First smoke

simmy · February 11, 2005, 03:21:33 AM

Well the seasoning is done. I used the special blend to do that. Now I am on to my first smoke. I am doing bacon wrapped chicken breasts with 6 alder bisquettes. Tomorrow I am doing a pork shoulder. It is in the fridge now with Bad Byrons Butt Rub on it. I think I will use hickory on it. Anyone have any other suggestions?

Keep smokin'

Steve

Fuzzybear · February 11, 2005, 01:21:26 PM

Simmy: I would start off using a milder puck..hickory can be very strong as you might imagine. By first smoke, I'm assuming that you've not smoked before or is it just that you've never used the Bradley before? If you've smoked before and you are comfy with hickory, it will give a great flavor!

"A mans got to know his limitations"
Chattaroy, WA - USA!

simmy · February 11, 2005, 04:16:06 PM

The chicken breast turned out great. They are going to be awesome in the smoked chicken salad.

Fuzzy,

I have smoked before this is just my first time with the BS. I am going to go with apple instead of Hickory. I slept on it and decided it would be better to experiment with the different woods.

Thanks for the response.

I love my new BS.

Steve

psdubl07 · February 11, 2005, 04:39:41 PM

I LOVE Hickory. Don't forget you can always slip a few in there. Or go 1/2 and 1/2.

simmy · February 12, 2005, 12:25:14 AM

The pork shoulder is in the cooler now. This is my first time to ever FTC. I am very interested to see how it comes out. I am gonna take it out in a couple of hours and pull the meat. The way it looked coming out of the BS we are going to be having some darn good sandwiches.[:D]

JJC · February 12, 2005, 02:29:49 AM

Hi Steve,

A 50/50 mix of apple/hickory is a great combo for poultry and pork! [:p][:p]

John
Newton MA

simmy · February 12, 2005, 03:32:56 AM

I am pretty happy with the way the pork turned out. The flavor is really good but the cut was pretty fatty. But never the less I am happy and so is my son. I think my next adventure is to smoke some colby jack cheese with cherry[?][?] What a great smoker!!!

Habanero Smoker · February 12, 2005, 11:53:45 AM

I'm glad that your first smoke was successful. Next time you do a butt, or if you do a brisket; trim the fat to about a 1/4" to 1/8" thickness prior to applying any rub.

JJC · February 12, 2005, 09:35:32 PM

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by simmy
 I am pretty happy with the way the pork turned out. The flavor is really good but the cut was pretty fatty. But never the less I am happy and so is my son. I think my next adventure is to smoke some colby jack cheese with cherry[?][?] What a great smoker!!!
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">
Hi Steve,

Let us know how the cherry-smoked Colby turns out. I probably would have chosen apple for a mild cheese like Colby, but cherry is one of those woods that can surprise you sometimes. I would recommend using a relatively short time (1.5-2 hr) of smoke, since the pungency of cherry will increase rapidly with smoking time. Have fun, and don't chicken out of the cherry selection . . . otherwise I'll have to try it! [8D]

John
Newton MA

simmy · February 12, 2005, 11:19:42 PM

The Cheese is in for 5 pucks worth of Cherry. Smoker's staying at 62[:)]. We will see what happens

jaeger · February 14, 2005, 12:04:48 AM

simmy,

how's about the cheese with cherry???

Doug

simmy · February 14, 2005, 01:00:22 AM

The cheese is very tasty. I like the sweet flavor that the smoke gave the cheese. I actually just took it out of the fridge. After taking it out of the BS I saran wrapped it and put it straight in the fridge. It has now been in there 24+ hours. Like I said Very tasty.

Steve

humpa · February 14, 2005, 02:19:34 AM

simmy...I have to try that cheese. Find yourself a good butcher. Then you can start with a quality cut of meat. Up in New England, we have many wholesale provisioners, meat distributers, and warehouses to choose from. Find someone that can cut your meat to order. I have several up here that are excellent. They will even deliver it to me. Just need to find one and it's off to the races. Good luck!! BTW...try brisket..

Ernie....Weymouth, MA

smokinrookiejr · February 19, 2005, 03:36:45 PM

do you notice a diffrence when you mix two diffrent pucks[?]

smokin in the boys room!

Habanero Smoker · February 19, 2005, 04:26:29 PM

Every one's tastes buds are different, and a preferred taste is a personal preference.

I notice the difference in mixing certain woods, but let me expand on that. When I mix woods, it's usually to offset the flavor of a stronger woods. When I mix woods I usually do it with hickory or mesquite - mixing those with maple, apple, pecan or cherry. Using only mesquite or hickory alone in my BS, the smoke flavor is much too strong, and cutting down on the smoke time produces a smoke flavor that is too mild for me. The only exception to this is when I am doing brisket, and I will use 3 hickory to 1 mesquite. For me apple, pecan and maple are very similar and find it hard to distinguish any difference; cherry and alder I can make a distinction between their differences.

But like I stated, everyone's tastes buds are different so you should experiment with it and keep a log to note the differences.