Our old charcoal barrel grill had seen better days so we replaced it with an offset smoker. First use last night grilling a strip steak. We use charcoal exclusively. Never have smoked meat before. I'm a heat and eat kinda guy. She wants to try smoking a rack of ribs. I have several species of dry smoker wood so next weekend may be the trial run. Any tips and pointers for us newbies would be appreciated.
I just started two pork shoulders on my offset smoker this am. Probably an 8 hour affair so you have to be dedicated. Ribs take much less time. I started out with the 3,2,1 method and learned from there. Pull the membrane, then dry rub ribs with seasonings. For a bigger rack, 3 hours on smoker, 2 hours wrapped in foil (I add a little brown sugar, some butter and some apple juice inside the foil) then the last hour is out of the foil and your favorite bbq sauce applied. All this at 225-250 degrees. Key is to pay attention your temp. Until you learn the smoker, it’s likely to go up and down as you add wood. Smaller racks of course take less time. Using mostly TJV pecan wood. Can’t wait to taste the results.
Yeah buddy. Apple or cherry is great with pork. Build a small charcoal fire in firebox and then start adding a few splits at a time. Ribs are a great start. 3-2-1 works great. Keep us posted. it is sort of addicting.
Kind of a dumb question but I'll ask anyhow. I have some apple that had some ant damage and/or punky areas when I processed it. Can I use this or would it be ill advised? Its dry and in the firepit stack.
When I got my smoker, I joined this site and learned a ton of to-do's and not to-do's The Virtual Weber Bulletin Board It's a site for Webber Bullet smokers, but techniques, wood, and recipes can be used most anywhere.
That was my plan too. Thanks for your input! I have plenty of oddball shaped nuggets that have good meat on them. Sorry for the unintended pun, sometimes it works out that way. I tried burning a couple of the cull ones in the firepit recently as its supposed to give off blue,/green ghost flames when coaling. Maybe a bit of green was all I noticed. I have heaping plus wheelbarrow full of them to burn yet.
Bit of personal preference in that answer. I don’t use a lot of hickory. Only because I don’t get it often. I’ve never used maple or pear either. Mulberry is good with everything I’ve tried it on. If you ever try mesquite, go light. It can be overpowering. Mix it w/ other woods.
Hickory is good, but can be strong and overpower a bit. I really like pecan, to me it has good flavor and not as overpowering as the hickory can be. Try to keep the smoke "clean" and light blue. If you have a lot of smoke billowing, you're probably not gonna be happy with the results. I've never used the other woods you asked about. I've only used hickory, pecan, white oak and cherry, to my recollection. Which reminds me, I need to smoke something...
Hey Brad, really nice smoker! There is a plethora of charts on the internet for "smoker wood/meat type" pairings. This one is nice because it adds a meat from one of the often overlooked categories "Dinos". We smoke so many dinosaurs up here in the Great NW and it is sometimes hard to get good pairings. I wonder if a plesiosaur would be considered a seafood or a dinosaur or whether chickens could use all the same woods as the T-rex, Velociraptors and similar upright dinos. Of course the chickens would use a much smaller volume of the smoker wood than a T-rex. I also disagree with how this chart treats Alder which I believe is about as close as you can find to a "universal" smoker wood. Another category they should add is "Varmints". This would include Raccoons, Possums, Armadillos, Polecats and such. I know you will have a lot of fun and good eating with your new smoker! Have fun!
This chart is great. The dinos are hysterical. Ms. buZZsaw laughed. Not having access to alder, what type of flavor does it give?
Ribs are rubbed. Fire being started shortly. Paper towel roll for scale. Would this be considered a small or large rack?
I’d say medium to large. 3,2,1 can be adjusted for smaller racks, kinda have to get a feel for it. You don’t want the meat to just completely separate from the bone when you pull it off the smoker. What kinda wood ya using?
Alder has a lighter, slightly sweeter smoke but still has a hint of depth. It is one of the few woods that works well with seafood as it does not overpower the meat. The sweetness works well with all pork and poultry. Where it falls down is when paired with strongly flavored beef cuts like brisket or tritip. For heavy beef cuts I add about 1/4 - 1/3 pecan or oak wood to the mix. I don't care for heavy, overpowering smokes like 100% hickory or oak and have no use for mesquite at all. Just my personal preferences. I will admit though, there is a lot of fun to be had in figuring out what your favorite smoke/meats are!
100% apple and im adding charcoal as needed to keep a coal base. I way overdid it at the start. Temp shot way up. Luckily the meat hadn't been put on yet. Halfway there. Firebox
