Recent content by caliperson

 I made ribs that sucked a couple weeks ago and thought it was my technique, now I'm thinking it was just bad wood.  I'm using the bad wood for firewood, and got a bag of hickory from a different brand:  much better.

It's a pretty common brand from a big chain type of store. I tested more of the chunks from the same bag last night, and I'd say, for me, maybe 1/3 smelled like hickory, 1/3 ( lighter colored chunks) had a nasty burnt sawdust and chemically scent, and the rest (darker chunks) smelled and looked...

I bought a bag of hickory chips from the store, and liked it quite a bit when I was experimenting with different woods.  I went out and bought a bag of chunks (a different brand), so they would last longer, and the first chunk I used had a weird smoke scent that reminded me of bug-spray and...

For the bacon-esque tri-tip I just use hickory and nothing but salt for a rub.

-It's possible, I was thinking about it, and the 3 worst cooks I've done all involved apple (the two pork sessions, 1 salmon session). I usually prefer hickory over other wood, but then again it DOES make my tri-tips taste like bacon....but I've been enjoying that flavor in that case. -Newbie...

The saga continues -  I got two racks of spare ribs from two different sources.  One was frozen, one was fresh.  I used the 3-2-1 method with 1/4 hickory and 3/4 apple chunks.  One rack had a dry rub I applied right before cooking; one was totally plain (I used a finishing sauce), both came out...

Nice, I've been cooking bratwurst the past couple days, was surprised how great they turned out using alder

Smoked 2 pork chops today that were good, but tasted very much like ham... details: -used 4 handfuls of apple wood chips -2 hours on an electric smoker at 225, then reverse seared on a grill for 5 minutes -chops were bone in and pretty thick, almost 2 inches maybe -brined 24 hours in a...

Question: I'm a newbie working my way through the various woods to develop a palate for the differences.  I did a small pork sirloin roast using only cherry chips on my electric today, and while the meat was good, I could barely taste the smoke.  I used a salt/brown sugar/black pepper rub, and...

I'm new at this but since no one else answered yet: Is your wood holder in the right place?  I didn't have mine exactly in the correct location the first time I used it, and I wasn't getting any smoke, because it wasn't close enough to the heater.   I did a smoke at 200F last week and it was...

I'm starting out with an electric (I live in a pretty cramped city in California), done about 3 cooks so far: tri-tip (turned out great), albacore (dry but good), and salmon x2 (first was dry, second time was excellent), gonna try sausage and pork loin soon.  I'll probably pick up a WSM sooner...