08/15/2020
THE ART OF A OFFSET SMOKER
I'm going to tell you a story about smoking food. Smoking food is an art. I don't have a machine that dings when it's done like a microwave. I smoke food with wood logs. When you have a fire in the back yard, can you keep it the same temperature for 12 hours? No. You have coals to stir and logs and flying sparks and a crap load of smoke.
I have what they call a fire box. In the fire box I burn wood. I have to make sure there is just enough wood to burn. If you have too much, the food tastes like a Christmas tree. Too little and you ruin the meat. If it goes out you have to take a blow dryer and blow the heat to light the new wood on fire. That's 20 min. of cool down time on your meat. As the coals grow more and more, I have to counteract that.
On the fire box there is an air vent you adjust to control the air through the chamber to smoke your food. In order to draw the air through the smoker drum (the big round thing you put food in) there is a chimney. Adjusting the chimney will draw the heat and smoke through and acts as a vacuum. And then smokes goes out the chimney.
Now I have to make sure the heat in the drum is at an even 250'f, no less or the meat will cool and then you have to counter it by heatIng to 300'f until the temp catches up.
The meat will sit there for up to 12 hours, if not more depending on the meat, because it's a fire heating it, not an oven with a dial. What do you have to do to keep a fire burning (by adding wood) every hour on the hour? There is no going to take a nap for 3 hours. You DON'T leave your smoker.
Now let's talk meat. Pulled pork (pork butt) is ariynd $3.00/lb. Now that's pretty cheap, right? Wrong. It takes 2.5 lbs for one lb of cooked pulled pork. So your 10 lbs of meat turns into 4 lbs of pork ($do the math$).
Now if the fire goes out or cools, you destroy 10lbs of meat. It's f*ed.
Then you have spices. I use 1 cup pepper, 1/2 cup salt, 1/2 cup seasoned salt, 1/4 cup onion, 1/4 cup garlic, and 1/8 of cayenne pepper. That will cover 2 pork butts. Add that $ up.
But wait! You have fire wood. Thats 40$,
and 12 hours of my time smoking it.
Then vacuum seal it ($$) and sell it.
Every time a piece of meat is done and comes out perfect, it's like a Mozart masterpiece. You are so proud of all of this and the positive words of affirmation about how good it is!😁
Smoking food has taken me 8 years of practicing to even have the skills necessary to accomplish that and be able to sell it to other people. And I'm still learning EVERY DAY. EVERY PIECE I MESS UP, EVERY PIECE I MAKE PERFECT, I LEARN. This is NOT a pellet smoker. Or a crock pot. Its hard work. Its an art! So when you think its too expensive, remember all that has gone into it.
--Smokey
