- Jul 17, 2014
- 9
- 10
Some folks refer to me as Wild Bill, others, Strickey, and my students call me Prof Bill.
I am retired, work part time as an editor, as a professor of English, and nearly full time as Opa to five wonderful grandchildren: 2 granddaughters 3-months apart--now 11 months and 14 months. Another granddaughter 3, and two grandsons, 5 and 7. When I am bored, I garden--primarily red raspberries and blackberries for myself. I share with the grandchildren liberally. At my age, I prefer they pick--berries are right at their eye-level. Strawberries are for the kids and I plant only non-light sensitive plants so we have berries from June 1st thru the first hard freeze.
The oldest grandson wanted me to plant him some sweetcorn; I did it only because he asked. It's out there, growing... but, well, grandpas do things for the kids, right!?
Some years ago, my dad built himself a smoker--too big to haul from the Salton Sea back to central Indiana when we settled his estate. Years passed, then my youngest son bought a smoker to make pulled pork--youth does have its idealism and he bought one that used charcoal and wood chips--every 20 minutes. He moved back home and along came the smoker! Well, I converted that unit to propane. That worked ok, but it was too top heavy and tipped over one day while smoking ribs.
Meanwhile, a month ago, my extremely extended family had my grandchildren for the day, a day that I picked them up and Wallah!! He had an electric smoker and was smoking up some wings. I stayed long enough to try some. I noted that smoker had smoke coming out everywhere EXCEPT the vent. A Smoke Hollow brand, cheap, and I was certain I could find a slightly better built model. I settled on a Masterbuilt 30" electric model. Price was under $200 and it seemed to have what I needed for my household. It has one glaring flaw: the water pan sits right under the hole to drain the drip pan grease/fat. Some engineer failed to figure out water does NOT evaporate when covered with a layer of grease at 200-ish degrees! But alas, I figured out that aluminum foil makes a quick homemade tent over the water and shunts the grease away from the water--allowing normal evaporation.
Since recipes abound--as many as there are readers in this forum--I figured I'd sign up and "sniff around" for ideas and tips. The web via Google searches all center around BBQ, NOT specific to electric smokers--I guess we are a minority?
--Bill
I am retired, work part time as an editor, as a professor of English, and nearly full time as Opa to five wonderful grandchildren: 2 granddaughters 3-months apart--now 11 months and 14 months. Another granddaughter 3, and two grandsons, 5 and 7. When I am bored, I garden--primarily red raspberries and blackberries for myself. I share with the grandchildren liberally. At my age, I prefer they pick--berries are right at their eye-level. Strawberries are for the kids and I plant only non-light sensitive plants so we have berries from June 1st thru the first hard freeze.
The oldest grandson wanted me to plant him some sweetcorn; I did it only because he asked. It's out there, growing... but, well, grandpas do things for the kids, right!?
Some years ago, my dad built himself a smoker--too big to haul from the Salton Sea back to central Indiana when we settled his estate. Years passed, then my youngest son bought a smoker to make pulled pork--youth does have its idealism and he bought one that used charcoal and wood chips--every 20 minutes. He moved back home and along came the smoker! Well, I converted that unit to propane. That worked ok, but it was too top heavy and tipped over one day while smoking ribs.
Meanwhile, a month ago, my extremely extended family had my grandchildren for the day, a day that I picked them up and Wallah!! He had an electric smoker and was smoking up some wings. I stayed long enough to try some. I noted that smoker had smoke coming out everywhere EXCEPT the vent. A Smoke Hollow brand, cheap, and I was certain I could find a slightly better built model. I settled on a Masterbuilt 30" electric model. Price was under $200 and it seemed to have what I needed for my household. It has one glaring flaw: the water pan sits right under the hole to drain the drip pan grease/fat. Some engineer failed to figure out water does NOT evaporate when covered with a layer of grease at 200-ish degrees! But alas, I figured out that aluminum foil makes a quick homemade tent over the water and shunts the grease away from the water--allowing normal evaporation.
Since recipes abound--as many as there are readers in this forum--I figured I'd sign up and "sniff around" for ideas and tips. The web via Google searches all center around BBQ, NOT specific to electric smokers--I guess we are a minority?
--Bill
