Smoker: electric or propane

[ivorytip]

I just got an electric masterbuilt and it freaking awesome! Mac n cheese and Ribeyes with hickory chips is hard to beat!!

 

[Lordofbarbeque]

That is easy. For small time cooking ( less than 25 lbs ) I would always go electric with wood smoking for flavor. Cookshack or Southern pride small units come to mind.

 

[mustang8]

Hard to beat smoked mac n cheese!

 

[6mm Remington]

Hard to beat smoked mac n cheese!

I'm going to have to try that. I love mac n cheese!!

 

[ivorytip]

Bacon wrapped chicken breasts stuffed with spinach,onion and provolone smoked over apple wood.
The other is Mac n cheese and a rib eye smoked over hickory. So freaking good, the mac n cheese is impossible to beat.

 

[Dabev]

i think propane is better for smoking

 

[Sawfish]

Propane upright Masterbuilt. Had it for almost 15 years. Best smoker I have ever had. Immune to power outages too.

 

[ScottR]

I have used my Traeger quite a bit. How many of you like the pellet style?

 

[6mm Remington]

I love macaroni and cheese and you folks talking about doing it on the smoker has got me antsy to do some up! Dang you enablers!

But first I have been wanting to make jerky on it so I bought 15 pounds of cheap beef roasts sliced up with all the fat removed to make some jerky on it! I can't wait to try it. Hopefully this weekend I'll get her done. I should have it all mixed together tomorrow with the Hi Country mix I'll be using and let it sit overnight in the fridge then off to the smoker. I'll let you know how it turns out.

Oh I liked the idea of the smoked baked potatoes so I did that with a nice thick sirloin beef steak using Hickory wood yesterday.
Turned out pretty darn good.

 

[Fink]

How do you do mac and cheese in the smoker? I've been known to chop up some smoked brisket or pork butt, and bake it in the mac and cheese, but never smoked the whole thing?!

 

[6mm Remington]

I have some thin sliced beef that I mixed with Hi Country Spicy Blend jerky mix. It will sit in the fridge now for 24 hours and then I'll put it on the smoker at 165 degrees until it's done. I'll also use some Hickory wood in the smoker to give it a touch of that smoky flavor.

 

[nv-hunter]

I have some thin sliced beef that I mixed with Hi Country Spicy Blend jerky mix. It will sit in the fridge now for 24 hours and then I'll put it on the smoker at 165 degrees until it's done. I'll also use some Hickory wood in the smoker to give it a touch of that smoky flavor.

At 165 with an electric smoker its hard to get the chips to smoke, about 220 to 225 will get it smoking. My smoker only holds about 3 lbs at a time but at 220 it only takes an hour to an hour and a half. Any longer and it gets too dry. I like moist chewy not dry and brittle. If you want to smoke at 165 try putting a piece of burning charcoal in dry chips to get it to smoke.

 

[6mm Remington]

At 165 with an electric smoker its hard to get the chips to smoke, about 220 to 225 will get it smoking. My smoker only holds about 3 lbs at a time but at 220 it only takes an hour to an hour and a half. Any longer and it gets too dry. I like moist chewy not dry and brittle. If you want to smoke at 165 try putting a piece of burning charcoal in dry chips to get it to smoke.

Thanks for the tip. I'll heat the smoker at the standard setting of 225 that it has programmed and then when I put the meat in I'll turn it down. I looked at a couple different ways to do this. One company recommended some water in the tray in the smoker when doing jerky and one person told me no water. Any preference on that??

 

[nv-hunter]

No water as it doesn't let the jerkey release enough moisture. Might try a couple of small batches at different temps and see which you like best. I try to hold my smoker at 200 to 220 but its an older model and not digital.

 

[Fink]

Like NV, I generally run my smoker around 200-220, to start, run it for an hour or so and then drop the temp. I don't put water in the pan, since you're trying to slowly dry out the meat a bit. If your smoker will smoke at the lower temp, you can start lower. Probably best to start your smoker, let it run for a bit, and see where it will start to smoke, and go from there.

 

[Triple BB]

I'm new to smoking and have a variety of fruit trees around the house; plum, cherry, peach, apricot, apple and pear. Was out pruning today and ended up with a large pile with some of it being bigger pieces. Before I pitch any of it, thought I'd see if there are some favorites I should be hanging onto.

 

[nv-hunter]

All of those are good to smoke with for milder meats. Apple smoked pork chops are great so is lamb. Fruit woods work really well on fish and poultry. Most red meats can handle the stronger woods like mesquite or hickory.

 

[nv-hunter]

So how did your jerky turn out?

 

[6mm Remington]

So how did your jerky turn out?

It's in the smoker as we speak. Almost 6 hours now. I took the water tray out after the smoker got hot and up to temperature. I'll go check it in a minute and see how much longer. I have 6 racks completely full and about the same amount left to do. Since I'll be heading out of the town in the morning I put the remaining jerky meat in the dehydrator which is what I have used over and over in the past.

I'll let you know soon enough!!

 

[Fink]

6 hours! Yikes, hope it doesnt turn into beef chips!

Pro tip - After it's smoked for about an hour and a half or so, and it's nice and medium rare, grab a handful to snack on, while you wait for the rest to actually make it to jerky.