Smoked bay leaves - yes really lol

[curious aardvark]

Well I'd smoked the snackstix and pork steaks yesterday and there was still some life left in the charcoal.
So I grabbed a couple of branches from the bay tree, threw another chunk of oak on the coals and left it to run down.




Stripped the leaves from the stems and ground up.



A mate of mine popped round and took a small branch with him.
The bay flavour definitely seemed stronger. Got a slight smokey flavour to it.
Anyone interested in some smoked bay leaves - let me know.
we've got a 30 foot bay tree and dried leaves weight almost nothing, so no problem to vacpack a handful and post it over :-)

[ALX]

Very jealous.I have to freeze mine to get it to powder for sausage i am making today.....

[Zeeker]

Pretty neat CA. Question on you separated basket. Hows it working out for you? Heat and wood usage wise...

[curious aardvark]

working brilliantly.
I can actually easily control the temps in the outlaw with no problem.
1 tray not filled to the top gives me a steady 160, when it gets down to embers I just put charcoal in the adjoining tray and by the time that's lit the other is gone so the temps stay even.
2 trays gives me 200 ish and three probably around 250 - 300. I tend to go by the thermo built into the lid.
I tested it last year and it's reasonably accurate.
Amount wise I figure a 5 hour smoke I maybe use 2-3 kilo's charcoal.
It comes in 15kg bags. Of which I have a few.
Cheapest cooking device to run I've ever used :-)

But temps vary quite a lot between the cooling rack and the cast iron grates. So I just rotate stuff.
for wood I just use fist sized lumps of oak (when that runs out i'll see what else is around).
I figure a 4 -5 hour smoke I use maybe one chunk an hour.

I'd have been running it today but I ran out of steam last night after making pirogues and didn't get the pigeon out the freezer. Plus we got gale force winds and rain today across the whole country - not an outside day lol

On the whole it's an amazingly hassle free and extremely relaxing way of cooking. And the outlaw must hold heat well or I'd be using a lot more charcoal.

Soon as I get the weather and time I'll use three trays and do some ribs.
Interested to see if it was low temps in the bradley that made them not worth repeating.

Three trays: I fill all the trays and light just one.
Gives a steady 225 on the lid thermo. and you just keep move any residual embers from the near empty trays and add new charcoal. quick, simple and it just burns left to right and then back again with no real problems.
the basket itself is fine. no joint problems.
Biggest problem is that now I have very little incentive to build something else lol

[Slanted88]

Dang....May hafta smoke some of Louie's herb's to experiment!

[curious aardvark]

have a look at some of cowgirl's older posts - you can smoke just about anything and for spices and herbs it really boosts the flavour.

And saves money.

2oz smoked paprika from the supermarket costs about £3
1 pound of paprika from costco also cost's about £3.
I just empty the tub into a foil trays and put in the smoker when I'm cooking something, strir the paprika regularly so that the stuff exposed to the smoke is rotated. Then just put back into the big jar and shake and leave.
I then get a whole pound of smoked paprika for £3.
I keep meaning to smoke some peppercorns too. next time I see a sale on them I'll give it a go :-)