I prefer smoking meats vice any other method mainly because of the smoked taste of the meat. However, more fat remains in the meat with this style of cooking. And depending on how you cook it, your meat will be very juicy or very dry. That's why temperature and time are very important when smoking meats.
Whenever I create smoker recipes, I always put about a quarter inch of water in the drip pan to help add moisture to the smoker during cooking. This tends to make the meat juicy and tender. I also may add vinegar, garlic, and other spices to the water to throw some flavor out there which will be spelled out in the recipes I do that for.
When using a smoker to cook your meats, always remember to pre-heat the smoker to 20 degrees above the cooking temperature in order to compensate for opening the door to put the food racks in the smoker. Just be sure to readjust the cooking temperature back down to the desired setting once the meat is placed in the smoker.
For a light smoke flavor in your food, only add wood chips to the wood tray for a 3rd of the time. For instance, if you are cooking a meat for 3 hours, only put wood in the tray two times - once at the beginning after placing the meat in the smoker and once at the one hour point. For a medium smoke flavor, place wood in the smoker for half of the time. For the same example above, you would place wood in the smoker at the beginning, at the end of the first hour, and once more at the halfway point. For heavier smoke flavor, add wood at the beginning and every hour until the meat is done cooking.
My rule of thumb is to add wood every hour. I also soak the wood chips in water for 20 to 30 minutes before using them to keep them from catching on fire in the smoker.
Smoker Recipes to Wow Your Guests!
The following are my top secret recipes for cooking meats on my electric smoker. Please let me know if you have a fantastic recipe that isn't in my list so I can add it to the blog. You will get credit for it.Mesquite Smoked Salmon Spread
Smoked Beer Can Chicken
Do you have your own smoker recipes you'd like to share. Post a link to your recipe or write it in the comment block below. Don't keep secrets. Life is too short to hold back your greatest creations.
