The importance of fire management
When you first start your fire, you probably rush around, cramming on logs as fast as you can. Don’t do it! You need to maintain a good fire management strategy, such as building your fire in layers, to ensure your survival.
When I am thinking about what fire management strategy to use to build fire lay I am thinking about a few things.
How big is the fire I am building? What do I want to cook?
In a larger fire, I tend to sit more wood around the outside layers of wood while in a smaller fire I tend to create more layers of firewood or set up a tee pee.
I don’t want to say there is a wrong and a right way to build fire lay.
It’s all about what fuel you have and what you are trying to achieve with your fire. A lot of times I just want a fire that will get me to the next morning so I won’t really put a lot of thought into the fire lay.
I would put more effort into the fire lay if I was to bake some bread or roast marshmallows for s’mores.
The key here is to practice and see what burns at what temperature range. You need to know how your fuel will burn in the environment you are in.
1) Remember, a little smoke goes a long way
The creation of smoke from burning tobacco is part of what makes it so enjoyable for many people. However, getting a lot of smoke from a filter tip is not something that you should strive for.
If the level of smoke you get when you smoke a filter tip becomes excessive, then you should adjust the size of the tip you slap on your Aqua Tubes to bring it back down to a tolerable level. You will not lose a thing in flavor or harshness by doing this.
Being mindful of this rule will give you a more favorable outcome, but do not forget that the Aqua Tube Holders can produce a similar amount of smoke to a filter tip.
Just make sure that you do not over pack your holder. Fill it with no more than 1.5 to 2 grams of tobacco depending on your style of smoking and taper the filter down from the top.
Doing this will allow the smoke to be less curly on your Aqua Tube and produce a nice thin blue smoke.
2) Build your fire for success
The crucial fire-building process is where the most consistent smokers arrive at perfection by learning a few steps by heart and then never having to think about them again.
First, begin lighting your charcoal in the center of 20 minutes before you plan on loading up the chamber of your smoker. This way, when you begin loading, the coals will all be ready to go.
The center of the coals is where the fire is hottest and where you want to light your entire pile. All you need to do is spread the charcoal out around the center.
With a chimney starter, all this can be done in half the time. This is because chimney starters ignite coals twice as fast as using a lighter.
In fact, unless you’re going for instant gratification, I’d say this is, hands down, the best way to light charcoal in the backyard.
A chimney starter looks like an empty beer can, only bigger. There are several different sizes of chimney starter.
You simply load charcoal into the top part, light it on fire, and wait ten minutes. Then you pour the hot coals into the bottom half of the chimney.
3) Use the right type of wood
Site to site, wood varies in density and moisture.
Choosing the wrong type can affect the burn and reduce its efficiency.
The best wood for smoke rings is mild hardwood like oak, beech or pear, all of which produce two types of smoke. One is the blue white smoke which is the one that gives the beautiful burnt-end ring.
The other is yellow grey smoke which is from the incomplete combustion of the wood.
If you use too much of the latter, your food will never get that thins blue ring. The result: a dark black ring with no flavour.
4) Manage your air flow
Correctly by start with the completely cool burners, then start turning them on one at a time until you get an equal amount of blue smoke on each burner.
5) Work with your smoker
There’s nothing more frustrating than having a smoker that doesn’t do what you want when you want it to.
And the main reason for that is 90% related to the fuel airflow burner.
If you want smoke to flow from the two smoke stacks, you’ll need to ensure that both sides of the burner are receiving equal amounts of fuel.
The red extension on your burner will help you achieve this.
One side of the red extension will have a short tube attached to it. That’s the side your fuel bottle needs to be connected to. Your cooker and your fuel bottle should be connected, as well, with the red extension facing up.
The whole purpose of this is to ensure that while you prepare your meats, there is enough fuel going through the burner to keep the smoke stacks on the bottom and top of your smoker open.
Don’t forget to turn on your fuel flow/air switch on your fuel bottle as well as your smoker’s fuel valve.
6) Keep your smoker clean
One of the most important steps of your BBQ process is making sure that your smoker is clean when you use it.
Once you have been poor and cut your meat, you will never want that meat to go back in that smoker again. Keeping your smoker clean, however, is not a difficult task if you do it right.
The key to a clean smoker is to avoid using soap to clean it.
The soap will get into the crevices where meat and fat had accumulated, and it will not come off easily. Even if you scrape off the residue, you will still find a soapy taste to your smoked meat.
After you clean your grill, turn on the heat and leave the grill to do its final treatment.
How to Grind Your Own Meat
At Home: Step-by-step Guide
Beef is one of the most popular red meat you cannot live without, and is also the staple food of any hand grinder.
When you’re grinding your own meat, which you should be, there are a few basic rules to follow to get the best grinding experience.
First, you need the right grinder. Hand grinders come in two varieties, manual or electric.
They both do a great job, but for some purposes, an electric grinder is needed.
Be sure that your hand grinder has the capability to change the grinding size. You want a grinder that varies from a fine ground to coarse ground meat.
The coarsest ground is best for burgers and chili, while the medium ground meat is best for meatballs and sausage.
The fine ground meat is perfect for stuffing sausages and for hamburger patties. Second, you need to know where to grind your meat. The most convenient place is in your kitchen, in a table with a cutting board.
Be sure to put down the grinder across the surface so when meat splatter starts to release, it’ll be contained and thrown in the bin.
Always remember to do this while wearing a suitable hair tough and clothes, especially when doing a bigger quantity.