How to Smoke With Pecan Wood

Smoking with any hardwood chips or chunks brings backyard barbecuing to a new level, incorporating low-temperature, slow grilling techniques with the natural, rich seasoning of wood smoke. Pecan wood, from the famous nut tree common in southern states, imparts a rich flavor much like hickory, a more common smoking wood. You can use pecan wood chips or chunks alone or blended with other hardwoods, such as apple or cherry, to create rich flavor tones in meat--particularly beef briskets, ribs and pork roasts.

Things You'll Need

• Charcoal smoker or grill-smoker combo
• 4 pounds pecan wood chips
• Large plastic mixing bowl or bucket
• 1 large bag natural lump charcoal
• 1 electric charcoal starter
• Desired meat or poultry
• Dry-rub seasoning

Instructions

Preparing the Meat, Chips and Fire

1. Apply dry-rub seasonings to the desired meat the night before cooking and allow it to sit, draped in plastic wrap, in the refrigerator. This allows the seasoning to absorb into the meat.

2. Dump wood chips in the bowl or bucket and cover with water or a mixture of water and beer, allowing the chips to soak for at least an hour prior to cooking time.

3. Build a small charcoal fire in the smoker or grill side firebox 30 minutes before smoking, using four or five handfuls of lump charcoal and an electric charcoal starter. Maintain this size of a fire throughout the smoking process.

The Smoking Process

1. Place the cured meat on the rack of the grill or smoking chamber and close the lid. A tightly sealed lid ensures more even, stable temperatures inside the smoking chamber.

2. Add a handful of wet wood chips or one or two fist-sized wood chunks to the hot coals every 30 minutes to slow-season the meat with natural hickory smoke.

3. Add one or two handfuls of lump charcoal every hour, depending on the outside temperature and wind. The heavier the wind, the faster the charcoal will burn up.

Tips & Warnings

• Consult smoker and/or firebox manuals, or grilling or smoking cookbooks or web sites, such as Steven Raichlen's Barbecue Bible site, for recommended smoking times for various types of meat. Wet wood chips are preferable as they create more smoke for flavoring. However, adding a few dry chips can help fan waning fires when slight temperature boosts are needed. Low heat and slow cooking times--five hours or more for ribs or roasts at temperatures of about 200 degrees--are the keys to proper smoking.

• Always use fire-resistant cooking mitts when feeding coals or chips into the fire and handle meat with long, grilling-style cooking tongs to avoid burns. Use only chips from hardwood trees. Pine and other coniferous woods contain oils that ruin the meat's flavor and impart toxins into food.

References

• Barbecue'n on the Internet
• Barbecue Bible: The Art of Smoking