So, you finally did it. You bit the bullet and purchased your very own wood smoker. With a little practice, you'll soon be producing BBQ that will rival anything you can find in a restaurant. In order to shorten your BBQ learning curve, here are three tasty wood smoker tips that'll get you moving in the right direction.
First, remember that patience is a virtue. If you're used to grilling, you need to change your expectations and your mindset. BBQ doesn't happen quickly. It's a slow process. You can make a burger on the grill in a matter of minutes, but top-notch BBQ made in a wood smoker will take all day. If you want a slab of great ribs for supper, you can't make the decision mid-afternoon. Smoking isn't for those with short attention spans. Slow down, enjoy the process and fight the urge to try to "speed things along".
Second, learn how to maintain a consistent temperature. The key to making delicious BBQ is to maintain a nice, low, consistent temperature throughout the entire cooking process. In order to do that, you need to keep an eye on your thermometer while cooking and you need to learn how to keep things running evenly on your wood smoker. Every smoker is a bit different and you'll undoubtedly need to go through some trial and error to master BBQing, but being cognizant of temperature maintenance from the beginning will help you advance to pro pitmaster status. If you're temperatures are bobbing, weaving and hopping up and down, you'll never produce the kind of BBQ you want to eat!
Third, don't forget to cure your smoker. When you take a smoker home, you're bringing oils, dust and metal shavings with it. Those are all unavoidable parts of the manufacturing process. Unfortunately, they're also all ways to ruin the flavor of your meat. Before you even think of cooking on your wood smoker, you'll need to cure it to burn off the nasty stuff. Get your smoker's temperature up around four hundred degrees and keep it there for close to a half hour. Then, drop the temperature down to approximately two hundred seventy five degrees for another two or three hours. That should be enough to cure your wood smoker. If you're not sure, consult the manufacturer's instructions.
Patience, consistency and curing aren't the only three things you'll need to understand in order to produce great BBQ in your new wood smoker. However, they are all necessities. Having a good handle on these three factors will help you go from BBQ novice to smoking master. Even more importantly, it will improve your odds of putting tender, smoky meat on your table from the get-go.
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