sos!

How much wood did you use, what temp and how long?

Hi! I followed the recipe that came with lil smokie: 2 oz. wood (2 woman's hands-sized hunks); 225 degrees; 2 hours.

Sorry Tina, not absolutely sure. I am sure someone will chime in.

But with two hours of cooking at 225, the ribs can't be done. Just a thought.

But something else is wrong and will wait to hear from the rest of the group.

The original manual says to never cook in a dirty smoker. What do people use to clean these little wonders?

Tina:
Scrape it down with the edge of someting like a credit card, wipe it clean with paper towels and some lemonm juice. I would then reseason the smoker. I do babybacks all the time in my AmeriQue. I put them on at 225* for 2 hours and then turn it down to 180* for 2 more hours. I use 4 oz. of wood, but we like them smokey!!Take them out and wrap in heavy foil and wrap them in a towel and put them in a chest for 30 minutes to an hour. Works for me!! Good luck.

If the cooker is cleaned to suit you,and your wood is good,try a couple of golfball size chunks of hardwood.

Be sure your top and bottom vent holes are unobstructed.

When you say babybacks,I assume you are talking about loinbacks,2 lbs+/slab.

Go to the FIND tab at page top,input loinbacks,all forums.

Loinbacks

This should help get you started.

If you have more specific questions,we'll try to jump in.

Wipe your loinbacks down with some salad oil and salt and pepper them,like you were eating a steak or a porkchop.

Put them on the middle rack,meat side down and don't open the cooker for 3 hrs.

The search should help you from there.

Okay! So this sounds more like what I am familiar with, cooking a long, long time; wrapping and setting aside for an hour. The original manual said nothing like all that.

It also did not tell how to clean, so I appreciate all that. Should I use my husband's American Express or his Citibank card, d'ya think?

Tina, when in doubt.....use them both....

Im joking here. I went to Home Depot and bought the 3 sizes of plastic putty knives.

They work extreemly well for what I have to do.

Good Luck

bull

Tina, do not clean the smoker thoroughly each time you cook in it. You need that seasoning, but it sounds like it was used years ago and not cleaned and is why you got the bitter taste. You only need to wipe out with a paper towel after each smoke. Cover the woodbox with foil and line the bottom with foil and poke a drain hole. Don't forget the drippan. After each cook, throw out the foil and wipe out with papertowels. You can put the racks and grills in the dishwasher on high heat pots and pans.

Stick with the forum. You will learn fast and have that little Smokette gem working wonders!

'nother question. Can you tell I'm a...hestitate to say this...virgin? Okay. A retread virgin. How do we season our smokette?

6oz of wood and a pan of water for at least 4 hours.


You can also put in some sorry fatty meat to do the same.

Just the wood Tina.. no water needed.

bob

quote:

Originally posted by cadillac:
Just the wood Tina.. no water needed.

bob

Exactly.. NO WATER.. you just want to coat the insides of the smoker till it's a golden brown for a new smoker. I'd suggest starting with a nice clean smoker.. or at least as clean as you can get it.. wipe down with a detergent to remove any oils from manufacturing and rinse with WET paper towels as best you can to remove the detergent.. then dry.. and use 4+ oz of smoking wood.. NO FOIL necessary for the break in. After the break-in.. don't wash that residue off the walls.. it's good stuff.

Then line the top of the woodbox with Heavy Duty Alum Foil.. as well as the bottom of the smoker.. poke a hole in the foil so the drippings from the meat can escape to the drip pan below the smoker.. I just stick my finger thru the foil and make a nice big hole so the smoker can breath as it was designed to do.

Get a pork butt and smoke by setting the smoker to about 225º, insert a probe thermometer thru the smoker hole in the top of the smoker and put the probe in the meat being careful to stay away from bones if the butt you choose has a bone in it and smoke it till it hits about 195º. This will further coat the inside of the smoker with more good stuff.. and it will only get better as smokes continue.

You need only to take out the racks and removable rack supports to wash. I remove the foil and scrape down the bottom to remove any grease the accumulates under the foil. It's not necessary to use detergent to clean the bottom unless you are anal about it.. some do, most don't.. I know I don't. If the sides of the smoker develop a bunch of crusties, you can gently scrape the sides with an old credit card or something similar.

quote:

Originally posted by cadillac:
Just the wood Tina.. no water needed.

bob

I'm a little confused. Every time somebody asks about the seasoning of a cookshack smokinokie or Tom says to refer to the cookshack manual's seasoning procedure.

And it says quote,
"Place 6 ounces (3 pieces) of properly sized wood in the wood box.
Place a container of water on one of the grills in the smoker to insure
even heating of the unit during seasoning"

No wood would have made my life a little easier as I wouldn't have had the stain on my concrete the first time 'round. LOL!!

My apologies.

I don't know that I've ever referenced the Cookshack manual for breaking in,but I certainly could have.

The one that came with my original Smokette,back around 2000,made no mention of a water pan,as far as I can remember.

I typically suggest 4-8 oz wood,at 250º,for 4-8 hrs.

I typically suggest a pork butt for the first cook,as you can eat it -after you are done seasoning.

Once again,I apologize for any confusion I might have fostered.

So now I am home again, and I can see Planet Q has flowered with excellent advice. It doesn't totally destroyed the sacred chamber if you use some soap in it, if you have rinsed and rinsed? Yeah--I know. The confession leaks out ever s- slowly.

I must have goten some misbegotten manual, because it said nothing about seasoning the Smokette, how to clean it, just that you must, under pain of death, never cook in a dirty unit, and it did say cook the slabs of baby backs for only 2 hours. Sheesh! Thank the Lord there are big brothers out there!

Tina Coyote

Manual in hand of my Smokette II. Took delivery
6-9-99. Page 7 is titled How to use the Smokette. It describes how to season the unit.

Going to my room now.

bull

Not sure if I have my 008 manual any more.. but I do have the manual for my Amerique. It says to put in 6 oz of wood and shut the door.. set the controller at 200º and smoke for a minimum of 4 hours.

http://www.cookshack.com/files/File/MN008_009_v06-2.pdf

Top of page six. That's where I copied and pasted my quote from. I think the pdf for the Amerique has it as well.

I was just wondering guys. No big deal. Just happy I have one less step for my Amerique when I purchace one.

Yep,Lantern.

You must have gotten the new hi tech instruction manual.

Mine was probably written back when Donna's family invented the Smokette.

1/2 century ago.

I know that is how you heat an empty microwave.

LMAO!

I forget sometimes that a lot of you guys are longer in the tooth than I am.

Y'all don't mind being 30 again do ya?

Having too much fun now to go back to 30!

Thanks anyway!

HEHE! I always had friends a few years younger than I was and couldn't figure out what the big deal was when they hit 30. They all got depressed and I was like "what's the difference between today(birthday) and yesterday?".

Well.....I know now. Funny thing happens when those front numbers in your age start changing.

Must get easier and have better things to worry about later on!

Well, I just know I don't work near as hard as I did when I was 30, and I have alot more to be thankful for! Also, I try to have fun more often than back then when I was too busy to even try. It's more like drifting on the slow lazy river than being swept along and tossed and turned on the fast one!

Kay. I have slowly & surely followed the directions y'all have so graciously provided. Thanks for not making me feel like A COMPLETE IDIOT. It is apparent there must have been another booklet that came with lil smokie that has disappeared into the Great Pile, which is the mountain range inside my own home.

One last little question..what is the opinion on favorite cookbooks? It is now clear that I cannot cook my ribs for twio measly hours, as suggested in the little cookbook that came with my smokette.

Thanks for all this support. You kow what that say...it takes a whole village to raise an idiot. I did not think that and then write it, did I?

Oh, now ya did it. Prepare for the real avalanche of suggestions.


I'll start it of with a couple of suggestions(and wait for the real veterans to reply) .

Backyard BBQ: The Art of Smokology

Dr. BBQ's Big-Time Barbecue Cookbook

I would also suggest using this forum along with the smoke ring to get even more info than these books could give you.

Smoke and Spice was my first book. Its great IMHO. I have Paul Kirks books, DrBbqs books and Love,Peace and Bbq is a great book.

Just as a thought google bbq books. Sit back and you will be amazed whats out there.

For tried and true recipes, I would look at the recipes in the Cookshack Forum and their recipe section in the main front page.

Best cookbook...? I suggest coming to the Forum, do a search and ask questions. Many wonderful cooks here & most do not mind sharing!

I have to agree with Wheelz.

Maybe,also try the computer search at your public library.

They can order in all the new stuff to peruse

Some are great reads,for the history and travels.

Many of us like the Jamison's books,like Smoke and Spice,but the times and temps are off quite a bit.

drbbq,mentioned above,is also a favorite,

He is a long time member of this forum,has cooked on different Cookshack products,and has taught in the cooking classes at the Cookshack plant.

drbbq

He is also the bbq columnist for the fine Fiery-Foods Magazine.

drbbq in Fiery Foods

SmokinOkie's 101 s,when he has the time to rebuild them here,will be great acquisitions- when published in book form.

The archives for each category are endless hours of great reading.

These should give you a good start.

Tina, Have you seen this link?
Its awesome and may help you out here. Its all about a CS Smokette.

http://www.lamaine.com/bbq/

bull