Hi,
UK Smoker here & just got myself a Bradley.
Looking for some good tips to help get me started (I have a UDS - so have some experience!)
Moving to a bradley for the easier to use option/less messy, etc. than charcoal + I hope to teach my other 1/2 how to smoke, which is way beyond her with the UDS!
Anyway, anyone want to share tips with me to help get me started?
Everything appreciated.
I have some Cherry & Hickory bisquettes & was thinking of alternating them for seasoning. Im a beef, pork & chicken person.
Is there any food I can throw in during seasoning? maybe some ABT's? etc. Shame to waste a bit of cooking time!
Also, I plan on only using enough brisquettes until the outside bark is sealed or around 150 - ie that sweet spot where no more smoke penetrates & to save on briquettes
(not sure how they are priced in the USA, but here in the UK they work out at about 30p/50cents each.)
I assume people already do this? (I have bubba pucks on order to reduce wastage - its only going to take 30 smokes to payback!)
Welcome to the forum!
First of all, I wouldn't try to smoke anything during the "seasoning" process. Part of the reason for the seasoning process is to burn off residues from the manufacturing process, such as lubricants, so that the residues won't impart flavor/contaminants to your food. Shame to use pucks that way, but it's a one time cost.
Puck costs here vary depending on package size and flavor. 120 count packages of popular flavors, such as hickory or apple can be had for about 33 cents each, plus shipping and taxes. 48 counts will run about 42 cents each, plus shipping and taxes. A bit less than what you're paying, but probably related to additional shipping costs.
For smoking times, I think that you might find that a Bradley will impart the flavor you want in less time than other smokers due to the way that the pucks char rather than burn to ash. One of the more accepted pieces of wisdom here is that applying smoke to anything for longer than four hours doesn't do much to make the food more smokey. For smaller items, poultry, and the like, smoking periods significantly less than four hours are common. For example, when I smoke a turkey breast, I apply about 2:40 of smoke. It'll take you some experimenting with the different woods and smoke application times to really dial your process in for your personal tastes.
There are some recommendations floating around the forums for how long to apply smoke to a variety of items to use as a starting point. I'm not sure where that information is, but you might find it in Our Time Tested and Proven Recipes at www.susanminor.org. Even if you can't find what you want, this site is still a great source of ideas and recipes.
Welcome to the forum and happy smoking