So this past weekend, we had several family members in for visiting including my wife’s twin sister and my niece and nephew, and my aunt and uncle. My step mother isn’t the best cook (I think she does just fine, but she doesn’t seem to think so) so on Saturday we stepped up to offer our services of smokin’ some ribs and a brisket.
For those that don’t know - it is an art to smoke the perfect meat - there’s alot more that goes into it when compared to just a straight BBQ and grilling meat. I’m not knockin’ BBQ or Grilling, I love to do both, but smoking takes more skill.
Since I’m relatively new (2 or 3 years) to smoking meat, I just wanted to share a few points of interest for the newbie. One of the biggest challenges of smoking meat is knowing the temperature range in which you should smoke - there are thermostats you can purchase that help you find this range, but in my experience, they aren’t always based on the best method, but more on getting the temp to a certain point to make sure the meat gets hot enough to kill off any bacteria - while this is important, it is also not the best way to get your meat that hot right from the start - you gotta remember, you aren’t grilling, and this is a process that takes HOURS, rather than minutes - the whole point of smoking meat is to infuse the flavor and slow cook the meat with non-direct heat.
The method I use is to get my charcoal/wood in and flaming, and try and keep the temperature around 165°F to 175°F. Once there, place the meat on the grills, and let the temp get back to where you want it, in this range. (Whenever you open the grill/smoker to put the meat in, you lose all of your heat). Once that’s done, you want to put in some water soaked wood chips, which help create a flavor smoke for the meat. At this point, I put a lot of wood chips directly on the fire and let the smoking begin - I will carry on with this for about an hour and a half - making sure a steady flow of smoke is all over the meat (quick tip: do not open the grill at this point, you’ll lose all of the smoke buildup you’ve just worked hard to get in there - you want so much smoke you can’t see the meat!)
Once you’ve accomplished that - go ahead and start raising the temp - I like to get mine to about 225 - 240°F for the remainder of the process. I don’t like to stop the smoke, so I will constantly check the smoker and put in more wood chips as needed.
If you happen to start losing temp, don’t be afraid to add more charcoal or wood (whichever you are using - I use charcoal, personally) and allow that to catch so you can better maintain temp - you gotta remember, this process will take 4 to 6 hours - more sometimes - depending on how much meat, the type of meat, and how hot you maintain - so you don’t want to lose all of your fire, at some point you will HAVE to put in more fuel.
About 15 minutes before you are going to pull the meat, you wanna add any sauce you are going to apply to the meat (mainly BBQ sauce on pork ribs at my house) - this will allow the smoke to “harden” the sauce on the meat, allowing it to become some sticky goodness.
When you do finally pull the meat, you wanna let it set for about 15 to 20 minutes before you start carving - this will allow for more of the juice to be reabsorbed as well as some of the heat to leave so it’s not too hot to handle while you carve it.
Then throw down some of whatever sides you like along with the meat, and eat yourself into the stuffed state. I’m telling you, smoked meat will be some of the best “grilling” you’ve ever eaten.
Side Notes:
- Make sure and place a large bowl of water directly above the flame - some people say a bowl of water anywhere, but I’ve found you get a lot more moisture when you infuse the wood smoke with steam from the water - you might have to add more later, but it’s worth it!
OK, more tips in a future post, including meat preparation and types; as well as air flow through your smoker/grill… and a special note about preparing a brisket.
For more before then - check out my buddy’s BBQ Tips!
