New Smoker From England Says "Hello"

[EnglishGuy]

Well, Santa was good to me too!  Although, to be honest, I knew he would, as I bought it for myself.... ;D

I'm located just outside London, and am lucky enough to have a river at the bottom of my garden. I understand there are eels in it, so hopefully, I'll be cold smoking an eel at some point (a Northern European thing, not sure if it is popular elsewhere). But what I really bought the smoker for was low 'n' slow BBQ which seems to be virtually unknown here in England.

I'm now the proud owner of an Original Smoker, and itching to get started. I used to have a charcoal smoker before, but it just needed too much tending. One beer would lead to another while tending it, and....... :P

So, just saying "hello", and no doubt I'll be asking questions soon

[manxman]

Welcome EnglishGuy, there are a few regulars from this side of the pond here on the forum but we are certainly a minority!!

The good news is that there is plenty of help and advise available from the pioneers of BBQ across the water! Don't worry about asking questions, we all had to start somewhere.  ;) :D

Several people have asked about smoked eels in the past so if you have any success it would be worth posting the recipe, we do not appear to have any eels here on the Isle of Man. (other than saltwater conger eels)

Have fun........................  :)

[Mr Walleye]

Hi EnglishGuy and welcome to the forum!

You'll love the food you turn out with the BS!  :P

And remember what Manxman said... There are no stupid questions. Everybody around here is always willing to help.

Keep us posted...

Mike

[LilSmoker]

Hi and welcome EnglishGuy, i'm also from the u.k.  ;)

I love smoked eel, or paling as it's called in Holland, i have friends over there, and whenever i visit i always eat the eel and shrimp by the bucket load!  ;D it's delicious!

Next time i'm over there, i'm gonna try and find out the process of how they smoke the eels, as i'd love to do some.
I also like em jellied, i've found the smaller ones nicer to eat

Anyway good luck with the new Bradley, let us know how you get on..........LilSmoker

[EnglishGuy]

I'm surprised by the reaction about smoked eel. I assumed because I know which book the details on how to smoke eels can be found, that everybody knew!

There's a book by a guy called Keith Erlandson which describes the technique. They are smoked whole, but you do need to remove the kidney.  Rather than explain it, its easier just to give you a link to the Amazon page, and you may as well just buy the book:-

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Home-Smoking-Curing-Keith-Erlandson/dp/0091890292/ref=pd_bbs_7?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1199907023&sr=8-7

This is obviously the UK Amazon site.

I think he's Swedish or Norwegian, but he wrote the book when the only way to smoke was to build your own smokehouse (the book was written a few years ago).

You can probably get the book cheaper on eBay if it appears there... ;D

[iceman]

Welcome EnglishGuy
Nice to have another member from the other side of the pond on board.
Enjoy the new toy and keep us posted.

[coyote]

Welcome aboard EnglishGuy. In our community , life really does taste better.......you'll see. :) 8)


Coyote

[manxman]

Keith Erlandson

Yeah, I have got that book and very good it is too. Must have missed the smoked eel recipe.  ;)

[iceman]

Keith Erlandson

Yeah, I have got that book and very good it is too. Must have missed the smoked eel recipe.  ;)

Hope you missed the smoked liver pate part too!!! LOL
Manx my buddy was just ribbing me about that when I brought out some brandy/sage chicken liver pate for a snack. He was squirming in his chair until I told him it wasn't smoked.  :D :D :D

[Mr Walleye]

I can't say I have ever tried eel before. I guess there aren't many here in Saskatchewan!  ::)

I was reading through "Great Sausage Recipes and Meat Curing" by Rytek Kutas and I did notice they had a recipe in there for smoked eel though.

Mike

[hillbillysmoker]

Welcome to the forum. Nice to have you sharing with us.

[EnglishGuy]

Well, I'm going to use it tomorrow for the first time. I'm carting it over to my brother's place because it is his birthday.

Because I won't have much time, I thought I would smoke a couple of chickens and a few sausages (there will be 6 adults and 6 kids), and I can brine the chickens tonight.

I've never smoked chicken before, but from what I have read, its fairly simple as I'm not waiting for any connective tissue to break down, merely to make sure that it is cooked through. I haven't calibrated/checked the thermometer on the Bradley, so I'll take a more accurate thermometer with me, and I have a probe thermometer also to check the chicken is cooked properly.

The menu will be

Smoked chicken
Smoked sausages
Smoked onion rings (I love them)
Home made coleslaw
Home made french fries for the kids (I have a portable frier)
Maybe some beans


And while its all cooking, one of the kids, who likes cooking, will be helping me make this year's stock of marmalade as the three week season for Seville oranges has just started and I managed to get a load in today.

With the chickens, I plan to brine them tonight, and smoke them for 4 hours tomorrow. Any tips on cooking them will be appreciated - should I do 'beer can chicken', or is this just silly?

[iceman]

Tell your brother happy birthday for us and have a great time. Sounds like some good eats are on the way. Cheers!!! :D ;)

[Ontrack]

Welcome EnglishGuy. I have several English friends here in Virginia that are originally from the Liverpool area. They all work for a large mining equipment firm as engineers. I have tried many of their dishes and really liked most, but I'm kind of thankful they haven't brought out the eel. It may be something I would love, but the sound of it just doesn't appeal to me. Enjoy that smoker!

[Gizmo]

With the chickens, I plan to brine them tonight, and smoke them for 4 hours tomorrow. Any tips on cooking them will be appreciated - should I do 'beer can chicken', or is this just silly?

I have never done a beer can chicken in the Bradley but I believe there are a few here that have.  I haven't done it that way as I don't think you would get the full effect from the process as you would using a much lower temperature than on a hot grill.  My biggest concern would be that the can half filled with beer and seasonings would act more as a heat sink and keep the cavity of the chicken and consequently the meat closest to the bones from reaching the temperature needed to be done. 

Beer can chicken is awesome on the grill so if the insides get done, it would have to be even better.