Anyone have a smoking hobby? What are your favorite things to smoke. For me it's
1) Beef ribs
2) Brisket
3) Chicken wings
4) Pork shoulder
5) Pork ribs
Definitely in that order too.
What kind of smoker do you have? I have a Traeger but I regret not getting a Yoder.
Are you a black man
Is that like Mcrib?
I am a white man living in the upper Midwest. How bout you?
I have an Akorn. I bought one to see if smoking was for me without spending too much money. I found that I have a lot of cooking BBQ and I'm trying to decide if I should upgrade to a pellet smoker or if I actually have the patience to run an offset next, or if I should spend a lot of money on a ceramic kamado and get a nicer version of something I already know how to use.
Yeah, I have 3 smokers, a old electric MasterBuilt that I got started with, a charcoal offset, and a pellet smoker.
Pork back ribs and brisket are my favorite, with whole chicken being 3rd. I also like smoking my own bacon, shrimp, burgers, jerky, fish and so on.
I went through the same thing. My first smoker was actually some $250 vertical thing on Amazon. It had tons of good reviews for a beginner smoker so I got it.
The Traeger is my 5th smoker actually. I've just kept upgrading. The reason I regret it is the top temperature. It's 500 degrees which is not enough for a steak. It just isn't. Burgers too for me. Yoder's go to 600. I solved this problem by getting a separate gas grill that can do the higher heat and has better control to maintain that heat.
If youre just getting into it
Start with a charcoal smoker
Something like a Weber Smokey Mountain
Dead simple to use and works great
Spend the extra money you have on monitoring
FireBoard makes the best temp control/probes on the market
I like whole chicken too. What's your method for that? I like to do a cold smoke (extra smoke) for a while before cranking it way up and doing a high temp like roast chicken in the oven. It's always good just not one of my go-tos.
Also nice collection. I'll probably save my Traeger instead of selling or gifting it when I upgrade. Idk why I need two but I'm a man in my 40s that needs a hobby so I just do lol
My kids gift to me for Christmas was an Inkbird thermometer so I'm basically required to use that thing until it dies. But I've heard about fire boards too
Salmon, candied and smoked
I've got all the different types.
Electric are super tight on temp control, but require attention every 1-2 hours for wood chip reloading. Also have the maximum flexibility for wood selection, and is the cheapest to run (and buy). No smoke ring due to lack of combustion products (but you get pure smoke taste!).
Pellet smokers have similar wood selection if you live in a well supplied area, but are more expensive to run (plus require power still). No attention required, just load and it runs for hours. For long haul briskets/butts you may need a hopper refill. A bit more of a pain to clean as you have all the ash to suck out afterwards. Can be super expensive depending on model. Temp hold fluctuates quite a bit. Not a good grill though, do not trust the claims they are.
Charcoal offsets are the most finicky to work, but do work double duty as grills. Most limited grill to what lump wood you can find, and doesn't really beat pellet performance. Temp is up to you to control, and it is a real pain in the ass, requires the most attention off all types, plus is a pain to start. Also most expensive to operate.
I recommend going electric first to learn the art first for noobs, then move on to pellet later.
Cheating: use sous vide methods with smoking to get perfect results.
OP has a smoke the pole hobby amirite
Would love to have that hobby but I'm poor as fuck
Fucking brisket prices.
$80 a shot is out of hand.
I just chuck em in whole for 4 hours at 225, usually apple wood, or whatever wood I am feeling at the moment. Always turn out fall apart tender and juicy.
Smoke about 2 packs a day of Winston.
If you do burgers on the smoker, you need to use extra fatty patties (usually 80-85% blend) to counter for drip and moisture loss. While best burger for me will always be a grilled bison burger, smoked burgers take 2nd place handily. Don't use any lean meat (90%+) burger in a smoker, they will come out dry.
I've smoked salmon before, both dry rubbed and teriyaki'd. So good, but super expensive so I don't do it all that often.
Only steak I will let touch a smoker is a ribeye. They have the fat content to withstand the process, and boy are they damn good like that. Fat is all melted and the meat is just so tender.
Any other lean steak needs the grill.
You could get a Kettle if you want to sear steaks. Food cooked on charcoal tastes much better than food cooked on gas in my opinion.
Yeah that makes sense. A really thick strip almost needs that kinda lower cooking temp too. Those thick ass prime strips they have at Costco can be done that way.
I have basically stopped eating steaks without a reverse sear. So I can do that on the smoker but 500 degrees is not what I'm looking for the sear. I like to get mine right to the med-rare temp I like them get a good 30-45 second sear each side in something that's just screaming hot. 600 is the minimum I prefer closer to 700
I got a gas grill. I reverse sear so they only need the heat for like a minute total. In that scenario the source of the heat makes no difference at all.
I only use lean meat for dietary reasons. Like a healthy breakfast or lunch option. For dinner I'm usually going with the good stuff. I just find that 500 degrees is simply not hot enough for a burger. Especially in a party scenario when you're cooking 20. The smoker has such a hard time recovering from the heat loss of putting that many burgers on. A gas grill doesn't have that problem.
Charcoal contains (well proper charcoal at least) contains wood products, so they generate smoke, and smoke is flavor. Each wood type has its own distinct flavor and there are charts for this on the internet.
Gas does not contain smoke, so it does not apply flavor like smoking does. Gas does have the advantage of being consistent, on demand heating, but it will cost you flavor.
I get all that. I love charcoal. I have a wood smoker already so I have the smoke part covered. I just wonder if I got a Yoder if I could sear better at 600. Thinking about upgrading and keeping the Traeger around as just a good all around backup smoker.