Genevieve

Interesting! Might be nice to add a subtle smokiness when shaved over a dessert.

Sounds great!

I've personally felt that meat done with water in the pan came out with less dried out bark. I can't imagine that the moisture of the steam doesn't have any effect on the finished meat.

I agree with the vac pack and reheating in water, turns out very well, and you don't dry it out like you would in a pan or the oven. I also agree with Wade about the sauce, if the smoked meat needs sauce, then it's not done well! You want to taste the smoke and meat primarily.

How do you maintain the low temps? Or do you just cold smoke in colder weather? I've been wanting to do a nova lox style salmon smoke, but everything I've read says it should be cold smoked for multiple days.

Since beer and BBQ go hand in hand, I vote for a Home Brew section too. 

I've always heard that you really want a burr grinder. I have a Kuhn Rikon vase spice grinder with replaceable canisters, but it's a hand grinder. Not sure if you're only looking for electric? 

Yes, and they're changing over to doing a lot of measurements by weight now as well. (At least in the books I'm buying.)

Aha, I was wondering about that. I'm considering getting a Weber grate with the center hole for my WSM so I can have access to the lower grate while smoking. Right now I usually load a pan with veg and potatoes and put it under the meat. Although the longer cooking times make the potatoes almost too smoky!

That's one of the reasons that I chose the WSM, there's a competition BBQ'er that only cooks on them, and has won many times!

Sure, I'm on a computer most of the time, as that's my job, so I wouldn't mind. 

Do you have any rules about what's posted etc? 

I don't see how to claim it, I did join though! 

Right, sous vide is essentially pasteurizing the food, so it's not subject to the "danger zone" of having meat at warmer temperatures.

I'm suprised to hear about the fish, I've been told scallops and shrimp in sous vide are amazing, especially for texture. That's my next dish to try.

I'll have to try that next time, love a bit of crisp on meat!

I'm a big fan of the Thermapen from ThermoWorks, but not as big a fan of the price. I've got a couple right now, and I waited for them to have a sale on their website before buying. There's usually seasonal sales or holiday discounts that you can watch for.

The performance is great, and I'm no longer waiting for the temperature to read while my arm is over a hot grate. I've seen good reviews on their other products, and will consider them in the future when I need to replace.

What's the little one that looks like a mini WSM? Just a smaller sized one?

Love lamb on the smoker! It doesn't take too long to cook, and it tastes amazing! I'm surprised it took 4 hours to get to temp, what internal temperature did you cook it to? I find that lamb and chicken usually take about 1.5 - 2 hours for me at 225F 

I bought a Weber Smokey Mountain 22.5" (57cm) in January, and it was my first foray into charcoal smoking. Until then I'd only been doing pellet smoking. With advice from people in this group, as well as a few other forums, I also got the Flame Boss with wifi.

I'm very satisfied with the performance of both so far. I think the water pan has an effect on the meat, especially brisket, although I know there are a lot of varying opinions about that. I've been using the Minion method for the charcoal, and have had good success, even with an 18 hour smoke. The Flame Boss kept the temperature steady throughout.

I've only used Kingsford charcoal briquettes so far, but with some advice from the forum, am planning to try out lump charcoal as well.

Looking forward to hearing other views on using the WSM!

Love the cheese and garlic! Have you tasted the garlic yet? I'm curious to see how long to smoke it.

I'm in the US actually, Marcus invited me into the UK FB group when I started talking to him on Twitter.

I'm in San Diego, CA. I just saw that we're supposed to tell more about ourselves. 

I'm a web designer / developer with a passion for (too many) hobbies and gaming. I'm a self taught chef and love cooking, and all things about food. I really enjoy experimenting and trying new things.

I got into BBQ on gas grills years ago, and started smoking with chips on that. 3 years ago I bought my MAK 2 Star General pellet smoker, and really started getting into smoking meats and other foods. I got the cold smoker box for fish, cheeses and nuts, etc. About 8 months ago I got my WSM and started charcoal smoking. Can't get enough!

Fair point! That's why I like to use total ounces when writing recipes.

Jalapeno powder is a favorite of mine, I love the flavor, and you don't get too much heat with it.

Right now in my cabinet, I've got chiltepin, chipotle, jalapeno, New Mexico Hatch, chile colorado, chile verde, Trinidad Scorpion, African Bird's Eye (piri piri), habanero, and poblano. I'm also growing habaneros, ghost peppers, poblanos, Tabasco peppers, and "Coolapenos" this season, in the garden.

Most recipes call for chili powder, which is a mild blend of chiles, usually with a lot of paprika in it. Often garlic, onion and other spices added as well. 

If you're using a full strength ground chile powder, then it will definitely be a lot different than the "chili powder" called for. 

Definitely going to try this with the soy chorizo as you suggested on FB!

Looking forward to this forum development!