Tejas
SmokersÔ
P.O. Box 4158
Houston, Texas 77210-4158
INTRODUCTION
Congratulations!
You have just purchased one of the finest wood
smokers on the market
today. In the next
few paragraphs you will learn how to correctly
break in, use, and maintain
your new smoker. Good
cooking!
GETTING
STARTED
It is
important to correctly break in your new Tejas
Smoker. We
suggest that you first coat the inside cooking areas with a cooking oil.
(Barrel, grill, and vertical smoke box, but not
the firebox.) Then start a fire in the firebox using the “STARTING THE
FIRE” directions that follow.
Allow your smoker to reach approximately 275°F
and maintain this temperature for four hours.
This will burn out impurities and allow the oil to season the
smoker in the same way as you would break in a cast iron skillet.
Taking these measures will help ensure that your first cookout will
be a great one.
FILLING
THE WATER RESERVOIR
Each Tejas
Smoker has a water reservoir in the bottom of the smoking chamber.
This source of water keeps meats moist and flavorful
by keeping the relative humidity in the smoking chamber at a high level. Simply close off the drain (with the cap provided or optional
ball valve) and fill the reservoir with 1" to 2" of water.
Be careful not to overfill or water will run over the dam into the
firebox. Do not move the pit after introducing
water into the barrel reservoir. Some cooks put things such as
onions, bell peppers, garlic cloves, cans of beer, or cider vinegars
into the reservoir along with the water. It is a matter of
personal preference in regard to how much and what, if anything, is added.
STARTING
THE FIRE
It is best
to start your fire with kindling, charcoal, or a gas log lighter.
(If you are using a gas log lighter read “GAS LOG LIGHTER
INSTRUCTIONS” now).
We prefer to avoid the use of lighter fluid as it is nearly impossible to
keep the fumes entirely out of the walls of your pit.
Open the
firebox door and lid. After the charcoal is hot add
the wood.
We suggest hickory or mesquite for a strong
flavoring...NEVER USE RESINOUS WOODS LIKE PINE OR CEDAR.
Oak and pecan give
a mild taste.
Alder, apple, peach, pear (or wood from any
fruit-bearing tree), are also mild. You
can tone down the hickory or mesquite by mixing it with
mostly oak or pecan. USE THOROUGHLY AGED
(DRIED OUT) WOOD. The cut logs ought to
be about a year old. Use of green wood (wood with even SOME sap) will
produce a bitter smoke flavor in the meats. Avoid this. Very
recently cut wood will contain sap and the smoke from this may coat the interiors of your pit with an undesirable
black residue which will continue to adversely affect future cookouts.
Green mesquite wood is particularly troublesome and is to be
avoided. A further word about mesquite. It has a very
high fuel value. It burns HOT. It is also very strong in
flavor. We prefer to use it sparingly with mostly oak or pecan.
We often get asked if we can recommend a source off wood in other parts of
the U.S. The website,
www.logsplitters.com/firewood.htm is a good place to start. They have
listings for firewood supplies all over the United States. Search
engines turn up lots of places in every state.
We always get asked if one can use charcoal in place of
logs in our pits when smoking. These are WOOD
smokers. They are designed to hold temperature reasonably constant
without much attention. Charcoal burns hot and changes temperature
over a much shorter time period. Of course, when you are direct
grilling in the firebox use of charcoal is a reasonable choice. Our pits are designed for
use with 16 inch and 18 inch split logs. The wood logs are the
source of the wonderful smoke flavor. Use of anything else for
SMOKING meats will
not give optimum results nor will it be as easy to control and maintain
the temperature in the barrel.
Close the
firebox lid and door, and open the three-port air intake and smokestack
damper to the full open positions. This
is your smoker’s hottest position.
Allow the fire to come to a good burn and to heat up your smoker.
After the temperature has reached approximately 275°F,
cut back the air intake to the half-open positions.
Leave the smokestack damper open all the time as it is only a rain cover.
This adjustment should reduce the temperature to near the ideal
reading of 225°F.
The exact positions will vary from pit to pit and vary with the
amount and kind of wood used.
GAS
LOG LIGHTER INSTRUCTIONS
With the
firebox door and lid wide open, light a single rolled up paper towel and
place it on top of the lighter pipe.
STAND CLEAR and slowly open the valve on the L.P. tank. Adjust the resulting flame to four inches in height.
Then arrange the wood atop the flame.
In ten to fifteen minutes your fire should be burning well and the
gas can be cut off.
Remember that a gas log
lighter is JUST that...a way to start the wood logs burning, not a way to
cook with.
CONTROLLING THE TEMPERATURE
Tejas
Smokers are designed to be regulated by the three-port air intake
on the firebox. Remember
that every pit has its own individual "personality" and you will have to
"learn" and get used to your own pit.
THE BARREL OF THE PIT SHOULD NEVER BE HEATED TO TEMPERATURES
ABOVE 300 °F
(from heat coming from the firebox)!
These are smoker pits, not
incinerators. If you think you need to be smoking meats at those kinds of
temperatures in the barrel of a smoker pit get a blow torch and do the job
right...you don't need a fine smoker pit. Lots of cooks like to
throw a yellow onion or two into the fire from time to time, especially
when you are cooking a poor quality cut of meat, since onions
are a natural meat tenderizer. The cap on the smokestack is a rain
cap and nothing more. It should be completely open whenever you
are using the pit.
CLEANING
YOUR SMOKER
Cleaning
the barrel grills of your smoker is simple and easy; while the smoker is
still hot simply use soapy water and a brush.
Leave the drain open and wash everything out with a water hose.
You can also remove the firebox grates for cleaning, but you must
wait until the smoker cools. It is not necessary to clean the inside barrel walls.
The
grease and smoke residue that coats the inside walls of the barrel seasons
the smoker and prevents it from rusting so don't try to
remove it.. All that is required is to drain the grease and water and that is
best done when the smoker is still hot.
Be careful when draining so you do not splash hot grease and water
on yourself. (Note:
It is hard
to move faster than gravity so a
drain valve greatly helps.)
Use a bucket and
dispose of the drained fluids properly.
(Note: Some folks prefer to leave their cooking grates coated and not
clean them until they heat the pit up for the NEXT cookout. If you
DO clean them all the way to bright metal then you should give them a coat
of cooking oil to prevent rust formation. )
The smoker is designed to allow ashes to fall through the fire
grate to the bottom of the firebox. To
clean the firebox, allow the smoker to cool, and then use the cleanout
tool to rake the ashes out of the firebox.
THIS
MUST BE DONE AFTER EVERY USE.
Your Tejas
Smoker comes equipped with a cleanout tool.
Moisture (through rain or condensation or through splashing water
when cleaning the barrel grates) will react with the residue ash
(and grease) and start
a corrosive reaction that may shorten the lifetime of your smoker.
(Note: The really easy way to clean out the ashes is to use an ash
pan.)
If you have used charcoal in the bottom grate of the smoker barrel
for grilling purposes, then you should open the drain and with a water
hose thoroughly
wash out the the residue left in the barrel .
Be sure to oil all the
hinges on a regular basis. There are small, drilled holes in the
centers of all the hinges just for that purpose. Keep your pit
painted and in good condition. Lack of consistent, proper maintenance of your
smoker will void the warranty on the firebox and reduce the useful life of
your smoker.
A
FURTHER WORD TO THE WISE
A smoker by
its very nature gets hot and stays hot.
Never touch the smoker with your bare hands while in operation.
Children do not sense that a black smoker pit is hot.
Watch out for these little ones.
Keep your cookout a safe one!
J
CHILDREN MUST
BE KEPT AWAY FROM THE SMOKER AT ALL TIMES.
J
You
may contact us by telephone or by e-mail.
We answer e-mail every day! Let
us know how you are doing and we particularly welcome your suggestions and
favorite recipes.
(713) 932-6438
(713) 222-6096 fax |
