Instructions for Smoking Meat

Smoked meat and bread

Gone are the days when most farmhouses had a smokehouse for meat preservation. Today, most meat is smoked on the grill or in a small dedicated smoker appliance. Smoking meat today is done more for the flavor the process imparts and not for extending the shelf life of the meat. Most meats and fish can be smoked and the cook has a choice of various flavors and levels of smoking. Using a conventional covered barbecue grill is all you need to smoke a variety of meats. Does this Spark an idea?

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Covered barbecue grill
Charcoal
Charcoal chimney
Newspaper
Wood chips
2 Disposable aluminum pans
Two thermometers

Instructions

- 1
  
  Prepare the charcoal to the ash white stage by lighting it in the charcoal chimney. Place 40 to 50 briquettes in the upper portion of the chimney and stuff the bottom portion with crumpled newspaper. Light the newspaper on fire. The charcoal will be ready in approximately 30 minutes.
- 2
  
  Place a cup or more wood chips in a disposable pan filled with water. You can use hickory, apple, maple or a variety of other woods marketed for smoking.
- 3
  
  Place the second disposable aluminum pan, half full of water, in the center of the lower portion of the grill.
- 4
  
  Surround the aluminum pan with hot charcoal. Scatter the soaked wood chips on the hot coals.
- 5
  
  Place the meat to be smoked in the center of the upper grill grate over the pan of water. As the meat smokes, the water pan will help prevent flare up.
- 6
  
  Place a grill thermometer on the grill rack if your grill is not equipped with a visible thermometer. You will need to add charcoal to keep the heat to a minimum of 225 degrees F. It will take approximately an extra 10 coals per hour to maintain this temperature.
- 7
  
  Insert a meat thermometer into the thickest section of the meat without touching bone.
- 8
  
  Smoke the meat until it reaches a fully cooked temperature. According to the USDA Food Safety and Inspection service, red meats should be cooked to at least 145 degrees F, pork, ground beef, lamb and veal should cook to 160 degrees F and poultry of any kind should reach an internal 165 degrees F.

Tips & Warnings

If you have an electric or propane smoker, follow the manufacturer's instruction for setting up and using the appliance.

Suggest item

Photo Credit collage: smoked meat, bread, chicken and vegetable image by Igor Murtazin from Fotolia.com

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