Any new Michigan Members?

[CoolbreezeBBQ]

Last few weeks

 

[culpepersmoke]

I wanted to say hi. I grew up in MI and recently purchased a house in the Alpena area. I'll be in Michigan May through November or at least that's the plan. 2020 and all the bizarre happenings I ended up staying here all year. I'm quickly learning about cold weather smoking. I've been to Harbor Freight and picked up a few moving and welding blankets to help keep the smoker warm.
Gordon

 

[martin1950]

I wanted to say hi. I grew up in MI and recently purchased a house in the Alpena area. I'll be in Michigan May through November or at least that's the plan. 2020 and all the bizarre happenings I ended up staying here all year. I'm quickly learning about cold weather smoking. I've been to Harbor Freight and picked up a few moving and welding blankets to help keep the smoker warm.
Gordon

Down here in S/W Mi. it ain't been too bad this year. The weather is always nice in the garage.

 

[TomCrump]

Welcome !

I was able to fire up a smoker a few times, this Winter. Traverse City had half the snow of a normal year. Temps were milder, too.

 

[Wild Thing]

I just registered today. I am in the U.P. near Iron Mtn. I found this site a day or two ago and I am very impressed. Some excellent info and it is quite apparent that there is a lot of experience on board.

Smoked some Lake Superior Lake trout last week and then some Buffalo Jerky. I just put 25# of Buffalo Bacon in the Bradley. Next up will be a 25# batch of Buffalo Snack sticks. I have never added High Temp Cheese to any of my recipes and I have some on order for the snack sticks (was hoping they would arrive today).

Just wondering?? How much cheese is appropriate for 25# of snack sticks? The question has probably already been answered so I'll surf around some and see if I can find out.

 

[JJS]

Welcome from troll country.

The level of expertise on this forum is second to none, I haven’t ever used high temp cheese but I have seen it mentioned on here several times.

FYI the rule around here is no pics it didn’t happen so don’t be afraid to share the food porn

 

[BrianGSDTexoma]

I sure miss that smoked White fish from Mi. There is a place, Bortell's Fisheries by Pentwater that has a huge selection of smoked fish and some of the best fried smelt.

 

[Wild Thing]

Welcome from troll country.

The level of expertise on this forum is second to none, I haven’t ever used high temp cheese but I have seen it mentioned on here several times.

FYI the rule around here is no pics it didn’t happen so don’t be afraid to share the food porn

Thanks JJS - I can probably post some photos from time to time. Here are a few of the bacon I just smoked yesterday. It is cooling in the barn fridge as we speak. We will be slicing and vacuum sealing it soon.

This was my first ever attempt at making bacon. I used the Cabelas kit.

I have a lot of Buffalo meat from a recent bison hunt so that is what I used. It was a little bit of a tight squeeze fitting 25# of meat in my little Bradley smoker but we got it in there.

Cooled the loaves off in the barn kitchen and then put them in the fridge. Will slice it up and vacuum seal a little later this morning, but I do intend to try it out with breakfast this morning.

I sure miss that smoked White fish from Mi. There is a place, Bortell's Fisheries by Pentwater that has a huge selection of smoked fish and some of the best fried smelt.

I am very familiar with Bortell's. My wife and I ran a charter fishing business out of Ludington for many years...

Here are a couple pics of our boat...named..."Wild Thing", of course

 

[Wild Thing]

I mentioned that I smoked up some Lake Superior Lake Trout last week...

After smoking the trout I decided to smoke up some Buffalo jerky as well...

I kind of got on a roll after smoking the fish and jerky so I decided to make up some brats. The bull I shot was big...old...and a little tough so I didn't mind grinding up some of the steaks and roasts...

which came out pretty lean...

I mixed it nearly 50:50 with pork shoulder (13# buffalo and 12# pork)

This is my little meat processing station in the man cave ("Situation Room") in the pole barn.

Brats came out good.

Next up - 25# of buffalo snack sticks. Meat is defrosting as we speak. The high temp cheese did arrive yesterday so I can get them done this weekend. I will do 10# with the Habanero Cheese, 10# with the Cheddar and 5# with no cheese.

 

[HoughtonLakeSmoker]

New to the forum as of this morning from houghton lake. Was looking for some new Cajun jerky recipes and stumbled into this little slice of heaven.…Wild Thing, those last few posts looked amazing!

 

[Wild Thing]

Finished up the Ground Buffalo Bacon yesterday.

Since this was the first time making bacon I pretty much just stared with the recipe from the Cabela's kit. The instructions did call for 18# of venison and only 7# of pork but I didn't want it quite that lean so i made it 60:40 - 15# of Buffalo and 10# of pork shoulder. Otherwise I used the cure and seasonings as directed. If anyone has a different recipe that they would like to share I might be interested.

25# - 10 loaves pretty much filled up my Bradley smoker.

I let them cool for an hour or two and then put them in the fridge overnight to chill.

The meat slicer made short work of slicing the meat.

I can tell you that they went real well with blueberry pancakes and our homemade maple syrup.

My wife vacuum sealed them and they are now in the freezer.

 

[Wild Thing]

New to the forum as of this morning from houghton lake. Was looking for some new Cajun jerky recipes and stumbled into this little slice of heaven.…Wild Thing, those last few posts looked amazing!

Thanks Houghton Lake Smoker. Welcome aboard....from an old-timer who has been on board only 2 days longer than you

 

[danglin’angler]

checking in from the thornapple river valley

 

[tstank]

New here. From Portage!!

 

[hillbillyrkstr]

New here. From Portage!!

Welcome!

we have a fattie contest yearly (except the last two years for various reasons) that has exceeded 40 entrees and 250 people.Besides that we have some smaller get togethers if your ever interested give me A shout. Next fattie contest should be in September 2022.

Scott

 

[BrianGSDTexoma]

Need someone up there to find me a Walleye boat. I love that style and hard to find in Texas! I sure miss Mi fishing!

 

[Oceantoad]

WOW, no posts since Dec 2021. Newbie here living in Midland MI. Just joined a few weeks ago. No smoker yet. Building one as soon as we get that Auto Insurance check in. Going for that out house cedar shack look with a firebox off to the side. Went Ape Sh_ _ crazy with 2 recent Boston Butt sales at Kroger and Meijer. Filled deep freezer to the rim. Been making sausages like crazy and want to branch out into smoking.

 

[JCFishernuts]

Welcome Oceantoad,
Good luck on the new smoker. Got our check and deposited today. Saving up to move to endless summer, I'll take my little plastic garden smoke shack with cold and hot smoker with us. I do want to replace my grill with a flatop griddle. I did score some nice beef slabs a GFS a week ago, cut them up and vac wrapped and nestled in the freezer. I've only got one spiral sliced ham left, will save for Easter.
John

 

[YooperSmoker]

just checking in from the Keweenaw

Mike

 

[hillbillyrkstr]

WOW, no posts since Dec 2021. Newbie here living in Midland MI. Just joined a few weeks ago. No smoker yet. Building one as soon as we get that Auto Insurance check in. Going for that out house cedar shack look with a firebox off to the side. Went Ape Sh_ _ crazy with 2 recent Boston Butt sales at Kroger and Meijer. Filled deep freezer to the rim. Been making sausages like crazy and want to branch out into smoking.

Covid slowed down the Michigan smokers group the last few years. The founders got together but that’s about it. One of us passed away this year. handymanstan was one of the biggest supporters of this group and get togethers. Great guy who kept pushing us forward.

Good luck with that smoker build.

Scott