Barrel Smoker

[Mike 56]

I have a large family plus i am of Portuguese decent and we celebrate every thing you know birth to death and everything in between. This style of cooking works great for small amounts of food or if you if you want good quality hot food for a hundred people or more ready at one time without much work.

For the smoker we use a 55gal drum with the top cut off. For a charcoal holder i use a old 15 inch truck rim. At the top of the drum i cut three sets of slots to set three pieces of re bar in. on the side of the drum close to the bottom i drill nine 3/8 holes.

To cook in the smoker i put 10lb of charcoal in the wheel (if the drum is packed with meat i add another 2lb charcoal on the bottom of the drum. When the coals are hot i place a old bread pan with soaked wood chips in it on top of the coals. Place the re bar in the slots on the top of the drum. I make s hooks out of wire coat hangers to hang the meat in the drum. Put the top on the drum leaving one side cracked open a little to vent. It takes from 2 1/2 to 4 hours to cook tri tip and half ed chickens depending on how much meat you have in the barrel. Once you start the meat you don't have check the meat for two hours so you are free to go do what ever you want. For my daughter's wedding last summer we cooked 100lb tri tip and 40 chickens in 5 barrels and it took 4 hours.

Mike

[Ranger]

Very cool set up.

[tom-h]

just a quick question  how is the meat kept from ripping off the hooks as smokeing makes it very tender

[Da Backwoodsman]

prolly hooks them at a bone joint

[Mike 56]

Ribs and tri tip hold the hooks good the chicken halves the hook goes though the back bones and under the wing. This meat is real good i am eating tri tip and chicken as i am writing this.

Mike

[tom-h]

   ya got ta share. :D

[Mike 56]

sure i will mail you some.

Mike

[Chaffa Hosa]

Thats a good lookin cooker and I have several 55 gal drums

[Da Backwoodsman]

excuse my ignorance but what is a tri tip?

[Chaffa Hosa]

excuse my ignorance but what is a tri tip?

Me Too ??

[Mike 56]

It is a three sided  beef roast that is great for barbeque or smoking. It is a very common cut of meat here in CA. Ask the meat cutter at the meat counter about it. Costco stores sell it.

Mike

[Mike 56]

Here is a link i Googled it http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tri-tip

Mike

[Da Backwoodsman]

so not the same as flank roast?

[Ironwood]

Man!  I try to stay out of this board since I no longer can eat real food.  Everytime I come in here there's something good cooking!  :D