A tip from one in Native "Smoke" country (Texas) Regardless of your chosen smoking wood there is a term often over looked,green wood and seasoned wood,knowing the true differences is the key to over all smoke quality. Mesquite is a very good wood when used with experience,that "toxic" flavor most describe is from the "green" and primarily from the bark. Remove the bark on wood that isnt at least a year/season old from cutting and the animal indeed changes spots. Using Mesquite as a finishing wood works very well over both pecan and oak for very distinct flavors with all meats(even fish,both fresh and saltwater species) These simple tricks are passed down thru generations and will not be seen on FoodTV. I cant wait to grow some quality strains and smok'em like we do old school wild game meats.

Thanks everyone! you are very kind. I always feel that cavemen(cavewomen) discovered smoked meat after a forest fire and taste for smoked food is in our DNA. Smoked food adds so much more possibilities to taste. Unless you have a smoker, it is kind of difficult to smoke. Of course you can use Liquid Smoke, it's good, but not the same. You can now buy "smoke gun" to do quick small scale smoking. See link below. Ssommerville, Traeger makes good reasonable smokers. Which model do you have? I have a very different smoker. My smoker overcomes many smoker limitations. It has 4.5 cubic foot of capacity, and can smoke from below 32F to 200F any time of the year. This allows me to cold smoke salmon, cheese, tofu, etc. in the summer time. Even salads, chocolate, meringue, sauces, butters and fruit can have unique new culinary sensations by adding cool smoke. Yes wild rice too. It is a convection smoker that is PID digitally controlled to within one degree of accuracy, which allows me to smoke meat without over cooking. The best part is, it is an indoor smoker. I can smoke inside my house without setting off the smoke alarm or have the whole house fumigated by hickory flavor. It is a home-made smoker. dcarch Here is a link that might be useful: Smoke Gun This post was edited by dcarch on Sat, Mar 9, 13 at 8:34

Oly, oddly enough, I did make wild rice with the first chicken breast, but I made it with dried and fresh mushrooms, garlic, and onion. It was very good and cooked quickly in my pressure cooker. Instead of stock, I used the water that I rehydrated the mushrooms in. I don't remember what kind of dried mushrooms they were (label is in Chinese), but I had misplaced them in my pantry in a half-gallon jar (not easy to misplace!). They were not Shitake and were very tender with a mild flavor, somewhat similar to Porcini. I'm glad I found them because the nearest Chinese market is 20 minutes away in South Bay (99 Ranch). The dried mushroom medley that I bought at TJ's was much more expensive and not as good. I used to buy dried mushrooms in bulk at Surfas Restaurant Supply, but I didn't see them the last time I was there. I like having them on hand and use them often, even if I have fresh mushrooms. Pizza sounds good - I also have leftover pizza I could add it too and put a slice of cheese over it. In the past I have made open faced sandwiches with the smoked chicken and then covered it with a mushroom veloute sauce. That was good also. I used the same sauce with the chicken to have with pasta, and I did not like that as much - rice was better. Maybe I will just cook some potatoes and frozen vegetables and have that with the mushroom sauce over reheated chicken. I bought extra frozen vegetables to make the pot pies. I also have leftover filling for the pies, but it already has potato in it. Lars This post was edited by publickman on Mon, Nov 4, 13 at 14:24

wow I haven't updated in a while. Renovations are going slow. SO far all I got accomplished is getting my window put in and my back wall now has fake bricks face over real bricks, LOL. I did get my fuse box taken out and now have a circuit breaker box, window is out and vent hood vent is in place. whoooo whooooo. here are some previews. Like I said nothing finished yet... window is in brick face wall...still a little wet Logs were re-chinked and painted white and I decided that was tooo much so I covered them partially with drywall I had to get a new door because my cabinets would not fit through the 31" doorway. Doorway is now 36" a couple of cabinets are up Of course you can get the blow by blow story on my blog