At early fermentation my peppers smelled like sulfur, but now at a more vigorous fermentation it smells better. Like something I might consume. I have come to the conclusion that chemistry is happening every where all the time.
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My Son and I are smoking our (my) first beef product in my electric smoker. Poor manās brisket, a 3 pound chuck roast. The oak, pecan, and hickory chips are just starting to make smoke. Should be in the smoker in a few minutes. All dry rubbed up:
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My experience doing chuck roast is it is pretty much just as good as brisket anyway. Much cheaper/smaller cut makes for less worry IMO. And worry spoils the smoke.
Yum, bugs
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They also had scorpion, grasshoppers and worms.
Electric? Cool. Iām moving and canāt grill or smoke with fire. Only electric. If you donāt mind me askingā¦ Which smoker do you have? How do you like it?
Sorry Tom (BobBarkto), I didnāt see your question until now. I was at a friendās summer party a number of years ago and he had very large smoker and was cooking 8 or more racks of ribs. They were so delicious I got bit by the bug to try smoking meat myself.
A few things I didnāt like about his smoker: it was pretty expensive, it was way too big to fit on my deck, and it was a propane smoker. He was constantly having to make little adjustments to a gas valve and the air intake damper setting to maintain his desired temp.
So I decided I wanted a much smaller, self regulating electric smoker. I bought a cheap Smoke Hollow smoker from Menards. It was late fall so they had it deeply discounted to around $150 IIRC. I see they no longer carry that brand. Anyway I like it. It has three removable racks so if I cut the ribs racks in half I can fit 3 full racks in it. Probably could fit 2 large pork butts in there, probably 2 small/medium turkeys.
The only tending I have to do is pull out the wood chip box to add more hard wood chips every couple hours. It slides out the side so I donāt have to open the door and lose all the heat and smoke which is nice. I saw Ace Hardware had a very similar sized electric smoker. It was about $225 last week.
I will admit, the smoker I have is very cheaply made. I doubt it weighs more that 70 pounds. But it has worked perfectly fine for the last 3 or 4 years. If it died today Iād look for a similar one to replace it.
Another note: I bought a internal temperature meter from home depot. I sneak the measurement probeās lead out the smoke exhaust vent. I can link it to my phone and glance at the current internal temp anytime/anywhere I want. Has a bunch of alarm/alert features that I havenāt used. It was under $100.
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I use a Traeger pellet smoker. Have had it for six or seven years now. It does ok.
So it burns the pellets for the heat and the smoke?
I bet a dollar that JR says yes
Yessir, that is the way.
For an easy āpost marinadeā for chicken, I cook two chicken breasts, slice thinly, then drown and toss the slices in a marinade made about one tablespoon each of Vino Cotto, maple syrup, black pepper and lemon-infused olive oil. Tossed through a mixed green salad, delicious.
Another one which works well is to use a cup of white wine, a tablespoon each of mild mustard and maple syrup, reduced by two thirds in the pan in which you cooked the chicken, then drown and toss the chicken slices. Iāve also tried it with orange juice instead of wine but that didnāt work so well.
Geoff
Thanks Craig! Useful info.
I just moved into a condo and my only outdoor cooking options are electric (if that? not too sure yet).
Just started smoking things this past summer and got some great results, at least according to friends and neighbors, and my taste buds!
Iāve got pellet too, but almost went electric since it seems to be most economical: both in the unit cost and in consumables. I know a guy who started out with a tabletop size electric unit and loves it.
Most condos and apartments are ok with electric stuff. Might want to talk with your neighbors to let them know what is going on so they donāt smell smoke and assume something is on fire. Sharing in the bounty might help 
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Cold and snow flurries here today, so I decided to fire up the smoker. Nothing fancyā¦ just smothered two pork tenderloins with Sweet Baby Rays, spinkled with cheddar cheese, then wrapped with bacon and a little more BBQ on top.
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I have an allergy to garlic so I need to make my own curry powder from scratch. My standard recipe, for eight chicken thighs, is to use two teaspoons of coriander powder, one of cumin, one of garam masala mix (cardamom, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg and coriander powder) and a half teaspoon of cayenne pepper as we like it mild.
I flour and pepper the thighs, then brown in olive oil and ghee, remove them and soften four diced onions, then put in half a bottle of white wine and stir that around to get the brown bits off the bottom of the casserole dish.
I put the thighs back in, add a tin of coconut milk and half a bottle of white wine, one tablespoon of concentrated tomato paste and a cup of garlic free chicken stock. In go a dozen or so pumpkin cubes about an inch big and a can of chick peas; the pumpkin will pretty much break down with cooking.
Put in moderate oven for about an hour, allow to cool, then into the fridge for the next day. Serve with chopped coriander leaves, toasted flaked almonds, jasmine rice and yoghurt. Iām making another batch today!
Geoff
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