Anyone else in to BBQ and smoking?

Having a go at cold smoking a gammon for over Christmas today. Oak smoke today and then black treacle tomorrow before it’s cooked Never done it before so not entirely sure how it’s going to come out!

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Hope you have a standby meal in case of disaster

This is just to pick at. I’m doing chicken in it for Christmas Day as me and the mrs don’t really like turkey. Whole chickens come out amazing in this, never had anything like them.

Having a go at cold smoking a gammon for over Christmas today. Oak smoke today and then black treacle tomorrow before it’s cooked Never done it before so not entirely sure how it’s going to come out!

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Oh no your not going to murder a pensioner are you . Remember when it comes out cut off the skin ,leaving all the fat on score it put the Cloves on ,pour your treacle mix over and cook till tender, I usually do these in a large Dixey (boil) then cover the fat with syrup and mixed pepper, hope it turns out alright

Having a go at cold smoking a gammon for over Christmas today. Oak smoke today and then black treacle tomorrow before it’s cooked Never done it before so not entirely sure how it’s going to come out!

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Interesting.

I made an offset-esque smoker from couple of gas bottles recently but haven't tried it out yet. Mainly because wife greeted it with magnificent praise saying: "What the f**k is that?!" followed by much laughter.

I'm doing pulled pork this year but I don't think I'm brave enough to use it as my first smoking experiment!

My mum used to do something similar when I was a kid. Half a leg of pork up the kitchen chimney. She used to complain that wood wasn't as nice as the turf her mother used when she was a child in Ireland.

[mention]Six30[/mention] ye of little faith, besides, my last fire was half that size.

Interesting.

I made an offset-esque smoker from couple of gas bottles recently but haven't tried it out yet. Mainly because wife greeted it with magnificent praise saying: "What the f**k is that?!" followed by much laughter.

I'm doing pulled pork this year but I don't think I'm brave enough to use it as my first smoking experiment!

My wife thought I was mad when I built this, right up until I pulled the first rack of ribs off of it.

I'll be round next week, love BBQ and smoked food.

My wife thought I was mad when I built this, right up until I pulled the first rack of ribs off of it.

To be fair, yours looks a lot less shit than mine! I really like the ball valves, they're a nice touch.

How does that work then? what goes on the ball valves? Smoke? Where from?

Inside at the bottom I’ve got a tray of wood chips with a bit of charcoal on. Side ball vales are air intakes, they are usually used to control temperature but aren’t doing much today as I’m running cold. Top one is exhaust and knowing what I know now isn’t needed as just pipe would have been fine and much cheaper!

So how does this cook the meat if there is no heat?

I take it the wood chips or charcoal is smouldering then?

[mention]mikestrivens[/mention] It’s not cooking today, only smoking.

When it’s cooking and smoking it has a big basket of charcoal in it with blocks of wood in.

[mention]Fleck[/mention] yes, just smouldering enough to generate smoke.

We've had some of the BBQ pulled pork joints from the supermarkets (they're all doing them) very nice, the sauce comes in a sachet that you put over it for the last 5 minutes.

Usually found in the multideck chiller cabinets for £3

To be honest I try not to eat processed food and I buy as much local produce as I can. Plus I love cooking and making food, hence why I’m not a slim lad.

So how does this cook the meat if there is no heat?

If you go to any deli counter in Germany, or even a lidl or aldi, you will see ham that has never been cooked. Just cured and smoked, where the temperature never goes above 25c. But it's smoked for weeks on end. And is ready to eat.

Not into BBQ but I have been given a very fine Cuban cigar for Christmas, apparently the brand which was Castro's favourite. So I'm smokin'

Cohiba? Very nice cigars, good peppery bite to them.

So how does this cook the meat if there is no heat?

Doesn't have to, you can smoke then cook like bacon, cure and smoke, air dry etc. Meats like Serrano ham etc are never cooked.

Yes very much so. I started off a few years back with just a Weber kettle. Soon after a 57cm smokey mountain folowed. Quite often doing the shoulders of pork for 18+ hours. I now have a Traeger which is much easier to use for the longer cooks. Also have the rotisserie for the kettle which is great for chickens, joints of beef and there’s a great chicken kebab recipe I can recommend if required! Once the meat has finished cooking on the kettle I usually do the Yorkshire’s on there while the meat is resting!

I bought a smoker in the summer for smoking the fish I catch, now it's winter I'm going to try smoking some rabbit and venison. Also going to try making my own beef jerky soon. Smoking makes all food taste better

You do know that eating smoked food increases the risk of cancer don’t you.