I know it is a nasty habit, but I've taken up smoking :/

[miss_thenorth]

We made pepperoni the other day (for the canadians, we made pepperettes) It was delish!! So far we have done turkey breast, steelhead trout, a deer ham. We are still complete noobs to smoking. the turkey brest was our first experiment, and turned out a little dry, but the rest was awesome!!!!! We have found we don't smoke as much as we want to becasue of time--it takes preplanning, and you need to have smoking on the brain in order to preplan properly.

 

[freemotion]

SKR8PN, you are KILLING me with those pictures!!!!

MTN, can you post your recipe for pepperoni? I think I will have some big hogs this fall and really, really want to make my own pepperoni.

 

[miss_thenorth]

http://www.tammysrecipes.com/tammys_spicy_pepperoni

This is the recipe I used but I made changes


2 pounds lean ground beef (85% lean or leaner) [iwe used ground deer][/i]
2 teaspoons liquid smoke flavoring left this out
2 teaspoons ground black pepper
2 teaspoons mustard seed
1 1/2 or 2 teaspoons crushed fennel seed*
1 or 2 teaspoons crushed red pepper**went easy on this, as dd doesn't like it too spicy
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon sugar
2 heaping teaspoons Morton's Tender Quick curing salt I just used sea salt, as I wanted nitrate nitrite free

Instructions:
1. Combine seasonings and meat and mix thoroughly, using hands. Cover and refrigerate for 48-72 hours. I kneaded it every 12 hours for two days
2. Form meat into two long logs or rolls. Place a rack (or pan/sheet with drainage) on a cookie sheet and put the logs onto rack. Bake at 200 degrees for 8 hours, rotating logs every 2 hours. the first time i made it, I did it like this, and 8 hours was WAAAAAY too long, it would have been done in about 4. This past time, we stuffed the mixture into casings and smoked it for three hours total(easy on the smoke or it will be overpowering) If you are not using nitrates/nitrites, it must have an internal temp of 170F
3. Logs will be a bright pink when they are finished, and should be fairly dry and firm. Wipe off excess grease and allow meat to cool. Chill and then slice thinly. Refrigerate for up to 2 weeks or freeze for longer storage if you don't usie the Mortons, nitrates, it will not be bight pink

 

[freemotion]

Thank you!!!!

 

[big brown horse]

OFG, thank you so much for that blog! I'm smoking bacon wrapped shrimp tonight. Then I'm going to do some hickory smoked cod fillets for a taco-less fish taco salad mid week...got a great fish monger down the road.

 

[big brown horse]

Skipped the fish tacos b/c my fish man only had fresh, raw oysters...so I smoked them on the barby instead for an appetizer. Then I smoked some (pounded flat) chicken breasts for some Thai peanut (almond, really) smoked chicken lettuce wraps. To die for!

The smoked oysters (harvested 4 miles from my house) were also to die for. We ate them with a bit of shrimp (horseradishy) cocktail sauce.

I'm building a pit smoker this weekend...WooHoo!

 

[discoversimplicity]

Oh please post pictures on the pit smoker being built! Would love to see what it takes to build one and what it looks like complete

 

[Holachicka]

Oh! Smoked hard boiled eggs are FANTASTIC!! Eaten plain or made into deviled eggs... I'll bet they'd make a pretty good potato salad too!

 

[big brown horse]

I've got the smoker built, it still needs some tweeking. I made it out of cinderblocks. I also need to make a lid. When I do that I'll take photos.

My handbuilt outdoor kitchen: rocket stove, bbq grill, and now my smoker. I'm a happy gal! The bbq grill came with the house, the rocket stove cost me (I think) $30-40 for all the firebricks, and the smoker was free, I gathered all the strewn cinderblocks that were around here.

Anyway...

Smoked hardboiled eggs?? WoooHooo! I've got eggs up to my eyeballls! Thanks!

Smoked deviled eggs with blue cheese...mmmmm!

 

[big brown horse]

Here is the handmade smoker I copied, again thanks ofg for passing this link on to me.

http://cowgirlscountry.blogspot.com/2007/03/cooking-whole-hog-on-cinder-block-pit_19.html

It took me 18 cinder blocks. I think the grill-grate I found was actually a piece of galvanized fence, so I'm having my friend's husband torch it to make it safe. I read on another e-how thingy that I can use plywood for a cover...so that's what I'm doing. Think I'll install a handle on it to make it easier to use.