Greg has taken up Smoking!

No, not the nasty tobacco habit, the yummy, smoke-flavored, can't-stop-eating habit! One of our Christmas presents was a electric smoker that Catherine got for me. I've been wanting to try smoking food for a long time, for the last few weeks I've been trying different foods.












The first thing I tried was Tuna steaks, Coho Salmon and Scallops. About 2.5 pounds of seafood total! I had an extra Alderwood plank, so I set most of the Salmon on it and used 3 pans of Alder chunks for the smoke. I loaded the smoker up, turned it on and set the tray of chips in there... it was pouring out smoke within 10 min!! The smoke cleared up as the chips burned out, but the smell was goooooood! I ended up smoking the seafood for about 6 hrs.

After pulling it out, I sampled the food. The Salmon was amazing... could have used some Lemon though. The Tuna wasn't bad either, a tad dry though. The scallops were the best though.... oh man! Moist and tender, they just fell apart in my mouth. Catherines favorite was also the scallops. I smoked one big Salmon fillet and had plenty of that, so I decided to make a spread. I threw a couple pieces of Salmon in the food processor with a bit of Miracle Whip, a bunch of Cream Cheese and hit the button. I quickly had an amazing, smokey Salmon spread and procedded devoured a package of crackers and Salmon spread. Yummmy!!
























Next up was to make some beef jerky chunks. It was pretty simple, just got 3.5 pounds of chopped beef intended for stew. I made a marinade with soy sauce & some other ingredients and let the beef sit overnight, then I smoked it with 2 pans of Apple Wood for several hours. It ended up a bit salty, will have to keep that in mind next time I use that marinade recipe. Otherwise, it's great. It was pretty inexpensive compared to buying beef jerky outright. We still have much of it, but I'm already looking forward to the next batch of beef jerky.














This weekend I decided to pull out all the stops. It was time to make the Atomic Buffalo Turds! To make the ABT's you need Jalapenos, Lil' Smokies, Bacon, Cream Cheese and Cayenne pepper. You cut the tops of the Jalapenos, then slice them in half & remove the seeds & most of the membrane. After mixing some Cayenne pepper in with the Cream Cheese, the assembly begins.





























After spreading the Cream Cheese & Cayenne mix into the pepper, you place a Lil' Smokey on top. Then wrap that combo with a slice of thick bacon and pin it all together with a toothpick.









I placed the ABT's in the smoker, loaded the pan with Apple Wood chips and let that magical smoker do it's thing. It took a few hours to cook the bacon, but it was well worth the wait. The Apple Wood chips in the smoker were the perfect combo for the bacon and Cream Cheese mix, the flavor is amazing! I pulled the ABT's out of the smoker and quickly gobbled 5 of them down.


Catherine tried one, but I think they're a bit too spicy for her to enjoy. Sorry Catherine! Me on the other hand... I love these things. I've already eaten way too many. So much for the diet! This smoker has been the best & worst thing for us in a long time. Great because the food is so good, but bad because I can see myself getting fatter. Time to hit the gym I guess. Thanks for the great Christmas present, the next thing I smoke is your choice!

So who's coming to visit and what kind of smoked food would you like to sample?