LOL Tricia - 25 pounds of bacon! I shudder to think of what I would want to do if that treasure was in my freezer.

Your chicken looks totally fabulous, and I remember the picture of your slab of bacon.

I hope you'll continue to share your adventure with smoking!

Lee

Nice! We don't have a smoker. But the picture makes me want to roll out our rotisserie to roast a chicken. It's gonna be a cold and wet day here. A freshly roasted chicken sounds very good on a day like this.

Al

Chicken looks wonderful! Might I say...try a whole pork loin next.......you may have to freeze some leftovers....but it's yummy!
Linda C

That looks so good, Tricia! If I lived closer to you I would be paying you to smoke some chickens for me too! I once bought a smoked turkey that a local Boy Scout troop was selling near Christmas. They had smoked the turkeys themselves with the help of their experienced Scout masters - I've never forgotten how good that smoked turkey was!

Teresa

Wow that looks and sounds great! I don't have a smoker but your picture makes me say hmmmm

MadamG2U

I'm salivating. Must fire up the smoker soon.

Jim

Mesquite is a traditional smoking wood but I find it is best with beef as it is a stronger flavour than other woods.
Texas style beef ribs, eh?

I mostly use alder but with chicken I like cherry or applewood.

Of course apple is the current rage for home made bacon but both pork and chicken respond very well using fruit wood chips.

If you have access to grape vine clippings, try them with fish. Let them dry, of course.

lsr2000, isn't it terrible, that 5 lbs. of bacon's half gone already! :) There's just no comparison to commercial.

Al, rainy here also for the next 3 days. That's why we smoked the chix yesterday. Did you get out your rotisserie?

Linda, thanks. Next is going to be pork shoulder & we're going to go a little spicier/hotter with the rub & mop.

Teresa, I wish you were closer also. We'd be more than happy to share the chicken!

madamg2u, we're new to smoking so everything we try is an experiment! So far, so good...

Jim, fire up that smoker & please tell me what's on the menu!

metaxa, being from the desert southwest we've had lots of mesquite smoked beef & it's great. Our smoker came with a starter pack of several chips. Mesquite is not indigenous so after our sample pack is gone that's the end of mesquite, for us. We want to try it with beef, pork, chicken, & fish just to see what we think. Apple & cherry will be our primary chips. We do have access to grape prunings & I'd have never thought of using grape wood even though I grew up on a grape ranch. Thanks for the suggestion! We used apple chips for our first try at bacon coated with maple syrup & crushed black pepper.

This summer, when DH goes tuna fishing we'll see how tuna does in the smoker? We're also going to toss a NE lobsta bake in the smoker come summer.

/tricia

Nooooo - don't smoke the lobsta! I also can't imagine smoked tuna, either. I read testamonials from a smoker website where the wife said "stop him before he smokes the granola" lol!!

To each his own. We have gone to my SIL's "yacht club" 4th of July clambakes in CT and the lobsters are always steamed smoked in seaweed. Ruins the taste for me.

But we do smoke bluefish when DH catches them. Vacuum pack them and have them all winter in chowder, cream cheese-based pate appetizer things and also makes great fishcakes.

seagrass

Tricia it looks and sounds wonderful! You are making me want to buy a smoker now.:) Glad you both enjoyed your meal so much.

I smoke salt.
I live by the ocean and we have a party once a year and make salt. A couple of wading pools, fill with ocean water and leave covered loosely until the salt blooms and the water evaporates, dry it. That takes a while. All summer if we put too much seawater into the pools.

Then I smoke some of it and give it out to friends and stuff. They love it but I don't really.

But I do smoke cheese, cheddar mostly.

Those of you that can things could modify this method:

Lightly smoke some salmon and then place in canning jars, add 1 tablespoon of home made salsa and one thumbnail sized paring of hot pepper (I use habenero) and can the salmon as usual.

Makes wonderful antipasto, subbing the hot smoky salmon for tuna.

You haven't had all the types of baked beans until you have had baked beans done in the smoker.

What else...mac and cheese is real good out of the smoker.

Smoked veggie salads are good, grill them and finish in the smoker with mild wood.

If you have access to semi cured sausages you can hang them to dry further and then finish them off with more smoke. Takes a commercial soppresetta (sp?) and makes it great.

I'll quit for a while, lol. Don't want to appear to be turning this into a smoker forum.

Oh, don't stop metaxa! We've been trying to get garden web to start a smoking/curing forum for some time now!! LOL

tricia, your chicken looks delicious and I can almost smell it from here (yeah, 3000 miles away)!

Here's another one to try... a pork butt for just a couple of hours, then put into a crockpot (or dutch oven) with just a little water. Finish cooking until it falls apart.

GREAT pulled pork sandwiches or smoky fajitias!

This thread has me motivated....it's supposed to be really nice here tomorrow, DD#3 and boyfriend are coming for dinner and I have local, organic pork chops thawing to cook on the grill. Now I'm thinking maybe a couple of hours in the smoker is a good idea!! Thanks. I think.
I'll be serving roasted cauliflower and garlic cloves with parmesean cheese broiled on top and grilled red potatoes slices. I think I've got strong enough flavors to stand up to the smoke. What do you all think?

Deanna

Deanna, it sounds delicious to me, although I usually don't like an entire meal grilled/smoked, it's just too much. Of course, there's always dessert. (grin)

Tricia, the chicken looks really good, Elery is going to put some turkey in the smoker tomorrow or Monday, I'm looking forward to that. I'll bet I'd like smoked tuna, we've smoked salmon, whitefish, steelhead, pollock, it was all good (if you like smoked fish, some people don't). I don't know about the lobster....

I knew 5 pounds of bacon wouldn't last long, remember, Elery and I did 25 pounds and we've made a pretty good sized dent in that ourselves.

Annie

That chicken looks good. I haven't tried a chicken in the smoker yet but I did do a turkey over the holidays injected with a jar of store bought creole garlic marinade and smoked with apple wood chips. I remember it being really good.

I ran out this moring and picked up a turkey and a jar of the roasted garlic herb injector marinade. I didn't have enough chips but it turns out that my local Publix carries hickory chunks and chips as well as mesquite. I loaded up a mixture if hickory chunks and apple wood chips. I also wanted to experiment since my smoker has two racks so I put some italian sausage on the lower rack just to see how they come out.

Thanks for the inspiration Tricia. I love when my patio smells like the fair :-> I was also very impressed that I could grab a bag of wood at the supermarket. Who knew?

I tell you, Tricia, between your recent escapades and Annie's, I'm toying with the idea of getting a smoker. Just not sure I'd know what to do with it. But seriously my friend, lay off the bacon! I'm far from health-conscious but I'd feel guilty going through five pounds in a YEAR!!!

Do I have to take that back? I always thought bacon was one of the worst foods, but after my previous post I looked around and it doesn't seem all that bad, either in saturated fats, sodium or cholesterol, relative to other stuff out there. Seems that a lean beef hamburger is worse than any amount of bacon you may put on it. Interesting.

There is no such thing as bad food...only bad eating habits.

Metaxa, great having you join in!

Tricia, don't you just love it! I think chicken is my favourite, or is it ribs, or pulled pork or pastrami or.....

Pretty much loved everything except brisket, just not my thing. I don't get what people see in it.

Week after next I'm doing Peameal bacon, pork belly and chicken. Going to try either baked beans or your mac and cheese.

Next up is salmon and trout.....not a chance I'm smokin' any lobsta!

I'm not smoking Lobster either.

However, for those of you that are using fruitwoods for smoking, I picked up some Peachwood trimmings and have them drying for use with some chicken and pork. I also have access to Pearwood, so I may give that a try too. I live near several orchards, and they make their wood available to a select few :-)

Anyway, I also recommend you all try smoking duck. It is absolutely sublime!

And I am going to give bacon a try.... we have a wonderful pig farm just a couple of miles from here and they have amazing bacon but it does sound like fun making your own.

Keep adding new ideas - I LOVE this thread!

Alexa