Homemade Smoked Meat (to go with Beer)

[kinnasst]

I recently got a nice gas grill, and was given a meat grinder and sausage stuffer to go with my wife's kitchen aid.

I immediately thought: "MMMM....Beer and Sausage" specifically smoked sausage.

The beer I've got brewing. The sausage I've got recipes for. I'm slightly stumped by the smoking. I've gotten as far as pricing a cast iron smoker box and wood chips. I can't seem to find much in the way of useful info.

How should I actually smoke the sausage? Anyone know of any good websites or other sources of information?

Any help would be appreciated.

[Ghost_of_Winter]

you don't have to invest in a cast iron smoker box if you don't know if you are going to enjoy smoking meat. What you can do is take the wood chips that you have soaked in water and make a pouch out of tin foil. Put the wood chips in the foil pouch and poke a bunch of holes in the pouch. place this under the grill grates as close to the burners as you can. the heat will start the wood smoldering and will smoke your meat.

[HUMONGO]

You can also dab some "Liquid Smoke" on the sausages. Works pretty well for a nice smokey flavor.

[botay]

www.eldonsausage.com has good kit's for all types of sausage. I don't smoke, I cook them in the oven, but the kits are tasty.

[HogieWan]

I'd recommend staying away from the liquid smoke. While I can't say much for your choice of using gas [:D ] . . . never mind.

The best thing to do when smoking any meat is to cook long at low temps. I normally shoot for the 225-250 range. For sausage, I'd guess 2 hours would do it. Soak your wood and put it on right before you put the meat on. The wood will burn away after 15-20 min, and while it's tempting to add more, don't - you've got all smoke you need up front.

I'm guessing with times and temps, because I usually only do large cuts of meat, and I normally cook for at least 5 hours.

[corkybstewart]

I make and smoke my own sausages but I agree with what Hogie meant but didn't say-it'll be very hard to smoke meat on a gas grill. The lowest temps are just too high. I use a Brinkman's charcoal grill with the firebox at the end. For sausage I keep the temp under 275, for a kielbasa diameter sausage, I use mesquite or pecan and it takes about 2 hours. Or the round charcoal/water smokers take a lot less room and work very well, but it's harder to control the temperature.

[HogieWan]

Originally posted by corkybstewart
I make and smoke my own sausages but I agree with what Hogie meant but didn't say

I was trying to be a bit of an a-hole, but if you want to label me informative, I'll take it.

My FIL likes ribs and tries to slow cook them on his gas grill. He always has problems keeping the temp low enough.

[kinnasst]

I grew up in Western MA. There, if you want to be able to use the grill during the cooler months (i.e. not June-September), gas is a better choice. Hey, at least I didn't claim it was barbecue.

I figure with four burners, I can put the chips over one burner, and keep the meat on the other side of the grill where it'll be cooler. If it doesn't work well, I'll just drink homebrew until the sausage tastes better.

I'll report back on the results once the experiment is over.

[corkybstewart]

When I was in college I lived in northern New Mexico. We had snow on the ground from Halloween until April-the elevation was close to 7000 ft. We cooked with charcoal year round. I've shoveled snow to get to my charcoal grill to cook 2 pork chops for dinner, and for side money I'd smoke turkeys and pork shoulders year round.
Down with gas, it's barbecue blasphemy. It's like drinking Coors instead of real beer. Just my humble opinion, mind you.

[HogieWan]

Originally posted by corkybstewart

Down with gas, it's barbecue blasphemy. It's like drinking Coors instead of real beer. Just my humble opinion, mind you.

That IS the perfect comparison, because gas grilling doesn't make your food BAD, it just doesn't add anything to it. So, as with BMC, why bother?

Now smoking can add a lot of flavor to food, but I like it my way and to each his own.

[markaberrant]

Almost nobody uses charcoal in Canada. Just one of those weird differences between countries I guess...

I've smoked a few briskets and a turkey on the gas grill and they came out great.

[corkybstewart]

I've barbecued chicken and ribs and other stuff for my inlaws in France, and it's very hard to do a good job without the charcoal I'm used to. Try grilling shrimp on a 400F bed of oak coals. So I understand the limitations of other countries. But we'rte not talking about other countries. The reason I compared gas grilling to BMC is that it's taking the easiest path, with no regard for the quality of the end result or the effort required to get there.

[corkybstewart]

And reading that last post I realize what. a pompous ass I can sound like. Oh well.

[HogieWan]

Originally posted by markaberrant
Almost nobody uses charcoal in Canada. Just one of those weird differences between countries I guess..

Around here, I couldn't find a charcoal pit, everywhere I went was selling gas grills. I found mine at Sam's Club - great price too.

[kinnasst]

Yeah, Yeah, Yeah...Take your shots. My propane grill has not let me down yet. (It's hard to find good chunk charcoal anyway.)

In any case, I am now inclined to agree that you cannot smoke sausage well on a gas grill. The sausage tasted really good, but there was not much in the way of a smoky flavor. This could be partly the grill (too much air circulation) and inexperience on my part (not enough wood chips?)

So, the experiment was not a complete failure. I did get good sausage. I just did not get what I was looking for. My wife suggests getting a charcoal smoker for next time.

[corkybstewart]

Your wife seems like a a very smart, reasonable and practical woman.

[HogieWan]

Originally posted by kinnasst
My wife suggests getting a charcoal smoker for next time.

Yay!!! YOU WON!!!!!!:D

[kinnasst]

That is why I keep her around.

[Methos]

I smoke all kinds of meat. I use a wok for it. The wok comes with a little grill that stands in it. I take the used wine barrel oak shavings and put a bit water on them in a cup. I then make a funnel with a flat base out of tin foil and put the shavings in there. The funnel comes at the bottom of the wok and then the grill and then the meat or fish or chicken that I want to smoke.

The smoking goes on for about 10 to 20 minutes. I will then grill the meat untill done over a wood fire or it can be smoked for a few more minutes in the wok if there I don't feel like making fire.

In South Africa we mostly use wood for barbequeing. We call it Braai. We use charcoal mostly for making "potjiekos" A stew made in a 3-legged pot. The best wood to use here is from Namibia. It is called kameeldoring. It is a red hardwood from Namibia. Makes very good coals and stays hot for hours.

When I used to live in Namibia we used to get our own wood. There are Kameeldoring trees in the dunes. They die and then the softer outer wood get eaten by termites. Only the hard pith remains. You then extract this piece of wood from underneath the sand. Sometimes you get pieces of about 1.5m in lenth and heave as hell. You can barbeque ion them in the evening and boil your coffee water on them in the morning.

In winter it was hunting season. You would shoot some springbucks and other bucks and make biltong- much like your jerky and droewors - dried sausage. Also used to smoke some sausage. Used a 240 litre drum with a small door at the bottom. This was placed over a slow fire on a tri-pod. Wet oak shaving was spread over the bottom of the drum and the sausage was put on chicken wire racks that was hung into the drum from the top. The top was cover by a heavy wet sack.

Cheers

[Carl762]

Wow, that sounds neat. Kinda like Ironwood? South America.

I owned several gas grills and smoked successfully using simple wood chips, either from the market or from tree scrap.

At the same time, I had a big standard Weber charcoal grill that I grew up with. I've had several small versions for camping, etc.

Grills come and go, and I last year picked up another charcoal grill
This thing is 4/5 size of a 55 gallon barrel. There's mega cooking surface and I'm just convinced, there's nothing better than a wood or coal fire to do your meat. Dang, I pick up 50 lbs of Kingsford charcoal for like $7 at Home Depot.

I've smoked four Salmon in it this year using store bought wood chips.

Ya, don't mess with thr Liquid Smoke unless you've used it before, but it would go well and add to the efficiency of the Wok method.

All great info and experiences folks! Happy grilling.