Tag: Smokers
Smoked Turkey Breast
Tips For Smoking A Bone-In Turkey Breast Brine bone in turkey breasts for 12 hours. Pat dry and let rest at room temp for at least an hour before smoking. If you want to add anymore seasonings to the outside of the breast such as …
Alder Wood Hot Smoked Salmon
Alder Wood Hot Smoked Salmon
Smoked salmon is one of my absolute favorite foods, but it is god damn expensive for good quality. Now that I own a smoker, I can make smoked salmon for a fraction of the price. But what type of salmon do you want to smoke? Farm raised Norwegian Salmon is my favorite. It is rich and fatty and ideal for smoking. If you want to try something similar to Norwegian salmon but a little bit fancier, I would recommend using king salmon. Sockeye, coho, and keta salmon can also be smoked, but they have less fat content and tend to be a little dryer. That’s really up to what you are looking for.I purchased a whole side of salmon and cut it into 4-6 oz fillets. They will take less time to smoke this way instead of leaving the fillets whole. They got put into a basic brine of sea salt and brown sugar for 4 hours. After that, pat them dry with paper towels. They will need to dry out more in the refrigerator for another hour. If you want to have a specific flavor to the salmon other than plain, season them now. I seasoned half with gochugaru pepper and the other with minced garlic and cracked black pepper.Preheat your smoker to 250 degrees. Once smoking, throw in the salmon and turn down to 225 degrees. Using a probe thermometer to monitor the internal temperature, smoke until the fillets reach 150 degrees. This will take about 90 minutes. Pull the salmon from the smoker and let cool for 15 minutes before serving. The salmon will keep in the refrigerator for up to a week; 6 months in the freezer.
Equipment
- Electric Smoker
- Probe Thermometer
Ingredients
- 3-4 lbs farm raised salmon fillet cut into 4-6 oz fillets
Brine
- 1/2 gallon water
- 1/2 cup sea salt
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
Gochugaru Smoked Salmon
- gochugaru pepper flakes
Garlic Pepper Smoked Salmon
- 1 head garlic minced
- cracked black pepper
Wood Chips
- alder wood chips
Instructions
- Mix the brine ingredients together.
- Place the salmon fillets in a gallon sized storage bag with the brine. Brine the salmon for 4 hours.
- After brining, pat the salmon dry with paper towels. To make gochugaru smoked salmon, season the fillets with gochugaru pepper. To make garlic pepper smoked salmon, spread a layer of minced garlic over the salmon fillets. Season with cracked black pepper. Let the salmon dry out more on a rack, in the refrigerator for an hour.
- Preheat your smoker to 250 degrees. Once hot and smoking, place the salmon in the smoker. Turn the smoker down to 225 degrees. Using a probe thermometer to monitor the internal temperature, smoke until the salmon reaches 150 degrees. This will take around 90 minutes.
Tips For Smoking Salmon
- Farm raised salmon works best for smoking.
- Cut a whole fillet into 4-6 oz portions to allow for faster smoking time.
- Brine salmon fillets for 4 hours, max.
- Pat dry fillets with paper towels. If adding additional seasoning, do so now. Allow to dry out more on a rack in the refrigerator for an hour.
- Alder wood, cedar, applewood, cherrywood, hickory, and peach wood are all great for smoking salmon.
- Maintain a smoking temp between 200-225 degrees.
- Using a probe thermometer to monitor the internal temperature, smoke until the salmon reaches 150 degrees.
- Let rest for 15 minutes before serving.
Hickory Applewood Smoked Bacon
Hickory Applewood Smoked Bacon
BACON!!! One of the 3 super meats from my favorite animal, the pig. What are super meats? Bacon, sausage, and ham as far as I’m concerned. Bacon is made out of curing and smoking pork belly. If you are looking for the best price on bellies and want to make a lot of bacon, Costco is the place to go. Whole bellies are $2.99lb. They average between 8-10lbs. A basic cure for bacon will consist of salt, sugar, and pink curing salts, plus whatever other seasonings that you may want to flavor with. The pink curing salts are necessary. Skipping this ingredient will give you smoked pork belly and not bacon. If you are concerned about consuming nitrites, fuck right off then. Go shop at Whole Foods you bloody cunts. The belly will need to be dry rubbed and let to cure in gallon sized storage bags for 1 week. You will need to flip the bag each day while the belly cures to redistribute the marinating juices in the bag. After curing for a week, the bellies will need to dry out for 1 day in the refrigerator.When ready to smoke, let the bellies rest at room temp for an hour. Preheat your smoker to 250 degrees. You can use really any type of wood for smoking bacon. I chose to use a combination of hickory and applewood. Once preheated, throw in your bellies and reduce the smoking heat to 225 degrees. Using a probe thermometer to monitor the internal temperature, smoke the bellies until they reach 150 degrees internal temp. This will take around 3 hours, give or take. Take the bellies out of the smoker and let cool completely. Refrigerate the bacon for a day before slicing. The bacon will keep in the refrigerator for a week and up to 6 months in the freezer.
Equipment
- Electric Smoker
- Probe Thermometer
Ingredients
- 8-10 lbs skinless pork belly
Curing Spices
- 9 tbsp sea salt
- 1/2 cup white sugar
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 6 tbsp black pepper
- 2 tbsp paprika
- 3 tsp pink curing salts
Wood Chips
- hickory wood chips
- applewood chips
Instructions
- Mix together the curing spices.
- Pat dry the whole pork belly.
- Cut the belly in half. Rub the entire belly with the curing spices.
- Place in gallon sized storage bags. Cure in the refrigerator for 7 days. Flip the bags everyday.
- After the bellies have cured for a week, take out of the storage bags. Place on a rack on a baking pan in the refrigerator. Let the bellies dry out for a day before smoking.
- When ready to smoke, let the bellies sit out at room temperature for an hour. Preheat your smoker to 250 degrees according to the manufacturer’s directions. Once it reaches that temp and the wood chips are smoking, throw the bellies in the smoker and turn the temp down to 225 degrees.
- Using a probe thermometer to monitor the internal temperature, smoke the bellies until they reach 150 degrees. This will take around 3 hours, give or take.
- Let cool completely before refrigerating.
- Refrigerate for 1 day before slicing.
- Slice your bacon to the desired thickness of your liking. I slice mine at 1/8”.
Tips For Smoking Bacon
- Pat your pork belly dry before dry rubbing.
- Do not skip adding the pink curing salts to the dry rub. Without them, you will just have smoked pork belly and not bacon.
- Store and cure the bellies in gallon sized storage bags. Cure for a week, flipping the bags everyday to redistribute the marinating juices.
- After 1 week of curing, let the bellies dry out in the refrigerator for 1 day.
- Let the bellies rest at room temperature for an hour before smoking.
- Any type of wood will work for smoking bacon. Whatever you choose will help determine that bacon’s flavor.
- Smoke the bellies at 225 degrees until they reach an internal temperature of 150 degrees. This will take around 3 hours of smoking.
- Let the bacon cool completely before refrigerating.
- Refrigerate for 1 day before slicing.
Smoked Bone In Chicken Breasts
Tips For Smoking Bone In Chicken Breasts If using smaller chicken breasts under 1lb, brine them for 3 hours. If they are larger, over 1lb, they will need to brine for 4 hours. Pat the chicken dry with paper towels and let rest at room …
Smoked Au Gratin Potatoes
Smoked Au Gratin Potatoes
Who doesn’t like au gratin potatoes? I’ll tell you who. My drummer Sean from Echoes of the Fallen. He told me that he was raised on the boxed au gratins with the dehydrated potatoes and the powdered cheese mix. He said that they were never cooked properly and the potatoes were always hard. He had never had real homemade ones before, so I had him over for dinner to change his mind.Making au gratins is pretty simple. The first thing is to make sure that your potatoes are sliced evenly. Having a mandolin helps with that. I sliced them just over 1/8” thick. They will only need to boil for 5 minutes since they are thin. Cool them in an ice water bath to stop them from cooking. The cheese sauce is simple. Melt butter. Whisk flour. Whisk in cream. Whisk in cheese. Done. In my cheese sauce, I added finely chopped Canadian bacon, smoked onions, and smoked garlic to add more flavor to the potatoes. If you don’t want these in the potatoes, leave them out. I don’t know why anyone wouldn’t want them. Pour the sauce over a pan of the potatoes and smoke for an hour. Alternatively, if you don’t have a smoker, you can bake these in the oven at 400 degrees for 30 minutes.So in the end, Sean and I ate a half a large pan of the au gratins with our smoked chicken. Needless to say, he is now a fan. Fuck you Betty Crocker.
Servings: 8
Equipment
- Electric Smoker
- 9”x13” aluminum foil pan
Ingredients
- 2 1/2 lbs potatoes thinly sliced on a mandolin
- 4 tbsp butter
- 4 tbsp flour
- 1 pint heavy cream
- 1/4 onion or smoked onion
- 1 head garlic or smoked garlic
- 8 oz Canadian bacon or ham; cubed
- 8 oz cheddar cheese
- 2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp white pepper
Instructions
- Bring a pot of salted water to a boil. Boil the potatoes for 5 minutes.
- Drain and cool in an ice bath to stop the cooking. Set aside.
- Add the ham, onions, and garlic to a food processor.
- Chop finely. Set aside.
- Melt butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Whisk in the flour and cook for 3 minutes.
- Whisk in the heavy cream, salt, and white pepper.
- Whisk in the ground ham mix. Cook for 2-3 minutes until the sauce starts to thicken.
- Whisk in the cheese.
- Cook for 2 more minutes until all of the cheese has melted.
- Layer the potatoes flat in a well greased aluminum foil pan.
- Pour the cheese sauce over the potatoes.
- Top with more cheese.
- Throw the pan in a 250 degree preheated electric smoker for 1 hour. My potatoes smoked with some brined chicken breasts. They were smoked with hickory and apple woods.
Canadian Bacon
Tips For Making Canadian Bacon Brine the pork loin for 3 days. You need to add the pink curing salts. If you skip adding them, you will have smoked pork loin and not the hamminess of Canadian bacon. Dry out the pork loin in the …