JUNE, 2015...What's For Dinner??

Barbara101 wrote:


Jimmy, why no cooking at your house?

bethk wrote:I did a "Barb Special".....clean out the refrigerator frittata.  Ham, asparagus, corn, roasted tomatoes & onion.

NormM wrote:I just bought a new propane grill at Lowe's.  They will assemble it and deliver it on Monday.  Its a Broil King Baron model.

WOW!.... great Norm. I can't wait to see it! .... Better yet, see it with nice KC steaks sizzling on the grill grate.

Barbara101 wrote:Anyone besides Norm have experience smoking? I would appreciate knowing some tricks of the trade.


I have a cheapie electric.Outside use. I sure have got my $70. worth.It is set it and forget it. No fuss.

Bugster2 wrote:Thanks Barb. I had one of those but did not get good results with it. There is good smoke and bad smoke. I could only get bad smoke no matter what I did. My meat tasted like bad smoke. I tried different chips and flavors but no good. I finally gave it away. You must have the magic touch.

Bugster2 wrote:I have a question about smoking: do you keep replenishing the wood chips for as long as you are cooking the meat or do you only add chips once at the beginning?

UNCLE JIMMY wrote:This place is like a G D Geriatric Center. Time of day is messed up, and I just have too much stuff going on in between so I have no time to cook.

Whatever we like, the uncle wont eat. He is a fussy and self centered, and lazy man.  I pitty his poor wife when she was alive. She catered to him, hand and foot!
He was her baby!

Crybaby wrote:

Bugster2 wrote:Thanks Barb. I had one of those but did not get good results with it. There is good smoke and bad smoke. I could only get bad smoke no matter what I did. My meat tasted like bad smoke. I tried different chips and flavors but no good. I finally gave it away. You must have the magic touch.

We've never had an electric smoker but we started with a charcoal one about the size of Barbara's.  I don't know what you mean about good smoke and bad smoke though.  Maybe it's the different kinds of smoking wood you didn't care for.  Perhaps sticking to hickory would be good first, Bug, to see if you just don't like smoked flavor.  For smoking, I'd use wood chunks and not wood chips.  The meat has to be on there for a while to cook so using only chips to me wouldn't cut it.  

Bugster2 wrote:I have a question about smoking: do you keep replenishing the wood chips for as long as you are cooking the meat or do you only add chips once at the beginning?

I don't know the size of your stovetop smoker but I would think it would be kind of small to use the chunks I recommend.  All I can suggest is to use chunks if you can...  If you can only use chips, I guess you could add them a second time but if you don't like smoked flavor, maybe you'd better start with just using them at the beginning.

Crybaby wrote:

UNCLE JIMMY wrote:This place is like a G D Geriatric Center. Time of day is messed up, and I just have too much stuff going on in between so I have no time to cook.

Whatever we like, the uncle wont eat. He is a fussy and self centered, and lazy man.  I pitty his poor wife when she was alive. She catered to him, hand and foot!
He was her baby!

Taking care of an elderly person is probably the hardest thing a person can ever do -- even if they're pleasant and have all their faculties.  No one likes the rolls to change, both the caretaker(s) and the person being taken care of.  When they're suffering from some type of dementia or are selfish, fussy and just insist "I won't eat that," it's more than hard -- it's extremely frustrating and sometimes infuriating.  

My heart goes out to both you and Tina, Jimmy.  His wife was indeed a saint but she also created a monster!!!!  

Barbara101 wrote:Wood that is smoldering and giving off blue smoke or no smoke that you can see but can smell is good smoke.  If you put the wood in an electric smoker where the heat coils can make it smolder and not ignite, you will get your best results.


because the chunks would not ignite unless you put them directly on the coil. then it would flame.  ....You are not to put them on the coil and they should not ignite..


I am far from a expert but I get light blue smoke and get very good results. This unit is perfect for me . I am lame=o when I mess with charcoal and have to mess with it. I can grill ,,just basic stuff.
2 to 4 hrs is all it takes.i have all kinds of chunks but I like the hickory the best.