Report on first smokes in 4 rack BDS

[Aether]

Have had my 4 rack digital for 2-and-a-half weeks now.  Temps in Central NY have been near 30F during the days and -5 to +5F at night.  Lots of wind.

First project was cold-smoked gravlax.  2 pound wild pacific salmon side cured with my "southwestern gravlax" cure (add in cilantro, green onions, habaneros, and tequila to traditional gravlax).  Cured for 3 days in fridge wrapped in cheese cloth on a rack.  Smoked for 3 hours with cherry pucks.  Temp was upper 20s with 20+ MPH wind.  Using only puck burner, maintained temp in the mid-60s.  Vacuum packed and in the fridge for 10 days to mellow.

Second project was smoked pork chili and smoked corned beef  brisket.  The pork was a 5 pound bone-in loin and the corned beef was a 5 pound piece of brisket.  Also smoked some poblanos and jalapenos (both cut in half, seeds and ribs left in place) for the chili.  Smoked the veggies for 2 hours with hickory and the pork for 4 hours.  Corned beef smoked for 5 hours (removed from BDS at IT of 160F and vac-packed for later in the week).

Pork was cubed (still med-rare inside) and peppers were cleaned and chopped.  Added to slow cooker with some caramelized onions, tomatillos, plum tomatoes, white and black beans, and chicken broth.  4 hours later=YUMMY.

Corned beef was served with caramelized onions, caramelized cabbage and mashed potatoes.  Great stuff!

Just opened the salmon today.  The texture was "firm".  As plain gravlax, the texture is usually soft and moist.  The cold smoke firmed up the texture while still retaining a decent amount of moisture.   Actually, the texture was headed toward salmon jerky, but was still gravlax.  Taste was great with the salt and herbs definitely present.  The smoke formed a backbone for the other flavors.

Overall, very successful and happy.  Have 20 pounds of pork in the Bradley now.

[pensrock]

Sounds great, your hooked now.  ;D
Just a quick comment, you mentioned the wind several times. Its always best to try to keep the smoker out of the wind if possible. The wind will affect the heating of the smoker so if its cold out and windy, you may have problems getting the smoker up to temperature. IMHO.

[Aether]

I am impressed with how well the BDS handles the wind.  I do not have an enclosed space where I can set up the smoker.  Just put it outside infront of the garage, is well protected on 2 sides.  Is open on other 2 sides.  Today wind is 5 to 10 MPH and no problems keeping temp to do the butts.

[squirtthecat]

You can even put it in a plastic storage cabinet to keep the elements away from it..  That's how mine is set up.  It'll run in the  rain/snow/sleet/wind with no problems.

[hal4uk]

An inside corner, like Aether uses, will do a pretty good job for you.  If you ever canoed a fast river, you might have noticed the "eddy" created on the far side of a boulder; even though the water is raging by, there is often a small perfectly calm spot right there.  Air, like water, is a "fluid", and there is usually an "eddy" effect where there is an inside corner of walls.

Of course, you might end up with a black soffit!