Considering buying an Electric smoker

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Rick, 

They were split breast, very well endowed chicken, but they did not have much skin, in light of that, it just made the outcome more amazing, I did not baste or paint them either, 3 1/2 hr brine and right to the smoker and with little skin they were juicy as they could be and smoke flavor right to the bone, cannot wait to do some leg quarters with the skin, I might need my stomach pumped, this stuff was so blasted tasty you just wanted more and more, it was so good my neighbor is buying the same smoker and getting me to help with MODS and my other neighbor is buying packs of quarters and having me cook them for her and then giving me half of them, I mean, I know you hear it all the time, but these boys were wicked, ready to do the Jerky, then I am going to do some Bacon and of coarse hams, roast and turkey, I have done all that on the char grill but with this smoker it is just amazing, I was not sure the pellets would produce the flavor I wanted, was not expecting the electric with the AMNPS to exceed the flavor of the grill, I have slow cooked and smoked quarters on the Char Grill before many many times ( for over 6 hours ), and people rave about them, but these were better, period.
Man, you're a-smokin' like a house a-fire! I don't smoke nearly that much. My wife love barbecue but not all of it. She loves when I make a perfect beef brisket, likes it when the pork ribs turn out great. But overall she isn't a fan of smoked meats and cheeses. So, I envy you.

Also congrats on those well-endowed chix breasts. You just learned how great food comes out of an electric smoker. Don't know if you used the water bowl (I never do) but everything comes out moist and delicious. And yessir! Pellets are just as effective as smoke source as chips or chunks. With the AMNPS there's no oversmoking like there can be with chips. I'll tell you again, mi amigo, smoked food that comes out of an electric smoker can rival most of the BBQ restaurants around, except for those which are the real deal. Even then you can still come mighty close.
Rick,

I realize that now, but I have heard and read so much rhetoric about electric smokers and pellets are not as good as wood, but the sad part is, this thing produced better smoke to the bone than my char grill using the side burner, and personally I thought it might be a little worse than real wood or charcoal and dam, it is really better when it comes to having this tight little smoke box and the AMNPS, it has surely made a believer out of me.

And yeah we cook virtually all our meats on the Char Grill (till now hehehe) we go to a farm nearby every Wed and get Fresh ground beef and certain cuts and roasts, they are fresh cut and or ground, pork chops too, chops about a 1 1/4 thick, and then we come home and I Grill / Smoke all of the meat and we bag it and freeze it.
We were using zip lock and probably will keep doing so, but for jerky I am vacuum sealing that, slow thaw on the meats and when you open the ziplock, it smells like I just took it off the grill, yes the wife loves smoked meat, I have met a few that do not and would never understand why, we just say fine, more for us !  LOL

I am just still in disbelief it did a better job, I would have never thought...........................
 
 
Rick,

I realize that now, but I have heard and read so much rhetoric about electric smokers and pellets are not as good as wood, but the sad part is, this thing produced better smoke to the bone than my char grill using the side burner, and personally I thought it might be a little worse than real wood or charcoal and dam, it is really better when it comes to having this tight little smoke box and the AMNPS, it has surely made a believer out of me.

And yeah we cook virtually all our meats on the Char Grill (till now hehehe) we go to a farm nearby every Wed and get Fresh ground beef and certain cuts and roasts, they are fresh cut and or ground, pork chops too, chops about a 1 1/4 thick, and then we come home and I Grill / Smoke all of the meat and we bag it and freeze it.
We were using zip lock and probably will keep doing so, but for jerky I am vacuum sealing that, slow thaw on the meats and when you open the ziplock, it smells like I just took it off the grill, yes the wife loves smoked meat, I have met a few that do not and would never understand why, we just say fine, more for us !  LOL

I am just still in disbelief it did a better job, I would have never thought...........................
OK, we're getting into the good, fun part of smoking here. It comes after you've put your meat in the smoker and have done everything you've read about. You also paid attention to the temp, opened the door (unless your smoker has a window) and looked at the meat to check its color and the AMNPS to back sure it's pumping out smoke (also confirmed by checking for smoke wafting up from the vent).

Anyway, the smoke is done because you've hit your target IT. The food's on the table and then on your plate. You dig in, take a bite and...hey--this is darn good BBQ! And you sit back and wonder and awe that you did it in an electric smoker over wood pellets. I've been there plenty of time myself. I've eaten at Dickey's BBQ Pit, Tony Roma's (for St. Louis Ribs but they're out of business in my area), a local BBQ joint (now out of business) and I can attest that the ribs that come out of my smoker are superior to all of theirs. I'll also pit the flavor of my beef brisket (still working on perfecting the bark) against those places as well, and other backyard smokers, too.

I think to cook anything well you need a cook's touch, a talent for it. Smoking meat is just another form of cooking. Yeah, you can follow recipes and tips and advice but you also have to have a knack for it, even just to sense when it's done. Or to have full confidence in your style of smoking. What a wonderful moment to put great Q on the table. You're getting compliments about how great it looks, then how great it tastes. And you get to joyfully think of what you accomplished with a simple "I did that." To me, that's what it's all about. I don't need to enter a BBQ competition to know that my Q tastes really, really good.
 
 
 
Rick,

I realize that now, but I have heard and read so much rhetoric about electric smokers and pellets are not as good as wood, but the sad part is, this thing produced better smoke to the bone than my char grill using the side burner, and personally I thought it might be a little worse than real wood or charcoal and dam, it is really better when it comes to having this tight little smoke box and the AMNPS, it has surely made a believer out of me.

And yeah we cook virtually all our meats on the Char Grill (till now hehehe) we go to a farm nearby every Wed and get Fresh ground beef and certain cuts and roasts, they are fresh cut and or ground, pork chops too, chops about a 1 1/4 thick, and then we come home and I Grill / Smoke all of the meat and we bag it and freeze it.
We were using zip lock and probably will keep doing so, but for jerky I am vacuum sealing that, slow thaw on the meats and when you open the ziplock, it smells like I just took it off the grill, yes the wife loves smoked meat, I have met a few that do not and would never understand why, we just say fine, more for us !  LOL

I am just still in disbelief it did a better job, I would have never thought...........................
OK, we're getting into the good, fun part of smoking here. It comes after you've put your meat in the smoker and have done everything you've read about. You also paid attention to the temp, opened the door (unless your smoker has a window) and looked at the meat to check its color and the AMNPS to back sure it's pumping out smoke (also confirmed by checking for smoke wafting up from the vent).

Anyway, the smoke is done because you've hit your target IT. The food's on the table and then on your plate. You dig in, take a bite and...hey--this is darn good BBQ! And you sit back and wonder and awe that you did it in an electric smoker over wood pellets. I've been there plenty of time myself. I've eaten at Dickey's BBQ Pit, Tony Roma's (for St. Louis Ribs but they're out of business in my area), a local BBQ joint (now out of business) and I can attest that the ribs that come out of my smoker are superior to all of theirs. I'll also pit the flavor of my beef brisket (still working on perfecting the bark) against those places as well, and other backyard smokers, too.

I think to cook anything well you need a cook's touch, a talent for it. Smoking meat is just another form of cooking. Yeah, you can follow recipes and tips and advice but you also have to have a knack for it, even just to sense when it's done. Or to have full confidence in your style of smoking. What a wonderful moment to put great Q on the table. You're getting compliments about how great it looks, then how great it tastes. And you get to joyfully think of what you accomplished with a simple "I did that." To me, that's what it's all about. I don't need to enter a BBQ competition to know that my Q tastes really, really good.
Rick, Amen to that, the knack can be learned, I have seen it happen, just like anything else, I guess you have to have a desire, a real interest, and learn, I have never been afraid of learning, but in the process of my life in and on, farms, hunting, woods, dirt bikes etc, I have been cooking since outside and on grills since I was 8 as well, yeah that is not brining, curing and smoking, but between indian guides, cub scouts, webelos, boy scouts, and guides, not to mention camping out, fishing trips since I was 8 as well, and I went thru that with my son as well, sharing again with him and all the other kids, so I have been building fires and coal baking in fires and pits, and grilling all my life, ever done a chicken in coals, mud packed using the "stomach timer"? hehehehe
I do not consider myself a top notch cook and mostly because of what you say, I do not follow recipes, yes by reading them and interpreting them, I learn how I want to do mine, and if I were to have a baseline recipe for different tastes or results ( I will do that once I get good and cranked up lol), I would rarely use it specifically, it would be a baseline, the recipe would never be the same, but when I run across those really good results, I do make notes, everyone else brags on me but I think I am ok, I am like you, and I can accurately judge the meat being done or what state it may be in IE- rare, medium or done by appearance, or by knowing how many times I opened the box and the temp variations as well and the effect it will have on my meat and more than just cooking time of course, more factors than that hehehe
But, bottom line is I am really happy I found SMF, and really impressed with all the fabulous people, just like you that are here, it is really nice.
I spent like 3 weeks browsing here and reading reading reading, then started a text file for info, I looked at some others, but here at SMF, it would appear the "atmosphere" is much nicer and people here are more interested in helping and sharing, I love to learn, that is why I can do a multitude of things very well, but not by ability, just a result of my desire to learn new things and never quit.

Now that I have digressed to the outer reaches, I just have to say, that the results are unbelieveable, I would have never thought, and really half the credit is the AMNPS Pellet Smoker, without the flawless flavor to the bone, it would only be half as good  LOL

I just cannot believe this little electric smoker and pellets did that, I could not even do that on the char grill................ and I have been using that with real wood and charcoal with the side burner box for 20 + years, it is just still amazing me, so glad I got this little jewel, this is going to be so much fun, and as you said, satisfying !
 
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Yes, I agree 100%. I have used a analog altimeter to aid with land-navigation in conjunction with topographic maps. The altimeter accuracy was a constantly changing variable due to weather related barometric changes. It would get frustrating to see the altimeter reading change by 1,000 ft or more overnight due to low or high pressure weather systems. Obviously, altimeters have limited use when trying to find yourself on a map using topography as a reference...I learned to triangulate with topography features because the altimeter was painfully inaccurate...then along came GPS...end of story.

For the purpose of thermometer calibration, yes, the elevation/boiling-point charts are about the best tool we have available. It's basically a guestimation, and will get you close enough for most cooking situations, short of Sous-Vide or other applications where extreme accuracy is desired. Even if you calibrated @ 2,000ft and are now cooking @ 6,000ft your thermometers will only be off a few degrees...that's not enough to really be concerned when using basic cooking processes.

On the other hand, if you were slowly cooking food just up to the minimum safe internal temperature per US Food Code, and found out that your food thermometer was reading higher than actual temperature by, say 5-6*F, well, now, that's a game-changer. Why would this matter? Because there is little to no margin for error when cooking to the minimum standards as set in the publication which guides the professionals...things change considerably when cooking food that is intended to be served to the public.

The main reason we calibrate our food and cook chamber thermometers is to have reasonable assurance that we are cooking at a given temperature to a given finished internal temperature of the food. Some folks don't use thermometers at all...all I can say is that they're either very brave or they know their cooker and food very well and are far better at the entire process through the use of their senses than I'll probably ever be. Sure, you can cook without a thermometer...I do that all the time with charcoal grills...you feel the level of heat on your hand based on the height of your hand above the cooking grate...simple and effective, for those who practice it. However, this is not a safety-critical practice due to the nature of the process...hot & fast cooking. Many old-school pit-masters use their senses to determine if their food is going to be cooked to their standards....it works for them because they practice it...every time they cook.

So, why do those of us less experienced with our cookers use and calibrate/verify our thermometers? We haven't honed the skills necessary to cook without thermometers, or, our cooker by design, does not allow the use of enough of the senses and skills necessary to determine proper cooking. We calibrate/verify for assurance that our food will be safe to consume, and, for timing when we expect the food to reach our desired level of cooking (still knowing that it's done when it's done). USDA, NCHFP and other organizations recommend minimum standards for safely preparing foods, and within these standards are built-in margins for error in safety, taking into consideration that, at any given time, a home cook will not have 100% accurate measurements in temperature.

I don't do the water-boil check as often as I used to...at one point in time I was anal about it...until I realized something needs to happen to change the accuracy, and to simply watch for the signs of possible trouble...then check it out. I always tend to check them whenever I have reason to suspect their accuracy may be at fault, and every new thermometer that I use gets verified. Obviously a dropped thermometer needs attention, and cookers that have been transported with thermometers installed need attention. Vibration and shocks are my biggest concern. Electronic thermometers can have issues even if the display shows a reading. In my experience, there is no such thing as a fool-proof thermometer. Just last month I had a digital thermometer head unit fail...I suspected it was possibly due to high humidity in the room...the display was showing partial characters and became unreadable...fresh batteries and a reset changed nothing...this head unit is still dead to this day, so it could have just been it's time to die...and so it goes.

Smoke on...

Eric
I think we're both on the same page with all of this.

I am something of a temperature measurement and temperature control geek..  Thermometer calibration is an interesting subject, but you're right. For most cooking, it doesn't need to be perfect.

However, something that the nerd in me made me buy a while back might be of some interest to those of you who are "thermometer geeks".  That's the Reference Thermapen from Thermoworks.  It's very accurate over a good range, and is amazingly affordable for something that's traceable and comes with a certificate.

I still keep my hand in the temperature measurement and control game, and wanted to have a traceable reference with high accuracy and resolution, but I didn't want to spend $1800 or more.  This little unit fills the bill for my current purposes.
 
I will surely give it a try when I do a roast, I have seen that ring many times on the char grill using the side burner and sticks for smoke, my test with the electric, I lit both ends of the AMNPS and got some pretty dense smoke and with 1500W I can do  400 degrees, so I think I should be able to pull it off on one of those high heat roast cooks hehehe

Time will tell, but I am like you, do not care about the rings, it is all about flavor, juiciness and tenderness, if I have all those...................I am successful 
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I got the electric and AMNPS for low temp smoke and for low maintenance long smokes that I can set and forget instead of living out on the wood platform watching and maintaining temps, coal, chips etc, I will surely enjoy it, yes I will still use the Char Grill but not as much, I can sit and socialize and still have the killer flavs without all the sweat and bo lol, the chicken breasts I just did were better than any I have made on the Char Grill and I slow cooked and smoked them painting every time I turned them, this little electric smoke box is pretty cool and surprised me.

* I did just start using the wet brine so the breasts in the electric box with the AMNPS ( Hickory this time ) did have a advantage, cannot believe I have been missing out on brining so many years, glad I finally got on board !
Brining seems to be a good thing!  And like you and the others, I've been pleased with the results that an electric smoker can produce.  With the AMNPS, and a few modifications, it's pretty failsafe.  I like being able to check the temperature of the chamber and the meat without getting out of bed when doing a long, overnight smoke, too!  :)
 
Are those skinless, boneless chix breasts or are the skins and bones still intact? Last year I smoked a boneless turkey breast (skin on) in my MES 30. I didn't care about getting crispy skin but....the flavor...as long as I want to remain happily married I will say my wife makes the best roast turkey in our oven. But, this smoked turkey breast--smoked over hickory pellets--was superb. And it was the first time I'd smoked a turkey in an electric smoker. I got a 12 pound whole turkey in the freezer now, just waitin' till I'm ready to do it again.
I've had similar experiences with poultry.  The skin won't be crisp.  But I did a turkey a few years ago for Thanksgiving, and everyone absolutely loved it.  Very moist and tender, and a really nice smoke flavor.  I did it in the MES-40 using Pitmaster's Choice pellets in the AMNPS.

I brined it for about 20 hours before the smoking, and it really was one of the best turkeys I've ever tasted.  The skin was rubbery and useless, but that really didn't matter.
 
OK, you're right...I've been in the middle of a lot threads that turned into a lot of great reads on entirely different subjects than intended, myself. So, a couple links are coming here. The frustrating part is trying to remember where you read it (or wrote it), and then, find it again for future reference.

Yeah, I guess I would say I evolved into more of a purist...not full-blown hard-core...I use what will get the job done given the circumstances, although recently have not cooked with anything but solid fuel...been about 1.5 years without food over a propane flame...and I feel better about my cooking as a result...just makes me
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...maybe I was just a purist a heart and needed something to get things moving in the right direction. Well, right direction for me, at least. My cooking volumes are reduced from several years ago, and cooking style, methods and finished products have also evolved to some extent. I rarely foil meats...gotta get a killer bark on pork shoulder for sure...wet-to-dry smoke chamber method (with no foiling) was not just a fluke...I developed that method due of a perceived necessity. That's just one example of how my cooking has changed...to say I'm a purist, well, maybe so...if I had hardwoods to cook over as a heat source? Oh, crap, I'd really be a happy smoker...tend a wood fire for hours on end? Count me in...do all nighters every smoke I cranked up? No, that's pushing things too far...gotta mix it up and do it all, right?

I used propane  grills and one vertical smoker (GOSM 3405GW) for quite a few years, converted the GOSM to charcoal for awhile, then got a horizontal pit (SnP-40"), converted it to propane when my fuel consumption went through the roof from a custom tuning plate mod, then quit using it when I got the Smoke Vault 24. I could do just about...OK, scratch that...I could smoke anything I wanted to in it. Somewhere in there, maybe 7-8 years or so ago, I started grilling with wally-world special charcoal kettles...like the even cooking temperatures, and flavor. I chose a Weber OTG 18 kettle for a 10-year service award at work...oh, my, all hell broke loose after that. Great temp control, no matter what I was doing on it. I was hooked, I think for life, and just didn't know it yet. Propane just didn't give me quite the same level of satisfaction at the end of the day...flavor wasn't the same, either. Propane grills, IMHO, suck for controlling grate temps and providing even cooking heat across the grate.

Well, one thing lead to another and I bought a Weber 26.75" OTG 2 years ago...love that beast...then along cam the WSM 18 last fall...love it too. Oh, and I've had a Smokey Joe 14 for a few years now, too...needs a mod to keep the cooking grate stable, and you have to keep the entire grate covered with coals for the best fire control, but otherwise, nice little portable table-top grill.

Anyway, my second oldest boy grabbed my SV-24 a year or so ago to use at his house...I don't miss it, at all, sadly...cooked a lot of great meals with that beast. If I ever took on the challenge to cook for a large gathering again, the SV-24 would be nice to have around, but, I could change things up enough to make due with what I have.

Oh, I found a rotisserie kit for my OTG 18 last winter...been a great spinner ride...I've even fired up my smallest sine-wave inverter gas generator to power the roti-motor a few times, but still enjoying cooking and eating those spinner meals. I'm still trying to justify the additional ~$240 for a 26.75" roti-kit with 2 extra sets of forks to do 3 birds/roasts, or whatever, along with my 18 spinning another 2 of whatever...good grief, that would turn my OTG 26" beast into a really diverse cooker as well, with some pretty decent capacity. The two spinner-capable rigs, together, along with my WSM 18, and the SJ-14 on the side? Like, 3 18+lb prime ribs on a stick, and all the sides to go with it...yeah, it'd be awesome. What else could I possibly need for charcoal-fired cookers? Oh, wait...
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...did I just...oh, no I didn't just say that, did I? I shouldn't have asked that question. I cook on nothing but Weber for the time being...WSM and kettles with a little bit of everything for size and type. The kettles will do just about anything I ask of them, and I actually use them more than the WSM, although I really put the WSM through quite a workout last winter...documented in my I'VE GONE COMPLETELY DARK thread... that was more than a couple months of bliss, I might add.

Oh, Embers charcoal is a Home Depot exclusive...at least that's what I've read online...manufactured by none other than Royal Oak. It is a different briquette design/shape than I've ever seen before...they say it burns hotter (and longer), IIRC...I'd have to weight them on my digital scale and compare to, say, KBB and see if there's a difference in weight. I actually had some trouble getting temps up in the WSM with Embers last winter, repeatedly (so I'd sat no to hotter), but they do burn a long time, from what I was seeing, anyway. RO lump will kick out the heat if you want it to...Embers, not so much.

Anyway, that's me right now...taking this charcoal-fired cooking path where ever it leads me...just trying not to buy anything I won't get a lot of use out of, that's the kicker...I've thoroughly enjoy the ride, so far, and I don't see it ending any time in the near future. I plan on cooking over charcoal (probably with a Weber) when I'm retired and living full-time in a RV, while seeing all the places and people I want to visit...yeah, I think I'm hooked for life, uh-huh.

Oh, almost forgot to add: I keep my vent wide open when grilling or smoking, unless with some odd smoke or grilling cook going where I want to slightly decrease the draft and I don't want to mess with the intake setting..but I'm pretty careful to maintain enough draft to keep the smoke from getting stale. The only time I close it is when I've finished the meal, to kill the fire...intake gets closed then, too, of course...and as you already know, yes, you can kill the fire in a weber...even the little SJ-14 has snug enough fitted draft/intake controls to do that.

Crap, I digressed, a lot, there...but hey, you asked.

Eric
It's interesting to read someone else's "evolution" with regard to smoking.

I will say that for grilling, I prefer charcoal over gas or electric.  To me, one of the things you get with charcoal is an incredibly intense source of infra-red radiation coming off of the charcoal when it's just at the peak of readiness.  That cooks the meat in a way that I've just not been able to reproduce with any other method.

I think you could build an electric heating element system that would simulate part of the formula.  Ceramic or ceramic fiber panels with nichrome elements inside (like the panels used in the construction of a muffle furnace), that you set to any temperature you want.  That way, you could get that same sort of intense IR emission, like the charcoal produces.  But you wouldn't have the same super-heated exhaust as you get from the burning of the charcoal. You could have very hot air moving upwards, through openings between the small electric panels to simulate the hot-gas convection part of the equation, but it probably wouldn't be exactly the same.  The gasses produced by combustion of charcoal would be missing, and that might be important.

You get different colors from glazes when firing ceramics by adjusting the air to gas ratio in a kiln so that part of the process involves a highly reducing atmosphere.  And that gives you a lot of CO, of course.  We probably inadvertently get the same sort of reducing atmosphere when we cover the grill and turn down the dampers on the bottom of the kettle to throttle things back.  And that reducing atmosphere may produce flavor components that you just wouldn't get any other way.

You know what?  One of my all-time favorite tools is the old Smokey Joe.  We've used them for 40 years, and they can produce steaks like almost nothing else.  More often than not, I'm only cooking for four or fewer people, and a Smokey Joe, with plain old charcoal briquettes (burning well), is just the right thing for it.

I cheat, though.  I use a propane burner for a turkey fryer and a chimney thingamajig to get my charcoal going.  Nothing drives off the moisture and gets that charcoal ready faster than a few hundred thousand BTUs per hour of propane flamage! 
 
Rick,

I realize that now, but I have heard and read so much rhetoric about electric smokers and pellets are not as good as wood, but the sad part is, this thing produced better smoke to the bone than my char grill using the side burner, and personally I thought it might be a little worse than real wood or charcoal and dam, it is really better when it comes to having this tight little smoke box and the AMNPS, it has surely made a believer out of me.

And yeah we cook virtually all our meats on the Char Grill (till now hehehe) we go to a farm nearby every Wed and get Fresh ground beef and certain cuts and roasts, they are fresh cut and or ground, pork chops too, chops about a 1 1/4 thick, and then we come home and I Grill / Smoke all of the meat and we bag it and freeze it.
We were using zip lock and probably will keep doing so, but for jerky I am vacuum sealing that, slow thaw on the meats and when you open the ziplock, it smells like I just took it off the grill, yes the wife loves smoked meat, I have met a few that do not and would never understand why, we just say fine, more for us !  LOL

I am just still in disbelief it did a better job, I would have never thought...........................
I'm kind of in the same boat.

The electric with the AMNPS has become my favorite method of smoking just about anything!

How do you re-heat the pre-grilled or smoked meat?  I wonder if they might not be fantastic heated up in a sous vide setup followed by a quick sear.   MMMMM!

Had to look up your call on QRZ.  N7SEG here, by the way.
 
Sig,

Another Ham ! 
In a smoking forum that has a little different meaning huh LOL

You know that infra red is also created by electric elements as well (not constant, but then that is why the electric is so nice, temp control !) and the convection too of course, but I was just blown away at the flavor and quality of the meat, so many years of woods and coals and I plug in a Smoker and do my best work with the least effort, I am still kinda confused about that, but not so much that it will bother me hehehe

I usually reheat smoked and grilled meat in what would be called a steamer, I have Cuisinart cookware, and have a real nifty "pot top" steamer that I can put a lid on, unless we are cooking for the month, that is the only time anything hits the freezer, once frozen in portion bags, just take out and simmer warm in the steamer, it does a really good job and will not hurt flavor, might loose a touch of color or glaze from a very slight rinse effect, but if you are patient that does not even happen, if it is something bigger we just go to a bigger pot and set the food item on a raised grate on the bottom of the pot, top cracked, and it is moist and not hot per say, you can make it that way, but I just go nice and warm, I do not like re-cooking stuff over and over.

Every time I grill / smoke, unless it is for the months burgers and sausages, there is never any leftover anyway, when that food hits the table, it is all gone and you may see a couple or two "rolling" out the front door or down the driveway from the backyard if we are outside LOL, and yes that includes me, I can eat smoked meats like a shark, just slower to enjoy the flavor, it would seem all my friends have the same trait, so really, never have any leftovers, not even the turkey, maybe enough ham to make a couple of sandwiches LOL.

But this years Turkey and Ham will be a step up, neighbor is going to deep fry one and I am going to brine and smoke one, we are going to have a cook off ROFLOL

Nice to see another HAM, I will be getting my equipment back up soon, miss chatting with the locals and the little bit of DX I get involved in, maybe when I finally get the shack back in order after all this rock and trim work, I may actually have more time seeing I will not be working on the house all the time, this job has been tough but rewarding, 100 degree month and my electric bill was only $110 and I keep the house 74 degrees, so paying off big time, only bad thing about the electric smoker though, not free like the wood...............but for jerky I will not even be using the element and for cooking, well it will be worth a few more dollars for those delectable eats !

73's my Friend

Guy

 
 
 
Rick, Amen to that, the knack can be learned, I have seen it happen, just like anything else, I guess you have to have a desire, a real interest, and learn, I have never been afraid of learning, but in the process of my life in and on, farms, hunting, woods, dirt bikes etc, I have been cooking since outside and on grills since I was 8 as well, yeah that is not brining, curing and smoking, but between indian guides, cub scouts, webelos, boy scouts, and guides, not to mention camping out, fishing trips since I was 8 as well, and I went thru that with my son as well, sharing again with him and all the other kids, so I have been building fires and coal baking in fires and pits, and grilling all my life, ever done a chicken in coals, mud packed using the "stomach timer"? hehehehe
I do not consider myself a top notch cook and mostly because of what you say, I do not follow recipes, yes by reading them and interpreting them, I learn how I want to do mine, and if I were to have a baseline recipe for different tastes or results ( I will do that once I get good and cranked up lol), I would rarely use it specifically, it would be a baseline, the recipe would never be the same, but when I run across those really good results, I do make notes, everyone else brags on me but I think I am ok, I am like you, and I can accurately judge the meat being done or what state it may be in IE- rare, medium or done by appearance, or by knowing how many times I opened the box and the temp variations as well and the effect it will have on my meat and more than just cooking time of course, more factors than that hehehe
But, bottom line is I am really happy I found SMF, and really impressed with all the fabulous people, just like you that are here, it is really nice.
I spent like 3 weeks browsing here and reading reading reading, then started a text file for info, I looked at some others, but here at SMF, it would appear the "atmosphere" is much nicer and people here are more interested in helping and sharing, I love to learn, that is why I can do a multitude of things very well, but not by ability, just a result of my desire to learn new things and never quit.

Now that I have digressed to the outer reaches, I just have to say, that the results are unbelieveable, I would have never thought, and really half the credit is the AMNPS Pellet Smoker, without the flawless flavor to the bone, it would only be half as good  LOL

I just cannot believe this little electric smoker and pellets did that, I could not even do that on the char grill................ and I have been using that with real wood and charcoal with the side burner box for 20 + years, it is just still amazing me, so glad I got this little jewel, this is going to be so much fun, and as you said, satisfying !
I admit I follow recipes for the most part but I might adjust dry rubs or bbq sauces to more suit my tastes or if by the remotest of chances some ingredient is missing from our pantry. Did you read any Harry Potter or see the movies? There's a Room Of Requirement at Hogwarts which is anything you need or want it to be. Our pantry is our Room Of Requirement. It's taken years but we've built up a stock of everything dried or liquid needed to cook almost any recipe in any cuisine. A couple of weeks ago I made a pork ribs dry rub from a Ray "Dr. BBQ" Lampe cookbook and every single required ingredient was in our pantry. My wife and I are both avid home cooks and these are the tools of our trade, so to speak.

I can whip up seasonings for burgers and some grilled Mexican stuff on my own but for the most part I need recipes to follow to the tee or to adjust to whatever personal spin I want to put on the flavor profile.

I also have my own thoughts on brining, Smokey Joes, and reheating smoked meats. That's from a conversation with you and Sigmo in this thread.
 
Last edited:
 
 
Rick, Amen to that, the knack can be learned, I have seen it happen, just like anything else, I guess you have to have a desire, a real interest, and learn, I have never been afraid of learning, but in the process of my life in and on, farms, hunting, woods, dirt bikes etc, I have been cooking since outside and on grills since I was 8 as well, yeah that is not brining, curing and smoking, but between indian guides, cub scouts, webelos, boy scouts, and guides, not to mention camping out, fishing trips since I was 8 as well, and I went thru that with my son as well, sharing again with him and all the other kids, so I have been building fires and coal baking in fires and pits, and grilling all my life, ever done a chicken in coals, mud packed using the "stomach timer"? hehehehe
I do not consider myself a top notch cook and mostly because of what you say, I do not follow recipes, yes by reading them and interpreting them, I learn how I want to do mine, and if I were to have a baseline recipe for different tastes or results ( I will do that once I get good and cranked up lol), I would rarely use it specifically, it would be a baseline, the recipe would never be the same, but when I run across those really good results, I do make notes, everyone else brags on me but I think I am ok, I am like you, and I can accurately judge the meat being done or what state it may be in IE- rare, medium or done by appearance, or by knowing how many times I opened the box and the temp variations as well and the effect it will have on my meat and more than just cooking time of course, more factors than that hehehe
But, bottom line is I am really happy I found SMF, and really impressed with all the fabulous people, just like you that are here, it is really nice.
I spent like 3 weeks browsing here and reading reading reading, then started a text file for info, I looked at some others, but here at SMF, it would appear the "atmosphere" is much nicer and people here are more interested in helping and sharing, I love to learn, that is why I can do a multitude of things very well, but not by ability, just a result of my desire to learn new things and never quit.

Now that I have digressed to the outer reaches, I just have to say, that the results are unbelieveable, I would have never thought, and really half the credit is the AMNPS Pellet Smoker, without the flawless flavor to the bone, it would only be half as good  LOL

I just cannot believe this little electric smoker and pellets did that, I could not even do that on the char grill................ and I have been using that with real wood and charcoal with the side burner box for 20 + years, it is just still amazing me, so glad I got this little jewel, this is going to be so much fun, and as you said, satisfying !
I admit I follow recipes for the most part but I might adjust dry rubs or bbq sauces to more suit my tastes or if by the remotest of chances some ingredient is missing from our pantry. Did you read any Harry Potter or see the movies? There's a Room Of Requirement at Hogwarts which is anything you need or want it to be. Our pantry is our Room Of Requirement. It's taken years but we've built up a stock of everything dried or liquid needed to cook almost any recipe in any cuisine. A couple of weeks ago I made a pork ribs dry rub from a Ray "Dr. BBQ" Lampe cookbook and every single required ingredient was in our pantry. My wife and I are both avid home cooks and these are the tools of our trade, so to speak.

I can whip up seasonings for burgers and some grilled Mexican stuff on my own but for the most part I need recipes to follow to the tee or to adjust to whatever personal spin I want to put on the flavor profile.

I also have my own thoughts on brining, Smokey Joes, and reheating smoked meats. That's from a conversation with you and Sigmo in this thread.
Rick,

I want to do the same thing pantry wise, that is cool you have that !
I am sticking to wet brining / cure for now, I may try dry rubs one day but I am totally sold on the wet brine and the effects on the meat to the bone, it seems to be a bit better and I do not mind waiting to drool LOL
And I do the same with recipes, I do not follow all of it though, as you said, I may be missing something or may want to substitute and try for a different flavor combo, I love cooking and whipping up a recipe without a recipe hehehehe
I have a ways to go on the pantry though, we have a ton of varied spices but they are all very small quantity, I want larger, more organized and more varied spices and seasonings, I jumped in this Electric Smoker venture, and have done enough damage to the budget for now, but I will continue to get a couple more bulk spices every month, maybe more, depends, so I have a varied types of spices and seasonings, so I can do like you are doing and just walk in and know it is there 
yahoo.gif


But for now, I am good on the basics and I have enough to make good brines for meats and poultry and I cannot wait till I can taste the Jerky, that will be brined and cured wet, going to pick up meat this coming Wednesday from the farm, had to push it back, I want to have a batch that the meat has not been frozen at all, to see if there is a difference in taste of texture of the Jerky, just for fun hehehe

Got my Smoke Stack on yesterday, which I did primarily for Jerky to speed the drying process, as well I will be drying some veggies and fruits and that extra air will be helpful as well for that :

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/g/a/300398/mes-30-sportsman-elite-smoke-stack-mod/  

I am just not happy unless I am aggravating engineers with MODS................................. ROFLOL..........a couple of my good friends are engineers, we have some real fun, I was a engineer in the military, but we were building and blowing up anything and everything, loved it !
 
[h1]greenersport[/h1]
Thanks for the simple question, and for all the detailed responses that followed.  Yes, you have found the web site for information and opinions, hope you do not get overloaded, lots of great information here.

I have had the Smoke-it #2 electric about 3 years now and I am very satisfied with it all all ways except I had to raise it up to a more comfortable loading level.  The quality is great, no tweaking, bending, sealing, or anything else.  Just put a couple small wood chunks in, load it up, turn it on and let it run.  We like extra smoke, but I have not seen a need for an amps or anything extra like that for our use, I have put a couple more chunks in after an hour or so to get more smoke if needed.

I came out of the process control industry where a couple degrees swing might be a problem.  I have the manual temp controller, on/off like your oven.  Fretted over it a very short time, now I set it to 225 and let it swing a few degrees back and forth, so what?  Some people smoke at 225, some 250, some higher, do what works for you.  On long smokes it keeps things more steady than I can stay awake and watch what it is doing.  I just set it and forget it till the IT beeper goes off.

At first I missed seeing the smoke ring, but tried to do a blind taste test, neither one of us could tell a difference.  Charcoal with wood logs did give a little dryer crust..

Let us know what you decide and keep us updated..

Ken WB5Y  ( another Ham Radio operator here also from Oklahoma ) .
 
That's pretty neat!  Three hams in just this one thread.  Not to mention all of the other fantastic forum members.

Howdy to you all.

I always learn a lot whenever I visit these forums.  And I enjoy tinkering and solving problems.  So this is a lot of fun to play with as well as making some fantastic meals!

Guy:  You're in for some real treats with both the smoked and the deep fried turkeys!  We've done them both ways, and while different, they all came out just great.

Cooking is a lot of fun as well as being satisfying when doing the eating.  There's a lot of technical detail, and I think that appeals to many of us technical geeks.  Maybe that's why we see a lot of hams among the ranks here.

Ken:  That Smoke It seems like a great piece of equipment.  I've read a little about them, and they seem nice, indeed!

Rick:  My wife and I have been gathering more and more "essentials" to the point that we recently had to remodel our kitchen and some of the surrounding area in our smallish house, primarily to make for more "pantry" space.  It's just nice to have what you need already on hand most of the time.  Of course, you can never have everything you need, but you can work toward it!

What a great forum!
 
 
That's pretty neat!  Three hams in just this one thread.  Not to mention all of the other fantastic forum members.

Howdy to you all.

I always learn a lot whenever I visit these forums.  And I enjoy tinkering and solving problems.  So this is a lot of fun to play with as well as making some fantastic meals!

Guy:  You're in for some real treats with both the smoked and the deep fried turkeys!  We've done them both ways, and while different, they all came out just great.

Cooking is a lot of fun as well as being satisfying when doing the eating.  There's a lot of technical detail, and I think that appeals to many of us technical geeks.  Maybe that's why we see a lot of hams among the ranks here.

Ken:  That Smoke It seems like a great piece of equipment.  I've read a little about them, and they seem nice, indeed!

Rick:  My wife and I have been gathering more and more "essentials" to the point that we recently had to remodel our kitchen and some of the surrounding area in our smallish house, primarily to make for more "pantry" space.  It's just nice to have what you need already on hand most of the time.  Of course, you can never have everything you need, but you can work toward it!

What a great forum!
Sigmo, it's taken us about 10 years to gather all the stuff in our pantry. By "pantry" I'm also referring to kitchen cabinets with even more spices, baking stuff, and other stuff. Yes, even though we've amassed a formidable stockpile of ingrediments [sic] we still need to buy the perishable fresh produce stuff but we have the core makings on hand for all types of recipes in many different cuisines. When it comes to smoking, a dry rub correctly stored can last at least a couple of years. I know this from personal experience. Homemade BBQ sauce can last almost indefinitely if frozen right. There are sauce recipes out there you can make at home that are easily as good as the commercial ones, even the sauces with bourbon.

I recommend this forum all the time when I talk to people who also own smokers. My Q wouldn't be nearly as good as it is without what I've learned here.
 
 
That's pretty neat!  Three hams in just this one thread.  Not to mention all of the other fantastic forum members.

Howdy to you all.

I always learn a lot whenever I visit these forums.  And I enjoy tinkering and solving problems.  So this is a lot of fun to play with as well as making some fantastic meals!

Guy:  You're in for some real treats with both the smoked and the deep fried turkeys!  We've done them both ways, and while different, they all came out just great.

Cooking is a lot of fun as well as being satisfying when doing the eating.  There's a lot of technical detail, and I think that appeals to many of us technical geeks.  Maybe that's why we see a lot of hams among the ranks here.

Ken:  That Smoke It seems like a great piece of equipment.  I've read a little about them, and they seem nice, indeed!

Rick:  My wife and I have been gathering more and more "essentials" to the point that we recently had to remodel our kitchen and some of the surrounding area in our smallish house, primarily to make for more "pantry" space.  It's just nice to have what you need already on hand most of the time.  Of course, you can never have everything you need, but you can work toward it!

What a great forum!
Sig,

I cannot wait for the eats !
And I need to catch up with you and Rick on the slice and seasoning stock, I am jealous !

Getting ready to try the Jerky, then some Bacon and make sure I get some roasts and ham brining for the holidays coming up, gonna be a tasty year  
yahoo.gif
 
 [h1]greenersport[/h1]
Thanks for the simple question, and for all the detailed responses that followed.  Yes, you have found the web site for information and opinions, hope you do not get overloaded, lots of great information here.

I have had the Smoke-it #2 electric about 3 years now and I am very satisfied with it all all ways except I had to raise it up to a more comfortable loading level.  The quality is great, no tweaking, bending, sealing, or anything else.  Just put a couple small wood chunks in, load it up, turn it on and let it run.  We like extra smoke, but I have not seen a need for an amps or anything extra like that for our use, I have put a couple more chunks in after an hour or so to get more smoke if needed.

I came out of the process control industry where a couple degrees swing might be a problem.  I have the manual temp controller, on/off like your oven.  Fretted over it a very short time, now I set it to 225 and let it swing a few degrees back and forth, so what?  Some people smoke at 225, some 250, some higher, do what works for you.  On long smokes it keeps things more steady than I can stay awake and watch what it is doing.  I just set it and forget it till the IT beeper goes off.

At first I missed seeing the smoke ring, but tried to do a blind taste test, neither one of us could tell a difference.  Charcoal with wood logs did give a little dryer crust..

Let us know what you decide and keep us updated..

Ken WB5Y  ( another Ham Radio operator here also from Oklahoma ) .
I am finding lots of Hams hiding in the clouds of smoke here on the forum 
yahoo.gif

 
 
 
That's pretty neat!  Three hams in just this one thread.  Not to mention all of the other fantastic forum members.

Howdy to you all.

I always learn a lot whenever I visit these forums.  And I enjoy tinkering and solving problems.  So this is a lot of fun to play with as well as making some fantastic meals!

Guy:  You're in for some real treats with both the smoked and the deep fried turkeys!  We've done them both ways, and while different, they all came out just great.

Cooking is a lot of fun as well as being satisfying when doing the eating.  There's a lot of technical detail, and I think that appeals to many of us technical geeks.  Maybe that's why we see a lot of hams among the ranks here.

Ken:  That Smoke It seems like a great piece of equipment.  I've read a little about them, and they seem nice, indeed!

Rick:  My wife and I have been gathering more and more "essentials" to the point that we recently had to remodel our kitchen and some of the surrounding area in our smallish house, primarily to make for more "pantry" space.  It's just nice to have what you need already on hand most of the time.  Of course, you can never have everything you need, but you can work toward it!

What a great forum!
Sig,

Forgot, I have been finding Hams hiding in the TBS here on the Forum hehehe
And this is a fantastic Forum, I mean what better to have in a Forum about Smoking meat other than some real Hams you do not have to cure 
yahoo.gif
 
 
Sigmo, it's taken us about 10 years to gather all the stuff in our pantry. By "pantry" I'm also referring to kitchen cabinets with even more spices, baking stuff, and other stuff. Yes, even though we've amassed a formidable stockpile of ingrediments [sic] we still need to buy the perishable fresh produce stuff but we have the core makings on hand for all types of recipes in many different cuisines. When it comes to smoking, a dry rub correctly stored can last at least a couple of years. I know this from personal experience. Homemade BBQ sauce can last almost indefinitely if frozen right. There are sauce recipes out there you can make at home that are easily as good as the commercial ones, even the sauces with bourbon.

I recommend this forum all the time when I talk to people who also own smokers. My Q wouldn't be nearly as good as it is without what I've learned here.
That's the way I feel.  I've learned so much on here.  It really is fantastic to have so much experience and knowledge being shared by great folks.  It hardly seems fair to take credit when something turns out great after having been coached by everyone on here.  :)
 
Sig,

I cannot wait for the eats !
And I need to catch up with you and Rick on the slice and seasoning stock, I am jealous !

Getting ready to try the Jerky, then some Bacon and make sure I get some roasts and ham brining for the holidays coming up, gonna be a tasty year  
yahoo.gif
We tend to buy goodies a little bit at a time as things catch our eye.  Sometimes I still have to make a run to a store to pick up something for a recipe, but it's getting so that happens less and less.  Except, as Rick points out, for the perishable ingredients.

I'd like to try some bacon, too.  I got all worked up to try some a couple of years back, but still haven't tried it.  I have the cure #2 and #1, though.  So at least I won't have to run out to find that.
icon_lol.gif


  Quote:
 
Sig,

Forgot, I have been finding Hams hiding in the TBS here on the Forum hehehe
And this is a fantastic Forum, I mean what better to have in a Forum about Smoking meat other than some real Hams you do not have to cure 
yahoo.gif
Well some of us may need some sort of cure, just not THAT kind! 
icon_mrgreen.gif


My son was in town today.  We talked about smoking.   He and his family are living in a place at 7200 feet elevation.  So I was wondering if he was having any problems keeping pellets lit, etc.  And he said he'd given up on pellets.

But his solution is that he breaks up some charcoal and lays in a layer of that on the bottom of his AMNPS, then soaks chunks of smoking wood in water, and sets them on top of the charcoal.  Then he lights the charcoal, and it burns along nicely, roasting the chunk wood as it goes.  He's been doing a lot of smoking there!  So I thought that was a clever way to make it work.

He and his wife are both hams as is my wife.  His wife's father is a ham, and he was really happy to find out that my son had gotten his daughter to finally get her license!

He does a lot of CW, and had a fantastic station when he lived here.  But the funny part is that his son, at about age 3, loved putting on the headphones and listening to CW with dad!  Years ago, my son was the youngest licensed ham in the state.  I figure his kids will be into it even earlier!

There really are a lot of hams on this forum for some reason.
 
I used to have a cheapo brinkman smoker (actually, just remembered that I still have it...it's just out of sight, out of mind). I never had an issue getting a smoke ring or TBS. I would wrap wood chunks in foil, cut/poke holes in the top, and set a few in the bottom of the smoker between the spaces in the heating element. Worked well for me. Can't speak for the other models that have been mentioned in the post, but my neighborhood smelled like sweet smokiness and slow smoked meat every time!
 
Lol took me reading the whole thread to understand ham was referring to ham radio ;)
 
 
Sig,

I cannot wait for the eats !
And I need to catch up with you and Rick on the slice and seasoning stock, I am jealous !

Getting ready to try the Jerky, then some Bacon and make sure I get some roasts and ham brining for the holidays coming up, gonna be a tasty year  
yahoo.gif
Masterbuilt is shipping me a new controller. After it arrives I'm gonna try a great meat candy recipe I came across in a new cookbook we bought. Not sure if I'll ever try bacon but I'd sure love to try my luck at making some authentic New York Deli Pastrami.
 
 
 
Sig,

I cannot wait for the eats !
And I need to catch up with you and Rick on the slice and seasoning stock, I am jealous !

Getting ready to try the Jerky, then some Bacon and make sure I get some roasts and ham brining for the holidays coming up, gonna be a tasty year  
yahoo.gif
Masterbuilt is shipping me a new controller. After it arrives I'm gonna try a great meat candy recipe I came across in a new cookbook we bought. Not sure if I'll ever try bacon but I'd sure love to try my luck at making some authentic New York Deli Pastrami.
I love Bacon, so does the wife, have to make some Bacon !!!
Meat candy sounds illegal hehehe, I will have to ask you about that some time
 
 
I used to have a cheapo brinkman smoker (actually, just remembered that I still have it...it's just out of sight, out of mind). I never had an issue getting a smoke ring or TBS. I would wrap wood chunks in foil, cut/poke holes in the top, and set a few in the bottom of the smoker between the spaces in the heating element. Worked well for me. Can't speak for the other models that have been mentioned in the post, but my neighborhood smelled like sweet smokiness and slow smoked meat every time!
Jarhead

That is all I used for years, used to put the charcoal all the way in the bottom and slow cook, would always use a pan of water, it made the best eats in the world, could not make allot though, so had to get something bigger, moved to the chargrill, and now I find this little electric on does better than they all did lol, I still have my brinkman in the shop, take it on camps and fishing outings, they are real nice cookers !!!
 
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