Loving my new smoker ! šŸ˜ƒ

(Dirty Lazy Keto'er, Sucralose freak ;)) #1

Okayā€¦ So it cost a lot, and itā€™s pretty complicatedā€¦ But whatchaā€™ gonnaā€™ do ?
Sorry, just being facetious :smiley: lol

So I slapped two cheap aluminum trays together ($2.59 each at Walmart) put a hole in the bottom left for a stainless steel smoking tube ($12 on Amazon) and another hole on the top left corner for a vent.
Lit it up with my searing torch, and Bam ! Billowed smoke for 3 hours, and put an amazing bark on a 4 lb roast :slightly_smiling_face: Now itā€™s getting 24 hours in the Souse Vide, and then a good sear ! Whoo hoo :slightly_smiling_face:

ā€¦Tommorows dinnerā€¦ And my weekend sandwiches :wink:

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PS, I used black cherry smoking pellets from cookingpellets.com

And that photo was after 1 1/2 hours, when I was flipping it. Looked even better (darker) when I was finished :wink:

Edit: Food safety related !
So I was just reading that cold smoking should be limited to 2 hours, to limit the chance of bacterial growth ! Did mine for 3ā€¦
Also, totally chilling it in a brine solution can help too. I did ā€˜saltā€™ and season mine pretty heavily first though. Oops. Will know this for next time.

Will report back if it doesnā€™t kill me :open_mouth:

#2

Wow, that is one simple way of smoking :slight_smile: did you turn on the grill or just used the heat from the smoking pallets?

(Polly) #3

That looks amazing. I saw the video clip you posted of the aluminium tray smoker and thought it looked interesting. I can see why you went for the stainless steel tube for the wood pellets.

I hope you are going to let us know how it was to eat after the sous vide treatment. Vicarious dinner - yum!

('Jackie P') #4

Cor that looks like something even I could do!

(Dirty Lazy Keto'er, Sucralose freak ;)) #5

No heat from the grill, and very little from the smoking tube on the far left, and the meat on the far right either. When I took the roast out (by hand), it was barely warm.
Now one might be concerned about bacterial growth, but two things to keep in mind, 1) it was ā€˜saltedā€™ and seasoned pretty heavily, before smoking and 2) it went straight into a SV machine @136 degrees, for 24 hours, which is hot enough to kill most bacteria.

The grille was just a good table to work on. Great place for searing the meat with my flame thrower torch too :slightly_smiling_face:

(Dirty Lazy Keto'er, Sucralose freak ;)) #6

And you know guys, I have to give credit where itā€™s dueā€¦ I actually got this idea from the Sous Vide everything channelā€¦ Although I did decide on a stainless steel smoking tube vs. an aluminum foil burrito full of pellets, with a bunch of holes poked in it :slightly_smiling_face:

#7

Iā€™m a newbie when it comes to smoking, so Iā€™m absorbing as much knowledge as possible :slight_smile: Since I donā€™t have sous vide machine, I would continue the cooking process on the grill. CFLBob mentioned a 3-2-1 method, where you smoke for 3 hours, grill wrapped for 2 hours and grill unwrapped for an additional hour. Would you suggest I maybe try that way? My husband and I are trying to convince ourselves to buy a kettle grill, but your method might work for our current grill. My thinking - use your method of smoking, smoke my meat for three hours and leave it in the alu smoker for three hours on the grill or maybe even transfer to my baking dish and continue to cook in the oven at 130 degrees C for three or maybe even four hours?

(Steve) #8

Nice job!
I have used a new garbage can in the past and it works great too, you can hang jerky and sausage from the lid or bolt in a rack.
We canā€™t get enough sous vide around here.

Oh and smoked cheese, small infusion and wrap in plastic wrap for a few days to meldā€¦yum

(Dirty Lazy Keto'er, Sucralose freak ;)) #9

Hey Meerkat, I got my VPCOK Sous vide machine for $73 and thought it was a great deal.(half the price of the super popular Anova) then, last week I saw that they were having a super sale on Amazon, for $58 ! Unbelievable valueā€¦ I should get another for a backup, or even to do two different things at once, especially during the holidays :slightly_smiling_face:

Their is some other cool stuff to have with it, that isnā€™t a necessity, but makes it even more fun to work with, like, a Rubbermaid 12qt tank, neoprene insulating cover, silicone lid cover with cutout for the SV machine, and a stainless meat rack. I got all 4 of those things for about $65 more.

And now, like Steve above, we canā€™t get enough SV :slightly_smiling_face:

I use to just not have enough confidence with certain meats, which I had not done before, as with the cost of meat nowadays, I canā€™t afford to be wasting it. But with SV everything comes out ā€œthe best I ever cooked itā€ :smiley:

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#10

Iā€™m in Europe and we can never get such good deals :frowning: But I should do a little market research :slight_smile:
Christmas is just around the cornerā€¦ :joy:

(Bob M) #11

Thereā€™s a time-temperature relationship for bacterial killing. Itā€™s above 130 for 2 hours to kill 99.9+ percent of bacteria. I think youā€™re safe.

(Dirty Lazy Keto'er, Sucralose freak ;)) #12

Thank you Bob. And you bring up a whole other pointā€¦

Lets say my cold smoking did create some bad bugsā€¦ Iā€™d have thought (as you mention here) that my SV at 136 degrees, for 24 hours would knock those bugs right out of there ?

And now that you mention it, all of the cold smoking guide lines I read ā€œwere notā€ talking about cold smoking prior to SV, but rather, cold smoking whatever kinds of meats, to be eaten directly. So heck yea, I can see why that might be more critical.

(Dirty Lazy Keto'er, Sucralose freak ;)) #13

So hey anyway, my smoked bottom round roast came out pretty darn good :slightly_smiling_face: Wanted to wait overnight to make sure I wasnā€™t going to die of bacterial contamination first, before I posted.
But yes, Iā€™m fine :slightly_smiling_face:

Iā€™d rate this one a 7 on tenderness,
An 8 on doneness
A 7 on juiciness.
And a 9 on flavor.
So, room for improvement on all counts, but still, pretty darn good :slightly_smiling_face:
Oh, this was 136 degrees for 22 hours on the SV

Next is a beef brisket at 155 degrees, for 30 hours. Unless my GF wants ribs firstā€¦

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#14

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I saw this sous vide machine from Hofer (our Aldi) for 70ā‚¬, maybe Iā€™ll take the plungeā€¦:thinking:
Are there any specs I should look out for, what makes some better than the others, etc.?

(Bob M) #15

This is for burgers, but I think it works for all meat:

With sous-vide methods, you have a bit more leeway as beef can be safely pasteurized at temperatures as low as 130Ā°F if held for long enough. At 130Ā°F, it takes 2 hours to safely pasteurize beef, while at 140Ā°F, it takes only 12 minutes. Rememberā€”these timeframes begin once the center of the burger reaches pasteurization temperature, so itā€™s a good idea to add an extra half hour to those times for any burger you plan on pasteurizing.

Of course, you need to get that temperature at the center of the meat for the required time period, but if youā€™re cooking 24+ hours, you have met those requirements (assuming you cook >130F).

As for which ones are better, Americaā€™s Test Kitchen tested a bunch of them and they liked the Joule the best (easiest to use, with software, was very close to set temperature). Their second best was the Anova, which had slightly off temperatures (weā€™re talking plus minus two degrees or so, so not huge) and also funky software. I have the Anova, but I donā€™t use the software. I just turn it to the temperature I want.

Theoretically, they have different power outputs. Even the Anova comes in 800 watts and 900 watts, I think. I donā€™t think itā€™s a huge deal, though, as I have a cooler if I need long cooking and a smaller container for short cooking.