New to Smoking

[doggone]

We've never smoked anything. Totally new to the process. We have always loved smoked meats that our friends and neighbors have done, so....our son bought us an original Bradley smoker last year. Yes, I'm sad to say it has been sitting in our garage for that long untouched.

I finally unpackaged it and am ready to learn/use it for the first time. Any help for a brand new user would be appreciated. From what meat to try first to any extra steps that may help.

I've watched a few videos on youtube and they were great, but wanted to connect with a group of folks like you who use the same smoker and know what you're doing with it.

Thanks so much for any assistance!

[Smoker John]

Welcome doggone, make sure to season the smoker first prior to your first food recipe attempt. A lot of people will try ribs or chicken typically for their first smoke, there are a lot of options and this site http://www.susanminor.org/ will be very helpful for both recipes & information in addition to searching this great forum. Let us know how it turns out.

[doggone]

Thanks Smoker John! I was just reading through other posts and saw the ones about seasoning. Will do that first. Finding a lot of really good info here in this forum - but there is a ton to read through. So far - very much worth the time.

And I just looked through a few recipes like the pictorial one from Tenpoint5 - seems like I can do that.

I will now look through the site you gave too.

away we go......

[Wildcat]

Welcome to the forum and the wonderful world of smoked food!

The link Smoker John provided is highly recommended. Has all you need to start off with.

IMHO pulled pork is the easiest, albeit one of the longest smokes. Butts are very forgiving. They do require patience and will go through a stall period that will make you want to turn up the temperatures - just let it ride. If you decide on a butt, I recommend about a 7 or 8 pounder, trim off most (if not all) of the fat cap, apply either Extra Virgin Olive Oil, or cheap yellow mustard then apply a rub. Apply 3 or 4 hours of smoke (3 wood pucks per hour), change the water in the pan and continue to cook without any further smoke until done. You should cook at a cabinet temp of 190 to 230 F. I personally favor 205. The internal meat temp when it is done will be between 175 and 190 (depending on how high you kept the cabinet temp). When it is done you should be able to stick a fork in and twist. The entire cook time will vary from around 16 hours to 24 hours. After the cook, you should wrap in foil and let rest until cool enough to handle. If you have 3 or 4 hours before it is time to eat wrap in foil then a towel and place in an ice chest until dinner time. This will keep it hot until you eat.

Good luck

[beefmann]

welcome aboard, and enjoy, it  will be a learning curve one thing i would recommend is a remote thermometer to monitor the temps of the meat, ... while cooking in a smoker   remember you are doing so at a  lot lower box temp. then in a regular oven. which means it takes longer.. trust your thermometer over duration temps.

enjoy
Beef

[ragweed]

Welcome to the forum from Nebraska.  Lots of great information here.  Don't hesitate to ask ANY questions.  The folks here love to help newbies like us.

[Defiant]

Welcome to the forum.  I would also like to recommend pulled pork as one of the first things you try.  Allow plenty of time to smoke and cook and it is pretty forgiving.  It always turns out great for me.

[dman4505]

Welcome to the asylum, pull up a chair and enjoy the show
I didn't see it mentioned yet so I'll put it out there... "We like pictures"
We like to see what others are smoking/cooking so post some pictures
Also remember even your mistakes usually taste pretty darn good, at least mine have.

Don

[Ketch22]

Welcome to the forum   :)

[beefmann]

Welcome to the forum from Nebraska.  Lots of great information here.  Don't hesitate to ask ANY questions.  The folks here love to help newbies like us.

we all were newbies at one time or another

[doggone]

Thank you all for the warm welcome. We're seasoning the smoker today and going shopping for meat and a thermometer tomorrow. The family is excited that we're finally using it and have a laundry list of requests. Told them I didn't want to fill up the smoker on the first round. Wanted to see how the first try with only one piece of meat went. So I guess we'll be learning by jumping right in and going down the list after that. Will keep you all posted on our progress.

Couple of beginner questions.
- Do you guys buy your meat at the supermarket? or go to a butcher for specific cuts.
- What cut of meat do you use for pulled pork? How is it labeled in the market?

Thanks again for your help.

[doggone]

okay. Knew I had read it somewhere on this forum. I guess pulled port is the shoulder? I hope it's labeled that way at the market. I've never paid attention to the types or names of meat before. Guess I'm about ta learn.

[Grouperman941]

okay. Knew I had read it somewhere on this forum. I guess pulled port is the shoulder? I hope it's labeled that way at the market. I've never paid attention to the types or names of meat before. Guess I'm about ta learn.

The most common, I think, is 'Boston butt'.

[tskeeter]

doggone, frequently used names for the cut of meat most often used to make pulled pork are Boston Butt, pork butt, or pork shoulder.  You may find the meat cryopacked with two 7 - 8 pound pork shoulders in the package (this is how they are packaged at our local Costco).  Since you're doing your maiden run, if you end up with a twin pack, just take one of the shoulders, wrap it well, and put it in the freezer to use later.

Also, pulled pork freezes well.  Many forum members smoke and cook their pork shoulders a day or two, or a week or so ahead of time.  Pull the pork.  And vacuum seal it before freezing it.  Or just pull it and refrigerate it over night.  This gives some time for the smokey flavor to permeate all of the meat, rather than sitting on the surface.  When it comes time to eat, they gently warm up the meat.  Often they add back some of the dripping they collected while the shoulder was cooking, some apple juice/apple cider, or a splash of beer to add some moisture while the meat warms up.  Preparing the pulled pork in advance means you don't have to deal with the challenge of wind, cold temps, or other factors slowing the cooking process.  Of course, for the members that cater events or feed large groups, being ready on time is a big deal so they developed this process to keep their timing dialed in.  (It also helps to get acquainted with the FTC (foil, towel, cooler) process, which allows you to hold the meat at serving temperature for up to as much as four hours.)

A couple of things to consider trying smoking would be cheese (before the weather gets too hot) or nuts (the favorite in my neighborhood is cashews).  Both are relatively quick and easy to smoke and very tasty.  The only down side is both benefit from some aging before you eat them.  The cashews, at least a week, more is better.  I like a month.  The cheese, about a month.  More is just fine (I smoke cheese about four times a year and there is always smoked cheese in our refrigerator that has been there for two, three, four, or more months).  The cheese, in particular, benefits from some aging.  That is, unless you are fond of that licking the ash tray flavor.

Welcome to the world of smoke, low and slow!

[doggone]

This is great info tskeeter! Thank you. I'm armed with knowledge for a trip to Costco.