Hello, all! I wanted to share my recent experience with acquiring and the first uses of my new smoker
My wonderful bride bought me an Original Bradley Smoker for Christmas. It showed up with a manufacturing defect in the smoke generator (puck tower leaned like 10 degrees away from the smoke box). Called Bradley, and the very helpfull tech on the phone suggested that I pry on the tower mount with a butter knife... I was a little reluctant to do so, and then I noticed that Cabelas had a sale on the Digital Smoker for the same price as where my wife got the bought the Original. So, being a guy that is easily impressed by buttons and flashing lights- I made the swap.
I live 10 minutes from a Cabelas, so I go pick it up. Unpack it, and the back and bottom of my new smoker is caved in from a really hard blow somewhere along the line. No damage on the box was visible. Just my luck.... So I swap this one out at Cabelas. This one had the same 'puck tower lean' that the first one had. So I tried the butter knife trick and whaddoyaknow- it worked.
I finally have a complete and working smoker. Run the first seasoning cycle. Everything runs great. I run my first real smoke while the wife is on a business trip- 2 small pork loins rubbed with salt and pepper. Turns out perfect. I used some of the extra space in the smoker to smoke a couple of heads of garlic and a selection of peppers that I use to make some dips for chips. I ate pretty much everything I made by myself.
Run the second smoke- Baby back ribs from Costco. 4 hour (Guinness 6 pack) smoke, a light basting of BBQ sauce (the wife demanded it- I wanted to go 'nekkid' for the first rib smoke) in the last 20 minutes. Turned out awesome. During the smoke, I smoked some more Garlic, some tomatoes and Jalapenos- used it to make salsa. Some of the best Salsa I have ever had- and I worked for a Gourmet Salsa company for a long time.
So, tonight I am firing up the smoker for a quick 1 hour to smoke some more veggies for another batch of salsa and also to do a cold smoke on a tenderloin steak then rest it in the fridge overnight and grill it tomorrow- a recipe that I found doing a search here.
So far I am loving this thing. After a rocky start, the Bradley has demonstrated itself to be a great piece of equipment. Any tips, tricks, hints or things you wish someone had told you when you started on the Bradley? Anything else I should know?
Hi Bullsi1911 and welcome to the forum.
I'm glad you hung in there, it certainly is worth it even though you had a few problems to get ironed out. The only suggestion I would add is when you cold smoke your steak, wrap it in plastic wrap over night in the fridge. This seems to allow the smoke flavour to permeate the meat better.
Sounds like you are well on your way & good luck! ;)
Mike
Congrats on the new smoker and welcome to the forum. I had the same leaning tower on my digital, and several others have also. I popped mine back into place and have had no trouble with it at all. As for suggestions, read from the wealth of knowledge on this forum. I would suggest buying bubba pucks and a Maverick ET73 (or similar) thermometer if you haven't already. As a rule of thumb, change the water after 4 hours, always keep the vent at least partially open, and keep the door closed as much as possible. A brick or paver beside the water bowl is also a trick for retaining heat. The only other hints I can think of right now pertain to a certain meat or whatever you may smoke. These are some of the basics that I learned from this forum, hope they help.
Can someone explain what the "bubba puck" is, and where I can get them? I have read that I need them but I don't know why.
Basically the smoke generator requires 2 pucks to push a puck onto the burner. At the end of you smoke you will have a puck on the burner burnt to total ash, one next to it will be half burnt, and the one closest to the generator will be unburnt. The solution to wasting a puck on each smoke (the half burnt one) is to use bubba pucks. They are solid aluminium pucks. You load you generator with the wood pucks you want, then load the bubba pucks on top of them. I use 3 bubba pucks that way the final wood puck gets pushed off into the water bowl. With the bubba puck sitting on the puck burner also seems to help keep the burner cleaner as well. Some people only use 2 bubba pucks and add a wood puck onto to push the bubba puck onto the burner.
You can buy them from a member's site (BeGolf25) here on the forum:
http://www.yardandpool.com/home.php?cat=22
Mike
Gotcha. Thanks for the info.
So, I smoked 3 beefsteak tomatoes, and 2 huge whole jalapeños and made more salsa. Used the same wood (apple) this time, but the smoke smelled a lot more bitter and overpowering. Might be that there was no pig flesh is the box making it have an overall scent of wonderfulness. But the salsa turned out awesome. I'll write up a recipe one of these days and post it.
Before I smoked the veggies, I threw a small sirloin steak in the smoker and cold smoked it. Smoked for about 40 minutes, then vacuum sealed it and let it do it's magic in the fridge for 24 hours. Fired up the grill last night and started to grill it with just kisher salt and fresh cracked pepper seasoning. Of course, because of my aforementioned bad luck, I ran out of propane when only one side of the steak had been lightly grilled. So, plan B- into the oven to cook it off. Turned out awesome. This technique definitely deserves more investigation!
Anyone have any suggestions for my next smoke? The lovely bride wants to do a brisket, but I'm thinking of doing a small boston butt.
bullsi1911,
Welcome to the board! Glad you were able to get things worked out and get smokin.
I would love to hear some of your salsa recipes.
My only suggestion would be to check out the Recipe Site - http://www.susanminor.org
One of my favorites are the ABT's (Atomic Buffalo Turds) http://www.susanminor.org/forums/showthread.php?t=25/"
Enjoy!
Bryan
Bullsi1911.... Hiya! Welcome to the forum... I have to tell you... I am really looking forward to hearing about this salsa recipe. I love veggies and I think that smoking them would make them that much better! YEY! ;)
My problem is I never write anything down. I just throw it all together, and add more of what I think is missing. So my recipes are very vague.
I'll try on this one.
First, I split 3 beefsteak tomatoes into quarters, and de-seeded them. I cut the tops off of 3 huge jalapenos and put the tomato wedges and jalapenos on the top rack of the smoker and smoked with apple at 200 degrees for 1 hour.
-Then, split a large onion in half. I cut up half the onion and put in food processor with 4-5 cloves of smoked garlic that I smoked earlier and froze. whirl that together to chop up the onion and garlic very fine. Drop the mix in a large bowl. Sprinkle pinch of kosher salt on top.
-Chop the rest of the onion by hand and drop in the bowl. Sprinkle another pinch of kosher salt.
-Dump a drained can of sweet kernel corn in the bowl. Dust with fresh cracked pepper
-Cut 10 grape tomatoes in half and spin in the processor with as much cilantro as you want don't pulverize, just chop. Dump in bowl. Another pinch of salt on top of that layer. Grind some pepper too, ifn' ya wanna.
-Dump in a mostly drained can of diced tomatoes in the food processor with 3 rough cut large fresh jalapenos- seed and de-vein if you want mild. Spin in processor to chop, but not liquefy. Dump in bowl.
-Dump a few capfulls (5 or 6) of red wine vinegar over the top of everything in the big bowl.
-Put bowl in fridge
-Drink a beer or two. Then rub your eye and end up macing yourself with all the capsicum on your hand from the jalapenos. Wander blindly around the kitchen while cursing. (This has to be a very vital step since I do it every time I make salsa)
-By the time you can see again, the jalapenos and tomatoes should be done in the smoker. Peel skins from the tomato wedges, toss in food processor.
-Chop up the smoked jalapenos (seed them if you must), and throw in processor. Spin to chop a bit finer, but not to liquefy.
-Dump this last mix on top of the rest of the layers in the big bowl. Sprinkle with salt and pepper again. Now fold everything together in the bowl. Cover and refrigerate overnight.
Serve with lots of chips and beer.
Welcome to the forum and thanks for sharing your adventures. I look forward to reading your posts.
:o
at least you avoided the bathroom break :'( :'(
mld
Hi there,
I also recv'd as a Christmas gift from Cabela's. Thanks for the tip on the leaning tower, my husband was more concerned about that than me. I have already seasoned and am going to try two pork tenderloin's tonight. What temp did you use? and about how long did they take?
Any input would be appreciated. PS My husband was reading over my shoulder and was ribbing me because he wanted to try smoked tomatoes and I thought they wouldn't work...now we'll have to try it along with the garlic...YUM
ummmmmmmmmmmmm papa likes smoked garlic try it you wont be sorry!!!!
1911 glad to hear you did not give up on the Bradley after the initial problems. You will love using it and the tips on this forum.
....more importantly glad to hear the Guinness 6pk had no damage!
Quote from: neophyte on January 16, 2008, 12:45:46 PM
I have already seasoned and am going to try two pork tenderloin's tonight. What temp did you use? and about how long did they take?
Any input would be appreciated. PS My husband was reading over my shoulder and was ribbing me because he wanted to try smoked tomatoes and I thought they wouldn't work...now we'll have to try it along with the garlic...YUM
I smoked the tenderloin for 4 hours at 220 degrees. Oh, you will love the garlic.
OK,
Tried the pork tender loins the other night and had to finish them on the stove top in a grill pan....simply didn't allow enough time. Today I smoked a couple of Chickens after soaking them in brine for 18 hours. Smoked them most of the day. Used the smoked garlic in the mashed potatoes and sauteed broccoli tonight with the birds. My oldest son said it was the best dinner ever. Funny thing was I thought we wouldn't be able to eat the chicken as they had come out of the smoker very dark. Anyways, I'm lovin' the smoker and can't wait to try ribs!
Thanks for the tip on the smoked garlic...it's amazing. Have some extra to freeze and use later!
Lovin' this forum as well!
Fired up the smoker yesterday and did my first cold smoke of some cheese. They are 'aging' in the fridge in vacuum bags right now. Outside temp was cold(well, central texas cold- 50 degrees or so) and windy, so I was surprised that with the bowl full of ice and another ice tray in the smoker it got to almost 80 degrees in the box. I'll let you know how it turns out when I unseal the cheese this afternoon
Then I cranked up the heat and threw in the 2 racks of baby back ribs. Went 3.5 hours of heat (220) and 2 hours of smoke. The wife demanded a baste, so the last 30 min or so I basted with a commercial bbq sauce of known goodness (Jardine's 7J Ranch 'Orange Zest' sauce- I used to work for Jardine foods, so I know it's some good stuff). The ribs, once again were exceptional. Of course, by the time the ribs were done, I had a pretty good buzz going on so I ate WAY too much.
bulls-If you unseal that cheese today you may be in for a letdown. It needs at stay in the fridge for at least 3 or 4 days for best results. You'll have a strong "ashtray" taste after just one day. I just took some out of the fridge yesterday that I smoked over a month ago, and it's even better than the last batch I ate. It takes several days for the smoke to permeate the cheese, and the longer you wait, the better.
Thanks for the tip. I was just about to unseal it... I'll wait a few more days.
BTW, I have pics of the ribs:
(http://homepage.mac.com/jenbass/.Pictures/Graveyard/DSC_0030.jpg)
(http://homepage.mac.com/jenbass/.Pictures/Graveyard/DSC_0034.jpg)
Mmmm... Looks finger lickin' good Bullsi1911! 8)
Mike
Bullsi-If they tasted as good as they look, I bet there weren't any leftovers! Great looking meal there.
Quote from: Ontrack on January 20, 2008, 08:41:00 AM
bulls-If you unseal that cheese today you may be in for a letdown. It needs at stay in the fridge for at least 3 or 4 days for best results. You'll have a strong "ashtray" taste after just one day.
Apparently, 2 days is not enough either. I cracked open the bags and tried a little of each cheese. The smoke was WAY too strong. You could taste the smoke before you even closed your mouth on the cheese. So, I vacuumed em back into the bags and will try again in a couple more days.
I did them for an hour in Apple smoke with the vent all the way open and two ice trays in the smoker. Even though it was 40 degrees and windy outside, the smoker got up to 79 degrees but no higher. Did I do this correctly?
You did every correctly. I generally apply 2-3 hour of smoke, and the smoke flavor is well balanced. Now that it is vacuum sealed again, let it mellow out for a week or so.
Bulls-I Told Ya! I Told Ya! ;D Just kidding, buddy, I did exactly the same thing. The cheese whizzes on here told me the same thing I told you. Did I listen? I had to try it right off the smoker. Whoa! :-X. Then I resealed it and tried again after 4 days. Better, but still a little strong (the wife didn't like it at all). So I didn't touch it again for 3 or 4 more days, and that was it! Just gotta be patient. Now when my supply runs low, the wife will let me know that it's time for more. Your'e gonna have something delicious there, so keep those grubby little paws off of it for a few more days! ;) :D