Quote Originally Posted by gustavus View Post
from Wikipedia.

and is the compound responsible for the preservation and the flavor of meat in the process of smoking.

The two main types in industrial production are wood-tar creosote and coal-tar creosote — the coal-tar variety, having stronger and more toxic properties, has chiefly been used as a preservative for wood; while the wood-tar variety has been used for meat preservation
Those are the only two points I see in there pertaining to smoking meat. The fact is, you don't want smoke billowing out of it, very little smoke is actually best, the mere presence of the wood heat is more than sufficient for flavoring. I keep the fire hot enough in the fireplace to cook it, without transferring too much of that heat into the oven, for cooking it slow, without overcooking. It's kind of tricky, and since I made it, it doesn't have all the automatic gadgets you might find on a commercial smoker, so I have to keep a good eye on it, but to me, it's a day well spent. One load will put enough in the freezer to last a long long time, with plenty to share. Wish I had some photos of it in action, but it's been awhile, and they're all on my old computer, maybe I can dig em up sometime, or maybe get some new ones, got two turkeys still in the freezer from holiday sales