The Texas BBQ Forum

Does anyone smoke their meats in an Old Fashioned smokehouse? I hear grandaddy tell about his and I am highly intrigued. Would like to see some pictures and comments on yours if you have one. I heard an older metal refrigerator makes a god smokehouse. If anyone has plans for one of those I would sure appreciate that as well. I love cooking on modern type smokers, but from the stories that grandaddy tells I sure would like to try and make/use one, if nothing else than to share the experience with him.

Don't know why I didn't see this post

I have never done it....but my Dad actually gets depress...I think ....when he talks about the old smoke houses they used....he says he hasn't tasted meat that is done right yet!!!!!

Of course ...I guess he could build him one

My uncle had an old refrigerator in his garage that he drilled a hole in the bottem and top and vented both to the outside. He used a hotplate for the heat source and used local hardwoods (Iron Wood?) for the smoke. He smoked a tremendous amount of fish that way. Always were good eats.

Hey,
While growing up, we had a walk-in smokehouse where some of the best Deer Sausage in Central Texas was smoked. Was probably around 6' x 10' and was not tight allowing the smoke to seep out so to speak. We made our own sausage, tied it off in links and hung it on Hickory limbs which stretched from side to side. The method was cold smoking, not cooking the meat, but cooking it downstream in a pan, oven or over charcoal. The trick is to use "cold" smoke otherwise the meat can and will sour. We built a small fire in the center, threw on some hickory and covered it with a washtub perferated throughout. This let the fire smolder resulting in just a whole lotta smoke with very little heat. The result was outstanding! Remember, the smaller the area in which you are hanging the meat, the warmer the surrounding air becomes. Be Careful, keep the temp down and you will be amazed with the results. When using something like an old refrigerator, look for a really old one with a cast iron interior. Not sure that I'd try it with a plastic interior. Also, build an offset smolder box a few feet away, pipe it to the bottom and vent the top (obviously)... Good Luck.

Have had a bunch of ice box smokers and they really dont have to be all metal cuz they typically dont get that hot. Find yourself a 220 burner off a electric cooktop and hook up only one loop to 110. Mount the burner on the bottom of the ice box..pie pan on top of the burner...chunk of wood in the pie pan. Hang up your goods..shut the door and come back tomorrow. No air intake and no exhaust. Makes excellent jerky during that time frame. If you want to throw a cold smoke on something just dont leave it quite as long. 3 or 4 hours should works just fine on most items. Regular sized ice box the temp will usually not exceed about 140 or so.

bigwheel

Sounds like sound advice to me. Might just have to find me some old appliances and give er a shot.....been wanting to try making jerky in my big pit, but never seem to get around to doing it.....Thanks BW

here are some shots of jerky i did in my hog pit @ 100 deg. for 24 hrs. 18 lbs. of prepped meat, with a 9.5# yield. life is good with homemade jerky. you'd be hard pressed to find anything that's even close in the stores