Yesterday I loaded up the Bradley smoker with a 14 pound brisket ($1.47
a pound) and two 9 pound pork shoulders ($1.29 a pound). I also smoked
three small turkey drumsticks that we got from the old meat section.

Observations:

1) The Bradley works great for smoking, but I am too impatient to run it
long enough for the meat to cook. I ran the smoke for 5 hours and left
the meat in for a total of 12 hours. Temperature in the smoker never
got much above 205 degrees. The Bradley people tell me this is normal.

2) At 12 hours, the pork was an internal temp of 180 degrees and the
small blade bones slid out of the meat effortlessly.

3) At 12 hours, the internal temp of the brisket was 170 degrees. I put
it in a covered pan and into the oven at 325 degrees for 90 minutes
until the temp was 190. Perfect.

4) Took the turkey legs out after the 5 hours of smoke and finished then
in the oven.... ate them for lunch. Very good.

5) Refrigerated the meat overnight and got out the slicer and sliced
everything this morning. Portioned it out into 15 freezer bags, each
containing one pound. Had one more bag of scraps that will go into soup
or pad thai.... and we had a meal of the pork last night. We figure
that we will get at least 22 +/- meals out of this for a per meal cost
of around $2.

6) The Bradley smoker doesn't get hot enough to suit me. I've talked
with them on the phone and they say it is working the way they designed
it to work. In the future, I will pre-heat it, load it with meat and
run the smoke feature for 5 hours... then take the meat and finish it in
the oven.

This is only the fourth time I've used the smoker since I bought it a
year ago and got the best results. I figure I will only use it 3 or 4
times a year, smoking a full load of meat each time.

Tonight's supper... BBQ Beef Brisket with cole slaw and french fries.

George L

On Wed, 16 May 2012 10:28:16 -0500, George Leppla
> wrote:

> This is only the fourth time I've used the smoker since I bought it a
> year ago and got the best results. I figure I will only use it 3 or 4
> times a year, smoking a full load of meat each time.
>
> Tonight's supper... BBQ Beef Brisket with cole slaw and french fries.

My stomach just growled. You made me hungry.

--
Food is an important part of a balanced diet.

On 2012-05-16 15:28:16 +0000, George Leppla said:

> Yesterday I loaded up the Bradley smoker with a 14 pound brisket ($1.47
> a pound) and two 9 pound pork shoulders ($1.29 a pound). I also smoked
> three small turkey drumsticks that we got from the old meat section.

What a project! You're lucky you don't live in my neighborhood because
I'd know when to show up on the "spur of the moment".

George Leppla > wrote:

>6) The Bradley smoker doesn't get hot enough to suit me. I've talked
>with them on the phone and they say it is working the way they designed
>it to work. In the future, I will pre-heat it, load it with meat and
>run the smoke feature for 5 hours... then take the meat and finish it in
>the oven.

Is there a way of configuring an additional heating element into
the oven part of it? Say an electric element.

I also do not think any piece of meat (of the cuts you were using) should
have gone 12 hours at 205F and still not become completely tender. So
I'm not sure what's going on there. It almost implies there must be cool
spots, or cool drafts, or something.

It seems a shame that one would need to switch from a smoker such
as this to another oven.


Steve

Sqwertz > wrote:

>205 isn't right. The advertise 250F. Smoking pork, beef or poultry
>at 205 is slow and painful.

Still, it should work. One should not have to switch to another
oven. 205 should be sufficient to cook the meat completely, given
enough time.

This is why I'm thinking the temp must be non-uniform in this particular
equipment.


Steve

On 5/16/2012 2:26 PM, Steve Pope wrote:
> George > wrote:
>
>> 6) The Bradley smoker doesn't get hot enough to suit me. I've talked
>> with them on the phone and they say it is working the way they designed
>> it to work. In the future, I will pre-heat it, load it with meat and
>> run the smoke feature for 5 hours... then take the meat and finish it in
>> the oven.
>
> Is there a way of configuring an additional heating element into
> the oven part of it? Say an electric element.
>
> I also do not think any piece of meat (of the cuts you were using) should
> have gone 12 hours at 205F and still not become completely tender. So
> I'm not sure what's going on there. It almost implies there must be cool
> spots, or cool drafts, or something.
>
> It seems a shame that one would need to switch from a smoker such
> as this to another oven.

According to Bradley,

1)I should preheat the smoker for at least an hour before putting in the
meat (I was up at 5 AM and didn't do this)

2) I should bring the meat to room temperature before putting in the
smoker. OK... the pork might have been a bit cold.

3) The smoker will get to 250 degrees if empty. (I did this as a test at
Bradley's request) I guess this is where the pre-heating comes in.

4) The nice lady at the Bradly service line suggested that maybe loading
over 30 pounds of roasts into the smoker might be a bit much for this
model. She also mentioned that the mass of very thick pieces of meat
increases the time needed to bring the smoker up to higher temp. True
enough. When I smoked things like ribs, chicken and sausage, the
cabinet temperature was higher, quicker.

5) there is a water pan... and I should fill that with hot water rather
than cold. (Duh)

They don't have a higher rated heat element that will fit in this model.
I'm not unhappy with the machine. The smoke generator works very well
and I love the flavor of the meat. Since I am only going to use it a few
times a year, it isn't much of a problem to finish big pieces of meat in
the oven after they are smoked, but in hindsight, I would have bought
the bigger model.

George L

On Wed, 16 May 2012 10:28:16 -0500, George Leppla
> wrote:

>Yesterday I loaded up the Bradley smoker with a 14 pound brisket ($1.47
>a pound) and two 9 pound pork shoulders ($1.29 a pound). I also smoked
>three small turkey drumsticks that we got from the old meat section.
>
>Observations:
>
>1) The Bradley works great for smoking, but I am too impatient to run it
>long enough for the meat to cook. I ran the smoke for 5 hours and left
>the meat in for a total of 12 hours. Temperature in the smoker never
>got much above 205 degrees. The Bradley people tell me this is normal.
>
>snip
>George L

Are the walls of your smoker insulated? Our old smoker isn't and on
breezy days we are heating the outdoors instead of the inside of the
cabinet.

Was all meat at room temperature before beginning smoking? Could take
a couple of hours on the counter for a large hunk of meat.

Did you fill the water pan with hot water?

Did you open the cabinet door a lot to check on the progress of
things?

All of the above are guaranteed to make the smoking take longer.

Janet US

George Leppla > wrote:

>1)I should preheat the smoker for at least an hour before putting in the
>meat (I was up at 5 AM and didn't do this)
>
>2) I should bring the meat to room temperature before putting in the
>smoker. OK... the pork might have been a bit cold.

These will certainly make a difference. I always ... ALWAYS let meat
come up to room temp before cooking it. Even if this means violating
the two-hour food safety rule.

>3) The smoker will get to 250 degrees if empty. (I did this as a test at
>Bradley's request) I guess this is where the pre-heating comes in.
>
>4) The nice lady at the Bradly service line suggested that maybe loading
>over 30 pounds of roasts into the smoker might be a bit much for this
>model. She also mentioned that the mass of very thick pieces of meat
>increases the time needed to bring the smoker up to higher temp. True
>enough. When I smoked things like ribs, chicken and sausage, the
>cabinet temperature was higher, quicker.

This all makes sense.

30 lbs of meat is a lot, unless you're cooking for a whole lot of people.


Steve

On Wed, 16 May 2012 10:28:16 -0500, George Leppla
> wrote:

>Tonight's supper... BBQ Beef Brisket with cole slaw and french fries.

BBQ at George's house tonight! I'll bring the peach cobbler. Who's
bringing beans?

Tara

On Wed, 16 May 2012 10:28:16 -0500 in rec.food.cooking, George Leppla
> wrote,
>the meat in for a total of 12 hours. Temperature in the smoker never
>got much above 205 degrees. The Bradley people tell me this is normal.

What was the surrounding air temperature?

On 5/16/2012 6:30 PM, David Harmon wrote:
> On Wed, 16 May 2012 10:28:16 -0500 in rec.food.cooking, George Leppla
> > wrote,
>> the meat in for a total of 12 hours. Temperature in the smoker never
>> got much above 205 degrees. The Bradley people tell me this is normal.
>
> What was the surrounding air temperature?


66 degrees in the morning... got into the low 80's in the afternoon.
Not a factor.

George L

Sqwertz wrote:
> On Wed, 16 May 2012 17:02:07 -0400, Tara wrote:
>
>> On Wed, 16 May 2012 10:28:16 -0500, George Leppla
>> > wrote:
>>
>>> Tonight's supper... BBQ Beef Brisket with cole slaw and french fries.
>> BBQ at George's house tonight! I'll bring the peach cobbler. Who's
>> bringing beans?
>
> I have cole slaw, black beans, mashed potatoes, and peach upside cake
> to go with my pork ribs tonight.
>
> -sw

Then WHY have I already eaten?

--
Jean B.

Marty wrote to clueless AOL newbie Sheldon "Pussy" Katz:

> I guess you're mighty jealous, eh? Buy yourself a ticket to KC if you don't
> believe me. Oh, you can fly, right? Or are you on the TSA watch list for
> being a nutjob?

Pussy isn't on that list, but he *is* on a different list: He's been a
member of NAMBLA for the last 35 years.

Bob

Bob Terwilliger wrote:

> > Oh, you can fly, right? Or are you on the TSA watch list for
> > being a nutjob?
>
> Pussy isn't on that list, but he *is* on a different list: He's been a
> member of NAMBLA for the last 35 years.

Cheryl doesn't know what NAMBLA is.

On May 17, 8:31*am, George M. Middius > wrote:
> Bob Terwilliger wrote:
> > > Oh, you can fly, right? Or are you on the TSA watch list for
> > > being a nutjob?
>
> > Pussy isn't on that list, but he *is* on a different list: He's been a
> > member of NAMBLA for the last 35 years.
>
> Cheryl doesn't know what NAMBLA is.

It's the smaller of the two pro-pedophilia groups, the larger being
the Roman Catholic Church.

--Bryan

Bryan wrote:

> > > Pussy isn't on that list, but he *is* on a different list: He's been a
> > > member of NAMBLA for the last 35 years.
> >
> > Cheryl doesn't know what NAMBLA is.
>
> It's the smaller of the two pro-pedophilia groups, the larger being
> the Roman Catholic Church.

You're naughty.