Advice on smoking
Discussion
I want to take up smoking, I hear that's what all the cool kids do.
But seriously, big fans of bbqing and smoked food, only had a gas BBQ the past couple of years so looking forward to doing it properly again.
I think we'll be buying a 57cm weber smokey mountain and a chimney starter from b&q.
What other accessories would you chaps recommend?
Where is a good place to buy some decent wood chunks?
And how much wood is needed for a long (say 10 hour) smoking session?
Also, any tips and tricks are welcome, I haven't smoked anything before.
Thanks people.
But seriously, big fans of bbqing and smoked food, only had a gas BBQ the past couple of years so looking forward to doing it properly again.
I think we'll be buying a 57cm weber smokey mountain and a chimney starter from b&q.
What other accessories would you chaps recommend?
Where is a good place to buy some decent wood chunks?
And how much wood is needed for a long (say 10 hour) smoking session?
Also, any tips and tricks are welcome, I haven't smoked anything before.
Thanks people.
Edited by Scantily on Monday 17th June 18:47
I love my Smokey Mountain (the big one) but if you're moving from a gas BBQ I'd suggest buying a standard Weber charcoal BBQ first.
What the SM does over a standard Weber charcoal grill is make it easier to maintain a low temperature for long period of time. That and having more space to play with.
You can cook (smoke roast) large joints of meat slowly and effectively with a standard one and you'll get a good feel for cooking with charcoal and using wood blocks for extra flavour.
The SM is brilliant for cooking large quantities but it's big, expensive and more of an effort to clean.
Either way these two sites are brilliant for either - techniques, 'science' and recipes.
http://www.amazingribs.com/tips_and_technique/webe...
http://www.virtualweberbullet.com/cook.html#poultr...
I would suggest that for either BBQ you'll need a starter chimney and a decent thermometer. I have one with two probes that shows the grill temp and the internal temp of the meat - it's wireless so I can keep an eye on temps from indoors, which is handy for a 14 hour cooking session!
If you're using lump wood charcoal (I use BK Restaurant Grade) you don't need too much extra wood - I use 3 or 4 fist size chunks if I'm cooking a pork shoulder. It really is possible to over-smoke!
I've got my wood for free either from friendly tree surgeons or stuff I've picked up on walks. You don't need to remove the bark or turn it into chippings. Oak, beech, apple, pear and cherry all work well.
What the SM does over a standard Weber charcoal grill is make it easier to maintain a low temperature for long period of time. That and having more space to play with.
You can cook (smoke roast) large joints of meat slowly and effectively with a standard one and you'll get a good feel for cooking with charcoal and using wood blocks for extra flavour.
The SM is brilliant for cooking large quantities but it's big, expensive and more of an effort to clean.
Either way these two sites are brilliant for either - techniques, 'science' and recipes.
http://www.amazingribs.com/tips_and_technique/webe...
http://www.virtualweberbullet.com/cook.html#poultr...
I would suggest that for either BBQ you'll need a starter chimney and a decent thermometer. I have one with two probes that shows the grill temp and the internal temp of the meat - it's wireless so I can keep an eye on temps from indoors, which is handy for a 14 hour cooking session!
If you're using lump wood charcoal (I use BK Restaurant Grade) you don't need too much extra wood - I use 3 or 4 fist size chunks if I'm cooking a pork shoulder. It really is possible to over-smoke!
I've got my wood for free either from friendly tree surgeons or stuff I've picked up on walks. You don't need to remove the bark or turn it into chippings. Oak, beech, apple, pear and cherry all work well.
Ths book is absolutely brilliant - ignore the weber branding, it's probably the best ive read. http://www.amazon.co.uk/Webers-Complete-Barbecue-S...
Just wanted to reiterate that I rhink you're missing a step going straight from gas to a SM - the SM is great at doing one thing perfectly but you need a standard kettle too for versatility. I often fire up both- the big joints in the smoker and the stuff that needs direct or near-direct heat on the kettle.
Just wanted to reiterate that I rhink you're missing a step going straight from gas to a SM - the SM is great at doing one thing perfectly but you need a standard kettle too for versatility. I often fire up both- the big joints in the smoker and the stuff that needs direct or near-direct heat on the kettle.
I'm keeping the gas bbq (cheating I know) as it's handy for a quick impromptu cook, so that will do any grilling/roasting I need. All I want is something for low n slow smoking, so the smokey mountain is what I want. I realise that I'll need to get used to cooking with charcoal, but I'm prepared to do my research and practice.
What thermometer is it that you have maturin23?
I've read that the Maverick ET 732 is pretty good.
What thermometer is it that you have maturin23?
I've read that the Maverick ET 732 is pretty good.
I have the Maverick - happy with the transmission range - works anywhere in the house and the BBQ area is at the bottom of a 100 ft garden. It's handy as a timer plus you can set an alarmed range so it'll bleep if it gets too hot or cold.
It does take some practice getting a nice stable temperature with the SM, even with a few years of 'advanced' use of a kettle BBQ - but as long as you're happy to spend most of the cooking time in the garden the first few times you it's all part of the fun. After the first hour I can now normally keep the temperature in range without adjusting the vents for 2 or 3 hours at a time.
The American forums do seem to make in incredibly 'scientific' with detailed monitoring of various conditions - I can see what they're trying to do but I don't find it necessary and there are too many variables that are ignored.
Oddly there's very little discussion in the forums of the quality of meat (pork in particular) that they use (mainly vac-packed cash-and-carry joints) which for me is a huge factor in the end result. I have a great local butcher who sells lovely free-range pork at decent prices.
To give you some ideas of how long you'll need to cook I generally give my baby back ribs 7 hours at around 125C (no foil wrappping for me) and a nice 10lb pork shoulder should take 10-12 hours to be a the "pullable" stage. I did a side of salmon last weekend which took around 50 minutes.
It does take some practice getting a nice stable temperature with the SM, even with a few years of 'advanced' use of a kettle BBQ - but as long as you're happy to spend most of the cooking time in the garden the first few times you it's all part of the fun. After the first hour I can now normally keep the temperature in range without adjusting the vents for 2 or 3 hours at a time.
The American forums do seem to make in incredibly 'scientific' with detailed monitoring of various conditions - I can see what they're trying to do but I don't find it necessary and there are too many variables that are ignored.
Oddly there's very little discussion in the forums of the quality of meat (pork in particular) that they use (mainly vac-packed cash-and-carry joints) which for me is a huge factor in the end result. I have a great local butcher who sells lovely free-range pork at decent prices.
To give you some ideas of how long you'll need to cook I generally give my baby back ribs 7 hours at around 125C (no foil wrappping for me) and a nice 10lb pork shoulder should take 10-12 hours to be a the "pullable" stage. I did a side of salmon last weekend which took around 50 minutes.
Welcome to world of propper BBQ! You will not be dissapointed with adding smoking to your BBQ repetoir ;-)
Try these people for all of your BBQ needs http://www.bbqworld.co.uk/ its where I get all of my BBQ and smoking stuff and postage free over a certain amount which is great when ordering charcoal in bulk.
The WSM is a great bit of kit, I have the 47in which is more than big enough for most uses as it has 2 grills, but if the 57in is the one you fancy then go for it! I get my wood chunks for the above suppier and you will need 4 to 5 chunks for a good few hours smoking at the correct temp. dont bother soaking them, its a myth as they only steam for a few mins and then start to smoke which is what you want them to do. One tip is to line the water pan with thick foil each time which makes cleaning much easier as the fat drips down into the pan and is a bugger to clean out if you dont do this first.
The main tip for a first time smoker is not to look to often!!! It really slows down the process as the heat disapates quite quickly. Leave it a good 2 to 3 hours before you peek. Also use boiling water in the water bath as it acts as a heat sink and cold water takes ages to heat up and cools the smoker down. In most cases it also takes longer than you would expect so allow a margin of time extra if you have people coming over, there is nothing more dissapointing than almost ready smoked meat as you know how good it could have been if you gave in another 2 hours!
Try pork shoulder as a start as I find it the most forgiving due to its size and fat content, and then work up to more tricky cuts.
I hope this is of some help, if you need any other specific tips just ask.
Try these people for all of your BBQ needs http://www.bbqworld.co.uk/ its where I get all of my BBQ and smoking stuff and postage free over a certain amount which is great when ordering charcoal in bulk.
The WSM is a great bit of kit, I have the 47in which is more than big enough for most uses as it has 2 grills, but if the 57in is the one you fancy then go for it! I get my wood chunks for the above suppier and you will need 4 to 5 chunks for a good few hours smoking at the correct temp. dont bother soaking them, its a myth as they only steam for a few mins and then start to smoke which is what you want them to do. One tip is to line the water pan with thick foil each time which makes cleaning much easier as the fat drips down into the pan and is a bugger to clean out if you dont do this first.
The main tip for a first time smoker is not to look to often!!! It really slows down the process as the heat disapates quite quickly. Leave it a good 2 to 3 hours before you peek. Also use boiling water in the water bath as it acts as a heat sink and cold water takes ages to heat up and cools the smoker down. In most cases it also takes longer than you would expect so allow a margin of time extra if you have people coming over, there is nothing more dissapointing than almost ready smoked meat as you know how good it could have been if you gave in another 2 hours!
Try pork shoulder as a start as I find it the most forgiving due to its size and fat content, and then work up to more tricky cuts.
I hope this is of some help, if you need any other specific tips just ask.
Good advice, although I would definitely disagree on the issue of not opening the BBQ - whilst taking the lid off every five minutes is obviously not a good idea (you wouldn't do it if you were cooking with an electric oven) there is a myth perpetuated that somehow opening the lid or the front 'door' adds 5 minutes to the cooking time each time.
I've experimented with this and it takes seconds for the temps to get back up and the meat thermometer shows no drop at all. My advice is just be sensible and don't panic, the whole set-up is cooking at such a low temp nothing happens in a hurry!
The biggest issue I find is the reverse - if you're running with too big a fire, you choke it back with the vents to get the temps down then you let a load of oxygen in by opening the lid or door, then the fire kicks off again.
You don't really want to be trying to choke a big fire anyway - you want some combustion rather than just a smoulder.
I would also say the major benefit of the 22.5' over the smaller WSM is that you can lie full size racks of ribs out flat - you'll always wish you'd bought the bigger one...
I've experimented with this and it takes seconds for the temps to get back up and the meat thermometer shows no drop at all. My advice is just be sensible and don't panic, the whole set-up is cooking at such a low temp nothing happens in a hurry!
The biggest issue I find is the reverse - if you're running with too big a fire, you choke it back with the vents to get the temps down then you let a load of oxygen in by opening the lid or door, then the fire kicks off again.
You don't really want to be trying to choke a big fire anyway - you want some combustion rather than just a smoulder.
I would also say the major benefit of the 22.5' over the smaller WSM is that you can lie full size racks of ribs out flat - you'll always wish you'd bought the bigger one...
Output Flange said:
maturin23 said:
I would also say the major benefit of the 22.5' over the smaller WSM is that you can lie full size racks of ribs out flat - you'll always wish you'd bought the bigger one...
I've got the smaller one, and can easily get 6 racks of ribs on the top shelf.For home use the smaller of the 2 is more than large enough to cook very large cuts of meat. Ive smoked a 20lb turkey and 4 to 5kg bone in pork shoulders in mine and then there is also the second rack to use for sundries or a cheeky smoked ham!
Thanks for the replies and advice people, thinking about it the 47cm may well be sufficient. I'm not going to be cooking for massive groups of people so it will probably do.
Has anyone used this website for wood? - http://bbqsmokingwood.co.uk/
Seems to be a lot better value than buying it in packets.
And regarding charcoal, does it have a massive effect on cooking & flavour etc? Is it always much better to buy some quality stuff as opposed to whatever the local shop can offer?
Has anyone used this website for wood? - http://bbqsmokingwood.co.uk/
Seems to be a lot better value than buying it in packets.
And regarding charcoal, does it have a massive effect on cooking & flavour etc? Is it always much better to buy some quality stuff as opposed to whatever the local shop can offer?
Scantily said:
Thanks for the replies and advice people, thinking about it the 47cm may well be sufficient. I'm not going to be cooking for massive groups of people so it will probably do.
Has anyone used this website for wood? - http://bbqsmokingwood.co.uk/
Seems to be a lot better value than buying it in packets.
And regarding charcoal, does it have a massive effect on cooking & flavour etc? Is it always much better to buy some quality stuff as opposed to whatever the local shop can offer?
I havent used these people for wood but I may will give them a try now I have seen them. I use Aussie heat beads not lumpwood for smoking as it gives a longer more consistant temp, but always lumpwood for grilling.Has anyone used this website for wood? - http://bbqsmokingwood.co.uk/
Seems to be a lot better value than buying it in packets.
And regarding charcoal, does it have a massive effect on cooking & flavour etc? Is it always much better to buy some quality stuff as opposed to whatever the local shop can offer?
Get the big one - it's no harder to cook small amounts but if you want to go silly you can! I also chose it as the tall lid also fits my 57cm kettle.
You have roughly 1.3 m2 of grill space on the 47 and 2 m2 on the 57 and the price differential is quite small.
I feel quite strongly about not using cheap briquettes but it's based more on instinct than anything else.
Most of the WSM cooking methods involve using a combination of lit and unlit coals at the start of the process - the unlit briquettes are slowly consumed and means you can fill up the base with fuel but not have an enormous bonfire.
As I understand it briquettes are made from sawdust, sweepings and also contain filler. Not too much of an issue if you're only cooking over fully lit coals as all the volatile compounds have burned off but it just gives me a bad feeling thinking of the food being cooked in anything other than pure wood smoke.
Having said that the Yanks seem to favour Kingswood briquettes - not all briquettes are made the same - and Weber suggest that briquettes are the way to go. I choose to make life slightly harder and use lump wood charcoal only.
I still manage to get 12 hours out of one load of charcoal and only need to fiddle with the vents every 2/3 hours.
For the kettle I use the 15kg cardboard boxes of BigK Quality Restaurant grade - these are virtually whole branches - 6/8 inch pieces!
The 15kg sacks of restaurant grade stuff is more broken up and seems to work better in the WSM when some of them are unlit at the start.
http://www.bigkproducts.co.uk/Product-Restaurant-G...
Re wood - despite living in London I've have never paid more than pennies for smoke wood and normally nothing at all - I've been cold-smoking fish/ham/cheese/bacon for the last ten years as well.
If you are in a town/city then just call a few local tree surgeons and ask them to keep hold of some bigger branches from fruit woods or oak. I tend to pick up the odd piece of wood if I'm out walking - recently came across a chap cutting down an oak tree and he was happy for me to fill the boot of the car with cross-cut pieces of trunk.
As already mentioned 4 or 5 fist sized chunks is all you'll need - you can get quite a few chunks out of an arm-sized branch, let alone a piece of the trunk
You have roughly 1.3 m2 of grill space on the 47 and 2 m2 on the 57 and the price differential is quite small.
I feel quite strongly about not using cheap briquettes but it's based more on instinct than anything else.
Most of the WSM cooking methods involve using a combination of lit and unlit coals at the start of the process - the unlit briquettes are slowly consumed and means you can fill up the base with fuel but not have an enormous bonfire.
As I understand it briquettes are made from sawdust, sweepings and also contain filler. Not too much of an issue if you're only cooking over fully lit coals as all the volatile compounds have burned off but it just gives me a bad feeling thinking of the food being cooked in anything other than pure wood smoke.
Having said that the Yanks seem to favour Kingswood briquettes - not all briquettes are made the same - and Weber suggest that briquettes are the way to go. I choose to make life slightly harder and use lump wood charcoal only.
I still manage to get 12 hours out of one load of charcoal and only need to fiddle with the vents every 2/3 hours.
For the kettle I use the 15kg cardboard boxes of BigK Quality Restaurant grade - these are virtually whole branches - 6/8 inch pieces!
The 15kg sacks of restaurant grade stuff is more broken up and seems to work better in the WSM when some of them are unlit at the start.
http://www.bigkproducts.co.uk/Product-Restaurant-G...
Re wood - despite living in London I've have never paid more than pennies for smoke wood and normally nothing at all - I've been cold-smoking fish/ham/cheese/bacon for the last ten years as well.
If you are in a town/city then just call a few local tree surgeons and ask them to keep hold of some bigger branches from fruit woods or oak. I tend to pick up the odd piece of wood if I'm out walking - recently came across a chap cutting down an oak tree and he was happy for me to fill the boot of the car with cross-cut pieces of trunk.
As already mentioned 4 or 5 fist sized chunks is all you'll need - you can get quite a few chunks out of an arm-sized branch, let alone a piece of the trunk
Edited by maturin23 on Tuesday 18th June 14:42
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