I’ve been smoking food in my Masterbuilt propane smoker since August 2010 with pretty good results. I copied Bearcarver (many thanks) recipes for the most part but ventured on my own here and there and have been happy with the results. I recently “upgraded” to a MES 30 and added an AMAZN smoker to the arsenal with hickory and apple dust. I broke it in with pastrami using a combination of whiskey barrel and apple chips on Friday and it was outstanding. I just finished about 6 pounds of belly bacon, it was cured for a week with TQ, brown sugar and a few other misc. spices. I placed it in the MES, set it at 100F and lit the AMAZN smoker filled with apple dust. I closed the vent almost all the way and held temp within 10F the whole time, outside temp was ~60F. The AMAZN smoker worked great, burned nice and slow so I left it on for about six hours. The belly bacon was cut up into 4 ~ 1 ¼ lbs slabs, placed on the top two shelves to the left of the AMAZN smoker which was just above the empty water tray. When I pulled it out the smoke had a bitter smell to it. I placed the bacon in the fridge for several hours and then sliced it up. Everything looks good but that bitter smell drives me nuts. I noticed the same smell when I cold smoked some cheese in my propane smoker using the AMAZN smoker, I used apple with that also. The cheese is still in the fridge for another week or so until its tastes better ot that smell goes away. I guess what I’m asking is does the apple wood tend to do this, or am I doing something wrong. I told my newbe buddy who is smoking some belly bacon tomorrow to leave the vent all the way open to get some more throughput with the smoke and use some ice if needed to keep the temp down. Any opinions would be appreciated. Couple of pictures of the bacon.
I am also a victim of smoking desensitization, the food out of the smoker tastes much better the next day to me. I guess all the smoke for hours on end has a negative effect on me while cooking all day.
The one on the left was an end piece, little more smoke.
I am also a victim of smoking desensitization, the food out of the smoker tastes much better the next day to me. I guess all the smoke for hours on end has a negative effect on me while cooking all day.
The one on the left was an end piece, little more smoke.
