BajaNomad

Hey..Smokers

Al G - 6-29-2007 at 07:23 AM

Friend of mine had a pellet smoker this last weekend at the NASCAR road course race in Sonoma, CA.
It worked great...BUT I do not think they have different types of smoke pellets in Baja.
So what type of home smoker and materials are available or custom made in Baja? I love smoked fish....I hate to use carbon and don't want to burn Baja.
Is there a real answer?
Maybe some pictures of your smoker or someone else's?

Cypress - 6-29-2007 at 07:56 AM

Al G. An all metal old fashioned refrigerator makes a great smoker. Remove motor, cut about a 3" diameter hole in the top and a small hole in the bottom. Use a hot plate for a heat source. Insert a thermometer thru a hole drilled in the door. Be sure and burn the grills to remove the finish on them. Fire it up.:spingrin:

tripledigitken - 6-29-2007 at 08:05 AM

Al G,

I have a Luhr Jensen 110v unit, it also comes as a wood burner. The fuel is like sawdust, available at Bar be Ques Galore and other like stores.

It is very efficient and I plan to bring it to Baja when we move down. I will just take the fuel down with us when we go, along with the must haves that we must bring down. We use a combination of alder and cherry.

Gettin the fuel in Baja would be a challenge.

It works great by the way. I have the Big Chief, a larger unit than the one pictured.

Ken

[Edited on 6-29-2007 by tripledigitken]

luhr.jpg - 11kB

wilderone - 6-29-2007 at 10:07 AM

I have one very similar to the one in the pic above, but about twice as tall. You don't need the smoke for the entire "cooking" duration. I use a tuna canful that sits on the heat element, which is just hot enough to allow the fuel to smolder. It will smoke for about 2 hours before it's reduced to ash (total cooking time in my smoker for a load of fish would be about 8 hours, depending on how thick). If you dampen the chips first, they will take longer to burn up and makes more smoke. You can find bags of BBQ chips at most grocery stores. A handful is all you need.

bajadogs - 6-29-2007 at 10:55 AM

I can also vouch for the Big Chief smoker as long as you have 110 for 8 hours. I have found the included recipe to be too salty for my taste so I went heavy on the sugar and used half the salt - perfect for tuna bellies - YUM!

vandenberg - 6-29-2007 at 11:04 AM

Al,
Anything enclosed will make into a smoker. For years I had a large wood kitchen cabinet that I turned into a smoker. Just drill some holes in the side and a few in the top, use an old hotplate and you're in business. Mine lasted for years and did a great job, till I loaned it to a frequent pickled friend of mine, who proceeded to leave it unattended while visiting a saloon and burned it up. Almost set his house on fire in the process:P:P
Mesquite, readily available here, great for smoking, after soaking it for an hour or so.

tuna stick - 6-29-2007 at 12:51 PM

Yep,Lil' Chief and mesquite chips soaked for at least an hour!

Sharksbaja - 6-29-2007 at 01:17 PM

Pressure smoker. Highly not portable.:lol: Resides currently in the restaurant.

smoker.jpg - 29kB

Sharksbaja - 6-29-2007 at 01:52 PM

Here's an old thread with ideas:

http://forums.bajanomad.com/viewthread.php?tid=12182#pid1091...

My Favorite Recipe

tripledigitken - 6-29-2007 at 02:35 PM

Brine fish for 4 hours in the following:

Brine

1 cup of water
2 cups Soy Sauce
1 tsp ea, onion powder,garlic powder, and Tabasco
1/3 cup sugar
1/4 cup salt

Rinse, pat dry, rack and let air dry for 1 hour

Smoke for 4-8 hours

I use only 2 pan fulls, takes about 1 hour of smoking and rest of the time is heat only. As I mentioned earlier I use a combination of Alder and Cherry. Experiment with your choice of chips.

Ken



[Edited on 6-29-2007 by tripledigitken]

Al G - 6-29-2007 at 03:47 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Sharksbaja
Pressure smoker. Highly not portable.:lol: Resides currently in the restaurant.

WOW...went to my long Friday lunch and come back to a goldmine...
Sharksbaja:lol::lol: my kinda chef..don't have $100 grand...so may opt for vandenberg's kitchen cabinet:lol::lol::lol:...I do like Pacificos a lot...Maybe better stick with Cypress's refrigerator.
I will have electric, but hope to find heat source closer to solar...in fact solar would be perfect...doubt there is such an animal.

tripledigitken...as a cabinetmaker I have used alder/cherry many times...Mesquite/cherry for beef...I have so much cherry I use it off the planner as top soil.
Doubt that it's available in Baja...a thought, maybe I will require my visiting buddies to bring down a big bag to get some smoked el pescado.

wilderone...I too do not like the fish/anything smoked a lot. thanks.
tripledigitken...hope to try this recipe soon..sounds wonderful.

tuna stick/bajadogs Thanks...I can use little salt these days so good to know it works with less.

Got to check out the other thread...keep them coming,
Albert

Taco de Baja - 6-29-2007 at 04:16 PM

You can always make one out of rocks.....

We brought along orange, peach, plum, apple, and oak wood for smoking. Just soak in water, and allow to smolder.

Excellent for turkey, game hens, chicken and of course fresh fish :)



Sadly, this smoker no longer exists :(


My Grandpa, apparently had a walk-in smoker he made out of plywood in the 1930's. He would use freshly cut green orange wood as the source of the smoke. He would load it up with fresh caught tuna from the Dana Point and Laguna area.

[Edited on 6-29-2007 by Taco de Baja]

Al G - 6-29-2007 at 04:45 PM

I love that look...Taco de Smoker...bet it worked great.
When I finish the RV pad...I can see it now with a Pizza oven on the other side...:biggrin:

DENNIS - 6-29-2007 at 04:54 PM

Hey Albert ----

Long lunch, huh.

Al G - 6-29-2007 at 05:02 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by DENNIS
Hey Albert ----

Long lunch, huh.

:lol::lol: Well...Not as long as some...Only 1 pacifico and 1 Downtown Brown (22oz):lol: To much laughing and yapping..

DENNIS - 6-29-2007 at 05:04 PM

Only one Pacifico?
Oh well, tomorrow you can get back to normal.:bounce:

Al G - 6-29-2007 at 05:45 PM

Back from a Pacifico power run:biggrin:

jerry - 6-29-2007 at 05:58 PM

an old gass oven works great as a smoker too and the oven racks are allreaddy in it just pull out the broiler and toss it slip in a hot plate andcast iron skillet for the chips punch the vent hole in the top out bigger and wala smoker you can even wire up the light in side so it goes on when ya open the door
as soon as it starts smoking unplug the hot plate when it stops plug it back in meat and fish only absorb smoke when they are ubcooked once they start cooking the absorbtion stops so try to keep it between 90 and 105 degrees untill you think it has enoff smoke just leave the hot plate on i usally smokethick tuna and salmon about 2 inch for about 16- 18 hours total takes a lot of beer
any fruitwood.alder// vinnymaple .mesket and oak are a little bitter on fish for my teastbut it can be a combination of
also i use chunks of wood green is best with the bark peeled off it lasts a lot longer here in oregon the woods easy to get i will bring firewood sizes chunks down with me it will go a long way
for a easy fast cure Mortens sugercure works great just rub on the fish dry let sit for 25 minuites for 2 inch thinck the rince it off good let dry and smoke it
also garlic, black pepper, honey, or wine just before you smoke it

Bajafun777 - 7-1-2007 at 12:10 AM

At my uncle's meat plant we used an old refrigerator and put a lock on the door to be safe first, left the racks in, used a heat lamp in the bottom and used an old coffee can to put the smoked wood chips in that were lightly soaked in water and some liquid smoke lightly very lightly poured on the wood chips. We also had the top drilled through and had an old metal tube pushed through to help keep the smoke pulled up top to get to the jerky and fish we had inside smoked just right. We used paperclips to hang the beef jerkey on the racks and just laid the fish on the racks to smoke. Put the fish or beef in, plugged in the heat lamp (that was right under the coffee can) and 24 hours later we had the best smoked fish or smoked jerkey you could get. Now my uncle has a $10,000 dollar smoker he uses for turkeys, hams, beef jerkey, and smoked fish. We also smoked buffalo meat and it was great for jerkey. We also used the kikoman soy sauce, red pepper, salt, pepper, but no sugar. Those were the days of 14 hour work days getting the meat cut, wrapped, quick frozen, boxed or put in metal freezer storage containers, and the all enjoyable cleaning and sanitizing the meat shop at the end of every day. That very very hot water used to clean everything and then risen in very very hot water with a cap of bleach and then risen off again in very very hot water. My uncle was really concerned about no type of unclean working area or tools which he used to put his product out to the public. He also liked to work us hard but at the end of the day and everything was done a cold beer always was on hand. His freezer always brought out the best in the females that went in to get their meat from their rented freezer boxes. Now that I think about it I miss that service end of the business. Later-----bajafun777