I bought an egg

[Black Lightning]

It is generally recommended to use hard woods, fruit wood and such for smoke. .... Like you said a lot of soft woods and evergreens will produce a lot of creosote which would pretty much ruin the food.Gerhard

I grew up on Vancouver Island so knowing about smoking salmon is almost congenital. I have also cooked clams and oysters in smoke, usually from almost seasoned red alder. Ribs and poultry are new to me but I have done them on a gas barby with smoke pouches using hickory. I did a pork butt roast once but with my cheapie barby it was hard to get the temperature right.

I once asked a local native fellow if he knew any recipes for smoking salmon. He told me he had quit smoking salmon years ago. He said the oils in the salmon made the papers all greasy when he tried to roll them and they burned too fast.

[Uwe W.]

I once asked a local native fellow if he knew any recipes for smoking salmon. He told me he had quit smoking salmon years ago. He said the oils in the salmon made the papers all greasy when he tried to roll them and they burned too fast.

I saw that one coming from last week.

The local box store starting selling Eggs (or whatever the brand name is) and I nearly fell over when I looked at the price tag. I appreciate buying the right tool for the right job, and that investing in a good tool always makes more sense than buying numerous cheap ones, but when it comes to a barbecue, I'm the tool, and no amount of money is going to prevent me from turning a nice piece of meat into shoe leather. I don't even own a barbecue at the moment, but will get one this summer - a very cheap one.

[Black Lightning]

I don't even own a barbecue at the moment, but will get one this summer - a very cheap one.

The best barby I ever had was an old 10 gallon steel gasoline drum. I flooded it, cut it in half from top to bottom with a recip saw and washed it out really well with TSP and ammonia. A friend welded some hinges on it to hook the two halves together and I lined it with some small rocks, I've been told sand works as well. A stand made of re-bar and some hi temperature paint completed the job. Old oven grills were the right size but you can make them out of stainless tubing too. I mostly used carcoal in it but wood worked too when I was stuck. It worked great. Unfortunately It got "misplaced" during one move I did. I've been looking for another drum ever since. 45 gallon drums are too big unless you are feeding 20 or so people. Steel ones are getting really rare too.

The bottom of a 20 pound propane tank is just about the same shape as an "Egg". You might be able to make one out of two of them. Some green paint and yer done.

[Smiley]

A friend of mine built a smoker that can handle large slabs of meat, whole deer carcass etc. Local hunters and fisherman bring him meat to smoke and his preferred fuel of choice is black cherry shavings and chips. He gets it from my brother who is a cabinet maker. It's a trade situation and I end up with smoked fish and game. My favourite is smoked cheddar cheese, made from raw milk. Amazing taste. Next best is fish. I'd rather eat fish than almost anything else. Except smoked cheese.

[Gerhard]

The local box store starting selling Eggs (or whatever the brand name is) and I nearly fell over when I looked at the price tag. I appreciate buying the right tool for the right job

Uwe I got into smoking from travelling in the Southern States, I had an offset smoker that I bought for around $200 for quite a few years. I thought I was making pretty decent meals but then I went and had some food from a ceramic grill and was blown away. I have to admit it took me quite a while to actually convince myself to spend the money on one but I have not regretted the purchase. This is a case were the tool has made be a better cook.

Gerhard

P.S. there are less expensive brands of this type of cooker and I am sure that they will cook meals just a good. Canadian Tire had one in their flyer this week

[Black Lightning]

I'll have to read up on this smoking thing; it sounds extremely complicated, but I love really good ribs that just fall off the bone, so it might be something that is worth the effort.

It isn't complicated so much as it requires patience. For fall-off-the-bone tender meat, (beef short ribs are also very good this way), it takes lots of time. It is also best if you can leave the lid closed for the duration. This is one reason the "egg" works better than the gas barbeque with smoke pouches. You have to keep changing the pouches and every time you open the lid to do this you lose a bunch of heat, moisture and the all important smoke. I've seen smokers made out of old refrigerators, old phone booths, old stove oil tanks, .... Whatever a person could find that was relatively fire proof, free and could be closed up. The "egg" looks like it has combined all the required bits and pieces into a well engineered unit that actually works. Too bad you need a mortgage to be able to get one.

[Sportbikecalgary]

mmmm smoking meat is a process I've been working on for about 12 years. I had a friend drag me down to a B-B-Q competition (Calgary is part of a U.S.-based competition circuit) for smoked meats and I've been hooked ever since. 17 hours for brisket, 13 hours for a Pork Butt (also called a shoulder) Roast, 7 hours for ribs and 5 hours for chicken. Rubs and marinades are all super secret. people showed up with everything from home made 2 chamber boxes to webber bullets to commercial units on 5th wheel trailers that did dozens of racks of ribs at a time. Some folks take it waaay too seriously and for some folks a win at a competition helps them advertise their fare to potential catering clients.

I have a large standard old charcoal BBQ that I can smoke and rotisserie a 7 kilo turkey on. The turkey takes about 6 hours at 225F. I also have a 6 rack Bradley electric with an auto smoke puck feeding system to deliver different types of smoke. so you can start with an apple smoke and end with a mesquite. It works well, but it works best when there's a dozen racks of ribs cooking at a time. On top of the smokers I have a standard Sears-special propane unit for quick and dirty grilling. If you added up the worth of my BBQ's it still wouldn't come to the price of a Green Egg.

The Green Egg is mythical in BBQ circles. For those that like East Indian food, think of the Egg as a large tandoori oven. I like how the lid assembly is spring assisted for easy opening and closing. Supposedly it uses the least amount of charcoal of any smokers. The clay walls hold the heat and the heavy lid holds in the smoke. After several cooking sessions the smoke will permeate the clay and each Egg will take on a flavour unique to its owner. I've been coveting one for years, but have yet to take the plunge.