How to Use a BBQ Smoker?

BBQ Smokers

bbq-smoker-ribs There are times when it would be best to use a BBQ smoker and other times when it would be best to use a different type of BBQ to cook your food on. When BBQ food is cooked well there are few things that can taste better yet if it goes wrong then you have just wasted your food as well as your money. Using a BBQ smoker can without a doubt give you some great tasting food, that is well cooked and will go down well with everybody that has come to your BBQ. So for your benefit and for the benefit of your family and guests here is a guide on how to use a BBQ smoker as well as the reasons why you would want to use them in the first place.

Although BBQ smokers come in various sizes the basic ways of using them, and why you would want to use are essentially the same. The use of BBQ smokers is intended to make sure that all of the food, which cook will taste great. Indeed it should taste like you would expect BBQ food to taste like.

If you have never used a BBQ smoker before the first thing to do is to check the instructions that came with the one that you have brought. Some smokers may have to be used differently from others so even if you have used them before it is still sensible to check the instructions before using a new one for the first time. Do not worry, the more you use a BBQ smoker the simpler it gets to use.

First of all get used to your own individual BBQ smoker. The majority of them have a grill that is fitted with a lid, as well as having a firebox. You have to light the firebox, and once it has got hot enough you place the meat on to the grill. More about the optimal temperatures later.

Then put a large cooking pan immediately under the grill. The purpose of the pan is to capture the meat juices that drop down from the meat as it slowly cooks on the grill above it. To make sure that there is enough liquid in the pan during the cooking time put some water in it. The juices can be drizzled over the cooked meat to increase the flavor, according to your tastes, and the tastes of the people you are cooking for. At the very least there will be less mess for you to clean after the BBQ or party has finished.

bbq-smoker-mobile The next step is achieved by using charcoal to build up a fire within the firebox. You have to cover the top of the charcoal in lighter fluid then you light it. If you are using self lighting BBQ charcoal then you will only need to use a match or a lighter to start the fire. Remember to consider how much food needs to be cooked when you buy charcoal and lighting fluid. It is better to have more charcoal than you need than it is to run out of fuel and have to stop cooking, or to use ovens and grills to finish cooking.

To achieve the smoke affect simply soak some wood chips in water for around half an hour. Then just add a handful of wood chips on to the fire about once every hour. Only do so after all of the charcoal has become white hot, and it is fully lit up.

Finally once the fire has reached its optimum temperature place the meat on to the grill. For the majority of meats the optimum temperature is somewhere between 82.2 and 107 degrees C. To begin with the meat will get much hotter than the optimum range. Yet generally it does tend to cool down to around 107 degrees C for the majority of the cooking time.

To ensure that the fire is maintained at the best temperature range for cooking top it up with a mixture of charcoal and wood chips every hour. As a rule the more meat you have to prepare for the BBQ or party the longer it will take to cook it. So if you have a lot of food you may have to consider starting to use your BBQ smoker earlier and having more charcoal and wood chips to keep the fire going.

As for why you would want to use a BBQ smoker the answer to that question is simple, because of how it makes the food taste. Using the dampened wood chips adds to the amount of smoke compared to if you just used charcoal on its own to cook the meat. It makes the food taste really smoky, which many people prefer as the real taste of BBQ food.

Benefits of BBQ Smoker

For many that regularly have BBQs it is using a BBQ smoker that gives them the taste that they want from the meats that have been slowly cooked on the grill. Cooking the meat slowly reduces the problem of eating under cooked food that could give you food poisoning, or having to throw away burned food. You can also use a meat thermometer to ensure your meat is cooked to the perfect temperature. My grandpa could look at meat and tell you if it was a medium or medium rare while its still on the grill, lucky for us we have meat probes for that.