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Post by gazz_46 on Mar 29, 2012 20:50:34 GMT
Well what can i say..... Marcus seemed to be having all the fun so i thought bugger it, if you cant beat em join em, then headed off to the BBQ suppliers and bought myself some kit to turn the Weber kettle into a smoker (well kinda....never be as good as the pukka kit but worth a go) Anyhow bit of drilling later hey presto i can see just how cremated my meat is...........  My meat of choice for this experiment was rolled lamb...hmmm maybe not a great choice for smoking but was only £3 so no worries if it turned to ash. Wood chips i decided on apple.......i am told this has a nice sweet taste, is pretty forgiving and hard to overpower anything. Soaked the chips, lit the coals, foil tray in bottom of BBQ filled with hot water and away we went. Temps difficult to maintain but for the 1st hour managed 250 degrees with a little variance between 230 - 270. Next hour hovered around 270-300 just a tad too hot so closed all the vents and wathced temps fall back to 230.....this is where i cocked up .......i panicked and put more coals on..damn! temp getting way too hot so closed it all off again........cock up no.2 i killed the fire  ......ain't easy this smoking lark............. long story short, basting every so often with watered down mint jelly i ended up 4 hours later quite happy with the result.    Got a pork belly to try next.......... thanks Marcus!!!!!! |
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Post by tonyb on Mar 30, 2012 8:14:46 GMT
Yes, controlling the heat on a low thermal mass charcoal set up ain't easy. In the end I finished up admitting defeat and went for a Bradley electric smoker.
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Post by minesamojito on Mar 31, 2012 10:18:07 GMT
It aint easy at all controlling the temps, hat thermometer did you use, the ones often built in on smokers/kettles are a bit dodgy, you can pick up a digital probe one for about £20. Another trick is to put boiling water in the pan, this will help stabilise the temps removing the wild swings often experienced, the best thing is to just keep working with your set up, get used to how it works and what you need to do to get the right temp.
This looks like a cracking first attempt, lamb and smoke go so well together. Lots of guys do their competition bbq with kettles so stick with it.
Looking forward to seeing the pork belly pics.
Cheers
Marcus
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Post by gazz_46 on Mar 31, 2012 18:59:31 GMT
Thanks "M" You set a very high standard, pretty happy with the result lovely sweet slightly smokey flavour......temp gauge not std fitment, bought it and drilled / fitted it myself just above level of food grate l Joined bbbq society forum to pick up tips and see quite a few of our members there,,,,, anyhow used tray of boiling water as suggested and worked a treat........just me fretting that sent temps soaring  You will also see on side table that i use old style meat probe just to be safe, saw a nice wifi digital one in suppliers made by weber but 50 quid........! |
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Post by gazz_46 on Apr 12, 2012 0:22:56 GMT
5kg Cotton Wood Charcoal £4 at Tesco Well i couldn't resist so got me a free range chicken a Jamaican rub and set off after some more smokin experience.. Have to say i did think it took a while to get the coals going in the chimney but figured this was mainly down to the smaller than normal briquette size (approx half that of normal coal) which meant i had almost 3/4 of a bag with very little air space to get lit...persevered and chucked the lot in one side of a foiled grate, with a pan of hot water then paced up and down the garden for 3hrs....don't forget i'm new to smoking and worry like an expectant mother.. My second attempt at smoking and again pleased with the result (if not the rub,very salty) anyhow i found the temps very consistent and quick to react, tried my best not to fiddle or lift the lid tho. Could be that i performed better this time but chicken came out tender and juicy, looks a little pink in the photo but can assure you it was cooked (175 degrees internally after resting for 30 mins) i think it picked up some color off the woodchips.    Photography skills still lacking....sorry |
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Post by turkey on Apr 12, 2012 8:03:16 GMT
looks great, chicken especially ,
is that a real Webber you modded as it looks a very deep and sturdy BBQ.
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Post by minesamojito on Apr 12, 2012 10:36:20 GMT
That looks awesome mate! Good job! You will get some colouration from the smoke, it's called a smoke ring! congratulations! is the sign of a nicely smoked bit of meat  Cheers Marcus |
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Post by tonyb on Apr 12, 2012 11:20:42 GMT
Smoke doesn't penetrate very far in hot smoking, with insufficient time to work its way through the meat. Any colouration will be at or near the surface, the description 'smoke ring' describes this well. To be honest I'm not sure I've really been able to detect this in my home smoking set up, I suspect you need long smoke times for this to be clearly observable. Some of the stuff I've seen described as the 'smoke ring' are more to do with the meat having a 'crust' and more often resulting from too high temperatures.
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Post by minesamojito on Apr 12, 2012 12:03:33 GMT
I've had some cracking smoke rings in most of the stuff i've cooked, and in white meat it's especially obvious, the cherry I smoke with gives a lovely pink ring and a slight hue, there's definately something magic that happens when you cook at low temps in smoke, with a seasoned crust.
Cheers
Marcus
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Post by gazz_46 on Apr 12, 2012 15:19:22 GMT
looks great, chicken especially , is that a real Webber you modded as it looks a very deep and sturdy BBQ. It is yes, i bought it quite a few years ago now and served me well it's a 57cm one touch gold / premium i cant remember which exactly it was the newest thing in bbq when i got it and it was an awful lot of money had to special order it in blue....that much i can remember. You can get them now with a temp gauge built in but i am told they are not accurate as they are mounted under the handle and not closer to the grate like mine, my probe extends down to literally an inch from the food cooking grate which again i am told is better. Very versatile even get to use my enormous paella pans on it...works a treat. ;D |
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Post by gazz_46 on Apr 12, 2012 15:33:55 GMT
Smoke doesn't penetrate very far in hot smoking, with insufficient time to work its way through the meat. Any colouration will be at or near the surface, the description 'smoke ring' describes this well. To be honest I'm not sure I've really been able to detect this in my home smoking set up, I suspect you need long smoke times for this to be clearly observable. Some of the stuff I've seen described as the 'smoke ring' are more to do with the meat having a 'crust' and more often resulting from too high temperatures. I have only smoked twice twice now, mainly due to Marcus influence and can say i have noticed a distinct pinkness to the meat both times. More distinct on the the thinner part of the chicken where the smoke has penetrated from both the inside and outside but not as pronounced on the the breast i agree...would need lower temps and longer to get color there. I managed to cook the bird at a consistent 300F for 3hrs and was thoroughly cooked, no ill effects this morning..i always check with a meat probe before subjecting anyone to my food and internally reached 175 after a 30 min rest on the fattest part of the breast........all good if a little testing for a begginer Got a freezer full of stuff to try next, beef brisket,pork belly, leg of lamb and a whole duck..any ideas? |
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Post by tonyb on Apr 12, 2012 22:32:36 GMT
Gazz, are you by any chance brining the chicken? I usually cut the bird in half to make sure all the surface is exposed to the heat/smoke.
300F is at the top end of smoking for chicken, its not much less than normal oven cooking, you might want to try 250F, other meats tend to be even lower at about 225F. In general the lower the temp the less juice is squeezed out by the meat but of course it take longer to cook.
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Post by minesamojito on Apr 13, 2012 2:15:34 GMT
I usually inject my poultry with brine and butter, and cook them a bit hotter, for me 300-350 deg F works well, and about an hour and a half, cooking it lower than this is great too, but if you want crispy skin you'll need to go higher, and with injecting it's about as moist as it gets.
Just go for it, try different things, plank roast leg of lamb would be a winner I reckon. Try curing the brisket and then hot smoke, like a pastrami. Pork belly, just slap it on and smoke away for a few hours. Again the duck, i'd probably cure and cold smoke the breast, and hot smoke the rest.
Look forward to seeing all these on here soon!
Cheers
Marcus
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Post by gazz_46 on Apr 13, 2012 9:26:12 GMT
Gazz, are you by any chance brining the chicken? I usually cut the bird in half to make sure all the surface is exposed to the heat/smoke. 300F is at the top end of smoking for chicken, its not much less than normal oven cooking, you might want to try 250F, other meats tend to be even lower at about 225F. In general the lower the temp the less juice is squeezed out by the meat but of course it take longer to cook. Haven't got into brining yet ,its all a little experimental for me at the moment trying to decide whether or not i can justify a dedicated smoker and dont want to ruin anything meat is pricey these days, just got away with rub this time (extra salty........!). Looking at both horizontal with separate smoke box and proQ /wsm bullet types . Getting good results with kettle so far tho... As for the temp 300 you're right this is bang in the range btw smokin and roasting but was as low as i was preppared to go.. looked at the instructions for cooking which stated 45 mns per kilo plus 35 mns at 350 degree so figured with it being a 2 kilo bird my lower temp and longer time would allow some transfer of apple smoke flavour..... l was pleased with the end result but have a long way to go to feel competent Ultimately i can now see temps and can grow more and more confident in cookin at lower temps without killin my guests.................bonus ;D |
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Post by tonyb on Apr 13, 2012 16:40:39 GMT
On some specialist BBQ (not grilling) sites you'd probably start a war cooking at 300F plus So be careful if you visit and post on any of those sites. Me I'm pretty easy-going about all this stuff, I generally smoke chicken at 250F and pork at 225F but have been known to turn up the temp if I'm a little short of time  The Bradley, (which is a good piece of kit by the way) is only rated at a max temp of just over 300F (160C), and I think this is when the electrical cut out operates, so is much less in practice. |
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