Hello,
I very new to smoking meat. I have a small Rivergrill that I bought for around fifty dollars to get started. I am burning cowboy brand lump charcoal with different wood chips. I am from Providence R.I. I am mostly interested in Smoking game. Although, the more i read here, the more i realize how little i know about smoking. Everything sounds so good.
I was first turned onto Smoked game in Africa. I was recently there hunting on a plains game safari, and you would think with all the exercise of a normal hunt you usually lose a little weight. Well I actually gained a little weight. All they do is eat meat. I mean they don't even eat chicken. There is meat in one form or another in every meal. I wasn't complaining! I was in Heaven.
The german family I stayed with actually raised cows they had over five hundred head. Yet they would rather eat the game. That is how good it was. They had an outdoor smoker. It was homemade out of brick. Two verticle columns connected by a horizontal one. I don't know what type of wood they burned or how hot they keep there fire, but i am going to find out. They smoked it to the point that it was almost as dry as jerkey. However it was tender. It had a really smoky smell to it, but the taste wasn't at all overpowering. They also hung strips of meat to dry in a old fashion cooler. It was a a small room where water ran through the walls and over coals or something (i am not sure exactly) to keep the room both cool an dry (although I was only a few hours from the kalahari desert, so as you might imagine moisture isn't a problem). They had lots of fans blowing on the meat, I guess they were curing it. Anyway, it gets really hard, and when you are ready to eat it you grind it up and it is very tender again.
I would love to make the same smoked meat that they did, except use deer. I have been playing with the smoker for the last two days. I have been really enjoying it. but i have a lot of question?
The misquite wood chips or any other for that matter when smoking do i soak them in water before putting on the coals????
Do I wrap in aluminum foil with holes in it?
Do I just throw them on the coals ?
How much hickory chips do i use?
Should I see the smoke at all times?
These are just a few of my questions I have. I am sure to be posting much more in the future. I thought you guys would find that Africa stuff interesting.
Thank you to all who respond.
Mike
I very new to smoking meat. I have a small Rivergrill that I bought for around fifty dollars to get started. I am burning cowboy brand lump charcoal with different wood chips. I am from Providence R.I. I am mostly interested in Smoking game. Although, the more i read here, the more i realize how little i know about smoking. Everything sounds so good.
I was first turned onto Smoked game in Africa. I was recently there hunting on a plains game safari, and you would think with all the exercise of a normal hunt you usually lose a little weight. Well I actually gained a little weight. All they do is eat meat. I mean they don't even eat chicken. There is meat in one form or another in every meal. I wasn't complaining! I was in Heaven.
The german family I stayed with actually raised cows they had over five hundred head. Yet they would rather eat the game. That is how good it was. They had an outdoor smoker. It was homemade out of brick. Two verticle columns connected by a horizontal one. I don't know what type of wood they burned or how hot they keep there fire, but i am going to find out. They smoked it to the point that it was almost as dry as jerkey. However it was tender. It had a really smoky smell to it, but the taste wasn't at all overpowering. They also hung strips of meat to dry in a old fashion cooler. It was a a small room where water ran through the walls and over coals or something (i am not sure exactly) to keep the room both cool an dry (although I was only a few hours from the kalahari desert, so as you might imagine moisture isn't a problem). They had lots of fans blowing on the meat, I guess they were curing it. Anyway, it gets really hard, and when you are ready to eat it you grind it up and it is very tender again.
I would love to make the same smoked meat that they did, except use deer. I have been playing with the smoker for the last two days. I have been really enjoying it. but i have a lot of question?
The misquite wood chips or any other for that matter when smoking do i soak them in water before putting on the coals????
Do I wrap in aluminum foil with holes in it?
Do I just throw them on the coals ?
How much hickory chips do i use?
Should I see the smoke at all times?
These are just a few of my questions I have. I am sure to be posting much more in the future. I thought you guys would find that Africa stuff interesting.
Thank you to all who respond.
Mike