here's my smoker

[yardbird]

This is a Smoke Hollow under a tarp. :)

It's 23 degrees outside right now at 12:30pm. It was 2 this morning. Tomorrow we should get up to the freezing mark and Friday we're looking at a good chance of breaking 40 with no precipitation.

I still need to order a cover so I put a tarp over it for now. My ET-732 should arrive tomorrow.

I have to get the house ready for some after-dinner guests tomorrow, but if I can get out and get a bucket and some chickens, I might be smoking my first smoke on Friday. If I can't get out to get chickens, I have some venison in the freezer and several pounds of ground beef and some ground pork. Maybe I'll smoke a meatloaf if I don't have chicken.

Once I get this first smoke out of my system (AND have a brining bucket) I'm going to go for it with the turkey I have in the freezer.

Haven't seen anything about smoked venison. I need to search on that one. And if smoked meatloaf is awesome, it makes me wonder why I shouldn't try some smoked meatballs. :)

How's this sound?  ... smoked meatballs with linguine and a "sauce" of fried mushrooms and onions with EVOO?

 

[diesel]

Sounds like you have a plan.  Venison is good smoked.  It depends on the cut of meat you have as to how you might want to prepare it.  I like to add fat to it.  Like wrapping in bacon.  Also, a good brine for a day or two will help.

good luck..

 

[SmokinAl]

We do smoked meatballs all the time! They are to die for in pasta, but we use them in chili a lot too. A real treat is to mix ground beef & hot Italian sausage together & make meat balls with the combo then smoke them.

 

[so ms smoker]

Welcome to your new addiction! Your 'list of things to smoke' will only grow longer, and that is a good thing!

Mike

 

[jrod62]

x2 on smoke meatballs! put cheese in the middle Thumbs Up

 

[yardbird]

OK. I think I'm in business for Friday as long as the weather doesn't change from what they're saying. :)

I got a bucket from the pizza place up the street. Then I stopped at a Dunkin Donuts and asked if they had any food buckets. I got one that had pickles in it. Doesn't really smell strong like pickles though. I think they sent it through their dishwasher. I'll wash 'em both out regardless, but the one from Dunkin Donuts came with a nice lid. The kind with an o-ring seal.

Also picked up a couple of "minimally processed" roasters. About 4 pounds each. The "organic" ones were just way too much money for a trial run.

My smoker isn't exactly small. The roasters will look like a couple of BBs in a boxcar, so I think I might make up about a 3 pound meatloaf and put that in there as well.  I'm gonna start a notebook and write stuff down so I can look at it later and see what worked and what didn't, how long things took, the temps I was running at, etc.

Ok to do a meatloaf at the higher temps I'm seeing for the chickens? Or should I just do the meatloaf separate?  Anyways... I have some reading to do. :)

Feeling a little silly being this excited about cooking some chickens. hahahha