BILL:The first step in good grilling and smoking is to understand the differences between direct grilling, indirect grilling, and smoking. I know, this seems pretty obvious, but it makes all the difference in the final outcome, because this adds another level of control to the smoking environment.
Direct grilling:
This is what most of us know about grilling: we cook directly over the fire. The food is brown to black on the surface, and (hopefully) not raw or semi-raw on the inside. Bone conducts heat, fat slows it down. Direct grilling is a high heat method that Robin and I use to cook small or thin pieces of food quickly. Typical material we might direct grill includes steaks, chops, chicken breasts, fish fillets, vegetables, and bread. Remember - direct grilling is hot, fast and small bites. Setting up your grill for easy, controlled direct grilling is two fold - single zone cooking or three zone (sometimes two zone). In the first method, your coals are spread in an even layer to make a single zone fire over which the food will be grilled. On a gas grill, you simply light the appropriate burners. This is the ONLY method an electric element will allow. This is the perfect method for cooking a small amount of food such as a steak or chicken breasts for one or two people.
Second method is the two or three - zone cook. I get better heat control if I can build a three zone fire, consisting of a hot zone, a medium zone and cool or "safety" zone. On a charcoal grill, like the Weber kettle, after the coals have formed and there is no more smoke, I will rake half the coals into a double layer over one third of the fire box or the bottom of the grill. I then rake the remainder into a single layer in the center, leaving the remaining third of the firebox/grill bottom bare, without coals. I now have my three zones. I'll use the very hot double coal zone for searing, the medium single coal zone for my main cooking, and the cool zone for warming or as a safety zone to drag stuff to if the food starts to burn or there is a lot of flare-up happening. On my kamado (Large BGE) I drop a modified plate setter in after my fire is settled and divide my zones using the exposed fire as my hot zone, keeping my shielded area as my medium zone. I don't use a cool or safety zone with this method.
To set up a gas grill for three zone grilling, since I have a really cheap Craftsman two burner gas grill, I'll set one burner on high and one burner on medium, and this means I can use the warming rack as my safety zone. On a three or four burner gas grill, like my Wolf, I'll set one burner on high, one or two burners on medium, and leave the last burner off. Get the picture?
Indirect grilling:
ROBIN:
Indirect grilling is the method Dad and I use to cook much larger or tougher foods that would likely burn if they were direct grilled. As the name suggests, we position the food next to, not directly over, the fire so that it cooks slowly and thoroughly at a lower temperature for longer than just searing the meat. In this way, we ensure that the food is cooked all the way through. Indirect cooking makes food more juicy, have a better flavor and does not need to be as labor intensive as direct. Remember the phrase "if you're looking, you aren't cooking"? Here is where it becomes important. To hold in the heat, we close the grill lid during cooking, trapping heated air around the food and lowering the direct exposure of food to the flame. Unlike direct heat cooking, we deliberately turn the grill into a sort of outdoor oven. Dad and I use indirect to cook large pieces of meat, such as pork shoulders and whole chickens, as well as cooking and tenderizing tougher cuts of meat, like brisket and ribs, that need long, slow cooking at a low to moderate heat. We can work at a more moderate temperature (275 to 350 degrees) and control the internal meat temperature better, forcing a slower equilibrium with the heated atmosphere in the cooker. This in turn fosters the breakdown proteins and fat slower and more thoroughly, releasing more juice and tenderness, and lastly, this method makes it easy to introduce that characteristic wood smoke flavor. This is the best method we know of to cook ribs, pork shoulders, briskets, whole chickens and turkeys, and other large pieces of food. Yum!To indirect grill on the Weber kettle or similar drum type charcoal grill, we light our charcoal in a chimney starter (see previous blog entry), or with an electric starter, or (hopefully never) with a specially formulated lighter block. Try not to ever use lighter fluid or another petroleum based accelerant - the food just tastes oily and bitter, IMHO. When the coals are glowing red, we then dump or rake them in two piles at opposite sides of the grill. Some grills come with special side baskets for this purpose. If it does, use them - the results are worth it. We then place an aluminum baking dish or (for easier clean up) a foil drip pan (the roasting dishes from Reynolds are best, being thicker and more sturdy than the look-alikes) in the center of the grill, between the mounds of embers. We then place the grate on the grill and cook our chicken or meat in the center of the grate, directly over the drip pan. Other grills will require some modification of this idea, but the basis remains the same - keep the coals away from the food (side burner box, plate setter, pizza stone) or divert the heat around it. If you're using wood chips for smoking and don't have a chip box or similar idea, toss a cup or three of presoaked and drained wood chips on each pile of coals to generate your smoke. Remember to keep the grill covered as much as possible, controlling the temperature in the dome by adjusting the top and bottom vents to obtain the desired temperature (usually medium, 275 - 350 degrees). Add three or four handfuls of fresh charcoal briquettes or a corresponding amount of lump charcoal after about an hour, leaving the grill uncovered for a few minutes until the coals ignite. If you can afford it, fit the grill with one of the new grilling control computers - the difference in effort is astounding, and the results far outweigh the cost of the computer. More about this later.
Always open the lid before lighting any gas grill, even if it has that neat little red button to ignite the flame. We watched one young man blow the lid off his very expensive Holland - scared most of our audience half to death, and rendered him a singed and much more safety conscious participant from then on! The ball of flame from the explosion set fire to the top of his tent, adding to the consternation. But, I digress - just be safe. Make sure you have at least 1/3 of a tank of gas before you start grilling. It's a good idea to have an extra full tank as a spare as well, since there is nothing more frustrating than to run out of gas during a cook - especially where everyone is relying on you to produce the main course. Some higher end grills have insets that cover the center part of the wire cooking surface. Use them if you have them, because these provide a flame shield and convert the direct cooking area to a more indirect, and without fussing about burning the meat. If not, or you have a gas barbecue that still burns despite setting the burners as we suggest, you can buy a perfectly good pizza stone from Walmart, and just put this in the center of the barbecue instead to keep flame away from your poultry. To indirect grill on your gas grill with or without a stone or diverter, if you have an old two burner gas grill like our Craftsman, light it on one side only, using a long reach barbecue lighter. Set the lit element side on high and cook your food on the other side (cooler, unlit). If you have a three burner like my Charbroil, light it at the front and rear (or the left and right) outside burners and cook the food in the center. If you have a four burner gas grill (or bigger, like Dad's Wolf), light the outside burners and, again, cook food in the center. Adjust your burner knobs to obtain the desired heat, and use a meat thermometer to test for doneness before you serve.Using Charcoal
BILL:
For charcoal grilling we prefer natural lump charcoal, made from pure wood and recognizable by its irregular shaped chunks, to any briquettes, simply because charcoal is a natural product, containing no additives or fillers. It burns hot, relatively ash free and the coals last a long time, so this is a very effective, stable and efficient wood fuel. Of course, the vast majority of Americans use the ubiquitous charcoal briquettes, which, in addition to raw wood, often contain other burnables, such as furniture scraps, coal dust, borax, and (especially those 'easy light' products) petroleum binders. This information may sound a tad disturbing - it IS disturbing, especially to foodies like Robin and I - and those partially lit briquettes can give off a strong acrid smoke flavor, which, if you close the oven too soon, can permeate your food and send your onlookers and admirers coughing and gagging away from your soon-to-be-culinary effort. If you just have patience and let the briquettes completely burn down to glowing coals before you close up the grill and add your food, these impurities are allowed to burn off and the food will taste pretty much the same as if cooked over lump charcoal. Again, I prefer lump charcoal and use it whenever I can, but I also am aware that most of the competition barbecue champs use briquettes, simply because they are easier to store and load during a cook.
Minion Method
I use this method of setting up the charcoal so it will burn for hours unattended. It is simply a pan full of unlit charcoal with a few lit coals placed on top of it. The lit coals maintain the temperature of the smoker and slowly light the remaining charcoal in succession over the course of six or more hours allowing you to sleep or do other things while the smoker cooks your food at the correct temperatures. Wood chips/chunks dispersed throughout the charcoal give off smoke as the charcoal burns, so mix chunks and chips of smoking wood liberally through the load. This works best using specialized baskets that allow a precise amount of fuel to be poured in with plenty of airflow through the sides and bottom of the basket. The basket can be used in different types of smokers but the size and amount needed to maintain heat will need to be adjusted for your particular unit. The baskets we use are usually made from something like expanded metal and can be eight to twenty-four inches square and twelve inches or so deep.
The Water Pan
Ever wonder what the water pan is really for? Well, depending on the science source, it serves a couple of purposes, one of which is provoking of much debate - wetting the air, and adding flavor. The first purpose is not controversial. Adding a water pan will help control the temperature inside the smoker. The science involves a principle of thermodynamics, in particular a law of equilibrium of temperatures and water vapor. Water boils at 212°F, so as the water gets hot it begins to steam. The steam, which mixes with the air in the smoker, naturally lowers the temperature in the kettle to a point where steam and air coexist at around the 212°F mark. So, adding the pan will thermodynamically regulate the ambient temperature in the smoker to a constant but stable temperature of around 212°F, just as ice in a warm glass of tea affects its surroundings and brings the temperature of the liquid down to a much colder state, in equilibrium with the melting property of the ice. Really. The second purpose is something that is argued about quite a bit - there are experts who believe that the steam creates a more flavored environment, and that having flavored steam serves to flavor the meat as well as keep it moist in the smoker. While we believe that the water pan does not add a lot of flavoring and moisture to the meat, it must obviously create a more humid environment inside the smoker, which should reduce the natural drying effect of the charcoal or gas heat, and may even help the meat to end up moister than it would otherwise. I don't see it affecting the taste of the meat, myself, and Robin and I have not seen any strong empiric evidence cited by others, so here the food physics is a little less supportive. We will let you decide this for yourself. Some cooks like to put various ingredients and liquids in the water pan such as apple juice, wine, seasonings, etc. which they believe influences the taste of the meat. We have no solid proof either for or against this, but we suggest that you try it for yourself and make your own decision based on your experience. Personally, if it adds more complication, I'd do without. Our general message is that by adding extra moisture by injecting, brining or marinating, then paying attention to the fire temperature, the meat should be fall-off-the-bone moist every time.
How Often and How Long to Add Smoke
ROBIN:
The whole purpose of cooking meat outdoors in a smoker is to add smoke flavor - otherwise you could just cook it in the oven and be done with it. For those of you using wood for heat in your grillers, the smoke flavor is there by default but for those who are using charcoal smokers (or even gas and electric), you will want to know not only how often to add wood but how long to add wood. The general rule for me is to keep a light wood smoke flowing for at least half of the cook time. For ribs this would be about three hours. For chicken, we suggest about two hours or so. If you are using a strong wood like hickory or mesquite then this will give you good smoke flavoring. If you are using a milder wood such as apple or pecan, then you might want to continue to add smoke throughout the entire process. Watch the smoke. Once it begins to dissipate, you will want to throw in more wood chunks or chips to keep the smoke going. This can be anywhere between every twenty minutes to every hour, depending on your smoker and what type of wood you are using. It also matter whether you just place the wood on the coals or if you place the wood in a smoking box and set the box on top of the coals or heat source. These guidelines will get you started, but practice will be your best teacher.
What Kind of Wood to Use
We cannot, nor are we going to, list every single type of wood that works well for smoking. As a general rule, anything that bears a nut or a fruit and is a hardwood can be used for smoking meat. There is one exception that we know of and that is black walnut. There are many folks who do professional BBQ who feel it imparts too bitter of a taste and should not be used or should be used very sparingly. My favorite smoking wood these days is pecan. It gives a wonderful flavor to almost everything that we cook. We also love apple, hickory, mesquite and oak which give great flavor to almost any type of meat. You should never use woods that are from a coniferous plant, evergreens, pine, spruce, cedar, etc. Okay, yes, we know what you're thinking. Many chefs grill food on cedar planks, that is true, but, in our opinion, placing a soaked cedar plank on a grill is just not going to produce the same type of reaction as actually burning the cedar as fuel. From our research, we don't burn cedar for cooking, because it is full of oil, burns too hot and tastes bitter, and we personally choose to not use it.
We found many lists of woods people say are suitable for grilling and smoking. This compilation is not complete, but it's the best we have found as far as listing the tastes and flavors:
Acacia - in the same family as mesquite. When burned in a grill, acacia has a flavor similar to mesquite but not quite as heavy. A very hot burning wood.
Alder - very delicate with a hint of sweetness. Good with fish, pork, poultry, and light-meat game birds.
Almond - a sweet smoke flavor, light ash. Good with all meats.
Apple - very mild with a subtle fruity flavor, slightly sweet. Good with poultry (turns skin dark brown) and pork.
Ash - fast burner, light but distinctive flavor. Good with fish and red meats.
Birch - medium-hard wood with a flavor similar to maple. Good with pork and poultry.
Cherry - mild and fruity. Good with poultry, pork and beef. Some list members say the cherry wood is the best wood for smoking. Wood from chokecherry trees may produce a bitter flavor.
Cottonwood - it is a softer wood than alder and very subtle in flavor. Use it for fuel but use some chunks of other woods (hickory, oak, pecan) for more flavor. Don't use green cottonwood for smoking.
Crabapple - similar to apple wood.
Grapevines - tart. Provides a lot of smoke. Rich and fruity. Good with poultry, red meats, game and lamb.
Hickory - most commonly used wood for smoking--the king of smoking woods. Sweet to strong, heavy bacon flavor. Good with pork, ham and beef.
Lilac - very light, subtle with a hint of floral. Good with seafood and lamb.
Maple - smoky, mellow and slightly sweet. Good with pork, poultry, cheese, and small game birds.
Mesquite - strong earthy flavor. Good with beef, fish, chicken, and game. One of the hottest burning.
Mulberry - the smell is sweet and reminds one of apple.
Oak - heavy smoke flavor--the queen of smoking wood. Red oak is good on ribs, white oak makes the best coals for longer burning. All oak varieties reported as suitable for smoking. Good with red meat, pork, fish and heavy game.
Orange, lemon and grapefruit - produces a nice mild smoky flavor. Excellent with beef, pork, fish and poultry.
Pear - a nice subtle smoke flavor. Much like apple. Excellent with chicken and pork.
Pecan - sweet and mild with a flavor similar to hickory. Tasty with a subtle character. Good with poultry, beef, pork and cheese. Pecan is an all-around superior smoking wood.
Sweet fruit woods - apricot, plum, peach, nectarine - great on most white or pink meats, including chicken, turkey, pork and fish. The flavor is milder and sweeter than hickory.
Walnut - english and black - very heavy smoke flavor, should be mixed with lighter woods like almond, pear or apple. Can be bitter if used alone. Good with red meats and game. Use the black with caution.
Other internet sources report that wood from the following trees is suitable for smoking: avocado, bay, carrotwood, kiawe, madrone, manzanita, guava, olive, beech, butternut, fig, gum, chestnut, hackberry, pimiento, persimmon, and willow. The ornamental varieties of fruit trees (i.e. Pear, cherry, apple, etc.) are all very suitable for smoking.
Happy picnicking!
Bill and Robin
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