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17 replies

smokin in Taiwan

FM Former Member
My name is Steve Wilson. I have owned a sports bar and grill here in Taiwan for the past 6 years. I'm interested in opening a restaurant specializing in bbq here next year. For the past 2 months or so, I've been scouring the net looking at all the different types of smokers out there. I think after looking at many sites, and talking to quite a few manufactureres that my best choice would be to go with cookshack. I need something that is simple to use, as I'll have to teach my Taiwanese cooks. Consistent, but most importantly very cost effective and efficient when it comes to burning wood. I'll need to import wood here on an ongoing basis. I've been looking at the forum quite a bit lately, a lot of what many of you have said have helped confirm my choice in using cookshack. I have a couple of questions for anyone interested.

1) Which system would be the most cost effective and efficient in its burning of wood? Cookshack or the fast eddy that burns the pellets?
2) Are the commercial units made any differently than the home units? Would the home units stand up to daily use?
3) Has anyone had any problems with the burners? Should I order extra parts here to have on hand?
4) Does anyone know about the shipping of the wood chunks? I've never had to import anything here to Taiwan before. I'm not sure if the wood has to be treated in any way for pests to pass inspection. If the wood does go through some treatment, is it still OK to smoke with?
I'm waiting to hear back from Terri Gordon at the cookshack sales on shipping info on my smoker, wood, rubs and other accessories here. I'm looking to just start off small and order a smokette to get practicing on for a time. My goal is to open the restaurant about this time next year. In the meantime I can go through the shipping process a few times before I make decisions on what model to use for the restaurant, the cookshack series or the pellet smoker by fast Eddy.
Any ideas, advice and help would be greatly appreciated. I'm a novice when it comes to smoking, as I've never done it before. I think it will go over very well here. I consider myself a semi-expert when it comes to eating good bbq though. I played 13 years of pro baseball in the states. 6 in the major leagues, 3 with the Cubs 89-91, and 3 with the Dodgers 91-93. My first team in the big leagues was the Texas Rangers-1988. So I've had a chance to eat great bbq in many places around the country, both while I was in the minor leagues and the majors.

Thanks so much for your time. My best regards to everyone, and best wishes for a great thanksgiving season.

Steve Wilson "Taiwan smoker"
Original Post

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FM Former Member
steve,
here's my 2 cents worth.
we own both an sm150 and an fec100. for ease of training the sm150 or bigger would be great. it literally is punch one button and leave it alone. we have gotten great results using only 2 to 3 ounces of wood. based off of that a 10 pound box of wood chunks would give around 80 uses. really cost effective.
that said on my fec this past weekend i had it running about 24 hours. at the start i placed 3/4 of a hopper full of pellets (sorry i don't have an exact weight but think that it weighed almost 10 pounds) after 24 hours i had to remove almost 8 pounds of pellets. the temp controls on the fec are real ez to use and the insulation is unreal on these units. we slept in our rig overnite and never even had to turn the air conditioner on and this was in mid-florida!!! the big advantage to the fec is you can hit 400 degrees ez but be careful if you do as due to the insulation temps do not fall off fast.
i don't know what your humidity levels are there but if they are high like here i would recommend everytime you shut it down remove all pellets from the hopper and run it dry. after that vacuum out the burn pot. sounds like a lot of work but it only takes a few seconds. for a real expert on pellets try to email candy sue who you will see on this site a lot. she makes her living doing pellets and i am sure she could provide an insight.
hope this helped you
jack
2 Greyhounds....SMOKIN!!!!
ps the fec is so good it let us get 2nd in the brisket at the florida state championships and this was our 1st competition. but for vending the sm150 sure got a work out too!!!!
pps. i try to listen to radio taiwan on my shortwave every sunday for the financial reports. sure do like that station
FM Former Member
Stuart, thanks for the info. I know of the restaurant Smokey Joe's. They're down in Kaohsiung, about 1 hour south of me. I look forward to hearing from Terri.
Does Smokey Joe's also buy the wood from you at Cookshack? If so maybe you'll know about if the wood has to be treated in any way. If they do buy the wood from you, at least I know that there shouldn't be any problem in importing it here to Taiwan.
Thanks again, Steve.
FM Former Member
Jack, thank you also for your 2 cents worth. I've seen you many times on the site with many helpful replies. It always seems to me that they're definitely worth a hell of a lot more than 2 cents. 1 other reason I really like cookshack, is because of this site. People like yourself giving their 2 cents worth add up to a lot of New Taiwan dollars!!!!
When I get ready to order some more units, I think I'll look at something similar to what you did, that is have both the sm 150 and the fec 100. One question, is there a big difference on the learning curve from the sm 150 to the fec 100? Once I know how to use the smokette really well, will I be able to adjust to the bigger units easily?

Thanks again, Steve.
FM Former Member
steve,
i don't see why not. we made the jump straight from webber bullet smokers to these units. we have never burned anything (well the chicken wing tips got kinda a nice char when i cranked the fec to 400 which is what i warned you about) but honestly they both are so ez to use it truly is unreal. so i don't see where you would have any problem except for adjusting to a new unit. and if you think about you have to do that everytime you buy a new pan. the curve between the sm and fec isn't bad. best i could compare it to is going from a conventional oven to a convection type. to me i have more control over my fec but my wife loves the sm and the sm is adjustable so you can play with it. i don't know how, but peggy figured it out fast and i mean fast and she was terrified of the fec lol. glad i could be of some help
jack
FM Former Member
"I'm not sure if the wood has to be treated in any way for pests to pass inspection. If the wood does go through some treatment, is it still OK to smoke with?"

Steve, very interesting challenge: getting the right wood. Bear in mind, almost any good hardwood will do...

But, I got to thinking, since you live on a busy island with a whole lot of shipping going on, you might have access to wooden pallets down at the docks. Many pallets are made of exquisite oak wood.

Already shipped!


Cool
FM Former Member
Steve,
The SM150 also came with a replacement electric element.
Jack's right. I do love that SM150. I've never been too good on smoking, but I can do it with that sweet lil machine! And a couple small chunks of wood go a long way in it.
Do they have wood available in Taiwan? I'd think you'd have some farmers that would sell wood to you there. If it's good quality, that would keep your costs down. It might not be hickory, but maybe there is something that would work as well or better.
Please share more of your story. There are so many interesting ones in this forum!
Peggy
FM Former Member
Peggy, thanks for your thoughts. You and Jack have been very helpful, not only to myself, but many other members of the forum I've noticed. I saw Smokey say he'd like to see pictures of your rig, so would I.
Baiscally there is no wood available in Taiwan. There is no logging industry, it was stopped many years ago. All wood is imported, be it raw, plywood, wood for furniture etc.
I did have a private reply from Dennis/UT about checking out tea wood. I think that may be hard to come by though because the plantations are always at full production here. TEA is #1 both hot and cold. Being from Florida, I think you and Jack would love to try some of the many different flavors of Taiwanese tea. I even hear that the Taiwanese style "bubble tea" is a hot sale in the US now.
I'll give you a brief on my "story"

Played pro baseball in the states for 13 years. Approx. 6 in the big leagues. Love Florida by the way. Had my spring trainings there with the Rangers and the Dodgers, and the White Sox. Did a few instructional leagues also in West Palm Beach.
I retired from playing in 1995, and went into coaching with the White Sox in 1996. I then sent a resume to be a coach here in Taiwan, I had a business in the Philippines at the time, and I ended up pitching here in Taiwan for 2 years. I re-retired and decided to stay. I opened up my first sports bar and grill. Most of my experience from the food side, to the bar side has been self taught, although I was always around the restaurant business as a young boy in Canada as my Dad was in the food service industry. We serve traditional Western style pub grub, with a nice selection of Tex-Mex.
I have a Taiwanese wife, and a little boy named Tyler who is 2 and a half years old. My wife and I also opened up a school for elementary age children teaching English.
Well guess that makes a really long story about as short as I can. I love it here, the weather is very similar to Florida. We get pretty humid here also. You have the hurricanes, we get the Typhoons!!! I can play golf year round. I live in the south of the island just outside of Tainan City.
Take care, you're probably having a long night watching the election results come in. Is Jack doing a 17 hour brisket while you're keeping track of Ohio and Iowa?????
Best regards to you both, take care, and I'm sure I'll be in touch with you more in the future about opening up my bbq restaurant. Your new friend in Q.
Steve Wilson
FM Former Member
Steve,
You've had about 4-5 lives all crammed into 1! Does the Taiwanese tea come from camellias? I don't know a lot about baseball, but we have a team in Jacksonville that I love to watch. The Jacksonville Suns. We missed seeing any of their games this past season, but hope to go the next one. I like the hot humid weather best. We lived in Atlanta for awhile and it was too dry and too cold for me. Good luck to you and thanks for the kind words.
Peggy
FM Former Member
Steve,
If you can't find the wood you are looking for with Cookshack, which will be precut and not every variety but convenient, I have a location where I buy split and cut logs 14-15 inches long. They ship woods all over the country in tear proof bags and see no reason why they can't ship to you. Their wood will require you using a band saw to cut it to 1 oz sizes. It is located close to Gainesville, FL and they also make and sell natural charcoal which I use in my Grill Dome Ceramic grill. The address is:
Southern Fuelwood Inc.
28826 W. Newberry Rd
Newberry FL 32669

Their Ph# is 352-472-4324

Do youall have mullet there?
FM Former Member
Smoke mullet, thanks for the info. For the time being, I think I'll just order wood through Cookshack. I'm going to start off with a smokette and practice for quite a while at home before I try to open up my bbq restaurant next year, hopefully a year from now. I'm going to start with mesquite, hickory, apple and cherry. If down the road I want to try some different woods I'll check into your supplier. I've only been able to find a couple on line. Does your supplier have an E-mail address?
I noticed you have the cookshack 55. One of the questions I had earlier was are the home models and commercial models basically the same? Would your home 55 stand up to everyday use in a restaurant? I could order a couple 55's for less than one sm 150 and have two different types of wood going at the same time.
Take care, talk to you later. Steve.
T tomMember
Mornin' Steve,

I can relate a couple of smokette and other stories that might help.

I've had a smokette, setting here at the beach in Fl, for around five years.

We live in a nightly salt shower and it is loosely covered with my old offset cover.

I've worked it like a "borrowed mule", with successive cooks and usually 50% higher loads than Cookshack suggests.

It has yet to have a single problem.

I also have a larger 160 size that now gets heavy use.

It needed one part,after the long warranty expired, and Cookshack overnighted it to me.

They do so much restaurant business,they can't let folks be shut down.

Service is pretty simple and they will stay on the watts line and talk you through problem solving and installation,as long as it takes.

As far as woods go,Cookshack has been great for my basic woods.

Here are a couple that many teams use for more exotic woods.
Hawgeyes BBQ

Ask for Mike

Chigger Creek Woods

Hope this helps a little.
M mikevancouverMember
My warmest regards from sunny Venezuela Steve. As a fellow expat, I know what it takes to start up in other parts of the world. I have to admit that this forum was instrumental in the start of my business in Venezuela, all the way from the conceptual stages right through opening day! I am now planning a move back to my native Vancouver B.C. after 12 years here, and will FINALLY be able to buy a Cookshack, hows that for a plug Donna? I will be incorporating CS products into my future Buss. there. Good Luck, pioneering BBQ isn't always easy, but, if you like having people over for dinner and raving at your meal, then BBQ is a dream come true.
FM Former Member
Tom, Mike, thanks for the replies. Tom thanks especially for the wood sites. The chigger creek is a new one. I also appreciate your info on the smokette. I'm going to make that my first purchase and get to work on honing my BBQ for a while before I try to open the restaurant hopefully this time next year.
Mike, I'm also originally from Vancouver B.C. Went to Eric Hamber, graduated 1982. From that point on I basically lived in the states until I made my way to Taiwan. I played baseball in Caracas for Canada in the 1983 Pan American games. All I can say is you're getting ready to leave a country that has some of the most beautiful women in the world, fell in love there, but I was only 18!!!! Good baseball too! Some of my good friends that I played with who were Latin were Venezualen. Luis Salazar, Wilson Alvarez to name a couple.
Mike let me know where you open up in Vancouver. My family is still all there, my sister in law is from Mexico. I'll send them your way. Are you opening up a BBQ rest?

Anyways, best regards, and thanks once again. Steve.
FM Former Member
Steve,
Southern Fuelwood, Inc. does not have a web site. I am unable to compare my Model 55 to the commercial models. I have had no problem with temperature fluctuation with my model 55.

I bought the Model 55 over the Smokette because we cook for eight or ten guest and the Smokette just wouldn't give me enough rib room. I hang my ribs and can get six sparerib slabs (larger than St. Louis slabs) in with no trouble.

I also smoke butterflied mullet for mullet dip and the 55 gives me enough room to smoke 9 large mullet on five racks. Only one mullet goes on the bottom rack and this lets the smoke roll to the top.

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