Charcoal Smokers

November 19th, 2007    Subscribe To Our Feed

Charcoal smokers can be used as a great smoking tool for preparing delicious meals as you can add some unique flavours to the fire while you’re cooking. For your information, there are some charcoal briquettes that have flavors burned into the food during manufacturing. Most experts wil suggest that you use certain types of wood with regular charcoal to truly bring that unique flavour out of the meat.

There are many sizes of charcoal smokers available from the small tabletop size designed to hold about five pounds of meat, to the family size, a stand-alone unit capable of smoking up to 50 pounds and the almost commercial size for over 100 pounds. Whichever size and type charcoal smokers you choose, remember it takes longer to smoke meat than it does to grill.

For example, after soaking a four-pound rack of short ribs in bar-b-cue sauce for up to eight hours, at will take over two hours for them to be ready to eat. This will be depending on a few factors such as how hot the fire burns, and the type of meat being smoked. Briskets, for instance tend to absorb more smoke that muscle meats and will take longer in charcoal smokers.

What Kind Of Wood Will Cook Well With Charcoal Smokers?

Different types of wood add a distinct flavor to the meat being smoked and not all wood will generate an appealing taste for all meats in charcoal smokers. For example, hickory offers a smoky flavor, almost like bacon and is the most common type of wood used. Walnut, on the other hand, provides a heavy smoke flavor and is usually combined with apple or another light wood. If used alone it can leave the meat with a bitter taste.

Pine and cedar are about the only wood that should not be used for smoking meats, as the absorbed flavor will not be pleasant. Wood from fruit trees, used by itself or with hardwoods like hickory or mesquite, can add a sweet flavor when used in charcoal smokers.

What Kind Of Charcoal Smokers Should You Use For Cooking Your Meals?

Depending on how much meat you want to smoke, the size of your charcoal smokers can be as big as you want or as small as you desire. Most backyard smokers however, prefer the barrel type with the offset burner in which to set the fire.

This can not only be used in the yard but also packed onto your truck and hauled to the picnic grounds for larger gathering. It is going to require about 12 briquettes for every hour of smoking and if mixing different wood, the recipe remains the same in charcoal smokers.

Charcoal Smoker

November 19th, 2007    Subscribe To Our Feed

One of the most common idea people having about charcoal is that it’s like a cooking with a grille where you need to put charcoal in the bottom. You will then cook the food by using the heat from the burning charcoal. A charcoal smoker however, is an entirely different method of cooking.

What’s So Different About Charcoal Smoker?

When you use a charcoal smoker you are still cooking the food using charcoal. However, the flame itself is set much lower, and the charcoal burns to create a smoke. Once the smoke has permeated your food, this is when the cooking happens.

Because of this, you put your food in the charcoal smoker and close the lid, and you shouldn’t’ open it until the food is ready. The smoke is what cooks the food, and because the smoke can get all the way through the food you are going to get a very distinct and interesting flavor that occurs with a charcoal smoker.

The difference in cooking with a charcoal smoker is that the food isn’t going to sit in any of its own grease, or contain as much fat. It will simply be cooked with the smoke, and therefore it will be healthier for you. However, the main difference lies in the taste.

There is no comparison to food cooked with a charcoal smoker, it simply tastes different than any other kind of food cooked using different methods. In order to get the most out of your charcoal smoker, you need to make sure that you adhere to some rules, however.

Be Patient While Cooking With A Charcoal Smoker

First of all, you need to allow for much more time for the meal to be cooked. A charcoal smoker is going to cook the food but at a much slower rate than a grill. The slowness is what results in the smoked flavor, so you can’t rush this along.

If you’re a person who always like to try something new, a charcoal smoker will definitely prove to be an interesting cooking tool for you. You will be able to get different kinds of flavours depending on how you smoke your food.

If you feel that occassionally you want to control the differences in taste, having a regular charcoal grill is a nice idea as you change your cooking method easily if you find that certain food doesn’t taste good with smoking.

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