newbie here with questions

[icerat4]

Hi guys after reading many post here i am some what confused.I am just a guy who will smoke the basic samon chicken pork and beef.But my question is why cold smoke stuff then put it on a grille to finish it.Why not just fully cook the meats or stuff til it done in the smoker.Here is how i would like to smoke stuff tell me if i am wrong and why .I just want to season the food stick it in the smoker pull it out and eat it.Am i out of line on this thinking.this brine and curing deal seems like too much prep time isnt there a quicker way like i mentioned above just season it and put it in the smoker and pull out and eat.I also dont get the instruction on the frist thing to cook is a chicken deal .Why hot smoke the chicken then wrap it in foil and a towel then put into a cooler.I want to eat the chicken hot not cool whats the deal here on this .I am sorry these questions probley sound lame but thats a newbie for ya.Please anyone here give this basic guy a hand here.Much thanks in advance i will be a true smoker soon enough i hope .

[iceman]

Welcome icerat4. Yes you can (and should quite often) hot smoke food until it's done to the proper internal temp. There is no reason you have to grill food to finish it. The FTC Foil-Towel-Cooler is a process used mainly for pork and brisket to finish it off and make it VERY TENDER. The meat will actually stay hot for hours and keep cooking itself with residual heat. As far as the brining goes that is a personal preference. It does help poultry and pork or any lean meat retain moisture and can add a wonderful new dimension  of flavor depending on the brine. Just remember smoking is done LOW AND SLOW so if your planning on a charred steak stick to the grill. Smoking can be a long process so plan ahead on the meals. Remember the cooler thing is supposed to act as an insulator to keep heat in so the meat continues to cook, not to cool it down. Hope this helps out a bit. Enjoy and welcome again.

[Oldman]

icerat we were all nOObs at one time so there are no dumb questions. Next welcome to the forums.

1. You can just season, smoke till done and eat.  We do it that way  all of the time.
2. Many of us use cures for a reason. A good example would be buckboard bacon. You cannot make bacon without curing it first.
3. FTC is a passive way of finshing the cook. Example you smoke boston butt to 175 F. Place it FTC and it will continue to cook to 180 F. Furthermore this allows all juices to level out evenly in the meat.
4. Some like to season an item with smoke before they grill it. If you look at smoke in the same manner as you look at salt and pepper then you will understand why some members do this. Personally I would never smoke a steak until fully done. Why? A quality steak needs real high heat to cook correctly.

I hope these answers will be of some help and please ask any questions you need answers for.  As I said we were all nOObs once upon a time... [:D]

Olds

[icerat4]

thanks alot ice and old.The towel you refer to has to be wet and what kind of towel heavy or like a tee shirt.I did order bubba pucks and the digtal thermator.But i do think i order the wrong chips i ordered hickey and misquet ill get other ones i guess any suggestion on those chips.Thanks again in advance.[:D]

[IKnowWood]

Towel deos not have to be wet.  Heavy would be good.  Maybe the wet towel will further act as an insulator.  The key with FTC is you are insulating and allowing the juices to stay in and calm down with some active continued internal heating.

bubba pucks are a great thing, reduces puck waste.

The dig thermo is great to have.  But also think, many of us use an ET-73 from Maverick industries, it has a nive smoker probe in addition to a meat probe so you can track both.  The cabinet therm probe is not good if you have what your smoking to close to the probe location.  But you can make what you got work, with time and experience gained you can get anything worked out.  Patience is a big factor.

Hickory and Misqute are OK.  I almost used all my Misqute, and got to order more.  Hickroy and Apple I use a lot.  I also use Maple, Cherry and Oak.  Oak not so much, but I have not experiemented so much.  I have not yet tried Alder or Pecan.

One thing to remember, one of the best things with the Bradley, why you see such a wide array of techniques, items smoked, and results is the flexibility.  You really can do an awful lot of interesting, tasty and amazing recipes.   You can do simple things, then experiment.  Or stay on the traditional and repeatable stuff.  But then from time to time, you forget something, run out of a set pf pucks and have to use a different wood, or just see something that sounds great.  (Or like lots of us, make a mistake) Then you will see that you have something that you never thought of before.

[icerat4]

Here is another noob question i am going to do my frist smoke this saturday.Its going to be basic chicken but i see in in some recipes to stop the smoker at 2-21/2 hours and some say smoke it til done which way is better.Also how many chickens should i put in 1,2,3, to get 4 hours of cook time. 3 seems like its going to take longer.Thanks in advance for the help.[:)]