The Gun Counter

Several Thanksgivings ago, we had the entire gaggle of kids, kids' spouses, kids' kids, etc. descend on Rancho Imperfecto for dinner. And one turkey wasn't going to be enough, so since The Boss is not a big fan of fried turkey, we decided to do one in my old charcoal smoker. Two minutes after grace, the smoked turkey was GONE!

So, the next year we did two turkeys, in the same smoker, and wound up having to finish them in the oven, since they didn't have time to get completely done. Still turned out great, but not being done put a little kink in The Boss's plan for dinner.

This year, we bought an electric smoker, and if it wasn't so homely I'd marry it! So far we've done the two turkeys for Thanksgiving, some brisket for Christmas Eve dinner, and in between some ribs, and some chickens.

It's the ultimate "fire-and-forget" system. Set the temp, set the time, add chips, and take it out when done.

Wish I'd known about this YEARS ago!!

Dumb fucking question: Is it an indoor or outdoor appliance

Outdoor. It sits on the front porch, looking a little bit like R2D2 (about the size of a dormitory fridge). And it has a remote that lets you program temp and cook time. Almost idiot-proof.

Terra cotta pots, hot plate, er… Not sure exactly how to do it indoors, unless you have a duct you could connect to...

What temperature ranges will it operate in? That is, what's the lowest outdoor temperature it will work in?

Links to recipe sites, etc?

I have this one: http://www.amazon.com/Brinkmann-810-708 ... ann+smoker

The electrical element was not strong enough to heat the unit in cold weather and there is no way to regulate heat so I upgraded w. an NG conversion: http://gassmoker.com/v-burner.htm

Smoked some babybacks in 30 degree weather last week. Yummmm

This thread is useless without links.

Using that gas burner to heat a chamber with wood chips, etc would be an interesting idea - directly smoking w gas is usually less than ideal. (Nasty tasting thiols, and lots of moisture from the gas.)

Here's the one I have. It was under $200 at Lowes.

http://www.masterbuilt.com/index.php/pr ... ntrol.html

And here's where we got our starter recipes.

http://www.smoker-cooking.com/

And this is a great beginner's rub. You can make your own (which we have started playing with) but this one is pretty hard to beat.

http://www.buttrub.com/


The temp range is from 180-250 degrees, but everything we've done has been in the 200-250 range. Brisket @ 250, ribs @200, and chicken or turkey at 225-235. Some people say that below 200 degrees you don't have enough heat to make really good smoke. Dunno, we haven't tried.

There, ya'll happy now?

First Shirt wrote:There, ya'll happy now?

I was happy to begin with.

Signed,
Not the grouchy old bastard

ETA: Clearly, tongue in cheek...