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I needed a new BBQ so I've bought a combined BBQ/Smoker. Thought I might try my hand at smoking. I have a couple of questions and was wondering if anyone could help.

1) I am considering a digital meat thermometer. I think it makes sense not to have to keep opening the thing and therefore losing the heat. Can anyone recommend a good digital meat thermometer and where to get it.

2) I'd like to try some flavoured woods. Which ones work best ? I know it's possible to get these on line but I think the postage will probably work out pretty expensive. I've been unable to find anyone locally who sells this stuff. I live in Dartford, Kent. Does anyone know any companies in Kent/SE London who sell this.

3) Any tips for a beginner to smoking also appreciated.

Thanks

Hi Robin

Check out this site
http://www.foodsafetydirect.co.uk/acata ... eters.html
As for flavoured woods try apple or cherry

You can sometimes find these in the outdoor section at your local B&Q

good luck & let us know how you get on

Regards
Sausagemaker

Hi Robin,

There are several digital thermoters out there. The one i use is the Maverick ET-73. It is a dusl probe thermoter, 1 for the grate temp and one for the food. They aren't that expensive, about $43 here in the states. And oh yes, it is a remote thermoter, you can check the temps up to 100 ft away from the smoker.

As far as woods go that is a personal preference. I use hickory and cherry on ribs, apple with pork butt and hickory with brisket.

I had a friend send me a Maverick et-73 from the states. Excellent bit of kit! http://www.thegadgetsource.com/ I paid $39.99 They will not send to U.K.

You can use any hard wood,oak, cherry ,elm sycamore etc. Do not use any type of pine! The resin in the wood will make the meat bitter

My Brother suggested this site to me.

http://www.maplin.co.uk

Just search for meat thermometer. I bought the remote thermometer for �15.00. Just got it and it seems pretty good. Certainly good value.

Can't wait to test it out.

Robin, I don't know if it's worth a shot but in Rochester there is a large wood supplier / timber merchant.. about 15 -20 minutes drive from you. I use them infrequently to purchase some of the hardwoods I use. They do a lot of milling on the premises and produce a lot of sawdust and chippings. I would imagine that they sell this as a by-product. Possibly they won't sell it to the likes of us, it probably goes to make sheet wood products or the like. I think it could be worth a phone call.

Morgans Timber Yard,
Knight Rd,
Rochester Kent, ME2 2BA

phone 01634 294141

You will find it on the opposite side of the River Medway from the castle, but just insert the post code into an online map site.

There is another possible source. South London Hardwoods. They are a much smaller concern than Morgans, and I do know they sell their sawdust, but have a regular customer. It doesn't hurt to give them a bell. I don't imagine they would sell little bags, if at all. They blow it from their workshops into industrial sized bin liners.

S. L. Hardwoods
390 Sydenham Road
Croydon
CR0 2EA

Tel: 020 8683 0292
Fax: 020 8683 0404
Email: info@slhardwoods.co.uk

They are located in Croydon, south London, England. The Factory and shop is located in Sydenham Road, Croydon - just 5 minutes walk from Selhurst Train station.

Don't forget to explain that it is a particular species of sawdust you require.. ie, oak, cherry etc

When I think of the amount of hardwood sawdust and chippings, mainly white oak, that I have donated via the dustman to the landfill.. it makes me cringe now.

I hope this is of assistance to you.

Regards, Paul Kribs

Paul,
Thanks a lot. I bought a couple of bags of Webber Hickory chunks but At �5 a small bag that's going to get expensive. I'll try making the calls. Let's see how it goes.

Robin

Deer Man wrote:You can use any hard wood,oak, cherry ,elm sycamore etc. Do not use any type of pine! The resin in the wood will make the meat bitter

Hi Deer Man.

I am a bit surprised what makes you state that pine is not good for smoking.
In Switzerland we used a lot of pine shavings, pine nedles and even pine cones to smoke speciallity meats such as the world famous Black Forest Ham. We even used Pine sap to give the bacon, ham and some sausages their traditional black colour.
Never not once have I, or any other professional butcher, had any complaints about bitterness. What cauases bitterness is when the smoking temperatur is to high or the smoke to much in volume.
The main problem, I encounter with many sausage makers is that they smoke to hot and with to much smoke development.
Unfortunatly we live in a very fast paced time with instant satisfaction. Pine smoking like many other smoking should be the so called cold smoke treatment, where the smoking takes several days at a very low temperature.
On another note. Oak from old used red wine barrels makes for a very unique taste on all ham and bacon products.

Regards
Othmar

Welcome to the forum Othmar

I am considering buying one of the small tabletop smokers sometime soon. I believe these are solely hot smokers fuelled by metholated spirit, hence to flame controlability, with direct heat to the base, on which the wood chppings / sawdust sits.

As you have used pine, am I right to assume that pine would burn away too quickly during smoking using the tabletop smoker as it is less dense in structure than hardwoods such as oak, cherry etc, and a higher resin content?

Regards, Paul Kribs

I was once told that the only thing that pine was good for smoking was wasps out of a nest seriously though you can buy a pine smoked ham at Lidl that is excellent (or is it Aldi?)


Franco

Franco,

I will give it a go using the baking tray on the BBQ. I have a little bit of pine chippings mixed with beech that I could use. I seem to recall reading that I must dampen the wood first.

Regards, Paul Kribs

In the U.K. I would not suggest using any type of pine for smoking. Here in the U.K. a BBQ is normaly a round kettle type with a lid. The charcoal is thrown on and 20 minutes later the meat is thrown on the rack and grilled at very high temperatures!

In the USA and the rest of the world they use an inderect heat method with a seperate firebox etc.

Pine is a cold smoking matter and in Norway etc it would be foolish not to use the natural products available.


Oak whiskey barrels are very good but they are an aquire taste. If in doubt give it a try with any wood, after all it is you is going to eat it!

I should think that if you like Retsina then it is worth a go but otherwise you may find the taste a bit too resinous.

Ther are a few woods that should be avoided, such as yew, because they are toxic, but other than those there are plenty of woods to try.

I would really like to get hold of a Port or Madera cask to try the wood from.

I would really like to get hold of a Port or Madiera cask to try the Port or Madiera..

Seriously, it would seem then that the small tabletop smoker would not suit pine due to the heat. That means I will have to wait for my next carpentry project using oak.. and at present I do not have any projects looming.

I have worked with Yew, a beautiful wood but as you rightly say, has toxic qualities.
I find it ironic that Yew is a softwood, yet Balsa is a hardwood, because Yew is a lot harder than a lot of hardwoods.

Regards, Paul Kribs

Paul Kribs wrote:Welcome to the forum Othmar

I am considering buying one of the small tabletop smokers sometime soon. I believe these are solely hot smokers fuelled by metholated spirit, hence to flame controlability, with direct heat to the base, on which the wood chppings / sawdust sits.

As you have used pine, am I right to assume that pine would burn away too quickly during smoking using the tabletop smoker as it is less dense in structure than hardwoods such as oak, cherry etc, and a higher resin content?

Regards, Paul Kribs

Hi Paul Kribs.

Unfortunatly I have no experience with small smokers. I use a smoke house which can hold as much as 100 pounds of sausages. It is made of briks with a steel door and I use a sausage trolly cart to hang the sausages on it. The heat comes from a gas burner bar at the bottem of the smoke house, I like gas because it makes moist heat. The sawdust or shavings are backed firmly in a shallow ditch on the floor and ignited with a gas preassure burner.

Packing the sawdust firmly will prevent from moldering away to quickly, on occasions or if desired I even will moisten the sawdust/shavings. If I need cold smoke or very slow smoke then I even use wooden logs and let them molder away in the smoker.

I also experiment with different "ingredients" I used not so long ago oak nuts on top of the shavings which provided an extra hint of taste. Other times I use dried berries even apple peals of leave litter. It depends what taste or smell I want to produce.

Part of the fun making your own sausages is that we can try out different things and thus create a "costum sausage" in the truest sense of the word. That is what people did in the old days and that is the reason why we today have so many different sausage types.

I imagine that in the smaller smokers the heat is a biger problem because it simply is a much smaller room. I imagine that a small smoker provides much more problems with regulating heat, moisture and smoke development than a large smoke house.

Regards
Othmar