Quote:
Originally Posted by
Mr Herbert 
There is no culture of smoking meat where i live. In fact if it wasnt for Piobaires pictures of brisket deliciousbly fall apart all tender and juicy on a plate i would probably never have thought about getting one. But now its too late, i want one. However, as i live the only ones available to me are expensive. What else can i do with them other than brisket? Will i get a decent amount of use out of it?
Do you have a charcoal grill larger than a weber 18"? If so, you can smoke with it. It will work at least good enough to know whether you want to make a larger investment. Technique can be summarized as: put your meat on one side, put coals on the opposite side. Put a heat shield in between, if you want. Get an oven thermometer and keep the temperature around 250-275. I bought a 30-year old weber 22" from craigslist for $10. I've smoked brisket, salmon, pork shoulder and ribs in it. They all turned out spectacular. I've gone as long at 18 hours with it (you need to refill coals every 4-5 hours). Also, there is a superb smoker from weber called the Smokey Mountain. $300 and can double as a grill...