Cook Meat Low and Slow: Things You Need to Know About Meat Smoking

Modern methods of smoking food have evolved from the preservation process. Long before refrigerators and chemical preservatives, smoke was used to extend the shelf life of food, especially meat.

Today, smoking is about grilling, flavor, and texture, not about making food last longer. Smoked enhances flavor, softens, and turns the worst meat fillets into a great meal.

When you think of smoked meat, you might first think of smoked ham, bacon, or fish. But in the world of traditional grills, smoking means something else. On the grill, smoking is cooking food “slowly and slowly”, requires special equipment (or a specially configured charcoal grill), and lasts from 1 hour to 20 hours or more.

Smoking is more of an art than a science, requires a lot of time and patience, and is very different from simply throwing a piece of meat on the grill.

Choosing a Smoker

Simply put, you need a container to hold the smoke, a source of smoke, and the food to smoke when it comes to supplies and equipment.

A smoker can be as simple as a hole in the ground or as expensive as a $20,000 smoker, and the fuel can go from electricity to hardwood. The type of smoker you buy will be determined by a few factors, including the amount of space you have, the fuel you want to use, the amount of effort you want to put into it, and your budget.

Smokers vary in size from small drum smokers to large box smokers, so the amount of food each model can hold depends on the smoker’s needs.

Some smokers will say that hardwoods such as hickory, oak, and apples are the only way to smoke, but smoking fuel can be charcoal, wood pellets, propane, or electricity. Smokers who use charcoal are often the cheapest, and electric smokers who heat wood are the most hands-free.

Choose the type of fuel that you believe will work best for you, but keep in mind that if you don’t use hardwood, your smoker may not impart a satisfying smokey flavor to the food.

Utilizing Hardwood

If the characteristic smoky flavor is the most important aspect of smoking meat, then you should choose a smoker that uses hardwood. Freshly cut hardwood is perfect because it produces wonderful moist steam that flavors the meat, as half its weight is water.

Dried hardwood contains only 5% water, but is still high in sugar and carbohydrates and has a smoky flavor. The type of tree and the place of cultivation directly affect the taste of food. For example, hickory has a very smoky taste reminiscent of bacon, while maple is sweet and mild.

When using hardwood, it is important to soak it in water for about an hour before using it. Wet wood lasts for several hours, but fresh wood can burn out in 20 minutes. If you use wood chips, after soaking, put them in a bag of aluminum foil and make some holes. This will keep them smoking for several hours.

Selecting the Cuts of Meat

It is entirely up to personal preference as to what type of meat to smoke. Ribs, brisket, and pork shoulder are the most popular meats (usually to make pulled pork). But don’t stop there; you can also smoke prime rib, leg of lamb, or lamb shoulder, as well as whole poultry and fish, as well as cheese and nuts.

The smoking process revolved around tough meat fillets that traditionally didn’t work when cooked using other methods such as bacon. B. Brisket is difficult to eat unless it is cooked slowly at low temperatures.

Temperature Control

Smoking necessitates accurate temperature control. Meat smoking is best done at temperatures ranging from 200 to 220 degrees Fahrenheit. To be safe, most meats should be cooked to an internal temperature of 145 degrees Fahrenheit, and poultry to 165 degrees Fahrenheit.

However, to have a really soft barbecue, you need to raise the final temperature. For example, about 180 degrees. Smoking is basically a long process of overcooking tough meat to make a tender and flavorful meal.

We recommend that you have two accurate thermometers for smoking. One is inside the smoker where there is meat and indicates the smoking temperature. The other is a meat thermometer inside the meat, which shows the internal temperature of the smoke being cooked.

There are two reasons to keep the temperature low. One is to give enough time for the smoke to sink into the meat, and the other is to soften the meat naturally. When cooked slowly, the meat’s natural binding fibers break down, soften and give it time to turn into gelatin.

Collagen, the strong connective tissue of meat (think gristle), breaks down into different types of gelatin when cooked slowly. This gives the meat a juicy taste.

Keeping the Smoke

Another fundamental smoking rule is to position the meat in the smoker so that it is surrounded by smoke. You want a good, thick stream of smoke surrounding the meat at all times to give it the exposure it needs to enhance the flavor. The smoke must be moving to prevent creosote buildup from turning the meat bitter.

Keeping the Moisture

In addition to ensuring that your smoker is smoking, you should also ensure that it is steaming. Keeping the water pan full, which is provided to most smokers, is an important part of the smoking process. If you have a large smoker, you will most likely have to refill the water pan several times while smoking.

Adding marinade before cooking or sauce while smoking can help keep the meat moist, but it’s entirely up to you.

Cooking Time Calculation

To know when to smoke meat, you need to consider three factors: meat type, meat thickness, and smoker’s temperature. Brisket can take up to 22 hours, although it takes an average of 6-8 hours.

Some chefs follow the “321 rule” when smoking. The meat is smoked for the first 3 hours. Next, wrap the meat in aluminum foil for  2 hours to ensure that the inside of the meat is cooked properly. For the last hour of cooking, remove the foil and finish the outside of the meat crispy.

When the meat is cooked properly, you will see a pink ring (nitric acid) around the meat just inside the dark outer layer.

Try these meat smoking tips at your home and get your fresh meats from any of our locations. We make sure here at Fresh Farms that we only provide you the best of the best products!