Hello all - I'm Bob and have lived in Raleigh, NC for 21 years. Grew up in Kansas, and lived in Kansas, Massachusetts, Missouri, Oklahoma, and Arkansas at one point in time or another, so have been exposed to many BBQ traditions.
Years ago I started with a low cost Brinkmann charcoal type smoker. I never was able to get the really deep smoked flavor I was after, and so gave it up and haven't used the Brinkmann is at least a decade. Little over a week ago purchased a Masterbuilt 30" electric smoker, and so far I love it. I've ran it twice.
First time loaded it up with a pork loin that I'd cut into two pieces. Injected Stubbs pork marinade in one of them, sprinkled Weber's Sweet & Tangy seasoning over the other, and refrigerated both over night. Took the marinated piece and basted it with KC BBQ sauce before loading it into the smoker. Put a pan of mac and cheese in the top rack, the two pieces of loin in the next two, and some smoked sausage in the fourth. Used 225 degrees (actually 215 as I'd measured with another thermometer that the smoker ran hot), and a half & half mixture of hickory and wild cherry chips throughout the smoking cycle. Results - absolutely loved the the mac & cheese and the loins. Preferred the dry rubbed over the marinated, and after a few hours (and the next day) the smoke flavor was great. Sausages not has dried out as I wanted so....
Surfed the web, and modified the smoker with a ceramic tile over the wood chip box to even out the heat and loaded up again.
This time, again after web surfing, I tried boneless, skinless, chicken breasts. I brined the chicken breasts for one hour, coated them with a rub I made with granulated garlic, Hungarian paprika, brown sugar, oregano, and mustard powder, wrapped them in bacon, drizzled some maple syrup over them, and loaded up. Put the previously smoked sausages in the bottom rack, apple juice in the water tray, set to achieve 230 degrees, and used a half and half mix of apple and sugar maple wood chips. Delicious, though I think I stripped off half the bacon and put aside to use in scrambled egg - lol. Sausages still not the way I wanted them so cut them in half, put them back in, cranked the temp to 250, and left for two more hours. Finally the way I wanted them.
So overall, love the results I'm getting, and looking forward to lots of experimenting. Questions I have for the moment (and would love to have any input anyone cares to give) to be answered by asking in forums, web surfing, or experimentation are:
1). In this smoker do I need any water in the tray? Smoker is tight, doesn't use up any of the water, and Jeff (in one of his five day short course emails) states he has no strong evidence that this actually makes the meat moister.
2). A home made recipe to duplicate the Weber Sweet and Tangy seasoning. I've searched, and so far haven't found one.
Well, guess that's it, and again hello to all!
Years ago I started with a low cost Brinkmann charcoal type smoker. I never was able to get the really deep smoked flavor I was after, and so gave it up and haven't used the Brinkmann is at least a decade. Little over a week ago purchased a Masterbuilt 30" electric smoker, and so far I love it. I've ran it twice.
First time loaded it up with a pork loin that I'd cut into two pieces. Injected Stubbs pork marinade in one of them, sprinkled Weber's Sweet & Tangy seasoning over the other, and refrigerated both over night. Took the marinated piece and basted it with KC BBQ sauce before loading it into the smoker. Put a pan of mac and cheese in the top rack, the two pieces of loin in the next two, and some smoked sausage in the fourth. Used 225 degrees (actually 215 as I'd measured with another thermometer that the smoker ran hot), and a half & half mixture of hickory and wild cherry chips throughout the smoking cycle. Results - absolutely loved the the mac & cheese and the loins. Preferred the dry rubbed over the marinated, and after a few hours (and the next day) the smoke flavor was great. Sausages not has dried out as I wanted so....
Surfed the web, and modified the smoker with a ceramic tile over the wood chip box to even out the heat and loaded up again.
This time, again after web surfing, I tried boneless, skinless, chicken breasts. I brined the chicken breasts for one hour, coated them with a rub I made with granulated garlic, Hungarian paprika, brown sugar, oregano, and mustard powder, wrapped them in bacon, drizzled some maple syrup over them, and loaded up. Put the previously smoked sausages in the bottom rack, apple juice in the water tray, set to achieve 230 degrees, and used a half and half mix of apple and sugar maple wood chips. Delicious, though I think I stripped off half the bacon and put aside to use in scrambled egg - lol. Sausages still not the way I wanted them so cut them in half, put them back in, cranked the temp to 250, and left for two more hours. Finally the way I wanted them.
So overall, love the results I'm getting, and looking forward to lots of experimenting. Questions I have for the moment (and would love to have any input anyone cares to give) to be answered by asking in forums, web surfing, or experimentation are:
1). In this smoker do I need any water in the tray? Smoker is tight, doesn't use up any of the water, and Jeff (in one of his five day short course emails) states he has no strong evidence that this actually makes the meat moister.
2). A home made recipe to duplicate the Weber Sweet and Tangy seasoning. I've searched, and so far haven't found one.
Well, guess that's it, and again hello to all!
