eye on progress nicely without opening. There are bluetooth versions as well, but mine is simply a digital readout on the control panel. A few years ago they were hard to find, now even the big box stores (Lowes, Home Depot) sell them and prices have come down some.

not at 225 degrees- most desired smoking temp

Love my Traeger, and agree with the earlier comment about getting the big one. I've smoked the Thanksgiving turkey on it the past two years (bourbon brined), and it was fantastic.

As far as pellets go, I've found that WalMart has the cheapest prices, and carry the "Pit Boss" brand. It's the only thing I buy @ WalMart. They move them quickly (at least here in PA) so they are still intact and not dried-out.

I use the Traeger on average 3-4x per week, all year round. GREAT unit.

What's a good dry rub/BBQ sauce recipe, I'm just looking for some ideas. I don't mind some store bought BBQ's sauces but I'm really looking into to making my own. Personally I'm a dry rub fan but my wife likes the BBQ sauces more. We've already started experimenting with different flavors, she's favoring the mustard base, I'm leading more towards bourbon. As for store bought brands, Stubbs is my go to, they don't use High Fructose Corn Syrup or Corn Syrup (at least's the ones I get, I haven't had them all), that's a huge no, no for me. I don't mind regular sugars (like cane sugar/brown sugar), honey or maple syrup but that's about it.

I usually slap together a rub and am too lazy to measure anything or keep track but if you follow Alton Brown his rule is:


And his starter recipie

Dry Rub:

8 tablespoons light brown sugar, tightly packed

3 tablespoons kosher salt

1 tablespoon chili powder

1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1/2 teaspoon jalapeno seasoning

1/2 teaspoon Old Bay Seasoning

1/2 teaspoon rubbed thyme

1/2 teaspoon onion powder

Stubbs is a great bbq sauce. Here is the rub I use and I use it on ribs and pork butts/shoulder. I spread yellow mustard on first and then use the rub liberally.
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1/4 cup sweet paprika (not smoked or hot)
2 tbsp salt
1 tbsp chili powder
1 tbsp onion powder
1 tbsp garlic powder
1 tbsp pepper
1 tbsp mustard powder
2 tsp cumin
1 tsp cayenne pepper

Check out Humphrey's Smokers made right down the street from my place.


https://www.humphreysbbq.com/

I use Meathead's Memphis dust on pork and chicken:
https://amazingribs.com/tested-recip...ust-rub-recipe

For BBQ sauce I love Sweet Baby Ray's Sweet Golden Mustard Barbeque Sauce and others like it on everything (it does contain High Fructose Corn Syrup). I never put it on the meat while cooking, just on the side, that way if someone wants just dusted ribs/pulled pork it's available. For homemade maybe try https://amazingribs.com/tested-recip...q-sauce-recipe

I used to love Sweet Baby Rays but stopped getting it when I cut HFCS and regular CS out of my diet.