Did not notice until this morning that a couple asked for more info on smoking.  Growing up in Central Tex and my Dad's Mother's family are all big ranchers, my bbq upbringing is much different than the rest of the country.  Beef, salt and pepper for a rub, a mop, and NO sauce.  And being from there Oak is king not the usually expected mesquite.  BBQ's is not just a verb, it is also a noun.  A BBQ is an event with a lot of people.  You ought to experience one of the family reunions we used to have.  Protein overdose! 

At least couple of times a year I cook for my friends.  Something I have done the last few years is doing a smoke for my flyfishing buddies.  I set up behind the fly shop with a big trailer rig and everybody shows up about 11:30ish.  The particularly fun thing about this one is that along wtih the "usuals" I try to do things that they haven't seen or eaten. 

Some pics from the last one a few weeks ago.  Some pics by me others by others. 


Moinkballs


Yardbird thighs


Spareribs, Spatchcocked chicken, and boudain


Breakfast Muffins


Fatties


Briskets


Bologna


Wings


Bacon Wrapped chicken breasts


BBQ meat loaf


Other stuff


Butts


The cook

I've always wanted to visit Nashville...

Hey now-You keep posting things like that, I'm gonna be 500 lbs by the end of the summer! 

Did I miss the grilled figs?:

I think a vist is in order

Fig wood smoked figs!

Apple wood is my favorite, but I am a real noob in BBQ and have not tried much else, I wonder how fig is.

DaaaaaaNG!! Now my mouth is watering! I think I'm gonna have to invest in a smoker. All that stuff looks reeeally tasty man!

Nashville is only a pleasant 2 1/2 hr drive for me. What'd you say your address was Caney?

don't think fig wood would give off a good smoke as it is pithy and we all know how the leaves smell.......

I thought the same thing, but it is listed in multiple sources as good. It is sold for that purpose as well.

"Fig- Mild & fruity like mulberry- Boston butt & ribs Good with all meats."

It might be something to avoid because I have read stories of dermatitis in sensitive individuals as well, but ficin is an enzyme so I think it would actually be destroyed by heat. Use at your own risk I guess.

Thanks Caneyscud!

Two questions: What brand(s) would you recommend for a first smoker? And how long do you smokze the fatties (dried fig, cheese, and protein, right?)?

what a feast to the eyes....thank you so much

I've mentioned before... my aunt uses fig branches (with the bark removed) as skewers for kabob.

Boudain....you live Nashville and know what boudain is?  I love boudain. What is your source?    Bill...let's see, I will drive down from Louisville, pick you up and then we can drive on down!   Oh, what fun that would be!!!    Figs, ripe, drizzled with some balsamic and grilled.   YUM YUM YUM

Jon,  Never tried smoked figs by themselves - but I now need to!  I will report if I see some fresh for sell or if the squirrels leave me some - whichever comes first.  I can see some idea ripening (shall we say) in my head.  I have however used them to stuff fatties and a pork tenderloin which I later finished with a bbq sauce in which I had whirred in some dried figs.  Turned out pretty well. 

Smoking with fig wood has been something I've wanted to do, but not being around any fig orchards have not come up with any wood without ordering it.  And I haven't done that yet.  Now mulberry I have - and is scheduled for my next smoke at home - probably some ribs and chicken. 

JD - I want to give you a good answer but need to know a little more info.  Such as budget - tight or don't give a darn!   Whether you NEED something that will cook 4 packer briskets at a time.  Do you enjoy fiddling with the fire and cook or do you want something more set and forget (none is truly - however some are easier).  Do you want to fiddle with wood, charcoal, gas or electric?  ( all can be good, well - I don't really care for the gas ones, but they do ok).  Do you already have a grill and just want a dedicated smoker -or - or do you need your smoker to be a grill also (two different processes)  The answer can be anything from a BigUglyDrum or a bigger Weber Kettle modified for indirect heat to large trailer rig.

Sara,
It is not very easy to find here and have only been able to buy it for a couple of years now.  Nashville is not a very big sausage loving place!  The only place I have ever seen it here is at all places WallyWorld.  They sell Zummo's brand.  Its mild.  However, I have made it a few times that I have needed some before WallyWorld here started carrying it.  When you like Texas BBQ, you also like the Texas BBQ'ed sausage.  And you can't buy that here either, so I got into making sausages also.  Now if you like sausages, you have to learn to make it - man it is so much better.  Next for me is to learn to make the fermented sausages - like genoa salami, cotto salami, sobrasada, soppressata, etc... and some of the cured and dried sausages, and the cured and dried meats. 

Wait, why not a fig and _________ sausage?  Hmmm

Most popular recipe I see referred to over and over again is fig, stuffed with goat cheese and wrapped in bacon or prosciutto, and then grilled.

Canyscud, you've got some lucky friends and family!

Jon - that is one of the ideas I had in mind.  The goat cheese has to be better than blue cheese.  For a small contest last year, I wanted something very different.  I had been reading about the "natural" pairing of figs and blue cheese.  So decided to stuff a pork tenderloin with a mixture of figs and blue cheese and then smoke.  Lets just say I won't be wasting figs and pork on that idea again.  I've mixed goat cheese and fig preserves for a toast spread before that was pretty good.  

• Budget. Not tight but I give a darn. 
• Size. Don't NEED a 4 packer brisket cooker and don't want a large trailer rig.
  
• Fire. Prefer the fiddling. Wood and/or charcoal.
  
• Use. Smoker only.

Looks good Caney.
In Tallahasse past weekend had grilled duck with some kind of Fig Sauce.(small figs,garlic,rosemary,peppercorns,?green and other unknowns) Very good. 
A fig sauce should dress up any dark meat or game you are grilling , venison ,squirrel,coon,whatever. ((:

Happy Grilling
Dave.

Sara,
Sounds like you've got the right idea. Be sure to bring a basket of ripe figs while you're at it ;-) .

So in order to smoke figs, do you have to dry & roll them first? Oh wait! Maybe I'm just having a 70's flashback!   >Try to see the humor here<

Caneyscud,
After looking at your pics yesterday I had to have a pulled-pork fix. Bad Bobs was the best I could do but was still quite good :) . They seem to have improved over the last time I got something from there.

Along the same lines as JD's questions; How tough would it be to convert one of my old gas grills to a smoker? I have two & both were freebies from folks who were done with grillin'. So no big loss if I sacrifice one for a worthy cause.

If it aint moving, smoke it! 

Lots of people like their ceramic smokers.  I'm talking Big Green Egg, Primo, Kamado.  Relatively easy to learn, easy to keep temps, but heavy and $$$ - several hundred to over a grand.  Plus some aren't large enough to handle a whole packer.  I just can't spend that much money on something so limited in size when I can add a little bit to the $$$ and get me a heavy trailer mounted rig that I can cook 12+ briskets on.

My favorites smokers have vertical smoker boxes.  Horizontal offsets have an inherent "problem" that bothers me - although many people use them.  Heat rises - it does not necessarily travel very good horizontally.  So the farther from the fire box - the cooler the temp.  Now that can be used to your advantage if you are cooking a variety of sizes of meat - the biggest close to the fire - the smaller farther away.  But not handy when say cooking 4 butts the same size.  You have to pretty much rotate them.  My favorite affordable vertical offset is a Bandera tower smoker by Char-Broil.  MSRP is over $400 but can be found for much less. Academy Sports used to have them, but don't see them on their site now.  If you can find a used one that is ok.  I've bought one that way off Craigslist for $100 - and it was the older model that was made by New Braunfels Smokers (now-defunct).     Oklahoma Joe's Longhorn Smoker is a good heavy smoker (also over $400) that can be had from Home Depot.  HD also has the Brinkman for I think around $300.  Horizontal but not a bad grill and relatively heavy - but a small firebox.

Just try to stay away from the cheap flimsier ones of thin sheet metal.  The price is right, but they are so thin they don't act as a heat sink, so they are very hard to maintain an even low temperature.  Plus they rust out fast. 

Now for something more set and forget.  You can always buy a controller for the above (i.e. BBQ Guru, or CyberQue or Stoker) but if you like to fiddle with the fire this may not be desirable.  I have two sitting in boxes and have hooked them up to a smoker yet.  However, I do have a Traeger Lil Tex that I keep at the office.  They'll set you back almost seven bills, unless you look on the used market like I did.  Uses wood pellets (food grade - not heating grade).  You set the temp you want - feed it some pellets, check on it now and then till finished.   They will get up to 500 deg so could be used to grill or cook pizzas also.  They sorta act as a convection with smoke and do a very good job.  The other set and forget smoker is a Bradley.  It is electric and uses wood "pucks".  I have a four rack digital that I got on clearance for $200, but they list for around $350.  Although if you shop around enough you will eventually find someone,  including Amazon, that will run them at a discount.  Did not think I would ever use and recommend an electric, but they are very good machines and make good tasting 'Que although you will not get a smoke ring.  I especially use mine for the smaller quicker things like chickens, baby back ribs, sausage, fish.  Also can smoke cheese, and lox in it as you can use it as a cold smoker with modifications and waiting for the right season.  If interested, I think I would probably buy an original Bradley (non-digital) and add an Auber Controller.  For the same $$$ as a digital, you can get much tighter control of the temp. and if you get the two probe Auber you can monitor the meat temp also and have it cut off when the meat reaches your desired temp.  The Auber is also programmable in that you can ramp up the temperature - which is especially helpful when smoking fresh sausages.  Bradley also has a very active and fun forum to help you get started, make recommendations, help troubleshoot, get recipes, and even cooking contests and get-togethers (called smoke-outs).

I do not like the 'bullets' - the small, painted sheet metal capsule shaped "vertical water smokers" that you can get for $25 and up.  Too small, plus, in my opinion, hard to control temps.  And tending fire is very hard because you have to take off the grids and meat to fiddle with the fire.  However, a bigger one like the Weber Smokey Mountain unit gets rave reviews and has a loyal following.  Its bigger, heavier and has a side door to tend the fire.  Usually a little over $200. 

Conclusion

My favorite in order
          Bandera
          Ok Joe Longhorn (and that is real hard to say as I am an Aggie!)
          Brinkman Smoke N Pit

For something for a little less green
          Weber Smokey Mountain
          BigUglyDrum

For $125 and less (I don't recommend buying - especially new).  Craigslist is littered with these being sold by frustrated guys, their wives or kids bought them one because of the price, but they cannot make them work!  They can be had for $50 or so.  You can make them work, but usually have to mod. them.
         Cheap Brinkman offsets
         Cheap Char-Broil offsets
         A bigger Weber Kettle set up to offset cook (good for ribs but not the long 
                brisket cooks)
         Others

Budget
        Inexpensive vertical water smokers

For ease
        Bradley  (easy, simple, good, and also does good brisket and butts)


"You gotta learn your pit just like a man learns his woman. Or you can't get nothing good outta her."

Bill,

Actually some are very easy to change over.  The bigger the better and you need at least two burners.  One burner you will use - the other you won't - you just need the rack over it.  Cut only one burner on very low and using a thermometer see how low you can get it over at the non-used burner side.  If you can control it down to 200 to 250 you are good to go.  Find something to hold some wood chips or sawdust in, set that a little above the fire and get to smoking.  You can also use chunks and logs if you can keep them from bursting into flames - I've heard of people wrapping them in foil.  It would be ideal if you can separate the two area (below the grate) with some sheet metal.  That way the meat is shielded from the burner, and the heat is even more indirect.  I've seen intrepid souls use several sheets of semi-crumpled  aluminum foil if you don't have any sheet metal laying round. 

If you cannot control the temp down to 200 to 250, the burner is too big.  You can change it out to a much smaller  burner. 

If you have single burner model, with a little "Aggie Engineering" you can make them work - you just wouldn't want to set them on the front porch.  Use one as a "fire box" and the other the smoking chamber.  Set them close together.  You need to get the smoke and heat from one to the other.  If the firebox has a chimney, then not too hard.  Take an appropriate length of flexible metal dryer vent, attach/seal over the chimney/exhaust and run it over to the bottom vent of the other.  You might have to cut a hole in the bottom side, but I hope you get the point.  I've done it and it works - it just doesn't look priddy!

Of course if you don't want the gas burners, and just use charcoal/wood - take out the burners.  Set a couple of bricks in the bottom and put another grill down on the bricks to hold the charcoal/wood.  Done that also!

I own 4 smokers, and have partial ownership on two trailer mounted rigs, but here is my grill for steaks, dogs, and hamburners.  It's in the backyard!


and this is what I thought of my last 'bullet' (vertical water smoker)