Tuesday, July 6, 2010

Smoking


Friday I decided to do a little experiment with smoking. I bought a small slab or ribs and a turkey leg and did the low and slow thing. Controlling the heat is the biggest challenge, trying to keep it between 225 and 275 is tough and requires a lot of monitoring.

I used lump charcoal and hickory wood chunks. Everything cooked for about three hours. The turkey leg had a good flavor but the smoke really made the skin tough and impossible to eat. The ribs had that great texture but not as much smoke as I would have liked. I'm sure another our or so would have helped. I also want to get some apple wood, I hear that's a bit better.

Why a turkey leg? Lincolnwood produce sells them, and it was like $2.50. It had also been years since I had one.

Rory was amused at the turkey leg so she had to grab a photo.

2 comments:

Steve said...

I wonder if you did the turkey leg for too long, and that's why the skin got all soggy? Alternately, maybe some oil on the surface during prep would've crisped it some?

I love the hell out of smoked chicken wings, and turkey parts sound like they would be good too. For my August Q I want to take on wings and rib tips.

Unknown said...

Steve: Yeah, there are probably ways to prevent the toughness of the turkey leg. I didn't use a lot of sauce and some oil would probably work as well.