Outdoor Cooking

Like many of you that enjoy the outdoor lifestyle, I love to put the fruits of my hunts and fishing trips to use and I do a barbequing or smoking meats. In front of the little cabin behind the house, I have an assortment of cooking tools that include an old school fire pit constructed with cinder blocks with an expended metal grate, as well as several portable grills and even a tiny wood smoker that is great for quick cookouts for small groups. But in the little ‘cooking shack’ beside the cabin is the one piece of outdoor cooking gear that I treasure the most and the one that I would be lost without: my Smokin Tex electric smoker. For the past 15 years or so, I have cooked literally hundreds, maybe a few thousand, pounds of meat – everything from smoked link sausage from the venison and wild pork I harvest to fish and brisket. My smoker is not to be confused with the lightweight electric smokers on the market. No, a Smokin Tex is meant to last a lifetime. After years of use, I once had to replace the heating element, but other than that, it’s been as dependable as the North Star.

I simply load the smoke chamber with a few ounces of hickory or pecan wood (which I saw from limbs), set the thermostat, and let the smoker do the rest, very often set at a low temperature of 190 degrees so that it will cook all night while I sleep. Four or six ounces of wood in the smoke chamber will give the meat just the right amount of smoke flavor because of the tight cooking chamber. When I first began cooking with my smoker years ago, I thought it necessary to refill the smoke chamber with wood to keep a heavy smoke going

the entire cook. The result was meat with too much smoke flavor (even for me). Making great barbeque or smoked meat products cannot get any easier or better than using a quality electric smoker.

But every now and then, I like to fire up an old school wood-fired smoker, especially on a clear cool winter’s day. My neighbor is a very busy fellow, and for several years, I’ve noticed a big wood smoker mounted on a trailer in his yard. I had never seen it an action, and he invited me over to look it over a year or so ago. He commented that it needed to be put to use and offered to loan it to me anytime I wished. Because I depend on my Smoking Tex so much, I just never asked to borrow the big smoker. And then, a couple weeks ago, he asked me if I would like to have the smoker. It needed a bit of cleanup, a little welding, and a new fire grate but other than these few minor items, it was good to go.

I instantly went to work on the smoker with a wire brush and cleaned it thoroughly inside and out. Another great neighbor did a bit of metal fabricating and welded a wire grate for the wood to sit on. I got to work splitting a big pile of oak from a recently downed tree on the place, and I was ready for a major cook. If you’ve read this column long, you know it takes very little to get me fired up for a hog hunt. It would be a shame to break Big Bertha in on a side of ribs or hamburgers. No, I needed something bigger to cook. Plans are made to take my little .223 bolt action with an AGM Global Rattler scope and harvest a fat ‘eater’ pig close to home this week. Hogs are coming in to a couple corn feeders near my home on a nightly basis. I just need to wait for a cold night so I can field dress the porker and let the meat chill while I am home sleeping. I can do the butchering the next morning, fire up the smoker, and place the pork halves on the grill. This I will do early so I can do the cooking during daylight hours. I have no desire to stay up all night tending the wood-fired smoker. My plan is to cook the pork until it is fall off the bone tender, chop it and season with dry seasoning and BBQ sauce, and deliver it to Karen Dudley’s Dallas International Street Church to supply some tasty BBQ to folks that will really enjoy it.

I remember about six years ago, my friend Joe Dunn, who I’ve nicknamed “The BBQ King”, loaned me his huge smoker, and a ranch manager in east Texas shot six whitetail doe for me to cook and donate to the church. I showed up and there were, sure enough, six doe in the walkin cooler, field dressed and chilled. The ranch manager’s opening words upon my arrival were, “So good to meet you, Luke. I’ve always wanted to learn how to skin and quarter deer.” Needless to say, it was a very long day that stretched well into the evening hours. After the venison was in my coolers, I went back home, fired up the big smoker, and spent many hours tending the fire and turning all that prime meat into some tasty chopped barbeque. I remember how happy the folks at the church were to get all the barbeque. I’m looking forward to doing this again, this time on a somewhat smaller scale!

I’d like you to join me at two outdoor events coming up back to back the next couple weeks. First the Lake Fork Campfire Expo Saturday, Feb. 24 at Fisherman’s One Stop on Hwy 515 at Lake Fork, contact Donna (469-552-1824) to reserve a booth. Then, Luke Clayton’s 5th Annual Outdoor Ron-de-Voo will be Saturday, March 2 at Top Rail Cowboy Church in Greenville, contact Pastor Charlie Nassar (903-2173778).