- Apr 16, 2010
- 1
- 10
Hi everyone, found your site after a little searching while looking for some basic smoker recipes. My name is Rhonda, I live in Ottawa, Ontario, the national capital of Canada. I am brand new to smoking... we have always done basic barbequing of course, but never smoking until now...
I just bought a Centro electric smoker (I believe this is the same as the 'Masterbuilt' brand stateside), it looks like a little black bar fridge, I know it's basic and not a 'serious' smoker but it was so cheap I couldn't resist it, it was on clearance at half-price ($150). Then later I managed to find smoker covers on sale at Home Depot for 3 bucks each, so bought the last couple they had... I also had my husband put the smoker up on some concrete blocks, so it is raised off the patio to help stay even more dry and protected when not in use (also of course I do plan to put it away for the winter). We'll see how long this little machine lasts, so far I am pleased with the quality, I have no real expectations for it to last a long time or anything, but we shall see...
For my first-ever effort at smoking I did some pork (side) ribs last weekend, I just used a rub recipe that was at the back of the Centro assembly manual for the smoker... per the instructions I smoked the ribs for three hours at 225 F, then removed them just to wrap them in tin foil, then put them back in the smoker for another 1.5 hours... I used hickory wood chips (pre-soaked of course), just one cup (which is all the loader holds at a time), the smoke seemed to last forever, certainly it was still smoking until the very end. I was amazed at the end results, I have never tasted anything so intensely hickory-smoked in my life, everyone who tried them loved them, although I did find the rub a little too spicy on the outside, but maybe I used too much of it? It formed a real crust on the outside of the ribs. The ribs were surprisingly quite moist as well, although not falling apart which was nice, and the smoke flavour was all the way through to the bones. You do put a metal pan of water in the bottom of the smoker, so I guess that pretty much keeps things steamy in there as well, presumably smoke alone would be too drying... ?
At any rate I am well pleased with my first efforts and cannot wait to try other things, for sure I want to do some smoked salmon next. I am wondering, though, about whether you really need to brine salmon first, all the recipes I have come across seem to imply this, but why can't I just put a rub on the salmon and smoke it just like I did the ribs? Any tips or suggestions on this would be appreciated, thanks...
Also I am wondering why my one cup of wood chips seemed to be enough to last, seemingly, for three hours or more. There is no real information in the manual as to how often you should be adding new wood chips to the unit, is there any guideline information on this, or is it all just trial and error? Three hours does not seem to be normal (I am reading 45 to 90 minutes on other sites), or maybe it's because hickory wood chips are just more intensely smoky than the other types of wood? I was thinking I would use maple chips for the salmon...
Okay well I've probably blabbed enough for one post, thanks in advance for any wisdom you can impart re: my l'il electric smoker... ;-) R.
I just bought a Centro electric smoker (I believe this is the same as the 'Masterbuilt' brand stateside), it looks like a little black bar fridge, I know it's basic and not a 'serious' smoker but it was so cheap I couldn't resist it, it was on clearance at half-price ($150). Then later I managed to find smoker covers on sale at Home Depot for 3 bucks each, so bought the last couple they had... I also had my husband put the smoker up on some concrete blocks, so it is raised off the patio to help stay even more dry and protected when not in use (also of course I do plan to put it away for the winter). We'll see how long this little machine lasts, so far I am pleased with the quality, I have no real expectations for it to last a long time or anything, but we shall see...
For my first-ever effort at smoking I did some pork (side) ribs last weekend, I just used a rub recipe that was at the back of the Centro assembly manual for the smoker... per the instructions I smoked the ribs for three hours at 225 F, then removed them just to wrap them in tin foil, then put them back in the smoker for another 1.5 hours... I used hickory wood chips (pre-soaked of course), just one cup (which is all the loader holds at a time), the smoke seemed to last forever, certainly it was still smoking until the very end. I was amazed at the end results, I have never tasted anything so intensely hickory-smoked in my life, everyone who tried them loved them, although I did find the rub a little too spicy on the outside, but maybe I used too much of it? It formed a real crust on the outside of the ribs. The ribs were surprisingly quite moist as well, although not falling apart which was nice, and the smoke flavour was all the way through to the bones. You do put a metal pan of water in the bottom of the smoker, so I guess that pretty much keeps things steamy in there as well, presumably smoke alone would be too drying... ?
At any rate I am well pleased with my first efforts and cannot wait to try other things, for sure I want to do some smoked salmon next. I am wondering, though, about whether you really need to brine salmon first, all the recipes I have come across seem to imply this, but why can't I just put a rub on the salmon and smoke it just like I did the ribs? Any tips or suggestions on this would be appreciated, thanks...
Also I am wondering why my one cup of wood chips seemed to be enough to last, seemingly, for three hours or more. There is no real information in the manual as to how often you should be adding new wood chips to the unit, is there any guideline information on this, or is it all just trial and error? Three hours does not seem to be normal (I am reading 45 to 90 minutes on other sites), or maybe it's because hickory wood chips are just more intensely smoky than the other types of wood? I was thinking I would use maple chips for the salmon...
Okay well I've probably blabbed enough for one post, thanks in advance for any wisdom you can impart re: my l'il electric smoker... ;-) R.
