Howdy folks.  My name is Lee, and I am from Georgia in the United States.  I've been an avid griller and barbecuer/smoker for a while, but I recently bought a few camp ovens (Lodge 10" and 8") along with a bunch of other cast iron gear to go along with some inherited pieces.  I  found this forum when searching for information on camp oven cooking, and I look forward to learning from this group.  

I've read through many of the post, and it amuses me that even though we are all using English on this forum that some of the terminology can be so different; so, please forgive me if I have to ask what commonplace terms to you mean.  Please don't hesitate to ask me clarify anything in any of my post.

Also, I'm from Georgia, which makes me a Southerner; so, please don't call me a "yank".  It's roughly the equivalent of referring to an Irishman as being English (I'm actually of Scottish decent though.  :) )    ;D

Hi Lee and welcome to COCIA.

Great to have you here and look forward to hearing about your cooking exploits.

Cheers


Derek

Welcome Lee
Good to here from you. Tell us about the climate you live in, and the flora and fauna in your area as I am interested to know, and I am sure all other members will be. And some of the southern cooking that you people are renowned for. Till then have a good one.
Muzz

Welcome, I am also interested in smoking food but I have never tried it and wouldn't even know where to start.

Kramer,
if you want to have a go at smoking, try putting some wood chips in the bottom of a camp oven. [smiley=thumbsup.gif]
any Aust, hardwood is OK but I prefer stringybark myself.
or if you have a char grill BBq with the vulcanic rocks under the grill, get e'm hot, throw a handfull of shavings on & whack on a cover!!
;) ;)
Mick.

Hmm that sounds easy, what about cold smoking how does that work?

I'll get to that in the new year, I am about to start building one.
otherwise do a google search!
it is basically a smoldering fire box connected to your main "drum" or barrell via a duct to cool the smoke & keep the temp between 30-60C

Mick.

Hy Kramer  welcome
There is a very good book on smoking food.   (Smoking Food by Ricky M Gribling) Available at most camping shops for $20 +  shows you how to build smokers and Heep's of recipes and tips. (both cold and hot smoking)

Mick if you need the book for ideas let me know.
Muzz

Cheers thanks :)

Cactus wrote on Dec 11^th, 2007 at 5:48pm:

Welcome Lee Good to here from you. Tell us about the climate you live in, and the flora and fauna in your area as I am interested to know, and I am sure all other members will be. And some of the southern cooking that you people are renowned for. Till then have a good one. Muzz

I live in Northeast Georgia just outside of a city named Athens.  I'm about an hour to the east of Atlanta, which hosted the Olympics a few years back.  Athens is actually where the soccer matches took place.  It is very hot an humid here during the summers and fairly mild during the winters.  Snow is not that common here, and we don't spend too much time in below freezing weather.  Loblolly pines are probably the most common tree in the area.

Kramer wrote on Dec 12^th, 2007 at 12:30pm:

Welcome, I am also interested in smoking food but I have never tried it and wouldn't even know where to start.

I have never tried smoking within a camp oven as was suggested above in this thread.  I have a collection of grills/smokers that I use.  There is a vast amount of information available on the internet.  There are also numerous forums such as this one dedicated to smoking meat.

Basically, smoking is done with indirect heat and a smoldering fire.  You want to use hardwood.  Fruit and nut trees provide the best flavoring.  Hickory is the most commonly used wood.  Ideally, the temperature inside of the cooking chamber should be between 225 and 275 degrees Fahrenheit.  I typically aim for around 250 degrees, but many try to stay in the lower end of the spectrum.  Temperatures can be adjusted by controlling the air flow in the cooker.   Poultry is typically done at slightly higher temps than those listed above.

Cold smoking is somewhat different in that you really want some separation between the heat source and the food product.  Often, the heat source and the cooking chamber are connected via a hose so that only the smoke enters the cook chamber keeping the chamber temp under 100 degree.  This method is typically used for cheeses and for some fish or when curing bacon.