What is a "smoker" ?

[MostlyWater]

I'm in NYC. I assume there ARE bbq places but I don;t know of any (that are Kosher). anyway, I'm not a big fan of eating out. I haven't been to a restaurant or gotten take out food for years and years!

[kitchenelf]

MostlyWater - I smoked some bone-in country style ribs in 4 hours. There are other cuts of meat that don't take as long as a Boston butt or a brisket...ribs being the most popular IMHO

[MostlyWater]

i read dh the thread. he wants to try it!!!! yay !!!

[GB]

MostlyWater, being that you keep kosher and this is your first attempt at smoking meats I would recommend smoking a chicken. It will be the quickest cooking kosher meat that you could do I would think.

[redgriller]

You can smoke a whole chicken or cornish hen in about 2 hours. Baby Back ribs in about 3 hours (or less). Spare Ribs in about 4 hours. Chicken pieces in about 1.5 hours. The smaller the meat, the less time it takes on the smoker.

[MostlyWater]

we are gonna look around at what is sold for smoking, maybe at bed bath beyond, like someone here suggested. he's keen on the open pot thing for veggies, too, as our kabob keeper is peeling.

thank you for your suggestion to start with chicken, that sounds safe. :)

[Grillncook]

Don't worry about replacing the kebob keeper, they just are in the way most of the time any way. Just lay your kebabs on the grill, it works, trust me. Before you go whole hog into smoking, you'll need some wood chips. Decide whatever type of wood you want, apple or alder work well with chicken. Purchase some wood chips, not chunks, chunks are much larger. Take some aluminum foil and make a pouch to put the chips, that you have soaked in water, after the water soaked chips are in the pouch, take a fork and make several punctures in both sides of the pouch, lay the pouch on the grill over the burner. As the pouch heats it will generate smoke, but should not catch fire, if it does catch fire turn the fire down, and squirt a bit of water on the pouch to extinguish the fire and continue.

This method should limit your expense to just the chips, so if you don't like smoked meat all you have spent is a few bucks on the chips. If you like smoked meats, the sky is the limit anywhere from the pouch method to custom built BBQ pits that cost thousands.

[Uncle Bob]

What is a "smoker" ?

An outdoor cooking appliance made from sheet metal (the inexpensive ones) or heavy guage steel 1/4" or more.(the more expensive ones) Most are designed to cook horizontally by indirect heat, where the meat and fire are separate from each other. They can be fired by wood coals/charcoal, gas, and even electric. IMO the ones fired by wood coals/charcoal will give superior results. Prices can range from $50 to over $50,000. There are a few that cook vertically....the cooking surface is directly over the heat source, but with a water pan in between to act as a heat sink to help control temperatures at the cooking surface. With a $250 budget I would recommend one of the latter types. Specifically the WSM (Weber Smokey Mountain) model. It is one of the new generation of water pan cookers that has the added advantage of bottom vents to help control the fire, which is a must for good BBQ. You should be able to find one in the $200 + or - range. With time and practice you should be able to produce very good BBQ.

Have Fun!!