Smoked Mac and Cheese

Most of the cooking I do is NOT on a smoker so I don't know why I keep posting only about smoker cooking these days. Having said that here is yet another smoker recipe (you'll need to have your smoker ready, naturally):

Smoked Mac and Cheese
16 oz. package of macaroni
1/4 c. butter
1/4 c. flour
1/2 c. heavy cream 2 1
/2 c. milk
1/2 pound smoked gouda cheese, shredded
2 oz. bleu cheese crumbles
2 c. sharp cheddar cheese
Handfull of fresh grated parmesan
Salt and pepper to taste

Bring a large pot of water to a boil, then cook the macaroni according to package directions until al dente. While you're working on your macaroni melt the butter in a large skillet over medium heat, add the flour and blend, stir frequently for four minutes or so, just to remove the raw flour flavor. Add the cream and milk and continue stirring until this mixture begins to thicken - you will probably need to raise the heat. Once the sauce has thickened slightly add the cheeses and stir to melt.

Drain the macaroni and add it to the cheese mixture. Taste for seasoning and add salt and pepper as needed. Pour the mac and cheese into a disposable metal pan and smoke for approximately an hour. This is seriously good and really creamy. I thought about adding a bread crumb topping to this but I'm glad I didn't.

Smokin' Time!!

I love this time of year - time to break out the grills and smokers!

Today I smoked two large chickens, some trout fillets and redfish on the halfshell.

Quick post - chickens were approximately 5 to 5 1/2 lbs. each. I butterflied them after a dry-brining (will write on this later), air dried them for two hours them threw them on the el-cheapo Brinkman water smoker. Smoking time for large chickens - 4 and 1/2 hours.

I also smoked trout fillets (small) and the redfish. I put the redfish on during the last hour of smoking and added the trout for the last 30 minutes, but the trout needed to be smoked longer. It was done but it hadn't had enough time to pick up the smokey flavor.

Anyway - I've had a hard time finding APPROXIMATE cook times on the internet - everyone wants to warn you of internal temperature. This is good information, but not helpful when you're trying to time your dinner. That's why I posted this and hope it helps somebody out there.