About 12 months ago I bought a smoker on special at Aldi and it has just sat in the box in the spare room.

On our return the good wife was saying (read we will) she would like to move to Adelaide to be closer to the daughter and grand daughter.

So the GW has been cleaning out a large cupboard to start with and as the spare bedroom is filled with caravan and cooking gear that was my task.

This is the end result.

Looking forward to seeing the results from your smoker. Been enjoying smoking a bit of meat lately. But I've just been using my Weber. Have looked at similar units in Bunnings, but I'm supposed to be saving money and not spending money, so I'll just continue looking for a while yet. I like the big offset smokers, would like to get one of those one day (or have a go at making one)

I do like smoked food but not as a regular thing.  Think I will stick to me little Weber for smoking for us.

Aldi regularly have these sort of things come up as a special buy.

Thanks Aart look forward to the first few tries, bought a pork shoulder roast today and have one of the rabbits we bought back from soth oz defrosting in the fridge.

Have just fired the smoker up to run her in for a hour and will pick up a couple of requirements on the coast tomorrow. Might be a friday smoke will see what the week brings.

Fired up to season smoker.

A fella on another unrelated forum was talking about some rump caps he has smoked recently. 

The upside is, unlike say a brisket or even a tri-tip which can take 5,6 or 10 hours, a rump cap is done a dusted in under two.

I the last few weeks a new wholesale butcher has opened near by. Mrs Rabz and I had a wander through today and *somehow* a 1.3kg rump cap followed us home.

Needless to say the smoker is running with the cap taking pride of place.

Hickory chunk in the wood pan and bay leaves in the water pan. Running at 110°C.

One hour in and the internal temp is 39°.  Target is 70° on the thermometer which reads a little high, so it will be ~67 or 68°. I will wrap and rest in foil.

Slice and a quick reheat on the grill before serving in crusty rolls and lashings of BBQ sauce.

Well, it wasn't quite a spectacular success.

It was tender, juicy and tasty but it was very rare.

I seem to struggle with temperatures - the smoker sat at 100 to 110°C for the three hours (as measured by the in built thermometer). The internal temp got to 67°C which should have had it just between medium and well done, except it was closer to rare, even allowing for the known under reading of the thermometer.

I think I need to invest in some better thermometers, both ambient and internal.

Bear wrote on Oct 4^th, 2020 at 8:34am:


My son also prefers cherry over hickory. Says it’s sweeter and a lighter flavoured smoke.

I use mostly apple but plum is just as good, citrus for seafood.

Expensive to buy so I have friends keep any fruit tree trimmings for me. Getting a nice supply. Cheers

Rabbitz wrote on Oct 4^th, 2020 at 6:32am:


I thought I should add that Mrs Rabz worked a spectacular save on this dish.  She took the underdone leftovers and saved them overnight along with the resting juices.  The next morning she put the meat, juices and a large slurp of Texas style BBQ sauce in the slow cooker and ran it for about 4 hours on low.  At that time I sliced it up like you would a brisket and returned it to the slow cooker for another half hour or so.

The result was very brisket like.  Smokey and BBQ sauce flavoured, still with a very nice beef flavour.  The discussion over lunch was that we might just make that the go to recipe for smoked beef sandwiches.

There was a further upside, while we were out shopping, she bought me a Weber iGrill 2.0 thermometer. 

A good thermometer is on my wish list too. Can not find mine but will keep looking cheers

Well IKEA is nowhere near us, but I'm sure my wife would love a trip up there. And for that price, I'll get a couple of them as mine died after having a shower in the rain. Thanks Derek

Wingz is ready.

Ribz have a mere 4.5 hours to go.

Certainly does Aart hoping for another cool morning so I can squeeze in some more cheese for Christmas. Only need 1 hour just may have to put some ice inside to cool the temp down. Cheers Robert

Yum!!! I'm sure it will be excellent.

Jeff

OldFrenchy wrote on Apr 23^rd, 2021 at 6:58pm:


I am confused.

When you say it is cured in brine, what is in the brine if there is no salt? 

Technically a brine is based on a salted water medium.

Rabbitz wrote on Apr 24^th, 2021 at 11:11am:


Key word is curing salt.  Totally different product to ordinary salt and quite dangerous in the wrong hands.  It is used to stop the growth of anaerobic bacteria during the curing process.

This is my pack of it.

Could not get any Jalapeños so using hot Thai chillies to see how they go. Using a couple of lumps of apple to start with then apple/cherry pellets for convenience of a low slow smoke.

Will be in the dryer when finished smoking.

1.5 kilo of chillies for the record, cheers Robert

Did a bacon today from a piece of boneless shoulder. Looks good just need to let it cool down. Will be ok to try for breakfast tomorrow.