Can someone help, I go by the Bradley recomendation for smoke times but the food

[Johnnyc 4481]

Can someone help, I go by the Bradley recomendation for smoke times but the food is always way too smokey?

Any suggestions?

[acords]

How much smoke time are you using.  Most folks around here use 4 hours or less.

[Wildcat]

Another factor to consider is what type of wood are you smoking with?  Hickory will produce a strong smoke flavor while alder will produce a mild flavor.  Apple is a good middle of the road.

Welcome to the forum.

[LilSmoker]

Hi and welcome Johnny, as acords and Wildcat have rightly said, smoke time and type of wood will obviously play a big part in the smoke flavour.

Do you use Mesquite bisquettes by any chance, as that wood has a very strong flavour, and can be over powering for some?

Maybe if you give us a bit more backround on your smoking procedure, we may be able to help a little further ;)

LilSmoker

[Duster]

Welcome to our family Johnny, The guys hit it right. Smoke is all about personal preference. Myself I like a good strong smoke flavor on pork and beef so I usually smoke for about 6 hours but poultry on the other hand I like a bit milder usually 2 to 3 hours of smoke. I have not really nailed down my favorite wood on poultry yet but for pulled pork or beef brisket I like hickory and mesquite.

[Habanero Smoker]

Hi Johnnyc;

Welcome to the forum.

I just want to add that many of the Bradley recipes are confusing. A recipe may state smoke cook time 6-8 hours, but you should be applying smoke that long. For example; if it is a chicken recipe, you should apply 2 - 3 hours of smoke, and the rest of the time is to finish cooking the product. As mentioned above smoke times are a personal preference. For brisket, pulled pork, hams and other large muscle, I will use 4 hours of smoke. For poultry use 1:40 - 3 hour of smoke.

[Stickbowcrafter]

Welcome...there's some good advice above.

-Brian

[Carter]

From my experience, you can go heavy with smoke on Pork Shoulder and Ribs (4 hours +) because you're really trying to capture that smokey taste.  You could go longer, but I think you're just wasting pucks as the meat stops absorbing the smoke.  I use hickory

For chicken, I don't like a lot, and it seems to absorb smoke like crazy.  The last chicken we did was a whole one and I did 1 hour of Cherry.  Then I moved the chicken into the regular oven and cooked it until done.  I remove all the skin.  I think it tastes revolting once smoked (and I'm the guy whose usually sneaking skin when his wife isn't looking).  Others crisp the skin up using other heat sources and seem to enjoy eating it.

For Salmon, use Alder and follow Kummok's recipe to the letter.  You'll be the most popular guy around.

Smoking is about experimenting but I agree about the Bradley instrux.  Much better to follow the experts on the forum.

Before I do anything new, I always check out what people on this site have done as well.  This is a really good, and highly addictive forum.

Carter