The Hark smoker

[dieseltojo]

It all depends on what you like to do but this little smoker is ideal for home use. They cost $300-00 usually but around every year at this time Aldi sell them for $200.00. They work on gas and you put some wood chips onto a tray above the flame. Then above the chips is a water pan to help with temp control and add humidity. It all works well
The food is on racks at the top. Of course there is an adjustable vent at the top rear of the cabinet.



This is mine with a piece of glass in the door that I had from an old oven door.



Today’s effort, 4 kg of drumsticks @ $3.00 per kg from the Dandenong market.
They will be cryovaced into meal sizes. They will keep for 3 weeks refrigerated or can be for for the longer term.

[dieseltojo]

I do sausage rolls both in the Hark and the Weber baby Q. The shelving is well spaced and you can either use the racks or I have trays that fit straight in.
The thing looks unbalanced due to some phantom nibbling going on.

[rredbeak]

thats a great utility. i can see alot of ppl now doing that.

Rod

[dieseltojo]

Hark smoked leatherjackets.
Hi friends, this is 2 kg of Leatherjackets and cost $6.00 per kg. Leather jacket is a rock fish, and not always available but a very nice eating fish. It is similar to flat head in texture and is usually bought already skin (leatherjacket) removed.
This effort took 1 ½ hours to smoke at 250f. I used a Weber Smoky Mountain Smoker recipe.
½ cup lemon juice
1 tablespoon of Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon prepared mustard powder
1 tea spoon basil
1 tea spoon garlic (crushed)
1 tea spoon salt
1 medium onion thinly sliced
1 table spoon oil
You can place thinly sliced lemon on top half way through the cooking if you like as well.
For 2 kg of fish I halve all the amounts and it was ample.

[dieseltojo]

And with all this good fish you can easily make fish cakes for tea.



With the fish cakes you can do some roast corn on the Weber, Just put some butter on and throw it on the grill, when it’s Hot, shown here at 400 deg f , and turn frequently.

[dieseltojo]

Always improving. One batch in the Weber and a couple of trays in the hark. Both successful.


Did a thermometer test, the bottom ellcheapo one is over 100 degree f out. May have to adjust it with a hammer.

[dieseltojo]

Beef jerky.

You chasps have to sample my beef jerky, I am just making a brew to cook up to morrow. This stuff’s guaranteed to pull your fillings out. But most of you will be on the third set of dentures so it won’t matter.
Its got the works in it, salt, garlic, cumin, thyme, black pepper, ground bay leaf, cayenne pepper, dried capsicum, Oregano, this is my own Cajun mix.
It’s all cut into strips and sitting in a freezer bag marinating over night for slow smoking tomorrow. And I don’t mean the pipe type of smoking.

Photos to follow tomorrow.

[dieseltojo]

Here is the finished product, and please, no unkind words as to what it may remind you of.
This has been done for 2 hours at 200 degrees f and has dried out a fair bit. In the old days of Biltong it was simply salted and done to preserve meat and hung for days in the sun. But although this batch is done to eat, it can only be considered a cooked meat and treated as such.
But you know how the tasty crusty bits of a roast are much sought after and picked at? Well every side of the beef jerky has that quality. Being only cut into 1 centimetre (1/2” ) strips.
It gets pretty tough though and the secret is to cut up something like topside that is pretty cheap, and cut it against the grain so that it breaks of easily. With older teeth it pays to take small bites.
Also always cut off all the fat if wanting to keep foe some time. That’s why topside is good as it’s not got a lot of fat in it.
We cryovac in small quantities as it is pretty strong in flavour.

[dieseltojo]

Hot off the press. I had 5 off e’m but one got away.
Seriously folks these rainbow trout are selling for just under $10-00 per kilo at the Dandenong market and it is not a lot of work to smoke them.
For $33-00 I got 5 nice fish and they even scale and behead them.
I still scale them again at home, put them into brine for overnight, let them dry in the fridge for 8 hours till the skin forms a pelicle ( goes a bit white with the salt). Then whack e’m in the smoker for a couple of hrs or they get to around 74deg C internally.
These four will be cryovaced when cold. Usually they go in the fridge till to morrow.
It makes an easy meal with a nice salad in the warmer weather.

[dieseltojo]

Hark chicken.
Cool day and raining so I thought I might do a chicken drum sticks cook up in the Hark smoker. The drumstick are $4-00 a kg at the Dandenong market up from The last couple of weeks but Aldi and others do beat that price on occasion.
A few weeks back it was $3.50 so not too bad.
Any way the usual putting the drumstick into brine for at least 8 hours, wash off and dry off by just putting them onto a rack and into the outside fridge over night.
I make the brine the day before in a stainless pot and it cools over night. Then prior to throwing in the drumsticks I crush up a litre of ice, and this gets mixed into the brine and ensures a cool pot.
I usually keep some cardboard empty milk containers to make the ice. Cleaned out of course.
Pic 1 shows the external table I use to save getting belting in the kitchen. It is the old reliable folder with a removable SS top. I cover it with news paper to prep the food as I coat all the drumsticks with olive oil and crushed garlic mixed in, when they come out of the fridge. Olive oil is great for cooking, and the herbs stick well to the tucker.
Butter is preferred by some for a nice browning as well. What I find is that you have to melt the butter to use it, and then crush in the garlic, and then the butter starts to get cold. Also I don’t like to put warm stuff onto the chicken during the prep time, even though it is not long. The butter when it hits the cold chicken solidifies immediately and can flake off as well. It’s just a preference thing.
I have prepared 8 kg of drumsticks on this occasion, and to do this amount I made another shelf in the Hark Gas smoker to take a 5th tray. I just pop riveted a couple of SS angles in and cut down an old fridge shelf to suite.
It’s a lot of chicken but we get invaded with hungry grand kids and you know what I mean. We cryovac (trade name but you know what I mean), them in suitable quantities and of course they last refrigerated for 6 weeks. None have ever survived 3 weeks.
Tip…. Do buy a pack of suitable sized rubber gloves, I used 3 to 4 par in this process and it saves your hands from all the ingredients.
Tip…. Some of the cheaper market chicken looks to be from large chickens, so this method of slow cooking is good. All bets off if this stuff was fried on a pan. Some emu’s would be jealous of these sized drumsticks. So just watch them for size no matter where you buy chicken.

Ingredients. .. 8kg of chicken Drumsticks
Basted with Olive Oil with crushed garlic mixed in to taste …………….. then
Lightly sprinkled with …..
Black pepper fine ground, chilli powder, oregano , basil , Cajun mix ,(various herbs premixed if you like that stuff), cumin, sweet paprika, Cayenne Pepper (carefully as this is HOT), Fennel seeds un crushed, Oregano powdered.

Some may like finely chopped onion as well. All ingredients are to taste.
If you get a good balance of herbs you like, mix them on a jar and store away for easy use.



This pic shows why I use the news paper all the spilled herbs are easily fold up and along with the oil straight into a bag and into the rubbish.



In smoker for 2.5 to 3 hours , enough smoke for the first hour at most.
I do mine at aprox 100 deg C and change the rack positions half way through. So this is on low as soon as the smoke is done with.