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pgeobc

Fire Starter
Original poster
Oct 26, 2007
54
10
Indian Territory
Hello, to all of the forum members from a newbie with some experience, more wide than deep.

I started smoking with a Luhr Jensen hot smoker in the 1970s smoking "chipped" beef, cheese, and so on. At that time, I did a little summersausage, too, but had to improvise to cold smoke.

After a move to OK in late 1989, I started using a water-smoker--one of the cylindrical models powered by charcoal and Hickory or Apple wood that I garnered from the woods around here. That smoker was used to make brisket, duck, corned beef, ribs, and pulled butt. At that time, I built a cold-smoker from two food-grade 55-gallon drums and did my own hams and bacon for a short time.

Now, I am using a Bradley Original Smoker with a dedicated computerized control and am in the process of modifying it to cold smoke. Mostly that will be to get back into the summersausage and kielbasa making category. At present, I cure my own corned-beef and use the smoker to make a semi-mild variety of Pastrami out of it, too.

Over the last 37+ years, I have collected an amazing number of recipes for sausages and other cured meats and have books with smokehouse designs in them (even some old USDA designs). Maybe one of these days I can get that smokehouse built that I have been wanting for 40 years.
 
Welcome to the SMF pgeobc, It sounds like you have a bit of knowledge you can share with us.

Glad to have you here
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Welcome to the forums, we are glad to have you join us. You sound like you have a lot of great info and experiences to share. Hopefully we can learn from you and we are all available to answer any questions you may have.
 
Welcome to the best smokin' site on the net, SMF. Glad to have you amongst us, looking forward to your Q Views!
 
Welcome to the forum! I'm sure your expertise will be appreciated here.

I like to cure my own hams. Maybee you might have some good imput for me!

We would like to see some of your QViews!
 
Relax, Bubba. I'll have ya over when the Beast is up, and I'll 'splain it all over a beer and Beam. I'll be all clear to ya then!

And Welcome Pgeobc! I guess ya might not need the 5 day ecourse...heh. Looking forward to your experiences enriching the forums... and MY knowledge.
 
>Where 'bouts in OK ya hail from?<

Park Hill, but that is only a post office. I live on Tenkiller Ferry Lake.

>Please share your recipe for making smoked chipped beef!! <

That was 30 years ago and I'm having trouble remembering just exactly how I came to that point. BTW, the Luhr Jensen smoker was identical to the Lil' Chief, IIRC, and that may still be sold today. I think that I was trying to make beef bacon by curing the beef in Morton's TenderQuick and then I smoke-cooked it. My older Morton's curing recipe book uses quite a bit of salt by comparison to some of the recipes today, as Morton's was written with meat preservation in mind, not just fancy flavor. At any rate, it was quite good on SOS. That is a lot like I make my own Corned Beef and Pastrami, but they have additional spices added, are made from a different cut of beef, and I cut the amount of cure in half for modern tastes. Hope that helps.

>I like to cure my own hams. Maybee you might have some good imput for me!<

My experience with hams was limited to small hams procured from a local butcher, which were then cured with brine--both injected and soaked. The resulting ham was cold-smoked in my home-made smoker.

My experiences with bacon were broader. I tried several recipes, including honey-cured bacon. All of that would be considered a dry cure done in the frig and then smoked. It doesn't take much to beat store-bought bacon.

>Computerized control???<

Yes, the Bradley has an after-market computerized control. I can't remember the brand name -- uh, maybe Barbecue Raptor?--but is has a pit temp probe, a meat probe and a computer. Since the Bradley's smoke apparatus is separate from the heater in the cooker, one can regulate the heat in the cooker quite independently of the application of smoke. This thing has a differential ramp-up feature that cooks the meat more quickly at first and then levels off when you get near your selected done temperature. One simply tells it the cook temp. and the done temp. and away it goes. The the smoking is added as one desires separately.

Thanks, everybody, for the replies.
 
Yes, the Bradley has an after-market computerized control. I can't remember the brand name -- uh, maybe Barbecue Raptor?--but is has a pit temp probe, a meat probe and a computer. Since the Bradley's smoke apparatus is separate from the heater in the cooker, one can regulate the heat in the cooker quite independently of the application of smoke. This thing has a differential ramp-up feature that cooks the meat more quickly at first and then levels off when you get near your selected done temperature. One simply tells it the cook temp. and the done temp. and away it goes. The the smoking is added as one desires separately.

Thanks, everybody, for the replies.[/quote]

Will it carve it up for you too when it is done???
 
Welcome to the SMF Family
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Already off & sharing your knowledge
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It is people like you that make this Family a great wealth of knowledge & we are ALL
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better at smoking because of it
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