Help needed

[RAO]

I just bought a bradley smoker and have used it a couple of times with mixed results.  I have cooked chicken and some steak but they did not taste all that great.  I know that there is some trial and error in cooking with a smoker but I was wondering if you can give me some basics on how to use it.

I know this is a fairly open ended question but as I said I am looking for tips on how to use it effectively.

I do have one specific question regarding smoking.  I cooked a steak last weekend and it did not taste that great (too smokey I think).  If the receipe calls for 1- 2 hours of cooking time do I generally smoke the meat for that entire time or should I just smoke it for 20 minutes or what?

[Ka Honu]

Most smoking is, very simplistically speaking, a three-phase operation - prep, add smoke, and finish.  How you do that is where we all vary and what makes this forum so interesting.

For example, ribs are often dry-rubbed and left to "sit" in the fridge for a while, smoke is applied for 2-4 hours (depending on how smoky you want them), and cooking continues (without smoke, with or without sauce) in the smoker, oven and/or grill until they're done.  There are countless variations on this but that's the basic process. 

Other meats are pretty much the same. Your prep can include almost any combination of brining, marinating, injecting, rubbing, curing and so on.  Smoke times and temperatures vary according to meat and preference, although with the Bradley, it's very rare to use more than 4 hours of smoke and we usually try to keep the box temp somewhere between 175 and 225^o.  Finishing - again a personal choice - can often be done using the smoker as a slow oven, using the oven itself, and/or using a grill or other "tool" such as an infrared fryer.  Finish might also include techniques like "boating" (usually putting the food in a tray of some sort, adding a liquid, and heating covered in the oven), foil wrapping (pretty much the same but wrapped directly and usually with less liquid), FTC (wrapped in foil, then a towel and put in a cooler with or without additional liquid). 

Try looking at some of the recipes here and on the forum for prep, specific smoking times, and other instructions for any given meat.  You'll find different people do it differently but you can get an idea of where you should start.  You'll find that the only ironclad "rules" are never close the vent all the way and observe food safety procedures. 

I've had my best luck with steaks using cold smoke to add flavor to the meat before grilling.  You do that by using the bisquette burner to create smoke and keeping the box temperature low (below 90^o) by disconnecting the heating element, using bowls of ice and/or "offsetting" the bisquette burner with something like the Bradley Cold Smoke Adapter. I pat the steaks dry with a paper towel (smoke adheres to the meat better that way) and cold-smoke for 40 minutes to an hour (2 or 3 bisquettes).  Then wrap in some sort of cling wrap, put back in the fridge for a day, and grill as I normally would.

Bottom line: Read a lot, then experiment.

[Caneyscud]

Welcome to the forum RAO

Ka Honu has you covered!

How specifically did you fix the chicken and the steak?  As in what type of cut, prep/rub/marinade, flavor of pucks, cabinet temperature, length of smoke, finishing meat temperature, sauce-what kind and when applied, etc...  Lots of great smoking and cooking minds on here that can help out if'n we know specifics.  As Ka Honu said, it's best generally to try a recipe - any recipe - evaluate it, and then tweak it until it suits you.  i.e. - change the rub, less smoke, more smoke, change to hickory from alder, foil or boat or no foil or no boat, etc.. (all that Ka Honu said plus other variables).  The goal is to get what you and/or your loved ones like and in a process you are comfortable with, not what Caneyscud, or anyone else on the site likes.  We can suggest thinks that work for us, but ultimately it is your taste buds.  The journey is delicious The journey of a 1000 succulent ribs begins with the first rack.

Red meat is good for you - fuzzy green meat isn't!

Shakespeare
The Bard of Hot Aire
Pontificator Extraordinaire'

[Wildcat]

Welcome to the forum RAO.  Ka Honu has you generally covered.  Although I prefer another method for smoking beef steaks, it can be done in the Bradley as Ka Honu mentioned and finished on the grill.  If you cook the entire time in the Bradley, it will probably get dry and tough.  Beef steaks should be cooked much faster than the Bradley can deliver.  You should experiment with smoke times, starting on the low side first.  You should never need anymore than 4 hours of smoke on anything, and some things only need 20 minutes.  Check out the recipe site by clicking on the link at the bottom of my post.

[MallardWacker]

WELCOME RAO...

Just a note about chicken...I have been down the road with whole chickens to spachcocking them to cut pieces.

Still my favorite way in all circumstances is to smoke them in the BS 2-3 hrs then finish them on the grill.  You get the flavor, the skin gets done and it REALLY does look great.

[Ka Honu]

... spach0ing them

"s*p*a*t*c*h*c*o*c*k*i*n*g" - Curse Cop strikes again, this time at those filthy chickens!

[Bradley (Head Office)]

Hey Ka Honu

You have a knack for finding all the words on the censord list  :)
I fixed the chicken its ok now ;D ;D

Brian

[Ka Honu]

I fixed the chicken its ok now

Not sure how "ok" the chicken can be - I'd be in a world of hurt if I had been spatchcocked (but thanks for the effort).

Ka Honu... You have a knack for finding all the words on the censord (sic) list

... and I'm Hell on a Spell Checker, too.  As Shakespeare once wrote, "some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon 'em" (None of that actually applies, but I like the quote).