Thread: Sausage and Smoke Cooking

Hi All,

I found a short thread about building a smoker and I thought that I'd expand from that to a thread that included Everything about Making Sausage and Smoked Meats. Equipment, Processes, Meats, Techniques, Finished Products and Recipes.

Here's the link to 32t's thread:

http://straightrazorpalace.com/finer...ans-ideas.html

I started out with a steel barrel that had held a solvent that was very close to simple Briquet Starter. It sat on end and I had a friend use his special air tool to cut out the top and then removed all of the sharp points. And to be on the safe side, I washed the inside and out with soap and water and rinsed it well; then filled it with crumpled newspaper and fired it up and then re-washed the drum. I then used 5/16" rod to allow a simple used charcoal grill to sit on for things like jerky and salmon. I also installed the same size rod above so items like sausage could be hung down. I wish I had pictures but it worked good for a few years.

Then I modified an old '40's refrigerator and used that for a several years (it worked better).

So here's my current smoker. It's Stainless Steel and originally designed to cook BBQ for our China/Deli however while it had been plumbed in (natural gas powered) and test fired, it was never used.

After sitting idle for several years the District Manager told the Store Manager to have it hauled to the dump. Knowing my love of smoking meats the Manager asked me tongue in cheek; ' Would-you-like-to-haul-it-to-the-dump' and I replied 'Sure; I'll-haul-it-to-the-dump' On my next day off I disconnected the gas line and with the help of about 3 other guys we laid it down on it's side on a pallet and then took it outside where we used a double stacker to load the unit in my pickup. After getting home I had to call friends to help me get it in the back of my place.

I removed the gas burner and the thermostat (it went to 700 degs) and modified to to use electric. Over a couple of years I've got it to where it's an excellent smoker.

Here's some pics:




It came from the factory with a sliding unit. I made a 'rack' out of some scrap wood and some all-thread that would hold some screens for making things Jerky or Smoked Salmon.



There are 7 recesses that hold 5/16" rods to hang things like sausage, chickens, turkeys etc



Thanks for looking : This should be fun!