Yoder Smokers Community Forum

Received my YS640 last August, and I'm loving it. I'm from Upstate (Rochester) New York. When I put in my patio last summer, I had the original design extended a foot and the fence line pushed out, just so my Yoder had a nice home.

I just split a ton of Lumberjack pellets with a friend (who just ordered a YS640 Competition Cart partially because he wanted to go with a pellet smoker and I love my Yoder so much so I highly recommended it). I bought a wide variety of pellets, and I'm just starting to experiment with them. Any suggestions are welcome, I think I bought at least one of just about every variety they have.

One of our favorite recipes so far has been Yoder_Herb's Dry Brined Smoked Salmon from this forum. I made it this past weekend for the third time, this time with Lumberjack Fruitwood blend (Apple and Cherry) and it was absolutely delicious.

One of my next projects is bacon - I plan to cure and smoke a nice piece of pork belly. I've been told I'll never go back to store bought once I've made my own.

Still doing a lot of experimenting and learning, but the YS640 seems to create amazing food every time.

Yes, we all love our Yoder's!

If you ever get the chance to get the Copper River Salmon...splurge. Kinda costly, but definitely top notch. A lot easier to get here near Seattle and seasonal but the beautiful dark pink almost orange color along with the extra fat content makes the best smoked salmon ever both visually and on the palate.

There are many bacon recipes. When I make I usually try two different ones. I love the Asian (with hoisen) but also love the traditional maple. One thing to keep in mind is slicing afterwards. I still have not got around to buying a nice slicer and that's what probably keeps me from making more often. Different projects call for either thick or thin but the thick is awesome all alone.

Another easy treat is jerky. Like bacon, after smoking at home the store bought leaves a little room for improvement.

My two other go to's are jalapeno poppers (for an appetizer) goes great with any dinner and a fatty for breakfast (goes well with the bacon but is also a good stand alone or even paired with home fries). I sometime wrap a half pork/half ground beef fatty in the same rub I use for my ribs. Inside I usually keep it simple ...cheese or maybe a few jalapenos.