Having a Smoker built in Mexico.

[dls1]

 
Hey dls1 you guessed it correctly it is for La Media Luna in Ajijic. :-) My wife owns it. http://la-media-luna.webs.com/

It wasn't much of a guess. I've been there once before. A little over a year ago. and the food was excellent.

Best wishes for continued success.

 

[rabbithutch]

Es un buen horno! Me gusto mucho!

 

[rick-in-ajijic]

Thanks, all the credit goes to my wife, her mother and sister they do all the work at La Media Luna. My wife was/is a trained sous chef but in a different line of foods for a few years. 

 

[rick-in-ajijic]

Thanks DLS1, come back again maybe we can meet up. If you do give me a heads up and I can come to the restaurant and meet you sometime. 

 

[rick-in-ajijic]

Thank you!

 

[rick-in-ajijic]

So I thought I would season the smoker today with some smoked chicken for the family to try. I put them in at 3:30 and at 5:50 they are getting close to being done. For wood I used Peach, Mesquite and a little Guayaba. I'll let you know how well they turned out soon. Oh yeh, the red stuff on the chicken is BBQ sauce being this is for family use. :-)

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• rick-in-ajijic
• Jan 1, 2017

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• rick-in-ajijic
• Jan 1, 2017

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• rick-in-ajijic
• Jan 1, 2017

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• rick-in-ajijic
• Jan 1, 2017

 

[dirtsailor2003]

That's looking great! How's it for keeping the temps?

 

[rick-in-ajijic]

I think it could do better! I used a small fire and as long as it was going I was around 220 to 250 (the size of fire in the above photo) I think at some time I will use firebrick and go on the inside about 1 1/2 to 2 brick widths from the wall. With the firebrick I'll do the fire box then change to the red brick and go all the way up to the top then fill the gap with sand and cap it. That is originally what I wanted but to have the bricklayers do that would have doubled the cost. I can do this work without a problem. Maybe in about a month or two I'll do that.

The chickens turned out very good I was worried about it being to smoky but they were not. The next time I'm going to use a water try above the fire to help keep the wings from drying out. For these chickens I didn't brine then like I usually do (didn't have the time) I think brining a chicken just adds so much more flavor to the meat IMHO.

 

[rick-in-ajijic]

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• rick-in-ajijic
• Jan 3, 2017

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• rick-in-ajijic
• Jan 3, 2017

I love it when a plan works! I installed a solid pipe through the brick into the smoker with removable brass connections on both sides. So when I need to cold smoke I can put in the burner and the pan and put chips in the pan for cold smoking. I just done the first run and it looks like it will hold the temp of 65 to 70 degrees (at least this time of year.) 

 

[rick-in-ajijic]

Look what's in the smoker! 

Kentucky (style) cured Smoked Hams & Smoked Prosciutto 

:-)  will be ready January 2018

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• rick-in-ajijic
• Jan 10, 2017

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• rick-in-ajijic
• Jan 10, 2017

 

[tripleq]

Mouth watering

 

[rick-in-ajijic]

Well I got the next step done to the smoker. The old propane regulator was only putting out 1 pound per Sq. Inch and was not enough to supply the 5 burners I need to run at times. So I ordered from Amazon a Bayou Classic 5HPR-40 48-Inch LPG Hose, High Pressure Adjustable Regulator and high pressure hoses. I took all my gas lines apart and resealed them with shellac pipe thread sealer and replaced the flex lines (only rated at 1 psi) to 600 PSI hoses. The new regulator only puts out 40 PSI so I'm fine there.  

I started all five burners and adjusted the gas pressure until they looked nice and yellow. (about 8 to 10 psi at a guess) I reinstalled the old regulator to the line for the burner that makes the smoke as it's not needed to be at any sort of high pressure.

Today I'll be smoke cooking a goat, we'll see how things turn out!  :-)

I still have other work to do on the smoker but a little at a time.

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• rick-in-ajijic
• Feb 11, 2017

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• rick-in-ajijic
• Feb 11, 2017

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• rick-in-ajijic
• Feb 11, 2017