Mixed Results

gmbrown

New member
Well, I've been good about posting my triumphs, so I figure it's only fair to post my not-so-great results as a warning to others.

Did some Italian sausage fresh from the local grocery store, which turned out fine. But I also thought I'd try a couple of potatoes based on a suggestion from the forums, and at my wife's suggestion, some corn on the cob. All of it went in at the same time, with just over an ounce of Steve's sample hickory wood. Total time was about four hours. As I mentioned, the sausage came out pretty good.

The potatoes, though, were okay, but nothing special. Maybe it would benefit from more time, or maybe I should try some other form of potatoes next time. I might actually take the leftovers and try pan-frying them a bit and see what happens.

The corn was not terrible. But not exactly blowing our skirts up, either. the way we bought it, it had been mostly husked, but the store left half of the husk on for, I don't know, presentation purposes or something. Anyway, I figured I'd put them in husk-side-down, on the top-most rack, to protect from overcooking. The exposed parts came out brown and smoky, and actually didn't taste bad, but again, unusual. The part with the husk left on was a nice yellow, and actually did still have a little smoke flavor on it according to my wife (I didn't notice it as much, but it would definitely have been more subtle than the exposed part). My wife thinks we should try that again with the husk on all the way around.

Didn't bother with any pictures. All in all, everything was edible, but definitely the least impressive effort so far. But that's operator error, of course. The #3 worked well as always.  :)

Next smoke ought to go better--surprising my wife tomorrow night with ribs (her favorite) for her birthday (plus she has a nasty work-related test tomorrow). May take the advice from you folks and try baby backs this time.
 
Geoff
Go for the babies. 5 hours 235 no peeky. 2oz of wood and a water pan.

Yum!

It's not a failure its an experiment.

Good luck.
 
I did baked potatoes at 235 for about 6 hours and they were fine.  I would like to try some twice baked stuffed baked potato some time.  Haven't tried corn.
 
I had great results with corn. It was fantastic fresh corn still completely in the husk. I soaked it for five minutes in cold water then threw it in at 250 with 2 oz. for 2 hours.
 
I do baked potatoes at 225F when I am doing BB ribs and they always turn out soft and done.  I coat them with EVO, salt and lemon pepper, and I punch a few holes in them with a fork.  I put them on the top shelf above the ribs.  The skins have a nice smoked flavor and the potato is fully cooked.

I have tried corn on the cob a couple of times, but it was so long ago that I don't remember everything that I did, but I do recall pulling back the husk and soaking the corn for some amount of time, then rubbing the corn and replacing the husks around the corn.  Perhaps you need the full husk instead of partial.  Sorry that I don't recall how much time I kept them in the smoker, but there are recipes around (this forum or look at smoking-meat.com) that might provide some additional guidance.
 
I'm going to do a batch of potatoes again. I loved them the first time I did them. But my wife didn't care for the leftover I chopped up, pan fried and served with eggs for breakfast. Don't think she liked smoke for breakfast, go figure:) But I LOVED! them.

And I love having cooked potatoes around for when I want to make pan fried.
 
Geoff, there are no "failures," just "adjustment experiments!"  Even the "bad" smokes seem to be edible, and we learn from what we did!  Definitely try the full-husk corn!  I, actually, have never smoked potatoes (weird, huh?), but lots of folks do.  At that temp, they'll definitely take a while!
 
DivotMaker said:
  I, actually, have never smoked potatoes (weird, huh?), but lots of folks do.  At that temp, they'll definitely take a while!

:) Yes weird, what are you some kind of potato phobic :) Give em a try. I tried both Russet and Gold. Both came out tasty and I'll do em again.
 
jdiver said:
DivotMaker said:
  I, actually, have never smoked potatoes (weird, huh?), but lots of folks do.  At that temp, they'll definitely take a while!

:) Yes weird, what are you some kind of potato phobic :) Give em a try. I tried both Russet and Gold. Both came out tasty and I'll do em again.

I was attacked by a large Russet as a child.  I've gotten over it, though.  Pretty sure it was just a bad one. LOL!
 
I did corn on the cob in full husk at 250 for 2 hours after soaking in water for 10 minutes. Turned out really good with just a hint of smoke flavor, next time I am going to soak in water then open husk and rub down with honey butter and wrap husk back around.
 
bigbassnutt said:
I did corn on the cob in full husk at 250 for 2 hours after soaking in water for 10 minutes. Turned out really good with just a hint of smoke flavor, next time I am going to soak in water then open husk and rub down with honey butter and wrap husk back around.

I used to do corn on the cob that way, on the gasser.  I didn't soak it first, just peeled the husk back, removed the silk, heavily buttered, and tie the husk back up with a twistee.  On the grill for an hour or so, and it was great! 

With that said, I like the microwave in the husk method better.  Simple, and tastes great!
 
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