want to smoke meat, etiquette in a townhouse?

I live in a row style townhouse, and would like to get into smoking meat. Is there any way to do this without pissing off my neighbour's?

Pissing them off?! They will be begging you to invite them over for supper!

I doubt it would cause any problem, but I'd just let them know you're doing it. I don't think it would bother me.

How much smoke does it actually put out consistently?

They can put out a fair bit of smoke. However if it is really a problem you can use a fan or something to direct the smoke.

processhead said:

Pissing them off?! They will be begging you to invite them over for supper!

Click to expand...

This reminds me of ministerial school when I lived on the grounds of the seminary. My housemate and I were both serious foodies/cooks (in fact we catered a lot of student functions while there.)

We had three day weekends, so on Fridays, we'd whip up homemade baignets and some chicory coffee, then we'd drive 45 minutes or so to the Kansas City Farmer's market and load up on meat and produce...We even cultivated the friendship of this cajun who would come up every week with a refrigerated truck full of anything you can imagine...un cured hams, whole goats , pigs, lambs, and steaks..the freshest chickens you've ever tasted...Or we'd get some fresh buffalo meat...

We'd bring it home and break out the rubs and marianades and get everything ready... Then on Saturdays, year round we'd load up my coleman smoker (and sometimes borrow a neighbors and stack two on top of each other), load it up with Hickory, apple juice and sometimes cherry or apple wood if we could get some.

If the weather was nice we'd put our dining room table up on the lawn of our cottage, and study for the 10-12 hours the stuff needed to smoke. And blast Reggae or the great KC NPR music programming out our window.

Then as it got towards dinner time, imagine this, we'd suddenly be surrounded by other students, retreat people, visiting ministers, and the weekend security people (who always came "thinking the place was on fire," even after we fed them the first time.)

When we'd double stack the smoker, they'd say they came to see if we elected the next "pope" yet.

We'd end up making several pounds of Garlic Mashed potatos, & roasted corn. Smetimes we'd break out our homemade potato chips. One of our classmates from Cuba would bring over a big pot of black beans. Someone would bring tortillas or a sheet cake and we'd feast hardy....

Or Bill would make a couple of pies or I'd do a hot cobbler for dessert instead.

The only thing we couldn't officially have on the grounds was booze...though occasionally the granddaughter of the founder of Unity, Rosemary Fillmore would drive up (she was in her 70's and lived behind our cottage) with a couple of bottles of wine...Hey how could we say no to that?



Then all the leftovers would be our meals for the rest of the week. All the goodies brought, plus the leftover meat...we'd do smoked chicken enchiladas, or soup with the carcasses, pull the pork, and pretty much not cook too dard the rest of the week.

Needless to say we were the most popular residence on campus. People would even stop by on Friday mornings knowing we'd have baignets or something going for breakfast.

Try an electric smoker like a bradley. It does not give off that much smoke and can then be put in a closet neatly when not in use. I have a nice offset smoker and a bradley and it works well when you want to set and forget something...

Revvy is a priest?

fizgig said:

Revvy is a priest?

Click to expand...

No, I'm a minister. And where do you think "Revvy" comes from? You never noticed my sigline?

Smokers actually put out very little nearly invisible smoke when running as they should. If you are producing think white or dark smoke then something is wrong. If you can grill without bothering anyone then smoking will be fine.

dataz722 said:

Smokers actually put out very little nearly invisible smoke when running as they should. If you are producing think white or dark smoke then something is wrong. If you can grill without bothering anyone then smoking will be fine.

Click to expand...

I think the smell more than anything may be an issue for some folks. As shocking as it may be some folks actually do not like the smell of burning hickory and meat.....

Sad, isn't it?

Revvy said:

I think the smell more than anything may be an issue for some folks. As shocking as it may be some folks actually do not like the smell of burning hickory and meat.....

Sad, isn't it?

Click to expand...

I thought it might be, but if grilling doesn't bother them then I doubt a smoker would it just makes them drool longer.

And yes, that would be shocking and sad. Imagine leading a life like that.

You can always beg forgiveness later!

Revvy said:

No, I'm a minister. And where do you think "Revvy" comes from? You never noticed my sigline?

Click to expand...

Haha, I thought it was just a nickname for some reason, I went to Catholic grade school (St. Germaine) where reverends are priests and my high school was catholic run by the Christian Brothers (DLS), not sure what denomination you are.

Awesome, thanks for the suggestions. I'm definitely getting one. Now I've even got the SWMBO on board because if you guys!

We live close enough to our neighbors that they get really hungry when we run the smoker... our solution? we always share.

I believe that sharing a bit of the smoked product would go a long way to resolving any smoke related issues.

Then again, if you turn out meat like I do, you could have a neighborhood riot on your hands.