The What's cooking thread

Talking about cooking , I made a pretty mean chicken dum biryani yesterday. Forgot to click the pics , but It’s probably the easiest dish to cook once you figure out the knowhow

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this looks so awesome. The colour for one, the browning …this is pretty damn perfect.

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I’d think it won’t be much of an effort to get a vertical smoker built off here with your specs. But this is me with the comparatively cheaper resources that India does offer.

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This looks so awesome. The balance between the charred texture and still ensuring the juiciness of the meat. Impressive stuff.

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The classic Central Texas smoker is not a vertical design - that is what I have and used for the one above. The offset smoker uses a smoking chamber attached to a fire box, and the fire in that box is kept quite hot, which creates a fairly pure smoke. That then travels into the chamber, cooling significantly to create optimum smoking temperatures, but with a cleaner smoke than the vertical design produces. Classically, you use a disused propane tank for the smoke chamber, although they are also manufactured - particularly the smaller sizes.

But I would not get the full horror from wife unless I came home one day with a large old propane tank and a used welder. I have already grown a beard in the pandemic, this would complete my transition to full redneck.

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You could always just purchase one and save the extra labor. FB has some BBQ builder groups. I am waiting until I can get the proper firebox to convert my Char-Griller charcoal BBQ into an Offset smoker.

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The one I posted is from the line that Franklin has put out (not cheap), so it is a possibility. He has a whole chapter on smokers, how to improve them, and how to build your own. I would guess he would say the one in your photo could do with a longer stack. Ideally, it would not be at the top either, but nothing that can be done about that.

Welding looks like it could be sort of fun, too.

Tricky part is I want to keep it as a functional charcoal grill as well, so not doing any crazy modifications to it. Once I get that part sorted I will be happy

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What’s wrong with using a basic weber charcoal grill as a smoker ? I mean , just have wet woodchips etc and close the lid to smoke right ?

The smoke is either from combustion at too low of a temperature, or the food is cooked too hot. That gives you either too strong (and some off tastes) of a smoke taste, or a short and fast cook. That can work for a hint of smoke on a steak, but not for something like ribs best cooked low and slow

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You can use a basic Weber kettle grill as a smoker. Look up the “snake method” of arranging the briquettes to provide a consistent heat source in the grill.

Most fellas who go with vertical smokers use ones like the Komodo as the ceramic walls will hold a consistent heat and even out the fluctuations of the charcoal burn over a long period. Still takes a bit of work but they are highly rated

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Yeah, I would agree with that, it can be done. I just have never found the results as good.

Kamado is what I have in the city, use a Weber Smokey Mountain at the lake because moving kamados is no fun. The WSM is very easy to put into winter storage, and not that hard to take it out if we decide to use the place in the winter. There is a savage satisfaction to outdoor cooking on a night when it is -25 C.

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That makes complete sense. I am just getting into the smoking side of cooking, it’s a different beast than grilling.

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Currently a beautiful spring day on Sunday, trying my hand at making some mars bar/snickers choc chip cookies.

This week I’ll make cottage pie, but instead of mashed potato on top I’m trying waffle fries as the top layer.

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I dabbled in the past, but really got into it this year with the kamado purchase in the spring. I have been doing pork ribs for years, make my own sauce with a recipe based on one from a favourite place during graduate school. Honestly, the first time I did them on the kamado they were the best I had made in 20 years of trying - and with a fraction of the effort. Went down the brisket rabbit hole (Franklin’s book changed the way I think), and then this summer at the lake was using the smoker at least once a week. Iowa-style turkey legs, salmon, beef ribs, all sorts of stuff. Contemplating doing a smoked turkey for Thanksgiving.

Great thing about the kamado is it is a really good conventional grill for doing steaks in 7 minutes, or low and slow for hours.

This has been puzzling me for years now. How do you eat fish? For people like us who uses hand for eating, it’s easy. But how do you separate the bones with forks and spoon???

Spoon?? A fucking spoon???

One uses a fish fork and a fish knife, my dear boy.

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Yeah, knife and forks would do nicely for them :blush:

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Lol, I think @Iftikhar is referring to fish like Hilsa which are small fish having more thorns than flesh.

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A properly cut salmon filet should have no bones to speak of.

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