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Monday, July 13, 2009

Cool Smoking in my Smokehouse

I fired the smokehouse up Saturday. The outside air temperature was around 108 but I was able to keep the temperature of the smokehouse at 110 degrees F and below. It just doesn't take much heat to produce smoke. When smoking bacons and hams I prefer to smoke at a cooler temperature. The higher temperature worked fine for these items.

I used a mix of pecan and cherry wood.





Checked the inside of the smoke stack on top of the house. Opened the damper, the screen covering the top works great at keeping bugs out of the house.


My little rain cap (cake pan) works great.



I had to stand on something to see the top of the house. The rain cap could use a new coat of paint.


The temperature stayed at 110 degrees F for most of the smoke, then went down as the night air cooled.

I started loading the smokehouse at 3:00 p.m. with peanuts, pecan halves, clover honey, coarse sea salt.....



Olives.....



Had to give some wasabi peas a try too....




Mixed up a batch of kosher salt, coarse ground black pepper, garlic and onion powders...
and one pan of turbinado sugar....


After almost 9 hours of smoke.....
The peanuts, wasabi peas, pecans, salt mixture, turbinado sugar, green olives, coarse sea salt, black olives and clover honey.
They smell great. I've wrapped everything and will let it age for a day or two.







15 comments:

Anonymous said...

Simply awesome Cowchick! 9 hours huh? I dont see me doing much of anything in 108 degree temps. A few cold cocktails maybe :)

Mr D

Rothe Homestead Farm said...

Real nice Cowgirl....Points! LOL
Just might try smokin honey the fall....we'll see how the bees do.


Gene

cowgirl said...

Hey Gene, I forgot about your bees. Using your own honey would ne nice.
Thanks too! :)

Anonymous said...

Summer hasnt even reached central NY yet Cowgirl. The high today is only 70 and tonight they are calling for low temps in the 40's.

MrD

cowgirl said...

Shoot Mr D. I'll send some of this hot weather up your way. lol

(I just tried to edit a spelling mistake in my last post to you and ended up deleting the whole thing. lol)

You're going to be getting snow up there before ya know it. :)

Bill said...

"You're going to be getting snow up there before ya know it. :)"

Don't we know it! I'm over in western NY .. low 70's here with dew point in the low 50's and a light breeze off the Niagara River. PERFECT in my book after living in Orlando for 20 years :) It never got to 108º there but with the humidity, it sure felt like it.

I've been enjoying your blog the last couple weeks .. Found it looking up smoke houses. Good job there! :)

Bill

cowgirl said...

Hi Bill!
Your weather does sound pretty nice to me right now! lol I can't imagine highs in the 70's. That must be a big change for you after living in Orlando. :)
A couple of night's ago the temperature was 85 degrees here at 12:30 a.m..
Thank you for the kind words about my blog, I appreciate you taking the time to post too. :)
Do you have a smokehouse? I'd be interested in hearing about it if you do.
Thanks again Bill!

Mrs. JP said...

hey there, it all looks great. we took your beef ribs and bacon wrapped corn idea last weekend and it turned out really good.

Mike said...

Geez, you can keep that 108 degree temp! lol, I don't do well in the heat. It's been lower to mid 70s here. Got some rain the other day but it's nice and sunny now. Good to see you were able to use your smoker even in the heat.

Maybe one of these days I'll fire mine up and try smoked honey.

cowgirl said...

Mrs JP, I'm so glad to hear the corn and ribs turned out well for you!
Thanks! :)

cowgirl said...

Mike, I imagine the weather up your way is soooo nice!
I'm pretty sure I was going to send a jar of honey to you from this batch. If you send me your address I'll get that to ya.

Bill said...

You’re welcome :)

I do have a smokehouse but it’s nothing like yours. LOL I have a SausageMaker electric ~ 20 lb model. Stainless and insulated. It’s only supposed to be run up to 200º and it does ok for sausage. I’ve just started dabbling in sausage making and charcuterie in general. I also have 2 WSM’s for smoking pork butt, chicken, fish and the like. I’ve been toying with building something like what you have. A buddy of mine on the other side of Buffalo had an elaborate smoke house built, but in the end I think he 2nd mortgaged his house. LOL It was waaaay over budget and he never would tell me the final figures. His has an old wood stove for the cold smoking heat source, piped in like yours, and an electric heater inside for hot smoking. His also has cement board insulation. I think his will hold in excess of 100 lbs. but, I’d rather have something more on the scale of yours, only insulated with the capability of hot smoking as well. Problem is the winds over here during the Fall through Spring seasons .. They’re fierce! And, I don’t know how the smoke house heat source will hold up. My buddies does ok but I live right off the river and anything not tied down is gone the next day :)

Anywho, I see you’re in Oklahoma. I lived in OKC (actually, Midwest City) for a year and a half back in the mid 70’s while stationed at Tinker AFB. 1st thing I noticed there was the “big sky”. LOL (I know that’s Montana but it’s Oklahoma too) Much different than the Washington DC Metro area I grew up in but I in enjoyed it!

‘Nough ramblin’..

Take care,

Bill

cowgirl said...

Bill, it sounds like you are hooked on smoking just like me. lol :) Bet your electric smokehouse and WSMs put out some great tasting food!
I like the sound of your friend's smokehouse. Bet it's a nice one!!

I used to smoke bacons and hams using the barrel and trench method. It works great but I wanted more room. Since I only butcher pigs once a year (usually) for curing and smoking...this sized smokehouse seemed like the right size for me.

Sounds like you get some strong winds in your area Bill. I used metal straps embedded into my quickcrete to "tie" my smokehouse to the base. So far it's worked out great and you know Oklahoma wind... it gets pretty scary at times. lol
Let me know if you do decide to build one, I'd love to see it!

I've been to Midwest City many times... You are right about the open skies. That's one thing I love about living here. lol

Thanks for "rambling" Bill, I enjoyed hearing from you.

Chris said...

Bowing to you. Holy smokamoly, you're awesome. Smoking your own spices and everything.

cowgirl said...

lol Chris! You're too funny. lol
Thank you. :)