How to Make a Food Smoker

If you love the taste of smoked meats but don't have the extra cash to buy your own smoker, you can build one out of a cardboard box for just a few dollars. The temperature to smoke meat is approximately 225 degrees F., which is below the combustion temperature of cardboard, so the box will not catch fire as long as you use a drip pan to catch the drippings from the meat.

Things You'll Need

• Large cardboard box, approximately 2 feet wide by 3 to 4 feet high
• Nail set or large screwdriver
• 4 3/8-inch wooden dowels
• Metal cooling rack, the type used to cool baked goods
• 9-inch by 13-inch aluminum baking pan
• Electric hot plate
• Aluminum pie plate
• Wood chips for smoking
• Old Sunday newspaper, or something of similar size and weight

Instructions

1. Draw a one foot square at the bottom of one side of the box. Make the bottom of the square even with the bottom of the box. Cut the other three sides with a serrated knife to create a door. The uncut bottom edge will serve as the door's hinge. The door allows you to add more wood chips during the smoking process.

2. Make holes in the side of the box to insert the dowels. These will hold up the food rack and the drip pan. Punch a set of two holes first in one side of the box and then make an identical set of holes in the opposite side of the box. Use the nail set tool or a large screwdriver to punch the holes. Make the holes for the drip pan about 10 inches above the bottom of the box and for the food rack about 8 inches from the top of the box. Space the holes so that when the dowels are inserted they are far enough apart to hold either the drip pan or the food rack, but not too close together.

3. Put the disposable aluminum drip pan on the bottom set of dowels and the cooling rack on the top set of dowels.

4. Place the hot plate so it is centered in the bottom of the box. Feed the power cord out through the door you cut out in Step 1.

5. Put an aluminum pie plate on top of the hot plate and fill with wood chips.

6. Put the meat to be smoked on the top cooking rack. Arrange the meat pieces so they are not touching each other.

7. Close the top of the box by folding in the flaps and put something on top to keep them from opening. Use something about the size and weight of a Sunday newspaper, without the sales ads.

8. Close the bottom door by pushing it back into place. Friction will keep it there. If necessary, cut out a small notch for the hot plate's power cord.

9. Check the level of wood chips every 60 to 90 minutes. When they have burnt away, remove the pie plate, empty the ashes and add more wood chips. Do not add more wood chips on top of the ashes while the pie plate is inside of the smoker; the ashes will fly around and land on your food.

10. Smoke meat for approximately 8 to 12 hours, depending on the size and weight of the individual pieces. Use a meat thermometer to determine if the meat is done, according to the type of meat your are smoking.

References

• Read more about making a food smoker.