My name is Dan and I'm a smoke-aholic from Sparks, NV (next door to Reno). Ok, not a full-fledged smoke-aholic, but I'm getting there. I bought one of these last week and I have a lot to learn.
First off, I'm 41, married almost 13 yrs with a 9 yr old son and 11 yr old daughter. The kids' favorite foods are seafood and any kind of grilled or smoked meat. Lucky me. ;)
On to smoking. I plan on spending a lot of time reading this forum to pack any remaining nooks and crannies in my brain with smoking tips and info. I've cooked a couple things over the past few days, with success, but not quite 5 star quality yet. I assembled the smoker on Friday and per the instructions, wiped it down with vegetable oil and ran a fire through it for a few hours. Saturday I cooked a hunk of beef. I'm not sure what the cut was, exactly, but it was just under 3 pounds of beefy goodness. I didn't marinate or rub it with anything - just cooked it for nearly 4 hours using hickory wood. It turned out great, except for an overwhelming smoky smell and taste. I don't know if it's "smoky" or "smokey". I'll go with "smoky". I thought afterward that maybe I shouldn't have used wood for all of the cooking, that it was the cause of it being too smoky, but after a little reading this morning I realize that maybe I didn't have the chimney vent open enough and trapped too much smoke inside. I cooked again on Monday, more beef and some pork ribs. I used charcoal for most of it with just a handful of wood chips every hour or so. Better, but still pretty smoky tasting. I didn't change the vent opening (probably 3/4 closed most of the time).
That's enough of the long-winded intro. I'm glad to have found this forum and plan on spending lots of time here and outside with the smoker.
Dan
First off, I'm 41, married almost 13 yrs with a 9 yr old son and 11 yr old daughter. The kids' favorite foods are seafood and any kind of grilled or smoked meat. Lucky me. ;)
On to smoking. I plan on spending a lot of time reading this forum to pack any remaining nooks and crannies in my brain with smoking tips and info. I've cooked a couple things over the past few days, with success, but not quite 5 star quality yet. I assembled the smoker on Friday and per the instructions, wiped it down with vegetable oil and ran a fire through it for a few hours. Saturday I cooked a hunk of beef. I'm not sure what the cut was, exactly, but it was just under 3 pounds of beefy goodness. I didn't marinate or rub it with anything - just cooked it for nearly 4 hours using hickory wood. It turned out great, except for an overwhelming smoky smell and taste. I don't know if it's "smoky" or "smokey". I'll go with "smoky". I thought afterward that maybe I shouldn't have used wood for all of the cooking, that it was the cause of it being too smoky, but after a little reading this morning I realize that maybe I didn't have the chimney vent open enough and trapped too much smoke inside. I cooked again on Monday, more beef and some pork ribs. I used charcoal for most of it with just a handful of wood chips every hour or so. Better, but still pretty smoky tasting. I didn't change the vent opening (probably 3/4 closed most of the time).
That's enough of the long-winded intro. I'm glad to have found this forum and plan on spending lots of time here and outside with the smoker.
Dan
