Meat Smoking - Politics Forum.org | PoFo

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By The Clockwork Rat
#14424547
My father and I are sort of planning on building a smoke box for relatively small scale smoking of primarily venison. We have absolutely no intention of splurging out on any fancy equipment beyond a couple of thermometers and a humidity meter, and the actual set up will probably be a fairly simple firepit to box via trench affair.

Does anyone have experience of smoking meats? Got a setup? Favourite recipes? Tips and hints?
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By Bulaba Khan Jones
#14424556
I have never smoked things before (every so often I make homemade gravlax but smoking would require buying basic or expensive equipment and it's too much effort for me to learn how to do), but good luck with it. I have friends who regularly smoke different kinds of meat; smoked trout is amazingly good, and that same person also smokes salmon from time to time. I'll try to get a hold of that person and ask him about how he smokes trout, and if he has any tips about it that I could pass along to you (assuming you like fish); he's currently out of town and next week I'll be on vacation for two weeks.
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By The Clockwork Rat
#14424564
Bulaba Jones wrote:I have never smoked things before (every so often I make homemade gravlax but smoking would require buying basic or expensive equipment and it's too much effort for me to learn how to do), but good luck with it. I have friends who regularly smoke different kinds of meat; smoked trout is amazingly good, and that same person also smokes salmon from time to time. I'll try to get a hold of that person and ask him about how he smokes trout, and if he has any tips about it that I could pass along to you (assuming you like fish); he's currently out of town and next week I'll be on vacation for two weeks.

Though smoking fish would probably be relatively simple, despite living by the sea it's surprisingly hard to get fresh fish here. That being said, any tips from someone with experience would be appreciated.

Solastalgia wrote:Build Your Own Smoker From a 55-Gallon Drum

A steel drum and a few plumbing parts make up this no-weld smoker you can build with just a few hours of work. Add meat and smoldering wood—and get ready to feast.Image

Have you actually used this?
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By Solastalgia
#14424567
The Clockwork Rat wrote:Have you actually used this?


Nope. But it looks legit for small smoking business. I use to be in the BBQ restaurant business, so I always dealt with the big industrial $20,000 smokers, but I had plenty of customers tell me about their home setups similar to this.
By Kon
#14436975
I smoke meat quite a lot, both cold smoking and hot smoking.

The drum smoker is good for hot smoking with charcoal. A more traditional smokehouse design with both an exterior firebox for cold smoking and a cast iron pan on a propane smoker for southern style bbq is my favourite DIY design.

I suggest you read up on food safety and curing meat, if you pm me I can forward some links.

As far as models you can purchase go, the webber smokey mountain and the masterbuilt smokers are both good varieties of different styles that shouldn't set you back too much.

The AMZN smoker is a great product for using in the aforementioned devices to add extra smoke or cold smoke food.
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By Solastalgia
#14436980
It's funny how we all worry about the different models and setups for something that humans have been doing since ancient times. Some of the best smoked meat I had was from a hole in the ground. Talk about low cost/construction/preparation.
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By The Clockwork Rat
#14437052
Kon wrote:I smoke meat quite a lot, both cold smoking and hot smoking.

The drum smoker is good for hot smoking with charcoal. A more traditional smokehouse design with both an exterior firebox for cold smoking and a cast iron pan on a propane smoker for southern style bbq is my favourite DIY design.

I suggest you read up on food safety and curing meat, if you pm me I can forward some links.

As far as models you can purchase go, the webber smokey mountain and the masterbuilt smokers are both good varieties of different styles that shouldn't set you back too much.

The AMZN smoker is a great product for using in the aforementioned devices to add extra smoke or cold smoke food.

We were planning on building one with a fire pit and trench. Would you strongly recommend using a mechanical smoke producer instead?

I did note that curing is hugely important. Though I hadn't realised it prior, a book that my father got for this project spent a good sized chapter going over the process. I've found a Cure #1 supplier, so that should be all good.
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By JohnRawls
#14437094
Would you strongly recommend using a mechanical smoke producer instead?


No, actually general fire is still fine. Depending what exactly you want to cook, if its just for smoking then a specialized one will be better(mechanical) but the benefits of you want to make is that you can cook it different ways and modify it fast so you can also make BBQ, etc(I don't know the words so basically meat stakes and also peaces of meat on a iron stick etc). So its really your pick.
By SilasWegg
#14561316
Building a smoke house isn't hard or particularly expensive if you are a DYI type who lives where zoning is not an issue. I helped my uncle build his.
By mikema63
#14561332
Build Your Own Smoker From a 55-Gallon Drum

A steel drum and a few plumbing parts make up this no-weld smoker you can build with just a few hours of work. Add meat and smoldering wood—and get ready to feast.


My dad actually made one of these, I think maybe even this same design. It works really well.

I would suggest incorporating brown sugar into your rub.
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