Ingredients
- Eggs
Directions
Boil the eggs (I use the Instant Pot)
- Jalapeno holder works great to hold the eggs while smoking.
- First trial in the big grill:
- — Setup —
Fill the smoke tube with hickory pellets
- Start tube with a torch and let it burn about 5 minutes before blowing out the flame
- Put eggs onto jalapeno holder and set it Inside the grill
- Close dampers on the grill except for one which I will leave open about 1/4 inch
- Monitor smoke tube and egg color
— Results —
- The jalapeno holder worked very well but left a ring shaped divot in the eggs which is no big deal as this method allows maximum smoke contact and penetration.
- The tube lasted just shy of 4 hours and gave a very nice flavor and light brown coloration
- I may have been able to close the damper a bit more to get more time
- I would like a bit more color and a bit more smoke flavor
- The smoke density was not as high as I would have liked
- I believe that there is simply too much open space in the grill for what I’m trying to do
- Let’s try the SmokinTex as it is a sealed unit except for the 1/4 inch grease hole (bottom) and 3/4 inch exhaust hole (top)
- SmokinTex modification (add an exhaust fan)
- The original reason for adding an exhaust fan is to get better (dryer) jerky by increasing airflow and I’ve been meaning to do this for a while now. The SmokinTex is nearly air-tight which is why my smoked meats are always juicy and never dry but not too good for jerky
- I ordered a small 12VDC “exhaust” fan that I will mount in a homemade “chimney” over the exhaust hole. In this case, the fan will draw in fresh air through the grease hole on the bottom and exhaust via the top hole to help with heat removal if/as needed (remember, we’re cold smoking here).
- The fan may also need some type of PID controller or simply a very slow PWM such as 10 seconds on and 5 minutes off so as not to remove all the smoke. Since the fan I will be using is 12VDC, either option should be relatively easy. The key here is experimentation and good note taking.
- Also note it would NOT be a good idea to put the smoke tube over the grease hole as this is where fresh air will be drawn in. Placed here, there could easily be a flare up and mess up the whole thing. I am going to try putting the smoke tube off to either the far left or right.
- First trial in SmokinTex:
- Testing before the fan gets here…
- — Setup —
Remove firebox from SmokinTex
- Fill the smoke tube with hickory pellets and set it on the bottom of the SmokinTex away from grease hole to prevent flare up
- Start tube with a torch and let it burn about 5 minutes before blowing out the flame
Move rack holders to lowest position
- Install cold plate just above the smoke tube to prevent any direct heat from getting to the eggs
- Put eggs onto jalapeno holder and set it in the SmokinTex as near the top as possible
- Put multi-probe thermometer into SmokinTex near eggs and throughout chamber
---- Temperature logging (Degrees F) ----
- Initial temp before lighting smoke tube (outside ambient temp) - 76
- Temp at 0:30 - 84
Temp at 1:00 - 86 - Tested first egg
- Next time I will check frequently to see how brown eggs get and how long tube lasts. I didn’t do that this time so as not to skew the temperature readings.
— Results —
- Pulled eggs at 1 hour 30 minutes due to how much smoke was present
- Eggs smoked much faster due to the sealed nature of the smoker but, as anticipated, the temp increased by 10 degrees in just 1 hour
- Instead of using an entire smoke tube, it only used about 1/3 of a tube
- Egg smoke cover was not even due to the jalapeno holder
- Smoke flavor is much more intense
--- Changes for next time ---
- Will definitely mod the smoker to expel heat generated from the smoke tube
- Going to try the egg steamer rack from the Instant Pot instead of jalapeno holder
Only going to smoke for 45 to 60 minutes
- Second trial in SmokinTex: