That thread about the best barbecue in each state from a few weeks ago and the side discussion about how there aren’t many barbecue restaurants in Northern California gave me and idea. I should purchase a backyard smoker and try my hand at making my own barbecue. The fact that a coworker shared some amazing ribs that he made in his own smoker for Labor Day last year also contributed to this idea. And my birthday’s coming up next month, so birthday present to myself!
Except I don’t really know much about smokers. What should a look for in a good one? About how much should I spend on one as a complete beginner? What as considered to be the best brands? And how does a good smoker differ from the cheap Weber charcoal grill I currently own, which I tried smoking some things in years ago with mediocre results? Looking at a few reviews it sound like the electric ones are the most idiot proof (I’m thinking at least part of my issue with the charcoal grill was the coals being too hot). Any disadvantages to the electric kind?
Secondly, please share your favorite barbecue recipes!
My husband has been wanting to build a smoker in the backyard out of brick or stone, so we’ve been reading about and asking whoever knows anything about building such a thing, anything and everything we can think of, so I’ll for surely be keeping a close eye on this thread.
To be clear, I don’t want something as elaborate as a brick or stone smoker like Polyester is talking about (although she’s welcome to piggyback on my thread). I was looking at something more like this or this. Although those are both charcoal and like I said in my OP I wonder if electric might be better.
I’ve got a Traeger Pro 22 pellet smoker that I got for Father’s Day 2017. I’ve used it for up to about 60 lbs of brisket in a single session, 2 big turkeys, 10-15 racks of ribs, and a bunch of other stuff.
It easy to use and fairly fool proof, but DO NOT LET THE PELLETS GET WET!!! I made the mistake of leaving the cover off in a driving rain storm in late fall. The next time I went to use it, the expanded pellets had frozen solid in the auger. This weekend the temperature was up to almost 50F and I had to disassemble the feed system to clear the auger, which took about 90 minutes.
I was in a similar position to you a few years ago and, in order to dip my toe into the smoking world, got myself one of these cheap gas smokers. It’s basically a steel box with a water tray and a smoker box you fill up with chips. It’s simple and easy and I think a good starter smoker for those who don’t know if they want to invest a lot of money or energy into it yet.
Pros:
[ul]
[li]Cheap[/li][li]Uses same propane tank as a regular gas grill[/li][li]Easy to operate[/li][/ul]
Cons:
[ul]
[li]Not easy to maintain steady temps over time, takes a decent amount of monitoring[/li][li]Gets really greasy and messy inside (true of most smokers, I believe)[/li][li]Small - I’ve squeezed in a 13 lb turkey, but it’s not elegant[/li][/ul]
All that said, I’ve been able to get some really incredible flavor out of it, so definitely worth the small investment for me.
We use an electric Americana Smoker on our balcony. This replaced similar electric smoker which finally rusted out; first the water bowl then the bottom several months later, during which time it was simply an electric grill.
What I like about the Americana is that the heat is distributed by a reflective pan rather than the lava rocks the previous one used.
I have both a standard Weber kettle and a Weber Smokey Mountain (WSM). Now that my family size has dwindled, I don’t use the WSM as often, as the only time I’m cooking large cuts is for family gatherings. The kettle is great for smoking, but it does have a learning curve and it needs monitoring. If you are looking to start, Google/YouTube the term “Minion method”, and buy a remote thermometer with at least two probes, one for smoker temperature and one for meat temperature.
If you are looking for simple, check out automated pellet grills. Weber just released one, but the initial reviews aren’t that good. For cheap, check out the electric box smokers. Good Cooking!
Best outdoor cooking decision I’ve made is learning to smoke on my Weber kettle. It doesn’t have as much room as a lot of smokers, but you can get a couple chickens in there, or a slab of spareribs, or 2 racks of baby backs if you get stands for them, or a big pork roast for pulled pork.
Plus if that you remove whatever you’re using to keep the charcoal to one side (I use 4, half bricks) and you’re good to grill too… no need to have multiple apparati.
ETA: forgot to say, I got a 4-probe digital thermometer. One goes on the grate with the meat, one sits on top of the meat, two go in the meat. Really handy to keep tabs on what temps are where. Really handy because it is finicky…I still end up doing lots of looking out the window to check the temps, and then running outside to close or open the bottom vents juuuust a little.
Let me know when your ribs are ready and I will come over with a growler from Claimstake brewery.
I have one like your 2nd link. My dad showed me how to smoke meats in his old greasy smoker he made from an old motor oil cabinet he got from a gas station, but the process between the old and the new are the same. Mine is super simple: basically a drum with 3 levels - lower pan is for the coals and smoke wood, middle metal bowl is for water for moisture, upper grill is for the meat. The process is I think considered “cold smoke”, meaning the meat is cooked or nearly so before smoking.
For salmon, I steam it for a few minutes to essentially cook it, then place it on the smoker grill for about 90 minutes. I keep an eye on it so it does not dry out. Ribs are put on uncooked but I add more coals to cook them while they smoke.
There will be a lot of opinions on smoke wood. I like fruit wood from cherry, apple, and pear (you can get at Apple Hill over the winter). But I also use other woods I may have on hand. I usually soak the wood chunks in water before smoking, so they steam and smoke a lot on the coals.
I use one layer of coals and have another on the ready on the side in a shovel, to place in there as the first layer wraps-up.
My wife uses our gas grill and commercial wood chips and a foil packet - the ribs come out pretty good. And since there are no decent rib places in town, that is as good as it gets.
I have a pellet smoker (Camp Chef XXL), and it’s kind of a trial to get the food adequately smoky if it’s not in there for at least six hours. It’s great at keeping the temp and applying light to moderate smoke, but for smokier stuff, you kind of have to supplement it with various tubes and gizmos that burn pellets very slowly and produce more smoke.
Probably the best bet if you’re serious about smoking would be a good quality charcoal grill and a temp controller/blower setup. Those are sort of the best of both worlds- the right smoke and flavor, but more or less set and forget.
I like the Big Green Egg. It’s been on my shopping list for a couple of years and either this year or next I’m going to pull the trigger. Several of my friends have them an love them.
Currently I do all of my BBQ on a Santa Maria style grill it’s how I grew up and works wonderfully. It’s a bit different from closed smokers though. It’s fun to fuck with Texans who don’t know California has it’s own BBQ style.
If you use your Weber grill on a regular basis, and are ready to upgrade, you could go with a Weber gas grill, and smoke your meats in that.
I got a Weber Spirit propane grill a few years ago and have had pretty good luck using it to smoke and slow-cook ribs and other meats. The trick is to use only one of the burners and put the meats on the other side. You put your wood chips in a smoker box. Some people also put a pan of water over the burner to even out the heat inside the grill.
This gives you the best of both worlds – grilling and smoking – with a single device.
ETA: Once you start smoking meat, learn about how to handle the dreaded “stall.”
The Weber Smoky Mountain you linked to is a great starting smoker. So good that I haven’t grown out of it yet! Very easy to use, very consistent results. (Pellet smokers are even easier to use, but I love getting down & dirty with the charcoal and wood chunks.) You really can’t go wrong with it. Offset smokers are a little bit trickier to handle and chew threw a bit more wood and charcoal than the vertical smokers. (And, yeah, if you got the cash, the Big Green Egg hits hard on the efficiency front.)
I personally am a fan of this book if you really want to learn about fire and smoke control.
Another vote for the Weber Smoky Mtn. I’ve been very happy with the results from my WSM, and I’ve BBQed a lot of pulled pork, brisket and ribs. As mentioned, look up the minion method.
And instead of using water in the pan, I’ve found sand is easier and keeps the temp as stable. Water just makes a greasy wet mess to clean up, but fill the pan with sand to an inch from the top, cover with heavy duty aluminum foil to catch the grease, and cleanup is a lot simpler. The only reason to use water in my opinion is maybe during very hot weather in summer, but even then it won’t make much difference I think. And I used to experiment with apple juice or wine in the water pan but it never made a bit of difference in adding flavor that I noticed.
Yes. I use sand as well. It seems to run the smoker slightly warmer (maybe 265 instead of 250 for my normal setup), but that’s just fine with me. I also like to do direct smokes without the water pan from time to time.
ISTR reading that the water served two purposes- as a thermal mass that keeps temperatures lower and steadier, and as a source of moisture to keep it a little more humid in the smoker than it would otherwise be- this is apparently good for not drying out your meat as bad or something.
I don’t know if either is true; if you’re smoking at much over 212, your water pan should probably be boiling after a short period I’d think, or at the least, furiously evaporating.
