smokers
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Anonymous
| Do you have a smoker? Can you recommend one? My DH wants one for his birthday. We are open to gas or charcoal. We have a gas grill only and miss tinkering with charcoal and since smoking would be more of a special event don't mind the extra work. But if gas is better, much less messy, etc. we want to consider those things too. |
Anonymous
| Big Green Egg. |
Anonymous
|
Gas totally defeats the point of smoking. You want charcoal.
Big Green Egg if you have the $$$. If you want to start out affordable and see if you like it, get a water smoker (also called "bullet" smoker, because of the shape). They're foolproof and good for beginners. This Brinkman is $49 at Home Depot: http://www.homedepot.com/p/Brinkmann-Smoke-N-Grill-Charcoal-Smoker-and-Grill-810-5302-S/100606041?N=5yc1vZbx92 There are better versions of that up to a Weber one for $399. http://www.homedepot.com/p/Weber-22-1-2-in-Smokey-Mountain-Cooker-Smoker-731001/100657671?N=5yc1vZbx92 I'm usually a big fan of Weber, but it's hard to see how that could be 8 times better than the Brinkman. If you can spend $400 for that, spend $600 or $700 for the Big Green Egg. Offset smokers look macho, but are much harder to control, easier to dry out the meat, etc. And good ones cost thousands. A cheap one looks like this: http://www.homedepot.com/p/Brinkmann-Smoke-N-Pit-Charcoal-Smoker-810-3045-SB/203679870?N=5yc1vZbx92 I don't recommend it unless you're really committed to spending whole days monitoring the fire--otherwise you'll have some frustrating and disappointing meals. |
Anonymous
Very helpful. Thank you! |
Anonymous
| Have a char griller without the smoker box. Just put the coals on one side and meat on the other. Unless you are planning on doing commercial smoking, you don't need the side box. I've done 3 racks of ribs at a time or four whole chickens plus two pork shoulders using this method, so there is plenty of room. |
Anonymous
|
Make sure you'll be smoking regularly before splashing out on the Green Egg. Of course if cost is not a concern, rock on!
My DH had one of those cylindrical contraptions with a firebox, and really got into it for a couple of years. It produced great smoked meats.Then he lost interest and we gave it away. |
Anonymous
| Eating lots of meat smoked with charcoal will give you cancer. |
Anonymous
Do you have a cite for this? |
Anonymous
|
09:49 here. BTW, I forgot to mention, if you're going to go to the trouble, you don't want charcoal briquettes in your smoker. You want lump hardwood charcoal to start. Then, once your fire is going, you can actually just put in chunks of hardwood to keep it going. They sell this stuff in bags at the store next to the briquettes.
Experimenting with different kinds of wood to give different flavors is part of the fun. Hickory is most conventional, and very flavorful. Mesquite is a distinct southwestern flavor. You can also experiment with applewood, cherry, alder, etc. |
Anonymous
|
For more info, you can search the Washington Post Food section archives for articles on backyard smoking by Jim Shahin or Tim Carman.
And the best intro cookbook for smoking is The Barbecue Bible by Steve Raichlen. (Anything else by Raichlen is also good, like Beer Can Chicken.) |
Anonymous
NP but here's what I found: http://nutritioninstitute.com/?page_id=460 There was also a recent article saying that smoke and burnt charcoal is probably what killed ancient Egyptians by causing hardening of the he arteries. It is actually a very bad way to eat meat. |
Anonymous
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But a very tasty way to eat meat.
Lots of things have carcinogenic properties with cumulative long-term exposure. Walking down a city street, for instance. We live our lives anyway. All things in moderation. (Including, in my view, moderation.) |