RE: [CH] Lump Hardwood Charcoal

Boyle, Kris (kris.boyle@cdott.com)
Tue, 23 Oct 2001 08:56:47 -0400 

> Am still considering an electric smoker for the peppers.  
> Only $60 for a couple of brands.  Just can't help but think 
> that the temp can be controlled better than a charcoal 
> smoker.  But, will try the Weber kettle first.

I just finished a batch in an electric smoker.  The smoker
is very similar to the Mini Chief smoker shown at the bottom
of this page:

http://www.outdoor-catalog.com/fishing/smokers_and_wood_chips.htm

It took an incredibly long time to smoke the peppers properly,
I think it was a total of 4 days off and on that I had the
peppers going.  The Mini Chief has a very small electric heater
(compare it to the smoker at the top of the page I referenced)
and does not get the temperature of the chamber up very high
at all (about 150 degrees tops - all depending on the outside
temperature and wind conditions).  This is really good for long
extended smoking sessions - if you soak the wood chips you can
get 3 hours of pretty consistent smoke out of it before either
going for the heating phase or reloading the wood chips.  Even
with that amount of time in the smoker I had to finish the peppers
off in the dehydrator (this was mostly because I tried a variety
of peppers and some of them were even thicker walled than a
jalapeno - smoked sweet red peppers can be pretty tasty for those
that don't appreciate the super-hot).

I have really just started playing around with this smoker (I 
borrowed it from my folks who didn't have a lot of luck with it)
so there may be better ways to smoke peppers in it.  So far
I have had pretty good luck with peppers, pumpkin seeds (had to
do something with the innards of the jack'o'lantern), mushrooms
and turkey breast (has to be finished on the grill low and slow).  
Anyway, I would rate this thing with a qualified maybe - I really 
think that a charcoal smoker like the Weber is the way to go but 
I did find the convenience of the electric somewhat appealing.

Just some of my random thoughts ....
Kris

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 Kris Boyle                                 Vetronic Systems
 mailto:kris.boyle@cdott.com                Computing Devices Canada
 (613) 596-7040                             a General Dynamics Company
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