How to Smoke Meat
Smoking meat used to be a practice to preserve meat, but these days, smoking meat is mainly used to tenderize and add flavor meat. Smoking meat can also be a low-heat and slow method that works great for fatty or tough meat like beef brisket, beef ribs, **** spareribs and lamb shoulder. For that signature smoky flavor, you have wood chips to give credit to. Apple, maple and hickory are the best wood chips to use.
Here are the steps to take when smoking meat on your own.
Observe Cleanliness
To prevent contracting illnesses through your food, observe cleanliness when working with raw meat. Wash surfaces and your hands often, separate meats in different stages of preparation, cook and chill in proper temperatures.
Defrost the Meat
Defrosting the meat properly is an important step in the process. Defrosting in the smoker can cause bacteria to breed within the meat. Proper defrosting makes sure that the meat is cooked evenly.
There are four methods to defrost meat for smoking:
Leave the meat in the refrigerator for at least an hour. You should refreeze or cook within an hour or two days.
If your microwave has a defrost option, you can use that as well.
Thaw your meat in cold water by putting the meat in an airtight container. Submerge the container in cold water, and change the water every 30 minutes. Alternatively, you can put the container under running cold water and let sit until completely defrosted.
Partial Cooking
Partial cooking is done to lessen the time of the meat has to stay in the smoker. However, partial cooking of the meat is only recommended if you can directly go into the smoking process right after. This is done because partially-cooked meat that is not passed directly into the smoker can breed bacteria and cause contamination.
Using a Smoker
Getting a smoker is a crucial part of the meat-smoking process. Don’t smoke meat out of makeshift materials as this may cause food contamination. You have a choice of using a charcoal grill, a covered grill or a gas grill to smoke your meat. Let’s run through how to use each one.
Charcoal Grill
When using a charcoal grill, only use commercial charcoal briquettes or aromatic wood chips.
Use approved fire starters.
Soak the wood chips in water for an hour.
Separate the charcoal briquettes around the rack and put the drip pan in the center.
Ignite the charcoal briquettes until they are red hot with gray ash, which will take around ten to 20 minutes.
Once the charcoal briquettes are red-hot, spread the the wood chips over them. Add 15 pieces of charcoal briquettes every hour. Add half a cup of chips on your own discretion.
Monitor and regulate the heat temperature. Smoking occurs at a temperature of 200 degrees Fahrenheit to 250 degrees Fahrenheit. Opening the vents slightly increases the heat and closing them reduces the heat.
Covered Grill
Pile around 50 charcoal briquettes in the center of the grate. Ignite the briquettes until they are red-hot with gray ash.
Push the charcoal into two piles and put a pan of water between them. The water will provide steam and prevent flare-ups.
Maintain the smoking temperature and keep the lid closed with the grill vents open. Add 10 briquettes hourly to maintain the temperature.
Gas Grill
Some gas grills come with a smoker box. Follow instructions on how to use properly.
If not, the first thing you should do is make a smoke pouch by wrapping heavy-duty aluminum foil around two cups of soaked wood chips. Poke holes in the aluminum foil.
Place the wood chips package over one of the burners, under the grate.
Turn on the burner and wait until you see smoke.
Smoked meat may be safe for eating when it reaches an internal temperature of 145 degrees Fahrenheit for beef, chops, veal and roasts. For all the other meats, there should be an internal temperature of 160-165 degrees Fahrenheit. This will take around four to eight hours of cooking. Use a meat thermometer to check.
When using a sauce, apply 15 to 30 minutes before the cooking time is up to prevent burning or browning.