A fun thing to smoke thats easy is some whole Cornish game hens. Fill the inside with a creme cheese, spinach, garlic, Parm cheese, and bread crumbs stuffing you mix together. Once the birds are done you pull the stuffing out to eat as a side along with some zucchini or yellow squash. I also like to put a heavy beer in my moisture pan when doing this.
Nice overview of the Oklahoma Joe smoker. While I don’t own one an OK Joe, I’d be reluctant to trust the thermometer on the lid. In my experience including an expensive Weber grill, they aren’t very accurate. Low and slow is the key to good smoking. Start simple with ribs or a pork shoulder/butt. Do Not start with a brisket like I did and ruin a $50 piece of meat. I highly recommend you research Steven Raichlen (PBS) and his series Project Smoke. The accompanying cook book is excellent. Another guy I follow is Malcom Reed. Good luck. You’re going to have a blast with that smoker. Another thing I like to smoke is a turkey. We buy a few extras around Thanksgiving when they’re cheap
Hey Greg, my son and I were watching Malcom Reed last night! Good call, I think the plan is two racks of baby backs this weekend. Thanks for your insight, and as always… for watching
I have the same smoker and love it. I think I will add the second temp gauge. I also did the silicone sealant; but, I added the sealant around the bolts as I was putting it together. I also added the Lavalock horizontal baffle plate to help distribute for even heat inside the smoker. I did the OK Joe fire box instead of the V configuration for the smoker box. I can shake the fire box pretty easy to send ash to the bottom and take out with an ash rake. Too much ash seems to act like an insulator for the heat. I also had to get some high temp black grill paint because the smoke box heat was causing the exterior paint to flake and start to rust.
Similar… I’ve switched to the fire basket which also helped with airflow, I made my own baffle plate, brought the exhaust to grate level. As for the painting of the firebox, I actually wipe it down with avocado oil and it seasons the rusted exposed metal outside to a black color. I wipe it down regularly and its been great whereas the paint will eventually flake off again. Give it a try if it does! Thanks so much for watching and the comment! Smoked a butt yesterday and it smokes better with each use
The proper smoke should be almost invisible or just a little blue. If it's white that is the wrong type of smoke. If you see light that does need sealent.
Go check out "How to BBQ Right" on you tube . Malcom will have you smoking in no time. He uses several types of smokers but you can adapt what he teaches to your smoker.
My son was sending me tiktoks of Malcom cooking things… we sat and watched a bunch of his RU-vid vids that same night. Good stuff. Thanks for watching and for the comment!
Yes! Im kind of an old school sort of guy. I certainly wouldn’t knock a pellet grill as they definitely have their place! But for me, the whole fire management process, the smells, the coals, managing the dampers etc is where the fun of this is. The food is just a bonus at the end. On the flip side, I can totally understand why some people would not like it for those same reasons.
OMG! Thank God for bait and switch thumbnails!!! So glad you started “smoking” the country boy way; instead of the other!😜 Your attention to detail is impeccable and very apparent, so you’re gonna do fine! Pork butts/shoulders are a great place to start. Very forgiving and super tasty. Also, once you figure it out for real; you can share the secrets of YOUR creations with your subscribers. Since I know you’re gonna thrive on the homestead!🤘🏻💯🤘🏻 Speaking of creations, we’re those your guitar chops during the 🔥 building (to season your smoker)? A little “slide” action…very cool…ANOTHER awesome vid!!💕
Lol. Welcome brother. My style differs a bit. Smoke “leakage” isn’t bad. In fact it looks sooo cool. Also, real wood is the way to go. Get a variety. Cherry, apple, pecan (my favorite), hickory, mesquite, any hard wood or fruit tree is good. The science isn’t in the seal, it’s in the temp, wood, and time.
So Its been about a year since I got it. I start a fire with charcoal but I run 12” splits throughout the cook. Tried them all and found that Im partial to hickory for most things. Mesquite is nice with beef
I have the double thermometers. Also have multiple wireless and wired thermometers. Lid temps are not close to grill temps. You can learn to compensate based on what the lid temps are saying but it's better to have a temp reading near the meat. I used gaskets around the cook chamber and sealant around the firebox gaps. Happy with the results. I added sealant under the gaskets because they can come off without it. EDIT: Using alcohol to clean the gaps is a good idea. My sealant has stayed in place well after doing the same. Oklahoma Joe's are the cheapest decent smokers you can get. The old Oklahoma Joe's had thicker metal but, when they sold out to Charbroil, the metal got thinner.
Can't go wrong by picking up Aaron Franklin's book (Franklin BBQ), not necessarily a cookbook (which evidently upset a few amazon reviewers, boo hoo lol) but a guide to understanding how to bbq with a few general recipes to get you going. My bbq knowledge and smoked food quality increased tremendously after reading that multiple times now because I have a better understanding of the process as a whole, not so much just following a recipe (cook for this long, wrap and cook this long, rest this long, done...crap its dry).
I’ll check it out. I agree about understanding processes as a whole… and then from there, is where the individuality comes in. As for my experience so far - This smoker, as neat as it is, doesn’t hold temps so well due to the gauge of the metal. Now, Im not exactly complaining only because I think its teaching me better fire management skills. If I can produce a good piece of bbq on this, Im sure I’m going to appreciate the process with the next smoker a lot.
Here you go! Its held up great through many cooks so far! LavaLock® Black Food Safe BBQ Adhesive 3 oz Grill Smoker High Temp RTV Silicon a.co/d/eYWRjSL
LavaLock Black Food Safe BBQ Adhesive 3 oz Grill Smoker High Temp RTV Silicon www.amazon.com/dp/B01LRMEQYU/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_i_01XFTEX7J78AC8JWT8XM?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1
This thing is a giant piece of shit from the factory but with the right mods you csn make it perform as well as a Old Country Brazos. There are full mod kits sold online for this smoker.
I did a few mods and its producing some good bbq. Its main flaw is not being heavy duty enough. A smoker of heavier gauge steel will hold temps better and lend to less fire babysitting.