# I'm going to start smoking...



## GTGallop (Nov 11, 2012)

I've been a long time BBQ master and aficionado of the holy smoke that produces it. But for years my BBQ is smokes wet in a smoker with a water pan to keep it moist and to regulate temps. This is great for cooking and adding flavor but minimal at preserving.

Since I've got the equipment and the core knowledge, I'd like to start smoking meats for preservation. This is a cooler, longer, drier smoke. No water pan. I've googled it and there are a ton of websites - all with some fairly conflicting instructions.

Has anyone here preserved meats or other protein with a smoker? How did you do it? How long does the cured and preserved meat last?


----------



## Inor (Mar 22, 2013)

If are talking cold smoking, that is a whole other animal and I have never done it. You might PM Deebo. His box fan technique for making jerky is basically cold smoking without the smoke.


----------



## Old SF Guy (Dec 15, 2013)

I'm bout to start smoking too...but I think the end product will be miles apart...


----------



## Kauboy (May 12, 2014)

Old SF Guy said:


> I'm bout to start smoking too...but I think the end product will be miles apart...


I doubt it. Both scenarios end with a chunk of dead dried up flesh becoming food.


----------



## slewfoot (Nov 6, 2013)

I took up smoking meats last Christmas when my wife got me a smoker. As a person who has done a lot of time at the BBQ. I soon learned that smoking is a whole nother ball game but after a couple trials and errors I got it down pat. Yesterday I made smoked beef jerky using a thin sliced bottom round roast. Turned out perfect. As for preserving, don't know ,everything I have smoked has been eaten within a day or so.
Good luck and I am sure you are going to like the results.


----------



## Mosinator762x54r (Nov 4, 2015)

I thought you meant Marlboros. I considered starting again the other day after quitting in 2010. LOL...not THAT kind of smoking.


----------



## slewfoot (Nov 6, 2013)

Best hamburgers I ever ate, put them in the smoker about an hour or so before serving.


----------



## Gunner's Mate (Aug 13, 2013)

Check These guys out 
I Know Electric Smoker but these are the cats ass for smokin

www.smokin-it.com

Other companies have electric smokers that you can run on your smart phone

After years of smokin meats in offset I went electric best move I ever made


----------



## hawgrider (Oct 24, 2014)

GTGallop said:


> I've been a long time BBQ master and aficionado of the holy smoke that produces it. But for years my BBQ is smokes wet in a smoker with a water pan to keep it moist and to regulate temps. This is great for cooking and adding flavor but minimal at preserving.
> 
> Since I've got the equipment and the core knowledge, I'd like to start smoking meats for preservation. This is a cooler, longer, drier smoke. No water pan. I've googled it and there are a ton of websites - all with some fairly conflicting instructions.
> 
> Has anyone here preserved meats or other protein with a smoker? How did you do it? How long does the cured and preserved meat last?


To smoke meat for un refrigerated storage you should use a cure. Such as mortons tender quick and the like.


----------



## hag (May 19, 2016)

I use a smoke house to smoke my hams shoulders and bacons. I killed 5hogs this past winter. Smoke alone will not cure this kind of meat long term. I put all of my meat down in salt boxes. I usually leave them down in a cure for about two months. (Granddaddy always said two days per pound of meat) then I take them up,wash them real good,dry them out good and smoke them for a week or ten days. Smoke is just basically for flavor and to help keep out the bugs and skippers. You only want the smoke not the heat. We have a barrel stove on the outside of the smoke house with the flu pipe entering the bottom of the wall. We use hickory and sassafrass wood to smoke with. 
My daddy does preserve a couple of deer every year using only smoke. He makes a kinda teepee looking thing with a big heavy tarp and leaves a small opening at the top to work kinda like a chimney. He has some one inch or so hickory sapling poles about six feet long that he sets up in a tripod shape inside then takes some shorter poles and wires them from leg to leg of the tripod and makes a scaffold looking apparatus. He cuts up there deer meat in thin strips and lays it all over the wood poles. He will make a small fire and close up his"teepee" and keep rotating the meat from top to bottom every so often till he gets allittle snap in the meat. Marinate the meat in some teriyaki and Worcester sauce before smoking. He uses hickory wood. Makes the best deer jerky I've ever eat.


----------



## SGT E (Feb 25, 2015)

Think more of curing like a country ham....Great Video here of local folks! Notice at 6:40 into the film the cure is already pulling the moisture out of the surface of the hams...(Dark spots)






I smoke all the time winter and summer and have mastered pretty much everything...that being said its not like long term preservation ...I slow smoke pork butts / Shoulders and Beef Ribs and briskets for the most part....Never had one dry out on me..always juicy and fall apart tender. My smokers are small but work well...I have a Weber Smoky Mountain small that you can run with or without water and I purchased a Traeger Pellet Smoker to try and I gotta say we love the thing! I use the traeger pellets and they come in 6 types...Use mostly Mesquite and Hickory....Sometimes cherry and apply mix for hams. If the temps go down outside it adds more pellets...if it gets hot outside it adds less....put your meat in it and forget it...dont open the lid...flip it or look at it....Throw in a brisket with a remote thermometer and when it hits 205 yank it out and let it rest 2 hours....It's fantastic! My next purchase is a big stick burner and then an Electric.


----------



## bigwheel (Sep 22, 2014)

I got into the jerky making hobby pretty heavy a year or so back. The key to making the stuff is cutting the meat fairly thin and against the grain giving it a marinade and then drying it out at low temps 140 f. or less and use some smoke it you got it. It takes good airflow through whatever contraption you are using. As hog said putting a cure on it is real nice. I just use Mortons Tender Quick in place of whatever salt you wold normally put in it. Alton Brown uses real close to the same marinade as I use. Which for a small two pound batch would be something like this..if a person wanted a Terriyaki type flavor.

1 cup Wooster sauce
1 cup soy sauce
1 T. Black Pepper
1 T Garlic Powder 
1 T. Onion powder
1 T. salt or Mortons Tender quick.

Overnight marinade is good..two days is better..giving it an occasional shuffle. The guys over on some of the smoker forums claim it will last five years if packaged right. Holler back if you need any more info.

This forum is good for learning about smoking. You might have to sign up to get on it. 
http://forum.cookshack.com/eve/forums/a/frm/f/4521013824


----------



## hag (May 19, 2016)

bigwheel said:


> I got into the jerky making hobby pretty heavy a year or so back. The key to making the stuff is cutting the meat fairly thin and against the grain giving it a marinade and then drying it out at low temps 140 f. or less and use some smoke it you got it. It takes good airflow through whatever contraption you are using. As hog said putting a cure on it is real nice. I just use Mortons Tender Quick in place of whatever salt you wold normally put in it. Alton Brown uses real close to the same marinade as I use. Which for a small two pound batch would be something like this..if a person wanted a Terriyaki type flavor.
> 
> 1 cup Wooster sauce
> 1 cup soy sauce
> ...


Bigwheel, that looks like a good recipe the one I use myself is
One cup each of soy sauce,Worcester sauce and teriyaki sauce
Tablespoon of a1
Teaspoon of Frank's red hot sauce
Teaspoon of cayenne pepper

Makes a kinda sweet kinda spicy flavor. I just store it in Ziploc bags or Tupperware bowls but it never gets to sit around long enough to figure out the shelf life lol


----------



## bigwheel (Sep 22, 2014)

I load mine up pretty good with cayenne and crushed red pepper too. Was selling some at the beer joints to folks who really like it hot so went and bought some cheap and super hot Mexican Habenaro sauce and basted the meat with that about mid way through the drying processs That seem to placate them.


----------

