What to put in the smoker this weekend?

[Irving]

Temp peaked at 141 degrees, so I'm getting there. I'm excited about my first ever smoke!

[Bowtie]

Looking good. Go to amazingribs.com for a lot of smoking info

[Jer]

TBS (Thin Blue Smoke) is what you're looking for. Shouldn't be very much visible smoke & it's better to err on the side of not enough. Too much will make the meat bitter & can even be dangerous.

[Irving]

I hear the number one mistake with beginners is over smoking. I had soaked a bunch for later tonight and just threw a bunch in. I think I'll do much, much less for the lobster.

[Great-Kazoo]

I hear the number one mistake with beginners is over smoking. I had soaked a bunch for later tonight and just threw a bunch in. I think I'll do much, much less for the lobster.

Your #1 mistake is removing the cover every 20 minutes. Get a temp probe that sits outside the smoker. Cook to temp, not time as mentioned.
http://amazingribs.com/BBQ_buyers_gu...ing_guide.html

[Irving]

I knew you were going to say that. I only took the cover off that one time and let it do its thing for hours. I will eventually get that double probe that was linked to earlier, but I'm not in a rush to run out and spend money right now. This is far from the Need list.

[Irving]

I tossed a couple hotdogs on the smoker before I left the house and they were ready when I came back. The chicken skin was way over smoked and had to be removed, as I suspected it might be. However, the chicken literally squirted juice when I cut into it; wasn't expecting that.

[Great-Kazoo]

I tossed a couple hotdogs on the smoker before I left the house and they were ready when I came back. The chicken skin was way over smoked and had to be removed, as I suspected it might be. However, the chicken literally squirted juice when I cut into it; wasn't expecting that.

I might know where there's an older Traeger for a good price, great entry to the pellet side.

[Irving]

I've smoked one time ever, not ready to jump in with both feet. Especially considering that my wife continues to declare that the only smoked food that she likes is salmon.

That said, today I smoked chicken, hot dogs, and lobster tails. I really reduced the smoke for the lobster (it actually started smoking a lot after I turned it off and left the wood on there). When first tasting the lobster right off the smoker you could taste a "smokey" taste, which I thought was fine, but I could tell my wife didn't like. After we mixed it with the *garlic parsley scallops (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nvoE7pGjy1Q), it just tasted salty and it was ultimately wife approved. I thought the smoked lobster tails were a win!

*Watch the FoodWishes video recipe if you are interested. I did add the heavy cream and noodles to turn it into a scallop/lobster noodle dish. We ended up toasting some bread with it as well in the end. Saved the sauce (I went small portion on both scallops and noodles) and we'll use it tomorrow for some shrimp.

[Jer]

Honestly, a good dual temp thermometer (cooking surface & internal meat temp) may be a more important investment than your actual smoker. Time means nothing. Temps are everything. I've had similar size pork shoulders take twice as long w/o any other changes so going by time on either one would have yielded terrible results & about $20-$30 wasted each time. That's one of the cheaper per pound meats too. If you're talking lobster tails & such what's $50 for a good thermometer?