Hi, my name is JP and I live in central Massachusetts and I used a smoker for the first time the day before yesterday. I recently bought an inexpensive Brinkman vertical water smoker and I smoked a bunch of chicken legs and pork chops with mesquite chunks on top of hard wood coals.
The brine for the chicken and pork was just a simple water, sugar, salt with a bayleaf and cracked black pepper. I put beer, water, a half cup of dried minced onions and black pepper in the water tray of the smoker. Some of the legs and chops I used a rub, some coated with open pit bbq sauce and some plain. I wanted to keep things fairly basic on my first try at smoking meat. Before I cooked anything in the unit, I 'seasoned' it by coating the interior with pam and burning in it a coal chimney full of wood coals with some mesquite. The process also helped me start to get a feel for how the smoker breathes and burns.
I quickly learned that the process requires attention and care with regulating temperature and smoke level. I smoked my chicken and chops for three and half hours and they came out fantastic!!!!!! My neighbors got a little nosey after they caught a whiff- good thing I made plenty- thankfully they brought beer and sides.
I love to cook and I've been doing it for years and I'm excited about smoking foods!!!
The brine for the chicken and pork was just a simple water, sugar, salt with a bayleaf and cracked black pepper. I put beer, water, a half cup of dried minced onions and black pepper in the water tray of the smoker. Some of the legs and chops I used a rub, some coated with open pit bbq sauce and some plain. I wanted to keep things fairly basic on my first try at smoking meat. Before I cooked anything in the unit, I 'seasoned' it by coating the interior with pam and burning in it a coal chimney full of wood coals with some mesquite. The process also helped me start to get a feel for how the smoker breathes and burns.
I quickly learned that the process requires attention and care with regulating temperature and smoke level. I smoked my chicken and chops for three and half hours and they came out fantastic!!!!!! My neighbors got a little nosey after they caught a whiff- good thing I made plenty- thankfully they brought beer and sides.
I love to cook and I've been doing it for years and I'm excited about smoking foods!!!
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