Hello from Tampa. I'm Ken, 40 years old, 20 year Army Master Sergeant(still active).
I absolutely love this site and Jeff's smoking meat site. I have been cooking with fire for over 20 years, and have wanted for some time now to try smoking.
I was able to smoke in my two-sided el-cheapo grill with some success, then a little more success with my Brinkman Professional charcoal grill - two sided also. Big pain in the butt though to keep rotating turkey legs away from the hot side.
Best jerkey I ever made was by accident. Was a Sunday before deploying to Afghanistan the next day. Marinaded the meat overnight, was going to get up at 0600, stick it in the dehydrator and go back to bed. got the trays loaded, plugged it in and the thing caught fire! So now I have a bunch of raw meat and no idea what to do about it. Figured I'd try the grill. A big oak tree in the front yard provided plenty of branches that I soaked and added to a charcoal fire. Just stayed up with it to keep the fire going and keeping it smoky. Lost a lot of desired sleep, but the jerky turned out the best I have ever tasted.
Have been wanting a smoker for a while, but convincing the approval authority to fork over the money for a nice one has been tough. Did a lot if internet research and, please don't laugh, found the plans for the trashcan smoker. Plans called for an electric hotplate for the heat source, but after a test run with no meat, could only get the inside up to 125 degrees. This is 3 July this year and I have 3 dozen turkey legs in brine.
4 July comes and I'm at WalMart at 0700 to see what I can buy to get this thing working. I get one of those ont time use table top grills to use as my charcoal pan. Got a metal pizza pan that left one inch around the edge as a heat shield. Got all that in place and tested again. Got the temp to maintain between 180-220 with charcoal and hickory chips. Got the racks in place and the turkey loaded and 5 hours later I had some AMAZING tasting legs!
Tried a pork shoulder two weeks ago while my wife, her two sisters and mom were out blowing money. Followed Jeff's recipe and pulled them off at 200. Wrapped them in foil to finish off in the oven. Ladies came home after the sweet smokey smell was all over the house and about lost thier minds! Couldn't keep thier fingers out of the pan as I was pulling the pork. I was extremely proud of the results and got great reviews from all that ate some.
So now that the wife has tasted the results of what the trach can can do, I may have her convinced that a more worthy smoker should make it to a birthday, father's day, or Christmas list!
I'm pleased with how the trash can turned out. It's kind of funny. I altered the plans I found online, and if anyone is curious, I can post some pictures (if someone can tell me how to do that in here).
My next effort will be whole chickens if anyone has any suggestions!
Thanks,
Ken
I absolutely love this site and Jeff's smoking meat site. I have been cooking with fire for over 20 years, and have wanted for some time now to try smoking.
I was able to smoke in my two-sided el-cheapo grill with some success, then a little more success with my Brinkman Professional charcoal grill - two sided also. Big pain in the butt though to keep rotating turkey legs away from the hot side.
Best jerkey I ever made was by accident. Was a Sunday before deploying to Afghanistan the next day. Marinaded the meat overnight, was going to get up at 0600, stick it in the dehydrator and go back to bed. got the trays loaded, plugged it in and the thing caught fire! So now I have a bunch of raw meat and no idea what to do about it. Figured I'd try the grill. A big oak tree in the front yard provided plenty of branches that I soaked and added to a charcoal fire. Just stayed up with it to keep the fire going and keeping it smoky. Lost a lot of desired sleep, but the jerky turned out the best I have ever tasted.
Have been wanting a smoker for a while, but convincing the approval authority to fork over the money for a nice one has been tough. Did a lot if internet research and, please don't laugh, found the plans for the trashcan smoker. Plans called for an electric hotplate for the heat source, but after a test run with no meat, could only get the inside up to 125 degrees. This is 3 July this year and I have 3 dozen turkey legs in brine.
4 July comes and I'm at WalMart at 0700 to see what I can buy to get this thing working. I get one of those ont time use table top grills to use as my charcoal pan. Got a metal pizza pan that left one inch around the edge as a heat shield. Got all that in place and tested again. Got the temp to maintain between 180-220 with charcoal and hickory chips. Got the racks in place and the turkey loaded and 5 hours later I had some AMAZING tasting legs!
Tried a pork shoulder two weeks ago while my wife, her two sisters and mom were out blowing money. Followed Jeff's recipe and pulled them off at 200. Wrapped them in foil to finish off in the oven. Ladies came home after the sweet smokey smell was all over the house and about lost thier minds! Couldn't keep thier fingers out of the pan as I was pulling the pork. I was extremely proud of the results and got great reviews from all that ate some.
So now that the wife has tasted the results of what the trach can can do, I may have her convinced that a more worthy smoker should make it to a birthday, father's day, or Christmas list!
I'm pleased with how the trash can turned out. It's kind of funny. I altered the plans I found online, and if anyone is curious, I can post some pictures (if someone can tell me how to do that in here).
My next effort will be whole chickens if anyone has any suggestions!
Thanks,
Ken