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  • Smoking in a WFO.....

    There was a string on Pulled Pork talking about smoking and I thought we could extend the smoking discussion a bit... http://www.fornobravo.com/forum/f12/...ence-6428.html

    One comment I wanted to make was on using foil to smother your wood chips. I've smoked for years using a variety of devices including a homemade cylinder of perforated stainless steel. I don't like foil because it has a tendency to break down with direct heat and vaporize (not good for the brain cells maybe?)

    But I found this neat stainless steel box smoker with holes in it and it has proven to be a useful tool on my gas BBQ to make smoke. I buy the various flavored wood chips and soak them usually a few hours. I load the box and put it over my gas burner. I think it would work just fine on your coals in the WFO.

    Amazon.com: Outset QS77 Stainless Steel Wood Chip Smoker Box: Home & Garden

    It's cheap enough at $12 that you could have a few and it will last forever since it's stainless! They even have a 4 for 3 offer on them now.

    BTW....Those of you with access to fruit trees should try the trimmed branches for smoking....I've tried apple.....hickory, mesquite, alder chips....oak, almond, olive and even pine (dense southern)...now looking for orange for my Paella's

    What foods are you smoking?
    How do you generate smoke in your WFO?
    What special techniques have you developed?
    What temperatures and times are you using?
    How do you control the degree of smoke in your foods?
    What woods have you smoked with?

    ...and do you have that WFO smokers cough )
    Last edited by Xabia Jim; 03-30-2009, 11:48 PM.
    sigpicTiempo para guzarlos..... ...enjoy every sandwich!

  • #2
    Re: Smoking in a WFO.....

    I've tried the coffee tin full of holes with some coals and hickory chips added, but the way I find most successful and easy is to throw half a handful of hickory chips on the hot coals pushed to one side just before puting in roast meatand vegs. A full handful poduces too strong a flavour. When you put the door in place there isn't enough oxygen for flame.
    Kindled with zeal and fired with passion.

    Comment


    • #3
      Re: Smoking in a WFO.....

      I've got pretty good smoking control with using my door and chimney dampers. The door is vented and allows as much air as you want to the fire, from almost nothing to open door basically. The chimney damper allows me to throttle back the exhaust and create more smoke if desired.

      So, usually the fire is burning while I cook and I will use fire shielding if necessary to protect the food. I can't say it's oversmoked the foods too often (maybe some chickens once), but I like it smoky anyway!
      sigpicTiempo para guzarlos..... ...enjoy every sandwich!

      Comment


      • #4
        Re: Smoking in a WFO.....

        Jim,

        I have asked for information on smoking in a few different sections of this forum but have not had any luck with recipes or sites to check out. I am going to see what recipes I can find and if there are any helpful sites, then I will report back in a month or so with what I have found out. I am especially interested in slow smoked ribs.

        Here is one recipe for pork shoulder I have used with a lot of success in my gas oven:

        Pulled Pork Sandwiches with Homemade BBQ Sauce Recipe : Emeril Lagasse : Food Network

        I will adapt it to the wood fired oven with some additional smoke and see how it comes out. For smoking I usually use hickory for meat and apple or alder for fish.

        If anyone has any recipes or favorite sites with information on smoking fish or meat let us know.

        Loren

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        • #5
          Re: Smoking in a WFO.....

          For my last round of pulled pig pork shoulders I placed some wood chips in the bottom of the pan (the pork is on a rack that sits on the top of the pan), under the pork as well as my wet chips on the coals, worked out well.

          I cooked 3 17lb shoulders at once, overnight, for a fly-in lunch we were having. Not a shred was left. Man, I sure love my oven!
          Wade Lively

          Comment


          • #6
            Re: Smoking in a WFO.....

            Loren,
            As for recipes.....I don't know any smokers/bbqers who use any sort of recipes, and I don't either; I fly by the seat of my pants when cooking, leaving the recipes to the bakers, where precision is important.
            Most good ole boy smokers (whether professional or backyard) simply have some sort of smoking device, a dry rub concoction (based on personal taste preferance) - maybe several rubs based on the type of meat, a wood preference, and time.....
            A simple Google search should give you a multitude of helpful sites...stick to those that are dedicated to smoking and BBQ if you want TRUE tips and or recipes. The foody sites like Food Network and such contain some great tips and recipes, but they are geared more for mass appeal and will usually involve minimal time under the actual smoke.....I don't think you would find a tip or recipe on them about smoking a pork butt for 10-12 hrs (that would turn off most folks), but a true BBQer lives by the low and slow motto and wouldn't touch a piece of meat that had not gone through a half a day process.

            I am far from an expert and just don't have the time to be really good, most of my knowledge is from several "southern" BBQers that work various public events with their trailer smokers; then it is all trial and error (only a few bad experiences). Time/temperature are CRITICAL, and the amount/type of smoke (to me, there is no such thing as too much, you may be using the wrong wood for the type of meat). I prefer hickory and oak for beef and pork, pecan and apple for fish. One crazy thing I love - Hickory/apple smoked corn on the cobb in the WFO; corn in the husk, oven at around 275, just enough coals to keep wood chips smoldering, door in place to allow just enough air to keep the smoke rolling heavily but no flame, and about 2 hrs (I usually make the corn when I do ribs), the ribs go in about 1 1/2 - 2 hrs prior.

            On ribs I like to start with hickory then switch to apple or pecan for most of the process....you get the hint of the strong hickory...and are left wondering what the other, more mellow flavor is.

            RT

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            • #7
              Re: Smoking in a WFO.....

              I did my first chicken last night. Butterflied in a 400-ish post-pizza oven. I threw one small stick of oak on the coals that were still in there just to see what would happen and it took about halfway through the cooking time before it started smoking. Turns out 20-30 minutes of smoking was a perfect happy accident. Amazing rosemary/garlic/smoke flavor. I can't wait to try to repeat this with a pork shoulder but I think I'll have to mess around a bit as I imagine whatever coals are left over would be long out once the oven is down to slow cooker temp leaving nothing to get the wood smoking...

              I agree that it would be very easy to over-smoke whatever you're cooking. Using wood chips would give better control over timing and amount of smoke.

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              • #8
                Re: Smoking in a WFO.....

                here's what came out:

                Comment


                • #9
                  Re: Smoking in a WFO.....

                  Hi Splat,
                  That looks incredible,,, Did you cover it with foil during cooking or just leave it topless ?
                  Mark

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                  • #10
                    Re: Smoking in a WFO.....

                    Just like it looks there for the whole time. I threw the taters in about halfway through to take advantage of all that chickeny drippy goodnesss.

                    I made stock with the carcass yesterday and turned it and the letover meat and potatos into a variation on tortilla soup. Yum! Suddenly having a chicken carcass that needs to be simmered is something to look forward to!

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                    • #11
                      Re: Smoking in a WFO.....

                      I did about 38lbs of pork butt in my mobile forno the other day using the reatined heat for a farmers market the day before.
                      I added a photo and 2 videos here..sorry but the videos were really after thoughts when the butts went on. Next time i will film all of the steps involved.
                      Can be seen here on the set Butts in Oven
                      Flickr: telehort's Photostream

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Re: Smoking in a WFO.....

                        Scott,
                        For the third or forth time I tried to view your "butts in the oven" video. I s'pose I'm doing something wrong. However, I keep seeing the photo of the butts with the electronic gadgetry pluged into them. Seems advanced. We should talk!
                        Drop me a line sometime. It would be fun to meet up somewhere.

                        dusty

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Re: Smoking in a WFO.....

                          Scott,
                          For the third or forth time I tried to view your "butts in the oven" video. I s'pose I'm doing something wrong. However, I keep seeing the photo of the butts with the electronic gadgetry pluged into them. Seems advanced. We should talk!
                          Drop me a line sometime. It would be fun to meet up somewhere.

                          dusty

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            Re: Smoking in a WFO.....

                            Opps! I THOUGHT had submitted that already.
                            Sorry-'bout-that

                            dusty
                            Last edited by dusty; 12-09-2009, 08:49 PM.

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              Re: Smoking in a WFO.....

                              My son-in-law has been doing slow roasted ribs in the BenjaMia WFO....just spraying them with pineapple juice...awesome!

                              Originally posted by Loren View Post
                              Jim,

                              I have asked for information on smoking in a few different sections of this forum but have not had any luck with recipes or sites to check out. I am going to see what recipes I can find and if there are any helpful sites, then I will report back in a month or so with what I have found out. I am especially interested in slow smoked ribs.


                              If anyone has any recipes or favorite sites with information on smoking fish or meat let us know.

                              Loren
                              Sharing life's positives and loving the slow food lane

                              Comment

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