The Ordinary Miracle of the Resurrection of the Brinkmann Smoker

We and our friends had tried them all. For us, the start was the old charcoal Brinkmann, the heavy bullet-shaped smoker that required getting up in the middle of the night to light a bucket full of charcoal and wait until it was glowing red with white edges before carefully threading little fireplace ash shovels of coals through the tiny-ish aluminum door to replenish the heat. This was so that no one would die of food poisoning the next day. One too many smoked chickens tasting of 2 AM charcoal lighter made the electric version of the Brinkmann smoker catch my eye in Lowe's when the bottom rusted out of the charcoal fueled one that had served us through 3 summers.

We knew we were cheaters opting for that plug-in heating element. But everyone was going in different directions. This was North Alabama, home of smoked chicken slathered in White Sauce, a vinegar/mayo concoction Big Bob Gibson over in Decatur had thrown together a couple of decades earlier. Every friend and relative we had was dabbling. Green egg cookers with their natural charcoal. Big black iron boxes heated with propane. And everyone buying bag after bag of wood chips: mesquite, hickory, cherry, you name it. Plus the recipes for white sauce were all over the place, using inferior vinegars and adding all kinds of abominations such as sugar and even garlic.

We sampled more than our share of local commercially prepared smoked chickens and white sauce, not to mention all the church dinners and family and friend barbecues featuring a couple of different versions. And each time we came back to our version made on the widely available, inexpensive electric Brinkmann smoker. But instead of buying bags of wood chips, we just saved our fresh windfall hickory limbs and cut them into small chunks about 4" long. The electricity provides a slow even cooking heat while the hickory gives the meat a rich veneer and that pure authentic smoked flavor. I have heard it said and I am a believer: it's not the most expensive smoker that makes the best product. If you want to sample some good smoked meat, go look for the woodpile.

This year, there is plenty of windfall hickory wood, but the company that makes Brinkmann smoker is no longer in business, and our last Brinkmann gave up the ghost at the end of last year.

But thanks to Ebay, we found a new smoker base and were back in business with parts we salvaged from our previous two Brinkmanns.

Now to tackle our vintage White Mountain Ice Cream maker.