two smoker disappointments

actually, i could say they were really disappointments with my recipe book, "smoke and spice". the book appears to give wildly wrong time estimates, at least at the cooking temperatures it promotes (the latter detail being a given, i suppose).

on friday i smoked a salmon filet. it came out delicious (although it had a mushy texture, i think this was because it was cheap farmed salmon) but the sauce and rub overpowered the smoke. this wasn't the fault of the recipe -- or was it? it did not specify how much wood to use, so i had to guess. not a big deal, that's what experience is about. i logged it and next time it gets more wood and less rub.

last night i made "thunder thighs", chicken thigh+leg pieces coated with a paste of onions, peanut butter, and aniseed. uncooked, the paste was kinda icky. cooked, it was too oniony but still pretty good. but again it came out undersmoked. this was my own fault, i think, for using chips instead of chunks. also, i used what turned out to be just enough charcoal for 2 hours cooking time -- should have been plenty because the recipe called for 1.5-1.75 hours cooking time. but at 2 hours, the internal temp was 150, instead of the USDA 180 reccomendation for chicken thighs.

now, the recipe called for thighs but i used thigh+drumsticks. that will make a difference, i suppose, but it should not be so big a difference.

anyhow, now i know: plan for an extra hour. pork butts always seem to take several extra hours -- and ribs take fewer! cooking's fun ;)