Lilac Smoked Meats

Over the weekend I tried a new wood in the new smoker, Lilac, well Texas Lilac.  It is a flowering tree that grows around this area.  Now that I know what it is I realize that I have known this tree for decades, but didn't know the name.  You probably know it also...

It has woody stems, and a fairly rough bark.  It's smoke smells kind of acidic but otherwise similar to a hardwood smoke.  I started up the smoker the way I usually do with charcoal, and let that burn until the briquettes are white, then added the wood.

So I smoked some Chicken Thighs as a baseline food so I can taste the smoke flavor well.  Then also smoked some Pork shoulder steaks.  So I think I like the Lilac smoke flavor, but I don't know if I can use it all the time because I haven't found a place to buy it.  To use it I would have to keep on the lookout for people trimming their Lilac trees.  I noticed some things about the new smoker this time as well.  The Thermometer glows in the dark.

This is a neat feature if you are out there schmoking in the middle of the night.  I am really impressed with this Oklahoma Joe's Smoker.  The other feature that I knew about, but hadn't got to work yet is the fat drain.  The smoker is on a incline, and was leveled the wrong way, so the fat moved away from the drain.  So, anyway the legs of the smoker are attached to tubes on the body of the smoker.

So I used my hydraulic jack to raise the side fire box to a level which let the fat drain toward the drain side of the smoker, then loosened these bolts which hold the legs onto the smoker.  This let the legs drop down to the patio, and I tightened the bolts again.  Then I removed the hydraulic jack, and the smoker was leveled in a way that let the fat move to the drain side of the smoker.

I think it's really neat that this smoker has leveling legs.  Now the fat can drain out of the smoker, and doesn't build up on the inside.  I had a grease fire inside of my gas grill a couple weeks ago, and I don't want to repeat that.  That happened pretty regularly in my last smoker.  This one is much better in that aspect.