How Do I Add Smoke to Sloppy Joes?

[pmillen]

A buddy is leaving Fargo this morning (3-11-15) on an old Norton Featherlight-framed café racer.  He'll be at my house for dinner and will spend the night.

We'll have sloppy Joes and beer for dinner.  Simple recipe—brown the hamburger, add onions, peppers, garlic, ketchup, tomato paste, chili sauce, red pepper flakes, dry mustard and maybe other stuff.  How can I add smoke?  I have a pellet smoker, a Weber kettle and a PBC.

Would it be effective to set the pellet unit to make a lot of smoke at 350° and cook in the pit, opening it just when necessary (mixing or adding things)?

[Old Dave]

I think you would have the best results by just making up some burgers with the ground beef and then cooking them indirect on your Weber kettle over some lump charcoal with something like hickory chunks on the fire at say about 250-275 degrees until done. Then just crumble up the burgers for your sloppy joes recipe. You might be surprised at how well this will work for your treat.

Dave

[ACW3]

You won't get any smoke on your pellet pooper at 350 F from pellets.  I have taken burger (elk or beef) and put it in a disposable  aluminum pan and set my MAK at 200 F until it was done.  I do this several times a year when I am making big batches of my chili.  Just the right amount of smoke without getting too carried away.  I have also added some extra smoke using my Amazen tube smoker.

Art 

[teesquare]

Ground meat is not recommended for cold smoking....Unless it is kept at 40F or lower.  Just another option for the winter time...

[muebe]

Liquid Smoke will work!

Good for situations like this.

A little goes a long way!

[pmillen]

Thanks for the suggestions.  He's not coming until tomorrow, Thursday, 3-12-15.  So we have more time to think about it.

You won't get any smoke on your pellet pooper at 350 F from pellets.

Art, I can set my Fast Eddy PG-500 to make smoke, even too much smoke, at almost any temperature setpoint.  But I can set it at 200° F as you suggest to give it more time to take on the smoke flavor.

I have also added some extra smoke using my Amazen tube smoker.

I lit my A-Maze-N-Tube once.  It made white, harsh smoke.  I haven't used it since.

Ground meat is not recommended for cold smoking....Unless it is kept at 40F or lower.  Just another option for the winter time...

Tee, I wasn't thinking of cold smoking.  Are you thinking that 200° will keep the hamburger in the danger zone (40° to 140°)  too long?

[smokeasaurus]

Old Dave nailed it.   Slow smoked burgers are so good....just crumble em up and add the sauce.....

[Wingman]

Old Dave nailed it.   Slow smoked burgers are so good....just crumble em up and add the sauce.....

You can smoke the onions and peppers at the same time.

[drholly]

Liquid Smoke will work!

Good for situations like this.

A little goes a long way!

A good quality liquid smoke is just that - liquid smoke  nothing wrong with that. As muebe says, perfect for this situation. And, as he also says a LITTLE goes a LONG way.

[tlg4942]

 I did some deer meat a week ago using the method Old Dave mentioned. Worked great.  Also if you can find smoked salt it will add a nice flavor too.

[Pam Gould]

A quarter of a teaspoon may be too much, depending on how much you make..just have to taste it and see.  It does go a lonnngggggg way.  .☆´¯`•.¸¸. ི♥ྀ.

[pmillen]

A quarter of a teaspoon may be too much, depending on how much you make..just have to taste it and see.  It does go a lonnngggggg way.  .☆´¯`•.¸¸. ི♥ྀ.

Scares me.  I've never used it but sometimes taste it in restaurant meals.  I think it's creosote in suspension.

[TentHunteR]

Smoked paprika is another idea. We use it for hot dog chili which is pretty close to Sloppy Joe.

[Pam Gould]

Smoked paprika is another idea.

I'm with Cliff here, I hickory smoked some salt and paprika and peppercorns,  that helps too, not a big fan of liquid smoke, but I do have some here.  .☆´¯`•.¸¸. ི♥ྀ.

[RAD]

I did another rack of ribs in the pressure cooker last and went with muebe's suggestion of adding the liquid smoke. Made a world of difference.