First year smokin'

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gutty

Newbie
Original poster
Aug 31, 2009
4
10
Folks call me Gutty...a shortcut nickname of my last name. We live in south central PA and last year I'd been experimenting with lightly smokin' some chicken legs and such. I guess I dropped enough hints that Santa (our daughter and son in law) got me a CharGriller with a side fire box for Christmas.

I've had lots of fun playing with the fire and smoke and trying different things. My chicken thighs and legs, pork shoulder and smoked fish dip (w/locally caught trout) are really good.

But, I've had comments that sometimes there's too much smokey flavor. Am I smoking too long, as opposed to just cooking for a while?

I've been using wild cherry, hickory and some Bradford pear. Can anybody offer some suggestions as to why I would have too much smoke? Should I stick to just oak and hickory?

This weekend I did some turkey breasts and I liked them, but the wife says they're too smokey.
 
I don't have that particular smoker, but a few basic guides: Well seasoned wood for smoking and keep it thin and blue with the vents open so your smoke flows thru. Any of these can leave a creosote build up.

The hickory can be a strong smoke flavor too.

Hope that helps.
 
Welcome.We call it the THIN BLUE smoke on forum.Nobody places meat or anything on smoker until the white smoke turns thin and blue.Like werdwolf mentioned season that wood and good airflow.

I have used all those woods with success.

When folks after 9 months have demonstrated smoking skills they can be inducted into the ORDER OF THIN BLUE SMOKE on forum.
 
Ahhh...the Thin Blue Smoke. I'll just have to have more patience at the beginning of the smoke. Thanks.
 
First welcome to SMF glad you joined us. Are you using lump and then just wood for the flavor? With any kind of smoker the key is TBS
 
Welcome Gutty.
To cut down on some of that initial white smoke when you add a new chunk of wood you could burn the wood black first, I used to drop chunks into the chimney and burn them that way but that was very inefficient so I got one of those torches that hook up to a propane tank and just burn a bunch of chunks to toss on.
Also, depending on the wood, say hickory for example, they can be pretty potent so you wouldn't want to burn just steady hickory for several hours, personally I prefer using oak for my fuel and adding additional bits of wood for flavor.
 
I've been reading you guy's tips for over a year and finally decided to take the plunge when this issue of "too much smoke" came up.

I have a line on some oak I can get cheap so that'll be my fuel for the winter. I do use chunk to get started then whatever wood I have for the main fuel.
 
If your gonna use wood as your heat source you may need to pre-burn it and just use the coals then add a piece or two for the added flavor. I think most members using that model smoker use lump charcoal for the heat and chunks of wood for the flavor
 
That may be the answer. Charcoal for the heat and wood for flavor only. Interesting though, the manufacturer says to use wood as the fuel but I'm not above trying different things. What's your favorite lump charcoal?
 
Gutty,
I too have a wife that is sensative to heavy smoke. My pride and joy is a converted Stokamatic Coal Stoker. I have found that Oak is the best if wood is your sole heating source. I add in my other woods as I cook - I'll have to try the pre burning trick mentioned below on my big chunks of hickory.

One thing I have found is that poultry is particulary prone to soaking up the smoke. If I'm doing a turkey or even chicken thighs, I might add as little as a hand full of my hickory or apple and the Mrs. doesn't have any problems.

Beef and pork, I can add a lot more of my flavoring wood without any complaints.
Hope this helps... If Mamma ain't happy.... ;o)
Tracey
 
Welcome, Glad to have you with us. This is the place to learn, lots of good info and helpful friendly Members.

Be sure to check out Jeff's 5 Day Smoking Basics eCourse, you can find it here it's "FREE"...5 Day e Course

Everyone here enjoys seeing the qview so be sure to post plenty of pics... Large ones that us old people with bad eyes can see, 640 x 480 is a nice size...
 
Welcome to SMF. Glad you decided to join us. When I use lump in my webber I like Royal Oak lump.
 
First off welcome to SMF. You already know how good the place is so I'm glad you came out of the darkness and saw the light. We are always glad to have new people here cause they might just look at things and little differant then we do and that always make for some really differant way to do things. I hope you have the how to's and what if's on the whole Qview thing and if not go here:
http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/for...ad.php?t=58920
and it will show you how to post pictires so we can see what your smoking on and with and what your smoking. So hurry and go get something to smoke.
Welcome To The Addiction
 
Welcome to SMF!! I’m so happy you decided to join us.

Tom


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