Wahey, the liquid smoke arrived yesterday along with other various finishing sauces. I now have two types of liquid smoke, one Mesquite and the other is Hickory. The Hickory smells the nicest. I have ordered some slabs of Pork ribs and the plan is to cook some ribs in the oven using a marinade the night before, a dry rub and a basting sauce whilst cooking and a finishing sauce to serve them with.
As I already have a decent grill and plans for a spit and a pit are under way I have decided to make a smoker. I started out by looking at commercial types on the net and they went from the sublime to the utter ridiculous and the price range was the same. I really dont have any need for a 10 hog smoker than weighs 3 tons and is fixed on the back of a trailer with Scammel traction unit to drag it around. I doubt that a military field kitchen would ever use something that big. Nor do i want something so small that a budgie would fill the cooking unit. I decided upon a budget of 400 pounds and set about looking. The things that seem to be available for that price really dont seem either adequate or sturdy enough for prolonged use. There is only one thing for it and that is to build my own.
The oil drums I was promised a week ago have not turned up and so I have sent out an SOS to the people that are supposed to be supplying me with them and new instructions to NOT cut them up. I figure two oil drums of varying size, 1 at 55 gallon size for the cooking compartment and another at 20 gallon size for the fire box. Some metal tubing or hose to link them up and some metal venting to use for a chimney. What would be even better would be an old copper hot water cylinder to use for the cooking compartment if I can find one.
Its down to the scrap yard to see what bits I can salvage…………