WHAT'S IN YOUR SMOKER?

The smoker is on full load today. We have two types of bacon and short ribs slowly smoking in the Weber Smoky Mountain Smoker. The air is thick with peach, hickory and sugar maple wood aroma. My skin and clothes are permeated with the sweet nectar of smoke. The temperature in the smoker is hovering around 230 degrees. I only had to send Ms. Goofy to open a vent twice. The couch is the perfect place to control and monitor the smoking process. If you look at my opening picture, You will see me watching basketball with a temperature monitor. There is a method to my madness.

The first bacon is a command performance by the 'Great White Hunter'. The recipe is nitrate free and was created by Alton Brown of the Food Network. It has a sweet molasses kick. A three day soak in salt, sugar, apple cider and molasses is all that is needed. This will be smoked for 5 hours until the internal temperature reaches 150 degrees.

The second bac0n is a cured boneless shoulder. It is called 'Buckboard Bacon. It was rubbed with a cure that was made by 'High Mountain Seasoning'. This rubbed butt was held in the Chilebrown Ice Cave for 10 days. A quick rinse with water and returned to the Ice Cave to form a pellicle. This was also smoked to 15o degrees. It took 7 hours or 14 reruns of 'I Love Lucy'.

The final entry into the smoke cavern was some short ribs. They were on sale at the local Wally-Mart. These beef ribs are very tough and loaded with fat. These are perfect to cook low and slow in the smoker. They were smothered in mustard and then some home made rub was applied. They were cooked for 7 hours. The meat was falling off the bone. OH my they were good.

This is how I roll. The smoker got a work out and I watched a lot of T.V. "HEY LUCY I'M HOME"