Brief Introduction to Smoking
Grilled on June 11th, 2006 in SmokologyWith grilling, you sear and cook the meat at high heat over a relatively short period of time. You do get a bit of the smokiness, more so if you’re using charcoal, but not a tremendous amount in part because of the high temperature (searing the meat prevents the smoke from becoming infused in the meat). Smoking, however, is an entirely different matter. It’s both a cooking and a flavoring process but is more relaxed, as they say, and occurs over a longer period of time, several hours instead of minutes. I always thought smoking was the bastion of experts in restaurants and food connoisseurs but it turns out smoking is quite popular amongst grill novices such as myself.
Conceptually smoking is really simple. Apply indirect heat to cook the meat, use smoldering and smoking wood chips to infuse flavor, have a drink and relax. If you’re using a water smoker, where heat is applied to a pan of water as the indirect heat supply, the moisture from the water will keep your meats juicy and tender while the smoke works its magic.
Another step that is critically important in smoking is the use of dry rubs that will create a tasty coat for your meats to wear. I don’t know jack about dry rubs (yet!) but I do know that they are mighty tasty when done correctly (the extent of my knowledge involves using Montreal Steak Seasoning all the time).
If you have a Weber grill, and I have some sitting around that I don’t use anymore, you can actually convert them into smokers using a Smokenator 1000 kit ($34.95 plus $10 S&H. The BBQ Report mentions how the Smokenator 1000 works and I look forward to his review of it (he received one from the manufacturer).
If you have the Weber kettle and the Smokenator and a good thermometer, you don’t need anything else to do barbecue, whether it’s a pink pig or black-edged brisket.
Unless you’re cooking for a large group.
For backyard barbecue, you can use the same grill you make your hamburgers and hot dogs on as a perfectly good smoker, with about $50 invested on the Smokenator and a little practice.
I’ve previously just used a hotplate with a thick foil pie plate full of soaked apple, oak or mesquite chips, in a big terracotta pot, under a smaller inverted terracotta pot. Then, I would put my Weber grate over the top of the big pot, put my meat on that, and cover the whole shooting match with another big terracotta pot.
You set the hotplate so it will get the chips smoking, and the heat from that will heat up the pot it’s sitting under (and the meat is sitting over). Smoke fills the inside just like a vertical smoker, and it does a fine job for just a few bucks.
But it’s a pain to set it all up. I’m glad I found the Smokenator. It lets me set up to smoke in no time, using nothing more than the grill I already have, with the Smokenator tucked inside. I like brining and smoking chicken with a very simple pepper rub.
You can brine a chicken in a short time, butterfly it, rub it with poultry seasoning and a bit of black pepper, and put it in a 250 degree kettle with the Smokenator and have mouth watering chicken in only 3 hours or so.
Smoker cooking on a gas grill is also possible. The key is temperature control. For hot smoking, the most common type, it is important to keep your grill at about 225 degrees. Here are a few more tips.
You need a smoke source. Here is the easiest way to make a smoker pouch.
-Wrap 1 to 2 cups soaked wood chips in heavy duty aluminum foil.
-Poke a few holes in the top of the foil, so the smoke to escape.
-To obtain a smoky flavor, use a mix of mesquite and hickory wood.
-Make up at least two of these pouches, one may burn up.
Smoke is really only needed for the first couple hours.
Place the pouch directly over the burner you’ll be using, under the grateon top of the lava rocks or the metal shield. Light the burner and set on high until you see smoke, then set it to your needed heat. This may take a little practice.
When you see smoke place the food on the grate opposite the smoking wood. Cover the grill keep the temperature between 225 and 250 degrees during the cooking process.
The hottest part of most gas grills is the intersection of one of the gas burner tubes and the pilot light. Try to place the smoker pouch here.
You may want to do a test run on your gas grill prior to smoking with it. Start one burner until the grill is 250 degrees. Set the burner to low and check the temperature in about 20 minutes. Adjust the flame until your grill stays around 225 degrees.
j2c5q8ntn0hp8×8n