The link doesn't show any grills....but that's OK Peppi. The best thing to do with a charcoal grill is...send it to me. I much prefer charcoal over gas.

Nancy

I love my charcoal grill/smoker! I have the Brinkmann in the link.

If it didn't come with a thermometer, I think it is worth investing the $20 or so to get one to determine the internal temp of the box.

I have smoked ribs, chicken, pork shoulder and duck. All are fantastic. Try different fruit wood chips (cherry wood smoked duck is almost a religious experience) or nut woods (we like pecan smoked chicken) as well as the usual mesquite, etc. Use hardwood charcoal chunks for the fire and soak the flavor chips in water before using them.

As far as recipes, I don't use any. It is sort of a trial and error to get the feel of how long it takes and how to regulate the temp for the long slow cooking/smoking process. Just jump in and give it a go!

Good luck and if you have an idea in mind and need suggestions on how to proceed, we are here for you.

What a great gift from your company!

Alexa

Here is a link that might be useful: Brinkmann smoker/grill

I agree with Alexa. A thermometer is worthwhile.

I have had both electric and charcoal smokers. The electric is more convenient, but the charcoal gives better flavor IMO and is worth the slight amount of fussiness it takes to maintain the right temp.

Best piece of advice I can give is to avoid the temptation to look at the food cooking. You may need to do so a couple of times during the cooking, but every time you take off the lid the system cools dramatically and it takes a good while to get back up to cooking temps.

As far as wood goes, I really like pecan. You can use pecan shells if you have access to them. Hickory is good, but a little stronger than pecan. I used to live near an apple orchard; apple wood is great, too. I don't care too much for mesquite, but that's just me.

Another trick is to put something fatty on the top rack and something that needs basting on the bottom rack. My dad used to do a pork roast on the top rack and as it cooked it dripped fat onto a turkey on the bottom rack. I've done ribs on the top rack dripping on to chickens on the bottom. Delish.

I found I could smoke about 6 whole chickens at once. (They make little wire racks that make the chickens sit upright during the smoking, and that does make for a more efficient use of space. I found them worthwhile.) What I would do is smoke them, and then store them in individual freezer ziploc bags. Use a soda straw to evacuate as much air as possible, then seal them and freeze them. When you wanted a quick and yummy dinner, just take a frozen bird in its plastic bag, open the bag and put a couple of ounces of water or white wine in the bird's cavity, and microwave it in the bag for a few minutes till reheated.

If you take the smoked chickens and take the meat off the bones, the meat makes a fantastic chicken salad; save the skin and bones, though, and you can make an incredibly rich and flavorful chicken stock that would jack up the flavor of many dishes like beans, soups, etc.

What's really nice is that the cooking times are not written in stone, and slightly overcooking the stuff will not ruin it since it's a very moist environment. Another plus is that most of the work is done 3 or 4 hours (or more) prior to serving food. Once you load the smoker and get everything going, it really doesn't take much attention at all--in fact, most of the time it's better to leave it the heck alone. That means that if you're entertaining a bunch of people, you have time to check on everything else without worrying about the main dish. Much less stressful than, say, grilling a bunch of steaks for a crowd.

pkramer, I don't know if this is the type of smoker you have; since you referred to it as a 'big red can' I assumed it was a vertical smoker that had at the very bottom a charcoal pan, over which was a water pan, over which were situated two grills to hold the food. Many companies make similar smokers. That's the type of smoker I was referring to with its upper and lower racks.

Here is a link that might be useful: vertical smoker

Not sure what happend on the link...

Here is the one I have.

Alexa, the duck sounds like heaven and I will try that one for sure.

Here is a link that might be useful: Charbroil

Yes, you'll be able to go to town with that bad boy.

You can cook a lot of food with very little effort.

Peppi line the water pan with aluminum foil. Makes it easy to clean. When I do pork or beef I start with about a dozen briquettes and when they are going good I completely fill the pan with unlit charcoal and wood chunks. The temperature will slowly come up then slowly go down. If it starts going down before the meat is done I open the door and stir the fire and add some more charcoal. You won't need to buy baby back ribs anymore. Your new smoker will do the full sized pork ribs that will melt in your mouth. One final tip. If you like ribs buy a vertical rack to set them in. You can get more on the pit and I think they cook better this way.
James

You guys are fantastic! I will stop at TJ's for the hardwood, hunt down smoking woods, chop down the neighbors dead cherry tree, de-frost a duck (I have 3 in the freezer, I found great sale) and go to town.

Any recommendations on time and temp to go for? It does have a thermamator built in.

Can I smoke bacon in it?

I've never made bacon, but I think kframe did. Let's hope he chimes in with suggestions.

In searching about for smoked duck info - I came across this blog, and it sounds interesting. I don't usually soak in milk, but I will give it a try next time to see if it makes a difference. I seems to remember when I made it lst year that I kept it right around 250 and it took about 4 - 5 hours.

Wednesday, September 26, 2007
BBQ Recipes: Smoked Duck

I came across this recipe for Smoked Duck on the internet at steaks-guide the other day. It looks interesting and is a completely different approach to how I've cooked duck in the past. I'm gonna have to try it. Take it away...

"Using wood chips for flavoring your smoked duck recipe will be a delectable meal in itself. For something like smoking duck you would prefer to use some kind of fruit wood, these are woods like apple and cherry.

Once youÂve mastered the cooking of a bird like chicken a duck should be no problem.

If you want to try for a great smoked duck recipe you might want to try this easy recipe.

Just like smoking most other things it only involves a marinade, a rub, and some smoker skills.

For the recipe youÂll need to get some ducks of course. Try for a small to medium size duck, if you get small ones try to get one for everyone coming to dinner.

To cook about 5 smaller ducks youÂll need:

enough milk to soak the ducks in,
1 chopped onion and
unpeeled apple for each duck,
salt,
pepper,
2 sticks of butter, and
1 cup of red wine.
First make sure you clean out and dry the insides of the duck. Place the ducks in milk and cover, soak about 4-5 hours. You can also soak overnight in the fridge; make sure you soak your wood chips in water overnight also.

Take the ducks out and rub salt and pepper on the inside and outside. Take the apples and onion and stuff the ducks with the mixture.

Get your smoker up and running to about 225 to 250 degrees Fahrenheit, at this temperature youÂll be smoking these for 4-6 hours. Use the fruit chips mentioned before for a nice flavor, you can also use a traditional hickory if you like. Melt the butter and mix it with the red wine, salt, and pepper to baste the duck with.

Just as often as you would baste a duck in the oven, use this mixture to baste the duck in the smoker. Once they are done just take them out and serve.

This is one wonderful smoked duck recipe that I am sure your entire cook out will enjoy from the first bite."

Here is a link that might be useful: whitetrash bbq

Congratulations on your new addition LOL!
I also have a vertical smoker - The Virtual Weber Bullet website has helped me enormously.
Lots of recipes and information.
Have fun,
Lisa

Here is a link that might be useful: Weber Bullet

No, you don't want to smoke bacon in it.

With bacon, you're smoking to preserve it and add flavor to it. To do that, you need cold smoke, no more than 100 degrees, and ideally even cooler than that.

If you smoke it in this cooker, you'll literally cook your bacon.