my christmas gift

[Tenpoint5]

Welcome aboard. It wasn't an epic fail just a lack of timing. You ran out of time to finish the birds in the smoker when the hubby and the grandkids said "We be hungry!!" Your gonna do great things with this new Smoker in your arsenal of cooking tools. Just relax and enjoy the ride. Ask questions folks will do their best to answer them.

[KyNola]

Do you have something other than the Bradley monitoring the temp inside of the tower?  Unfortunately the Bradley doesn't do a good job of accurately measuring the temp in the tower.

As for the brining, unless you had Cure #1 in the brine, it wasn't a curing brine although the salt in the brine could have helped some.  Your timing is just off.  If you only had the Bradley set to 200 and opened the door and placed the 6 ducks inside, the temp in the tower probably dropped to 150 or below and the Bradley takes a long time to recover when the meat is first put in the tower.  The cold meat acts as a heat sink and sucks all of the heat and energy from the tower.  As the meat comes up to temp, the heat in the tower will increase and stabilize.  That's why your ducks weren't done.

Next time, preheat your tower as hot as you can get it, place the meat in and watch the temp.  As it comes back up to temp, lower the setpoint to your desired target temp.

You'll get the hang of it.  Just a bit of a learning curve.

[Waltz]

Removing food from the smoker and finishing off in the oven when the smoke is finished is acceptable practice, not an epic fail. I hope your ducks had good smoke flavour and didn't poison anyone :)

[cackler69]

Hubby said THAT is how he wants them done from now on.....I suppose he really enjoyed them! So it was not my worst moment as I thought. And YES! It was my timing for sure....in a nutshell.
KyNola.....I'm paying attention to what you're saying but that doesn't mean I understand...yet. I used a good old fashioned meat thermometer you poke in the bird. Gonna get a good one though, asap...probe kind that stays in the meat and reads outside the box. AND getting a freestanding thermometer to gauge the accuracy of the settings.....we already heard it was not the most accurate.

I appreciate the encouragement. Thank you guys.
Mrs. C   :-*

[KyNola]

Mrs. C, many of us use the Maverick ET-732 made by Redi Check.  It has two probes, one monitors the temp inside the tower while the other probe stays in the meat the entire time monitoring the internal temp of the meat.  It transmits the data wirelessly to a receiver so you can see what is going on inside the smoker without having to continually opening the door to check the IT of the meat.

Hope this helps.

[NePaSmoKer]

This is for 1 duck.

If you choose to brine, do this:

Mix 1/4 cup kosher salt with 4 cups water and submerge your duck in a large non metal containe in the fridge overnight.
If you want to cold-smoke (below 90 degrees) or smoke for a very long time or if you want that pretty pink color, add 1/2 to 1 teaspoon of pink salt, sodium nitrite, a/k/a Instacure No. 1.

When your duck is nicely brined, take it out of the water and pat it dry. Set it in a cool, drafty place for a few hours to dry out a bit. If you want to go the extra mile, put a fan on the ducks. After it is dry, then you can smoke it. if you skip this step and put a wet duck in the smoker, the smoke will not adhere as well to the skin or meat of the bird.



If you plan on serving the smoked duck for dinner, go with a hotter temperature, between 250-275 degrees. This renders out fat pretty well and gets you closer to a crispy skin. As for time, I prefer 2 1/2 to 3 1/2 hours at this temperature. To crisp the skin, get your grill or oven ripping hot — 500 to 600 degrees — and put the ducks in with a drip pan underneath for a few minutes, until the skin crisps. Check after 5 minutes, and in no circumstances let the ducks or geese sit in this temperature more than 15 minutes.

If you want to have a traditional smoked duck, served cold as a luncheon meat or as an appetizer, keep the temperature closer to 200 degrees, and not hotter than 225 degrees. This will still render some fat, but will not crisp the skin — duck skin will lose its crispiness anyway once you put the cooled duck in the fridge. As for time, at least 3 hours and up to 7 hours. If you go to the long end of this scale, you will need the pink salt.

Allow the duck to cool before carving. Slice thin and on the bias, smoked duck is fantastic as part of an appetizer plate or in a sandwich.  You can also carve a whole breast, sear off the skin side in a frying pan until it crisps again.

[cackler69]

NePaSmoker...Thank you, I'll come back for reference.

Thanks KyNola....Maverick ET-732 made by Redi Check....looking for it asap.

One more question....WHERE to I post further questions? I'm sure ya'll don't wanna keep coming here do ya??

Mrs. C  :-*

[GusRobin]

Depends on the question. Look at the various sections and start a post in the most appropriate area. If the questions are related to a different smoke/cook, then start a new post. If it is still part of a smoke/cook that is the subject of a post that is an existing post, continue it there.
Hope that makes sense.

[cackler69]

I s'pose so...we'll see.

Mrs. C  :-*

[cackler69]

http://www.walmart.com/ip/Maverick-Redi-Chek-Deluxe-Single-Probe-Thermometer/17167111

KyNola? Please look at this and confirm it is correct.

Mrs. C  :-*

[GusRobin]

If you want the ET 732, then you want this one

http://www.amazon.com/Maverick-Wireless-BBQ-Thermometer-Set/dp/B004IMA718

[KyNola]

If you want the ET 732, then you want this one
http://www.amazon.com/Maverick-Wireless-BBQ-Thermometer-Set/dp/B004IMA718

Gus is correct.  That's the ET-732.

[devo]

afterthought- I DID brine those suckers overnight with a recipe I found around here...does that count as curing??

Although a salt solution brine will give you some benefit it will not protect you from the development of pathogenic bacteria. It will only give you a very moist bird and thats it. Worse, when smoke is introduced, it becomes an anaerobic atmosphere where conditions for the development of several types of bacteria may develop, including clostridium botulinum. Smoke cuts off oxygen – it's that simple.
Smoking moist raw meat in an oxygen-deprived atmosphere well within the accepted "Danger Zone" is not barbecue "cooking". This is inviting trouble.
Don't forget this one cardinal rule: IF IT CAN'T BE CURED, DON'T SMOKE IT

If I "smoke" a chicken (in the danger zone), I'm going to cure it with sodium nitrite first, while I brine it in a salt solution.

[cackler69]

devo, I understand what you're saying, BUT I do not want to use nitrates unless I have no option. Thankfully, nobody died and I learned something from my mistake.

Gus and KyNola, I'm going to look at your link now, and get one here ASAP.....thanks again.

Mrs. C  :-*

[Waltz]

I think you will find that unless you like your food very salty you will end up using nitrite. Also check the difference between nitrite and nitrate (Cure #1 and Cure#2).