Made a charcoal basket for my smoker

I needed a charcoal basket for my little hot smoker so the coals would get better air flow. It also helps keep the heat up where I want it.
I started with a 2' square piece of expanded metal. Measured 6" in from the sides and 6" in from the ends...this is how tall I wanted the basket to be.
I was able to cut the metal with some heavy duty metal snips.

I bent the metal on the ends first...using a 2x4 as a guide and a hammer. If you can bend it by hand, that's great...lol ....I couldn't. :)

Then I folded the sides in and attached them to the ends using small bolts and nuts.

The basket without baling wire handles.




35 minutes and 2 bandaids later I have a nice little charcoal basket. :)

Smoked some venison jerky

I love jerky and venison jerky is one of my favorites. I used some hind quarter roasts and a bit of back strap that I had on hand. Sliced it with my electric slicer, marinaded it overnight and smoked it in my little smokehouse. It turned out pretty tasty. :)



I marinaded the jerky in a mixture of soy sauce, garlic, Dales marinade and onion powder. Then sprinkled it with fresh cracked black pepper.



I like to use wooden skewers to hang the jerky....I can get about 6 hunks of meat on one stick. Just makes hanging go faster.

I used a mixture of hickory and Jack Daniels whiskey barrel chips for the smoke.

The jerky took about 12 hours of smoking/drying.

It came out really tasty. :)

Home made cooker/burner

I have two of these home made burners....they are pretty old.
They are made out of a piece of pipe, an old burner out of a hot water heater and the legs are rebar. They stand about 2ft tall.

I have used them for fish/calf fries, crawdad boils.....large batches of anything. :)

They are definately not fancy, but they really work great!

My Horizontal Wood Burner

My 7' homemade horizontal smoker.
It was a gift 16 years ago and I have been very happy with it. :)

More pics.... Horizontal Wood Burner

Smoked Bologna

Added note: Here is a link for another smoked bologna method that I tried at a later date...I really liked the way it came out. :)


http://cowgirlscountry.blogspot.com/2009/04/smoked-bologna.html



I'm not real fond of bologna, but like it smoked or fried or both. :)
I used a 5lb chub of bologna and cut it in half to try two different recipes.




I poked holes in the bologna to help the bacon drippings and smoke penetrate into the meat.


I rubbed each with EVOO, covered one with cracked black pepper and garlic.
The second one was covered with Tony Chacheres Creole seasoning.



I covered both with bacon.



Smoked the bologna in my horizontal wood burner at 225 degrees for about 3 1/2 hours using mesquite.



Served with some fried potatoes and onions, slaw, twangy pickles and some spicy mustard.

Dirty white boy......

His nickname...dirty white boy.
Couldn't keep the little fella outta the mud. :)

Tasting rocks :)

The Vietnam Veterans Moving Memorial Wall

I had the chance to visit the Moving Wall in Texas this weekend.....
Left some flowers, my thanks...... and my tears.

Lost a good friend

Thank you for being my friend for the last 19 years. I miss you.

Finger food (smoked jalapenos and pork ribs)

I smoked some meaty pork ribs and shrimp stuffed jalapenos last weekend.
The jalapenos are halved and seeded, stuffed with a mixture of my homegrown shrimp (cooked and chopped), minced onion and garlic, onion powder and cream cheese.
Then I wrapped them in bacon and smoked them with a bit of hickory.

I sprinkled the ribs with some of my homemade, coldsmoked kosher salt/cracked pepper/onion/garlic blend.
They were pretty good along with a cold beer. :)