Me too! We had some friends over last weekend. They invited themselves and told me I was grilling for them. Cherry smoke grilled beef is to kill for! Plus with our cookers we can get the fire close and very hot for a really good sear and rare interior if one uses at least a 1" thick steak. It can be accomplished with either blast furnace temperatures (Impossible to do over propane unless it's a $5k+ model) or a hot fire, lower temperature overall, and get the steak very close to the fire. Killer steaks! Anyway, For each batch of spam I used 5 large chunks of hickory (1/2- 2/3 the size of my fist) and removed the spam when the majority of the smoke stopped, about 1 1/4 - 1 1/2 hours at 225F. The CB stayed in for the entire 2 1/2 - 3 hours. I didn't bother taking the temperature of the CB, I knew it was done long before I removed it, it was in there for an extra hour for the smoke. I could've cooked the spam longer and have done so in the past. It does help them to "sweat" out some of the fat. That day I was pressed for time and only wanted them to bathe in smoke. I've also used corncob, maple, and apple smoke and they're good too. I have yet to try pecan and walnut. In years past I've used cherry smoke on pork but IMO it's too sweet for pork. I ate an "egg muffin" 8" sub this AM for breakfast, 2 fresh eggs from my hens, 2 slices of cheese and mess of the CB. Absolutely delicious! It'll hold me until supper.
Thanks for the ideas guys. As for the fat I try to cut off most of the large pieces as it has a nice marble of fat through it. Then I also scoop out some of the fat when its warm. Then when cooled for the next day I also take off the top. It was very veyr nice. I love steaks on a propane BBQ. Can get them up pretty hot to get a good sear and grill marks. I don't like them too chared so just a couple mins on each side and done .
