Smoking habit

[ZAPPER]

Well this has been a pretty good day for me, I didn't accomplish a single chore around the homested. Instead I have been playing with my smoker and deep fryer. After years of eating smoked turkey legs at the local rennisance festival I finally worked up the gumpsion to smoke some myself.

Being the spur of the moment kind of guy that I am (reads as poor planner) I decided that this being a long weekend and all, I would finally try something different. I have been seeing turkey legs at the supermarket for about a buck a peice(even though all of my co-workers insist that their local stores have them much cheaper) so I bought ten bucks worth (9). I read up about it on the web a bit and didn't find a single method that I would stick to. Soooo. I kind of figured that it is a pretty general process and kind of went at it.

First the brine. I read about a thousand formulas and went off the chart kind of to make my own. Half gallon of water, half cup of kosher salt (not that I am a believer, but I read more than once that ionized was no good for this purpose), half cup of cheap teriaky sause, dash of garlic powder and a dash of poultry seasoning (whatever is in it). I put the legs in the biggest plastic bowl that has a lid, covered them with the brine and put them in the fridge for a good nights soak. This is the step that would normally discourage me. Did I mention that I was a spur of the moment kind of guy? I usually don't do foods that take more than 20 minutes of prep time.

So today about noon time, I fired up (reads as plugged in) the smoker, tossed on a handful of Hickory, the legs and went about doing pretty much nothing. Now anyone that knows anything about smoking knows that this is not an activity for the impaitent. I have an old Brinkman electric water smoker (My second) and while it does come up to tempeture it always seems that the last five degrees on the meat thermometer take about a week.

And the results? Most EXCELLENT! Taste just like....well smoked turkey legs. I am hooked, I think that I will do about 20 next time!

Anyone else here play with fire?

[yoda313]

Ha I thought this was going to be a thread about trying to quit smoking

Nope haven't done anything that exotic.

[Conquest10]

My knowledge of cooking goes about as far as cooking on fire, cooking on stove, and George Foreman grill. Can this be done in the house?

[rallynavvie]

I smoke things quite often actually, they're some of my favorite foods

I don't have a smoker or a smokehouse, I simply use a Weber grill. You use about 3/4 the amount of charcoal briquets you'd normally use for cooking on it and get some wood soaking in a bucket of water nearby. I had to take out one of my apple trees so that's my current wood. I also picked up some mesquite from a friend's place near Dallas. Just make sure the wood is free of any molds or fungus growth and that it's cut and split into pieces about 3-6 inches long by no more than an inch wide. Once you get the charcoal lit (glowing) seperate it into two piles and push them against opposite sides of the grill. Now take some splinters of the wood from the bucket, maybe 6, and lay them on top of the coals equally. They'll begin to smoke as soon as they get hot enough. Now put the lid on tight and make sure the ventholes are closed. Different meats vary in their smoking times so keep an eye on it and be sure to add more wood as it burns off.

I've done salmon filets, turkey pieces (my Weber isn't big enough for a whole one), pork cutlets, chicken breasts, and corned beef brisquets like this. My personal favorite is smoking a corned beef, slicing it thin (against the grain of course), putting on some light rye with provolone or Swiss, putting it on the grill again to melt the cheese and toast the bread a little, and then put some slaw over the top. Those sandwiches were a hit at my last BBQ.

As for marinades everyone will find their favorite. Mine usually consist of water, salt, and brown sugar and then vary depending on the meat. Soy sauce or Worcestshire sauce are both options. In the case of the pork I used a jerk rub instead.

[ZAPPER]

I have smoked quite a few things in the past, but here lately I haven't seemed to have any time. I plan on trying to change that. I found a recipe for pastrami that looks good and now that I have actually done a brine and lived I am ready to step up to the three week brine for pastrami.

I am not a big fish eater, but taking a big chunk of smoked salmon to a party was always a big hit, from my lowlife redneck beer drinking buddies down to my ole ladys uptight wine drinking doctors and wives freinds.

I have done fish, yardbirds, cornish game hens (although those birds were never cornish or game and I doubt hens but still good eating) a whole turkey or two and lots of ribs. Although I must admit that I am not a BBQ or smoker purist. I really kind of perfer the country style ribs with little to no bone.

The turkey legs were my first attempt at the overnight brine ( the closest thing to it before might have been a couple to four hour marinade concoction) I was pretty supprised to find the legs running with juices even after a four hour smoke and hitting 180 degrees. I guess that I will be soaking everything now. I also feared too much salt (not that I am eating healthy or anything) but it came out really good.

My Saturday adventure was fried chicken wings wich turned out fine except for my eternal search for the perfect sause.


Hmmm, now were did that gator crawl off to?

[thecoalman]

Deer hunter Zapper? We do deer Kielbasi all the time. My Uncle's house turns into a small meat packing factory during deer season. If you hunted deer and cut your own you know that a lot of the meat such as the forequarters can be a hassle.... the solution... grind it up into sausage. We have a grinder/packer, all casings are natural purchased at the local supermarket. It's not 100% venison though as that would be entirely too dry, about 30% deer and 70% pork. the venison gives it a nice flavor.



It gets packed through the week and set aside in a cooler:


When the weekend comes around get the prerequisite quarter of beer (this is the most important part):


Then watch it smoke, each batch takes about 3 hours, usually do 3 batches in a day:




Smoker is fired from the bottom with a pipe going through the ground.

[ZAPPER]

@ coalman

Back home the family does some sausage making. I have been in on it but never the brains of the operation. 70% pork seems high but you may be right. I was thinking that we used like 50% but alot of it was fat. Another thing is to add crushed ice. I also rember a version of pork sausage that had like a gallon of maple syrup in it. The part that I remember the most was washing the casings in freezing cold water! My hands hurt just thinking about it!

One of my brothers is the great white hunter and has always cooked game better than anyone I know. I just can't seem to find the time that I used to have.

[thecoalman]

I was thinking that we used like 50% but alot of it was fat.
.

Guess that depends on your tastes, the ones we are making are based on a kielbasi recipe so it's supposed to be fatty. some of the guys go 50-50. I prefer the 70% pork. 50% is too dry for me.

[BJ_M]

coalman -you should come up here for some moose hunting !

[thecoalman]

shhhhh... I don't hunt. Most of friends do. Actually all my freinds do. My father never hunted hence the reason I don't hunt I guess.

[BJ_M]

nothing wrong with that -- though in penn state, , you are really in a minority i understand