A couple of questions about smoking food

[stoneeyes317]

I have a bit of a dilemma. My brother and his wife are having an open house next weekend (3/1) and they want me to smoke some food. Specifically my sis in law asked for smoked salmon and pulled pork. I read somewhere that smoking should only be done at or above freezing. Can anyone confirm this?? Also, how many days ahead can I smoke something and still have it (safely) edible by next Saturday??

Thanks for any and all replies...

eyes317

[prov1900]

Smoking is more efficient when the temp is warmer, but it can be done. Out of the wind, IMO, is more important that outside temp. Your salmon should last at least a week. Pulled pork can be made and frozen, I assume. You can buy it that way at the store, so you should be able to freeze it yourself. Pork would also be fine after a number of days. I can't give you an exact number of days, but I would say that you would be safe with....4 or 5, without any hesitation or worry.

[Deitz Dittrich]

I too have smoked below freezing.. have even smoked below 0.... It really is going to depend on if you have gas or not.. gas I think heats better and more even. Thats just my opinion.. I dont think eletric smoker will get hot enough if its too cold.. Build a wind break... Do your best!

[Wormdrowner]

I have an electric smoker, I saved the box it came in and put that around the smoker for a wind break. I smoked a couple of venison roasts in December and it worked out fine. If your concerned about the meat being done, check it with a meat thermometer. If it stays in the 20's and 30's I see no problem.

[stoneeyes317]

Thanks for the replies guys.

I guess I should have stated that I'm using a barrel smoker and hardwood charcoal, plus a little wood for flavor. If it's going to be in the 20's next week I may just take off Friday and get it all done in one shot.

On a side note, does anyone have any experience with smoking poultry? I have not done any yet, and I thought it might be nice to put out some pulled chicken with the pork. I can get some nice 3-4 lb. organic chickens, but my question would be do I remove the skin before smoking or not? I think what I would like to do is add some smoke flavor and then finish them beer can style to keep the meat moist. Does this sound feasible or not??

thanks again...

eyes317

[prov1900]

Leave the skin on, but I don't know about combining smoking and beer "canning" chicken in the same recipe. That doesn't sound right. If you do that, go light on the smoke. These are two different processes.

[stick]

I have smoked whole chickens a few times. The main thing is to sew up the cavity or stuff with veggies. I sewed mine up after not doing it the first time. The moisture was still at a good level when they were closed up. I thought they were real good. Skin on to help hold the moisture in.

[iland99]

To answer a couple of your questions, I have also smoked fish below zero, I believe it was -20 outside. I too have an electric smoker, and also saved the box it came in to use as a windbreak. The fish never got to a safe temp, so I finished them off in the oven. Works fine.

I have also smoked chicken quite a few times, again in the cheap electric smoker I have. They also weren't getting up to a safe temp, and chicken isn't something I like to mess around with, so I finished them off on the grill using indirect low heat. They've turned out great every time I've done this. I typically throw them on the smoker for 2 hours, take them out of the smoker, and finish them on the grill in 60-90 minutes. I leave the skin on, and don't sew the skin, and never had a problem with dry chicken.

I've frozen fish after smoking before, and it still tastes pretty good. Not quite as good as fresh off the smoker, but close. Usually long-term storage of smoked fish isn't a problem in my house however!

[cheesehead]

I have a charcoal smoker and we do chickens a few times per year.

never had an issue withthe meat being dry as my smoker uses a water pan inside to keep things moist. to do our chickens we stand them up on a beer can wire form but not with a beer can. leave the skin on and clean them as you would for on a rotisserie. we usually over smoke them by leaving them on for 6-8 hours. never had on come off dry but I think that is due to the water bath in my smoker. temps were never a concern for me as a simple box/wind break is easy to fashion.

[stoneeyes317]

Thanks for all the replies(again)!!

I am just waiting 10-15 minutes for my salmon to finish. I did 2 pork roasts for ~2.5 hours, and they are now in the crockpot. I decided to do a rack of babybacks as well, and I took them out at the same time as the pork roasts and finished them, wrapped in foil, @ 275 in the oven, When I took the pork out I put in 2 chickens on beer cans (OK so 1 was root beer; I only had a single can of beer) and left them in for ~ 1.5 hours and then put them in the oven to finish as well. They are cooling off and then I will shred the meat. I found a recipe for smoking the chickens on the beer cans but I didn't want (or have the time) to leave them in for 4+ hours. I think everything will turn out fine, and my wife said the ribs were the best I've ever done. Thanks to all who put their 2 cents in. I was able to gain a good deal of confidence with all the positive replies...

eyes317

[Tullibee]

As a side note I have a question about brine recipes for smoking fish, specifically lake trout. Anyone have any suggestions?