So you’re reading and reading, and you’ve went out and bought or made yourself a smoker. You’ve now taken in an abundance of information that should now make yourself think you’re a professional with a line of professional smokers, right? Well, maybe not, but that is okay because confidence is good. However, I”ll always say that preparation is half the battle in BBQ cooking, and we’ll help you along the right path with these tips.

Choosing the right kind of wood

This can in fact, make our break your BBQ food experience. It’s not likely depending on the forgiveness of the meat, forgiveness of the smokers you use, and the forgiveness of the wood. I highly recommend you read our Smokers and types of wood post to give a better idea or direction to go in. Choose wisely and you will be thanking yourself later. You’ll then have to decide whether to use a chunk, chips, or pellets. Chunks are good for a long smoke, for the likes of brisket or even ribs. They’re also easier to maintain the temperature within the smokers that you use. If your smokers can handle it, use the chunks. Chips are not a bad alternative. Chips are used in a wide variety of smokers that use charcoal as their base of flame or heat. A lot of people use them in little bullet-style smokers because chunks won’t fit. Make sure to soak them in water about an hour before hand our else they will burn way too fast and hot. Pellets, the least common of the three, are self explanatory. They are only used in electric auger-style smokers.

Preparing your meat

This can go many different ways in terms of certain recipes. We won’t go too much into that because you should be experimenting with your BBQ experiences. Not to mention, that are plenty of BBQ recipe websites out there. We just want to point out that you should give yourself, more than anything, time. I cannot stress this enough because its happened to me. You’re running around trying to light up your smoker, prep your meat, and whatever else is going on. Prepare your meat the night before or at least 2-3 hours before hand. This will give you plenty of time to heat up the smoker, relax for a moment, and grab a beer. BBQ should never be rushed and honestly, neither should you because after all, this is BBQ and cooking on smokers, both of which should be fun. Let your meat marinate, refrigerated, for a bare minimum, 1 hour. Also be sure to trim any access fat not wanted or needed and be sure your apply your dry rubs and/or injections liberally.

Beginning and during the smokers cooking process

A lot of our smokers can potentially have a “hot spot.” Obviously, we want to make sure our meat stays away from that spot as we have to remember, we’re doing an indirect form of cooking on our smokers, not direct. Most lines of smokers are pretty good about eliminating this so most people don’t have to worry. Be sure to note the position of your meat when you go to rotate it half way throughout the cooking process. Smokers can be forgiving, but that doesn’t mean you should slack. Be sure to have a proper way of checking the temperature in your smokers and the rest should be good to go!

Before we do any typing of cooking in our smokers, we ask ourselves, “what kind of wood do I need to use?” Well, here are going to give some basic overview on different types of woods you can use in smokers. This will hopefully feel of what woods to try with certain types of foods, so don’t be afraid to experiment. There are some rules to certain woods for your smokers, but we’ll get to that below.

Hickory

You just really cannot go wrong with hickory when it comes to cooking any type of red meat in your smokers. It’s a decently mild wood that can produce good hearty, but sweet flavor. Its most popular when it comes to cooking ribs and pork shoulders because those are 2 characteristics we usually look for. I would never recommend this wood to anyone cooking chicken, though. Have you ever heard of Hickory flavored chicken? I think not. Use this wood in any variety of smokers with any type of meat mentioned above, and you should be happy with the outcome.

Mesquite

A lot of people, when they hear mesquite, they think of turkey or chicken breast. Some people like to use mesquite like they use hickory in their smokers, as a sort of all-around good wood to use. I beg to differ because the flavor from mesquite can become very distinct in certain meats that soak the smoke in. This is why mesquite in our smokers, coupled with say a brisket or ribs, may be the wrong choice because you’re going to get an overpowered taste, in my opinion. I would mostly stick to turkey or chicken with this wood, and most smokers won’t take long to cook either of them, so you won’t get any intense flavors you don’t want!

Apple and Cherry

These two are similar because they produce a sweet smoke throughout the meat in our smokers. We all love sweet so this wood can be popular amongst the pork crowd, but both are mild enough to be used for poultry and chicken. I have personally switched from using hickory on my pork, to cherry wood, and the taste difference with my sauce and rub, which are more spicy, give a very nice contrast to the flavor of the meat. I feel as if this wood is becoming more and more popular amongst the competition BBQ scene, and they can also be used amongst other woods to give them a different smoke profile in their smokers.

Oak

Oak is a lot like hickory, in that it is a versatile piece of wood. Its flavor is never overpowering and it burns well. This makes it popular for the brisket crowd, because as we all know, briskets take a lot of time to cook. This wood gives brisket the just right amount of smoke flavor, while retaining the actual flavor of the meat. Throw a good amount of this wood in your smokers and sit back.

Pecan

Pecan is kind of like Oak and Hickory’s brother. Its commonly found amongst champion BBQ smokers and is a nice blend of characteristics. It burns cool enough to allow temperature control, but it boasts a superb smoke flavor. It also produces a small profile of fruit, which as you know by now, is a popular trait amongst woods. On top of all that, it is still robust enough to hang around in your smokers to cook brisket, and other big cuts of meat. Needless to say, this is almost the king of woods. You can use this on just about anything.

Beginning in the world of using smokers to cook your meat, there are in fact, a lot of options to choose from. These options range from your super traditional barrel style smokers, to your luxurious electric powered smokers. Any of them can produce a great piece of meat. The real quality comes in the preparation and heat you cook the meat. Here is a short overview of a couple your popular smokers:

Barrel or “bullet” style smokers:

These smokers are super basic. Imagine a 55 gallon drum, with a fire lit at the bottom. This can be in the form of just wood, or even an electrical plate burner. This will lead up to a water bowl. This will basically act as a buffer between your fire and your meat, therefore giving you the indirect heat you desire in using smokers. The water bowl does not go all the way to the edge of the barrel so it allows heat to rise completely around the bowl, leading to the meat rack. The meat rack of most any type of smokers, is going to be at the very top point of the unit. You feed your fire to maintain temperature and your water bowl to keep the moisture in the meat. It doesn’t get any more simple than this.

Off-set smoke box smokers:

These can be made from a similar style of barrel that the bullet styles are made from, the 55 gallon drum, but its  going to be sitting horizontal, instead of vertical. What separates this from just a regular charcoal grill, is your fire, or heat source, is found in a box that is attached to these smokers. This is what is referred to as a “smoke box.” It can be fueled by wood or even an electric source as mentioned before, but this does give you the true sense of indirect smoke, as the smoker box is not under the meat. Wind flow will move your heat and smoke, usually from left to right, and that cooks your meat. These smokers are generally your most popular middle-of-the-line options but can also very well still be custom made for your needs.

Electric auger-style smokers:

These units tend to be the “Cadillac of smokers.” The reason behind this is for one simple reason, and that is because they are fully electric powered, even in terms of their temperature control. They have a box to the side, like the off-set style smokers, that contain a specially designed wood pellet, that can be of your favorite choice of wood. The box will is connected to an auger-style bit that will, slowly or speedily, feed the wood pellets into your smoker. This is basically your form of automatic temperature control. You have the ability to set your speed, check your temperature, and leave your smoker alone for hours at a time. This to me, is the luxurious, less raw style of smokers. If you have a busy day, or you have something come up unexpected, but you want to cook some delicious bbq, you couldn’t ask for more.

Everyone talks about cooking meat, and which method they prefer. A lot of people prefer to use grills, ad a lot of people prefer smokers. This poses the question, which is ultimately better? We shall take a look at some pros and cons’s of each and decide the best.

Smokers provide one thing, and that is smoke. Anyone familiar with the bbq world knows that this means a “low and slow” type of cooking. This means, our smokers will achieve a low temperature, while the overall cook time is very slow, meaning 8+ hours at a time. Cuts of meat that would otherwise be very tough cooked on a grill will be very soft and decadent cooked a variety of different smokers. These cuts mainly include a beef brisket or a pork shoulder. Yes, these are two different animals that the cut comes from, but they are the most worked between each animal. Each cut cooked in a smoker is going to render down the fat and hard working tissue found in each one. The smokers will finally end up producing a meal we have grown to love and cherish throughout the years.

The only downside to smokers is in fact the method that they prefer to cook at. A low and slow method as described above is not ideal for all cuts of meat. When we want to go outside and fire up a grill, we have the luxury of reaching maximum temperature at a quick amount of time, unlike that of a smoker. We need to sear both sides of a steak at over 500 degrees, at least, for proper juice containment. Most smokers will do a max of 475 degrees, and that’s shooting for the moon. Smokers just aren’t meant to reach that type of temperature due to the cuts of meat they are used to cooking, and that’s tougher cuts.

Grills, especially propane, have a huge advantage over any smokers, mainly the fact they can hit a high temperature without even blinking an eye. This is especially true if you are using a propane gas setup, which is fairly common among grills currently. Propane is a super hot burning fuel that instantly lights your grills up with the flick of a button, or igniter. This allows you to cook steaks, shrimp, or even hamburgers at a substantial rate without even blinking an eye. A wide variety of smokers won’t even provide this option.

We all have to remember that the most prestigious cuts of meat do come in the form of smokers, though. There is no denying the fact that a slower and lower temperature will produce a more succulent piece of meat, just like all of the smokers out there. The grills out there do their job for their certain cuts of meat, and smokers do their job their certain cuts of meat, and that’s the bottom line. Grills will certainly be the average guy’s number one man when it comes to the backyard grill, but the connoisseur of smoking or grilling, will turn to his line of smokers.

We all love bbq and that is a given. Welcome to the new blog that will give you every and all news about different smokers, grills, and everything in between.