About Smoking Meats
Keys: Bbq Barbequed Barbecued Grilling Information Smoking Yield: 1
Ingredients:
Americans Add a New Dimension to Grilling
Method:
Join the smoking sophisticated crowd. For grilling connoisseurs who want
to spend time crafting subtle flavors, smoking on the grill is the way
to go.
Smoking meat is a growing trend for the great flavor it adds to food
without fat. When the smoke - created by using wood chips on the fire -
encircles mild meats like pork, fish and poultry, it produces a
mouth-watering flavor and rich color that's hard to resist.
Guidelines for Smoke-Cooking in a Kettle-Style Grill
Smoking is easy to do and can be accomplished in a kettle-style grill
using indirect heat and adding wood chips to banked coals.
At least two hours before you plan to start cooking, place wood chips or
chunks in water to soak. Estimate two chunks of wood or a good handful
of wood chips for each hour of planned smoke-cooking time. If you have
leftover soaked wood after completing smoking, it can be dried and used
at another time.
Build the fire about 40 minutes before you plan to start cooking: Remove
the cooking grate from the covered grill and build a pile of about 25 to
30 charcoal briquettes on one side of the fire grate; light them and let
them burn down to a hot glow, covered with gray ash; leaving only one of
the bottom air vents open, directly under the charcoal. Place an
aluminum loaf pan filled two-thirds full of water across from the
charcoal.
Spread the hot coals with a pair of long-handled tongs to make a bed for
the wood chips or chunks; place a good handful or two chunks of wood
directly on the hot coals. Replace the cooking grate on the grill and
place the food over the pan of water, on the opposite side of the grill
from the fire source. Cover the grill, with the top vents fully open and
directly over the food.
If your kettle grill does not have a thermometer that reads on the
outside of the grill, place an oven thermometer on the grill, close to
the food (not directly over the fire). Or place a candy thermometer on
top of the grill, with the probe placed through top vent. Maintain a
temperature of about 225 to 250 degrees. If the temperature rises above
250, almost close the bottom vent directly under the charcoal,
monitoring the heat and opening that vent again as the temperature
drops.
When smoke-cooking food that takes more than an hour, like a pork
shoulder, you will need to add more charcoal to the fire to maintain
heat. Start a supplemental bed of charcoal burning in a small grill
nearby, about 30 to 40 minutes after you have started cooking. This will
ensure a steady supply of hot coals. For a very long smoke-cooking
period (6 to 8 hours), add 3 to 4 new charcoal briquettes to the
supplemental fire every 40 minutes or so.
Throughout the smoke-cooking process, watch for smoke escaping from the
top vent. As it slows down or stops, add more wood to the fire. When
adding extra wood or charcoal to the fire, work quickly with
long-handled tongs: Each time you take the lid off the grill, it will
add 10 to 15 minutes extra cooking time. But maybe that's okay: Smoking
is a slow, meditative art that provides satisfying rewards for those
patient enough to see it through. And that's where some good company and
chilled libations can assist.
Smoking Tidbits
Foods for the smoker may be prepped the same way as foods for the grill
- marinate or rub prior to smoking, if desired.
Boneless meats such as pork shoulder will undergo shrinkage during long,
slow smoking. Ask your butcher for untrimmed cuts - a layer of fat on
the meat holds shrinkage to a minimum. Simply cut off the fat before
serving.
Use long-handled tongs to add wood to the fire.
Charcoal needs to be added during the smoking process to maintain heat.
Keep a small pile of charcoal burning in a small supplemental grill.
.
A friend is one who knows us, but loves us
anyway.*Angelique*
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