Castanet

Some friends recently picked up a Bradley smoker and we've been doing a lot of experimenting. Up until a couple days ago I believed even the failed experiments tasted great.
I tried smoked potatoes and they were ermmmm.... less than successful. Map? I don't need a map! I know a shortcut!! Maybe next time I'll follow the recipe instructions lol

Got a smoker? What kind? What meats and veggies do you use? Do you prefer hot or cold smoke, or do you do both?

Here's the potato recipe. Sounds great but I suggest you follow the instructions. I'll try that some day.

Smoked Potatoes

Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 2 hours, 30 minutes
Total Time: 2 hours, 45 minutes
Yield: Serves 8
Ingredients:
8 baking potatoes (Yukon gold's are good for this)
1 cup bacon grease, softened, not melted
HERB MIX:
2 tablespoons ground sage
2 tablespoons granulated garlic
2 tablespoons dried parsley
2 tablespoons salt
2 tablespoons coarsely ground black pepper
2 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons paprika
Preparation:
Wash and dry potatoes. Rub warm, soft bacon grease into the skin of each potato, covering completely. Mix the herbs together; roll each potato in herb mixture, making sure to cover completely. Puncture each potato several times. Place on hot grill in a smoker, and smoke for 1 hour at 250 deg, turning once. Remove potato and wrap each in double layer of heavy duty aluminum foil. Seal the foil and place back in smoker for another 1 to 1 1/2 hours or until soft when poked.
** When I made these, my potatoes took longer. I omitted the 'foil step' and that was a mistake. Turned out undercooked.
I used olive oil instead of bacon grease and that part turned out okay. I also mixed ALL ingredients together then rubbed it in. Ended up overcooking the spices. I also cut way back on the salt. I also halved the potatoes and scored the cut surfaces.

Today's effort.... beef short ribs marinated with a bbq sauce diluted with cider vinegar


Pork side, herb and spice rub


Mild Italian, beef, preserved honey-garlic pork sausage. All the above done at about 150 degrees F for about 3 hours. Goes well with a sweet chile sauce. Deeeeeeeeeelicious!!

5 years later and we've learned a few things. Like if you cook meat at 150 it can kill you :/ Most common cooking temps are usually somewhere in the range of 225 to 250. If the IT (inside temp) of the meat hasn't reached about 140 within 4 hours then you are growing bacteria and the terrorists win.

All the above done in a Bradley with apple bisquettes. Going to experiment with the bbq grill for smoking sometime soon. What do you use?

oho, will have to pass this along to a friend, her dad will be giving her his smoker since he's downsizing

Lady tehMa wrote:oho, will have to pass this along to a friend, her dad will be giving her his smoker since he's downsizing

Wayyyyyyy cool! Ask her what make it is.
For anyone interested, there is an older Traeger pellet smoker/grill in Castanet classifieds.

Stay tuned folks!
Today is Terri's birthday, not running the smoker but later I'm going to bake her a cake. On the bbq grill. Should be...interesting lol

SHE smokes up some really great salmon but not too sure what she brines it with ahead of time. SHE uses a propane "Smo-Kit" and has used a "True North" electric smoker but prefers the propane one.

Hey! Those short ribs (one of my favorite cuts) look scrumptious! How long did you smoke them for? did you brine them as well?

The ribs were marinated in a bbq sauce that I diluted with cider vinegar. Smoked at about 150-175 F for about 3 1/2 hours.
They turned out pink, juicy and tender :)
Got a lot of smoked sausage. These are great in any recipe that uses sausage. I want to add some to a spaghetti sauce.

Bad advice for safe eating. Most meats are cooked at a temp of about 225 to 250. For beef ribs, an IT of about 200 to 210 depending on thickness of the cut.

Today is Terri's birthday, not running the smoker but later I'm going to bake her a cake. On the bbq grill. Should be...interesting lol

I've baked on the bbq before, it worked really well... everything except cookies... choc chip cookies did NOT work in the bbq.

One of my culinary experiments for this year is going to be Rumtopf... http://www.foxygranny.com/Recipes/Inter ... mtopf.html sounds tasty

Hoping to try smoking soon

kbens wrote:

Today is Terri's birthday, not running the smoker but later I'm going to bake her a cake. On the bbq grill. Should be...interesting lol

I've baked on the bbq before, it worked really well... everything except cookies... choc chip cookies did NOT work in the bbq.

One of my culinary experiments for this year is going to be Rumtopf... http://www.foxygranny.com/Recipes/Inter ... mtopf.html sounds tasty

Hoping to try smoking soon

Rumtopf is easy to make. Always made 2 huge crocks (1 rum, 1 brandy) and gave some out as gifts. My gf's hubby ate the fruit and she drank the brandy.

The following fruits are not recommended when making rumtopf, but may be added if you insist:
Blackberries or Blueberries (can be bitter and can discolor the other fruits)
Watermelon and Cantaloupe chunks (can make the mixture watery)
Rhubarb (can make mixture sour)
Bananas (too mushy)
Citrus (too acidic)
Apples (take on an odd texture)

we too smoke tons on our Bradley smoker......

fish, oysters, chicken, turkey, eggs (the better half tried them before my time....not too sure about that), beef, pork, etc. We use the pucks when we smoke, never the chips as ours is better equipped for pucks. Chips are cheaper though.

I looked up on the Bradley website one day and lots of recipes there for the taking.

Good luck! Nothing better than smoked food. Everyone who has had the better halfs oysters & fish raved about them. I don't do seafood except coated in batter with tons of vinegar

prairieflower wrote:we too smoke tons on our Bradley smoker......

fish, oysters, chicken, turkey, eggs (the better half tried them before my time....not too sure about that), beef, pork, etc. We use the pucks when we smoke, never the chips as ours is better equipped for pucks. Chips are cheaper though.

I looked up on the Bradley website one day and lots of recipes there for the taking.

Good luck! Nothing better than smoked food. Everyone who has had the better halfs oysters & fish raved about them. I don't do seafood except coated in batter with tons of vinegar

The pucks get pricey if you do a lot of smoking but how do you mange to feed in the chips? You're right about the Bradley site, lots of recipes. Not sure if that was where I saw the smoked eggs but I did come across one somewhere.
Smoked cheese... Lordy!!! delicious on dishes like baked macaroni and cheese, chile burgers etc.

Cake on the grill. Hiiiii Ho, Hi Ho,
Off to work I go!



Two layers of chocolate cake on a brownie base.

Next time I'll put the cake in at 300 degrees and let it work up rather than the baking temperature as I find that the outer surfaces in the pan bake extremely fast.
Make sure the pans fit BEFORE you put them in, I didn't lol The front edge of the cover caught one pan and tilted it. They didn't fit at all at first so I quickly grabbed them all and moved them around, which led to another discovery. 350 degrees in the grill burns fingers as badly as 350 in the oven : /

The finished product. So its a bit crooked.

That cake looks wonderful, BriTer! I used to BBQ a lot on a charcoal grill and one of our faves was Pineapple Upside Down Cake.