Great Recipes
with step by step instructions and Instructional Videos. Smoking
information, tips and techniques.
The content within this page is a set of tips
and techniques I use to produce high quality smoked
foods. I spend allot of time researching best
practices and new methods so my finished products
are the best they can be. Taste and texture are
critical to smoking meats with great tasting
results.
Temperature
Temperature is one of the most critical
components to great smoking results. The best
results will be obtained at temperatures around the
225 to 250 degree range. Too low of temperature with
larger cuts can lead to unhealthy bacteria
colonizing. See my safety tips below. One of the
most difficult tasks up front is keeping a some what
steady temperature inside your smoker. Large
fluctuations in temperature can produce lesser
quality in your smoked products. Water pans are
commonly used in many of the smokers these days as a
heat sink. Some believe they are there to add
moisture. Although they do provide added humidity,
they provide excellent heat absorption keeping the
chamber from severe heat fluctuation. Some folks
also use sand in their pans to provide the same heat
absorption. Accurate temperature monitoring is
also beneficial. After market thermometers including
wireless dual probe transmitters that send the meat
and chamber temp to a remote display you can take in
your house. See my tools section below.
Tools
Maverick wireless thermometer with dual
heat probe I use one of these and they can be a life
saver. We are all busy and it's hard to
constantly keep watch on our smokers. All it
takes with some smokers is 20 minutes time
passing and temperature can drastically
fluctuate within the chamber. Missing your
target temperature on your smoked meats will be
the difference between serving a tender juicy
cut and serving a tough dry cut. Example:
Maverick Dual Probe Remote
Thermometer
Quick read commercial grade
thermometer
The temperature of
your smoked meats is critical to safety and
quality. Under cooked poultry can be unhealthy
and overcooked meats are dry and touch. Maverick
has a great digital quick read thermometer that
is commercial grade. These things are a bit
spendy but they are accurate and keep your arms
and hands from being over the heat too long. All
the features you'd expect in a commercial-grade
thermometer, You're assured an accurate reading
every time to 1 degree C. The Pro-Temp is water
and dust resistant, as well as shock-resistant
to multiple drops on a concrete floor-a must in
a fast-paced commercial kitchen environment.
Some additional details about the
Maverick Pro-Temp
Commercial Thermometer PT-100
include: Instant measurement of temperatures
from -40F to 450F within three seconds.
Flavor
Injector
Every pitmaster has to have one. If you have not
tried flavor injecting, I highly recommend it.
There are many flavor injector from syringe type
to larger commercial pump types. For most
backyard pitmasters a syringe type is all you
will need. If your injecting a whole hog, well
then that's another story. When selecting a
flavor injector try and get one with the round
hole for your fingers. They allow you to fill
and inject with one hand. The one I have been
using is not this type and I and finding it to
be a pain to work with. I just ordered the
following.
Progressive International
Flavor Injector
Misting Bottle
Probably the best bang for the buck.
These are basic store bought spray bottles that
allow you to fill them with thin liquids such as
apple juice and brown sugar. Key to keeping your meat
moist, mist it with the spray bottle of juice or
like mixture every hour. The spray bottle allows
you to adequately coat the meat in a fraction of
the time it would take to mop. Doing this
quickly is key to heat reducing heat loss as you
lose less heat the short duration the lid is
open to your smoker.
The Charcoal Chimney - For
you charcoal burners
I no longer burn charcoal for taste
reasons but will say that when I did my best
friend was the charcoal chimney. What a great
concept. This device allows you to literally
start charcoal with nothing more them newspaper
and a match. The charcoal is stacked within a
cylinder with vent holes so it ignites and gets
up to temperature quickly allowing ease of
adding charcoal and maintaining a steady as can
be temperature within your smoking chamber. Hats
off to whom ever came up with this idea.
Webber Charcoal Chimney
Wrap, Rest & Carving 2 great tips for the beginner. Learn the
benefits of wrapping and resting your meats
after cooking, cutting against the grain and how
to easily mark the direction of the meats grain.
These two tips will help you bring your "A"
game!
Safety - Anyone wishing to add to this
safety section or correct me is welcome to email me.
Latex or like gloves Gloves are a great way to handle raw or
cooked foods for that matter without
transferring germs or bacteria from your skin to
the meat. They also provide a barrier to keep
fats, rubs etc. from getting all over your
hands. I tend to go through a few pair when
smoking meats.
Temperature of meats
Most know it's critical to cook meats to a
specific heat range to kill bacteria and provide
for a fully cooked product. It's just as
important to cook at temperatures high enough to
bring your cut of meat up to 140 degrees within
4 hours. Failure to do so may result in the
colonization of bacteria within the meat.
USDA Food Handling Safety
- I highly recommend reading this.
Piercing raw meats with probes and
injectors When piercing raw meats with temperature
probes and injectors you take the risk of
pushing bacteria deep into the meat. Normally
bacteria on the outer layer of your meats will
get killed off by the rate of temperature
increase during the smoking process. If bacteria
should get deep within the meat it could
colonize as the internals of the meat take much
longer to reach 14o degrees. When injecting raw
meat submerge the injector and needle in boiling
water to kill off any bacteria. When using a
heat probe do the same and avoid inserting the
probe into the meat until it is approximately
140 degrees. This does require a guess but you
will be much safer using this method them not.