looking to buy a smoker

GeiyserQ · September 21, 2005, 08:43:51 PM

Hi there. New member here and i look forward to yet another valuable site to continue learning about Que.

I'm not a Bradley owner. I am a CookShack owner. I have friends that own and like the Bradley. I have some friends that dont like them as well. Some like Chevys some like Fords. Some like Dale Jr. Some like Gordon. I'm a Buckeye fan, and, heaven forbid, my nephew is a Wolverine fan! The list goes on.

I would like to clarify a quote though:
<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">However, it does-not-get-er-done if you want to:
1. Smoke Cheese
2. Smoke Bacon
3. Double Smoke A Ham
3. Smoke Fish
4. Smoke Turkey Breast
5. Smoke Brisket
6. Smoke Sauage
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

The CookShack smokes all of the above to perfection with the exception, and no proud CS owner would try and hide this from anyone, of crisping the skin on poultry with the mdls 008 or the 50. Its not an issue for most of us though.

I get requests for my summer sausage all the time. People actually want to buy the stuff from me. I too make polish sausage and it turns out great as well. Its all in the method and being able to adapt.

When I smoke trout, gouda cheese, and pepperjack cheese during the holiday there is never any left to take home.

I never smoke a ham thats already smoked. I brine them and smoke them from scratch.

There's whole sections on the CS forums with hundreds of threads that teach how to have successful smokes with butts, ribs,briskets,fish, and fowl.

Jerky? No Problem. I do a batch in 4 1/2 hours. Great texture. Great taste.

So all I am saying is let's talk que. Not trash. We have 2 good products that achieve the same end goal in 2 different methods.

It comes down to that. You have to choose which method best fits you. Goodluck & good Qing.

CLAREGO · September 21, 2005, 09:41:49 PM

GeiyserQ
However, it does-not-get-er-done if you want to:
1. Smoke Cheese
2. Smoke Bacon
3. Double Smoke A Ham
3. Smoke Fish
4. Smoke Turkey Breast
5. Smoke Brisket
6. Smoke Sauage?????

smoke cheese yes
smoke bacon yes
double smoke ham yes
smoke ham from scracth YES
smoke turkey brest yes
smoke brisket yes
smoke sausage yes

i dont know you told you this what makes are smokers quite differnt is the clean smoked taste 1.00 a puck yes so what it is convinent set how much smoke you need and thats it the price issue can be a pain although you can make your own pucks have not tried this but there were topics on this vents we have um.

Oldman · September 21, 2005, 10:13:50 PM

Crap I was not going to post here but to clarify a pointit is not a 1.00 per puck. Those are around 33 cents each.

Next GeiyserQ welcome to the forums. Glad you posted.

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">I would like to clarify a quote though:

quote:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
However, it does-not-get-er-done if you want to:
1. Smoke Cheese
2. Smoke Bacon
3. Double Smoke A Ham
3. Smoke Fish
4. Smoke Turkey Breast
5. Smoke Brisket
6. Smoke Sauage

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The CookShack smokes all of the above to perfection with the exception, and no proud CS owner would try and hide this from anyone, of crisping the skin on poultry with the mdls 008 or the 50. Its not an issue for most of us though.
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

I understand your point of view. However to make my point clear there is a huge difference between Deli styled boiled ham and aged imported prosciutto ham!

Some folks have never had the chance to try prosciutto ham. Thus there is no reference of understanding as to why one can be purchased on sale for $1.99 per pound and the other starts at $20.00 per pound.

Sir, as lightly as I can say this, as I feel you have posted with your hand out in smokin' friendship, you are totally mistakend when it come to my "Prosciutto" Polish sauage that I make.

I have seen so many Polish sausage recipes that are so far off the real deal I don't even smile about it anylonger. They are imitation copies that are only degrading the term Polish Sausage. The extra moisture of the cookshack kills my sausage.

Please you are welcome back any time and as offered before you are welcome to post any recipe you like to share.

Olds

Chez Bubba · September 22, 2005, 04:05:57 AM

Well, where do I start?

I do find it interesting that the CS cheerleaders only have a couple of posts, so it may appear as they have organized somehow to challenge the competition. I don't visit their board because it's all I can do to come here less than I'd like.

I really don't think it's a big conspiracy thing, what would they really have to gain for the effort? Hundreds of pro-Bradley people versus a couple of naysayers, who are you gonna believe?

I'll be the first to say that if I were building the unit, there are a few things I would change to make it "better" IMO. I would follow that statement by saying there's not a smoker out there that I wouldn't say the same thing about.

As long as they come here to honestly discuss their preferences & opinions, I think they should be welcomed. Any knowledge shared is good knowledge. If it becomes painfully apparent that they have an agenda or they get abusive, I'll nuke 'em.

GeiyserQ, I'm a Boiler-fan & I'm sure we can overlook those differences when it comes to Q![8D]

I will say this though. In my 25 years of smoking on various smokers, albeit never a CookShack, I have smoked a lot of salmon. Ten years ago when I became a sushi-lover, I swore any method of cooking salmon ruined the taste, including smoked. Then I was lucky enough to taste Kummok's Bradley smoked salmon.

I can't say for sure that it wasn't in part the recipe, or the technique, but as I've come to appreciate the Bradley unit, I'm sure the controllability of the smoker had a lot to do with it. Rethinking my previous smokers, following his directions would either be impossible or extremely time consuming.

Yes, this is my next project after pheasant season.[:p]

Kirk

http://www.chezbubba.com
Ya think next time I check into a hotel & they ask "Smoking or Non?" they would mind?

smokin jimi · September 25, 2005, 12:14:12 AM

so if I was to cook a pork butt, 10 lb's for 20 hour's or so,it would cost me about $20.00 in wood puck's ,correct

GrillinFool · September 25, 2005, 01:36:46 AM

No Jimmi that isnt how it works. Its a much better deal than that. Pucks are about .50 a piece ($20 per box of 36 at BassPro Shops). I am cooking 15 pounds of butts right now and I will only apply smoke for the first 3 hours. 20 mins per puck so 9 pucks, $4.50 for wood. For most people that is the right ammount of oak/pecan for what is without a doubt the best pulled pork around. I will however keep the smoker cooking for about 22 hours and that will do the actual cooking. I do sometimes use 4 hours of pucks on brisket and pork too, but most people feel the taste is too smokey.

I dont know why every one is getting all worked up over this stuff. I cooked butts for 10 years over a concrete pit that burned wood by the cord. Wood I had to spend tons of time getting from tree clearing guys, splitting, drying, and watching. I am still quite new to the Bradley but I am 100% thrilled with the ease and costs of all that is involved. This is possibly the best pulled pork I ever eaten let alone made. It is all because I can control the exact ammount of smoke as accurately as I can control all ingredients like salt, cumin and sugar.

The bottom line for me is that yesterday afternoon I decided to bbq some pork for friends and today it is cooking and I didnt spend any significant time getting it going. Best of all the flavor will rock.

If some one has a better machine and method of doing it better, bring it over and we can serve it up with my new mustard sauce recipe.

jaeger · September 25, 2005, 01:41:28 AM

Welcome to the forum smokin jimmi!!!

Most of us only smoke for about 2 - 4 hours. The rest of the time mentioned is just cooking with no smoke. I usually leave the smoke generator on to increase the temperature.
I would recommend using a remote thermometer so you can keep track of the internal temp without opening the door. Here is a link. The 19.90 version would serve it's purpose.
http://www.bizrate.com/buy/products__cat_id--13000100,keyword--thermometer.html

Doug

nsxbill · September 25, 2005, 01:59:03 AM

Grillinfool

And that new mustard sauce recipe is??????

[:D][:D]

Bill

There is room on earth for all God's creatures....on my plate next to the mashed potatoes.

Oldman · September 25, 2005, 11:50:09 AM

Grillinfool,

I have not check lately but I'm only paying around 33 cents per puck.

Olds

GrillinFool · September 25, 2005, 02:39:30 PM

Olds, For the sake of discusion I used the price from what I figured was a generic source at Bass Pro. Looks Like Cabela's is a better deal and since I buy from chezbubba.com I get them for an even better price, but I only buy the 48 boxes.

Bill, I look at bbq like a magic act. If I told you how the great sauce was made it wouldnt be so great any more. It is sort of like telling you the quarter was in my hand the whole time. Its just too easy.

But for the longest time I had a couple family members bugging me to serve a yellow mustard sauce with my bbq. They swore the best sauce came from a bbq chain known as Woody's. Now personally I dont go for thier bbq at all, but they did have a pretty good sauce, if you like that yellow stuff. I tried making it different ways over the years but I think I tried too hard. Then it hit me, if this was a chain of restaurants, they probably use simple, cheap, ingredients and in bulk. So I mixed the sweetest commercial sauce I could find, which is Sonny's, but kraft has an equally sweet, cheap sauce too, with equal parts of white vinigar, then add bright yellow mustard. I do add some rub and drippings from the pork, but if you mix these and put them in a secret serving container (its a magic trick remember), it's really pretty darn good on pork. I like sauce on the vinegar side so I do mix about a third of each, sauce, mustard, vinegar.

SmokenLWS · June 03, 2007, 08:08:58 AM

I now see this is a bradley formum. But I prefer Cookshack. The bradley is overdesigned and you can only use their bisquets. The optional cover is a joke! My cover faded badly in only couple of months, then the wind blew it away! No thermostat control. The smoke part only needs to be for first 2 hours then it is just cooking. So why the complicated bisquet feeder control unit whatever to constantly feed and burn wood?? I am buying a cookshack.

LilSmoker · June 03, 2007, 08:25:57 AM

I wouldn't say the Bradley is over designed?, very simple but effective imo ;)

I've heard great things about the cookshack.....apart from the price ::)

Anyway hope you enjoy the cookshack, i'm having Bradley ribs tonight

LilSmoker

Arcs_n_Sparks · June 03, 2007, 11:19:10 AM

Quote from: SmokenLWS on June 03, 2007, 08:08:58 AM
I now see this is a bradley formum.

Considering how one probably got here, should have been clear. Title is also a strong clue.

Quote from: SmokenLWS on June 03, 2007, 08:08:58 AM
I am buying a cookshack.

Great thing about having a choice; you can get what you want. Enjoy.

HCT · June 03, 2007, 01:54:49 PM

Unlike alot of peeps on this form, who have many years of smoking experience, the word "newbie" under my name couldn't describe me any better to this type of cooking. I can hold my own in conventional cooking, but the closest I've come to the smoking world is with a stovetop smoker. Enter the Bradley. This machine? is remarkable, easy to use and learn about the smoking process. It has opened my eyes to a whole new way of cooking. I love it!!! I can't wait until my next smoke. As far as the cover for the Bradley is concerned, I have one still unopened. The smoker sits in the garage where a car should be. Guarded. If I could take my Bradley to bed, I would. ;D ;D ;D

coyote · June 03, 2007, 02:56:08 PM

Looks to me like a lonely cook-shacker signs in under different names. ??? Bet he doesn't really have
a cook shack.....Hell , I don't even think he's a smoker. A wannabe.... mabey.

Only a fool would come into OUR house and try to push US around. :D..Puck Off Pal

Coyote 8)