It’s never too early or too late to try something new in the kitchen or, in this case, in the yard. Hot smoked food is one of the great loves of America, and it’s found all over the world. With this quick guide, you can start your journey to becoming a BBQ king or queen, and make the most of it, even in Winter!
Get the Right Kit
Traditional smokers do a great job, but they involve dealing with either wood or charcoal. While an experienced pitmaster might prefer this, it’s not the easiest way to get into hot smoking. You may be better off considering the wonders of pellet grills.
A pellet grill or smoker allows you to set a preferred temperature. Then, the smoker will feed specially designed pellets into a smoke drum, where it creates a small fire. This fire generates smoke and heat, which will cook your food and transfer all that wonderful smokey flavor. You can also grill or even bake food with your pellet smoker.
It’s far easier to control the heat with a pellet grill, as the machine does the hard work. If you were using wood or charcoal, you’d have to constantly monitor the fire and make sure that it doesn’t get too hot or too cold.
What You Can Smoke
The great thing about smoking your food is that you can smoke pretty much anything that would benefit from a long roast. One of the most popular ways that people use their smoker is to make delicious pulled pork. Smoked pulled pork is fairly simple to do, but the results speak for themselves. Pulled pork is usually made from pork butt (or shoulder) and, when it’s done right, is the perfect combination of a smoke-infused crust and meltingly moist meat.
While pulled pork is a favorite, you can smoke all kinds of meat. Even better, you can marinate and season the meat using spices and flavors from around the world, then use your smoker to create a frankly delicious meal. For example, chicken legs can hot smoke in a relatively short time, but it’s more than worth it. If you want to save time but still have that wonderful smoke flavor, then you can always partially cook your meat in the oven.
However, smoked food isn’t just for the meat-eaters out there. You can use your smoker to cook vegetables as well, imbuing them with a delicious flavor and rich color. As with meat, if you can roast the vegetables, you can smoke them as well. Smoked onions and garlic go wonderfully sweet as they caramelize over time. You can even smoke a batch of vegetables and use them to level up meals later on.
One vegetable that really benefits from smoking is the butternut squash. Simply prepare the butternut squash as though you’d roast it, slicing it in half and seasoning the innards. Putting slashes in the flesh can speed up cooking. Then, put it into your smoker for one and a half hours to three hours until it’s soft and sweet.
