Tips for Best Results When Smoking Your Food

Smokers are an excellent way to add something new into your outdoor grilling. By using a smoker, you can change the flavoring of your steak or chicken immensely. All your meats can be specially smoked to your liking using our many different options of flavors. Backyard Middle East carries nearly all types of the wood needed for your smoker, including: chips, chunks, logs, and planks. The options are endless with smoking your meats with our variety and in-depth knowledge of the process.

We have specially designed smokers that allow for optimal flavoring and cooking of your meats. Click here to see our array of high-quality smokers. But remember, there is an important process to properly smoking your meats and we are happy to keep you well informed as to how to do this. For the best results when it comes to smoking your meats, we recommend as follows:

1. Soak your wood chunks for an hour (1/2 hour for chips).

2. Water pans are extremely important. It will help to maintain a lower cooking temperature. The water pan also allows for the addition of moisture to the food, which in most cases will cook for several hours on end. You should allow 25-40 minutes for the coals in the grill to burn down to the desired temperature (200 degrees-250 degrees) and for the water itself to heat up.When using water (which is intended to keep the meat flavorful but still deliciously tender), make sure you keep an eye on the water level. This will ensure you don’t end up with a dried out water pan and in turn, a less tender cooking result.

3. As for placement of the food you’re intending to cook, we recommend placing the meats/food in the middle of the cooking grate. Make sure if you’re using a water pan to supply moisture to the cooking process that the water pan is never empty. Also, a little known fact, when it comes to smoked meats it is best to prepare and cook them 1-2 days in advance as the flavor from the smoker is only increased by the meat chilling in the fridge for a day or two.

4. Most foods are smoked within the temperature range of 200 degrees- 250 degrees Fahrenheit. Slow and steady is the rule here, by not rushing the process you end up with a gradually smoked, and intensely flavorful cooked product. You will need to build a mound of charcoal that begins right below the holes in the side panel of the fire box with the apex of the pile directly below the top of the fire ring. You will also need to build the pile with larger pieces at the bottom and increasingly get smaller as you move up the height of the pile. Once the “slow cooking” temperature has been reached, close the lid and let the temperature rise gradually by leaving the draft door on the cooker 2 inches open and the top vent approximately .5 inches open. Make sure to have the daisy wheels fully open.

Here it is important to note the difference between wood chips and wood chunks. Wood chips, even when being completely soaked in liquid, will smoke much quicker than wood chunks and in turn will burn out much, much quicker also. Using wood chunks and positioning them around the outer edge of the fire is the best method for extreme slow smoking (3+ hours). The most common mistake people make when smoking their food is adding too much wood during the cooking process and overwhelming the food’s natural flavor by doing this.

Smoking can really become narrowed into an art form once you feel you have mastered your craft. All it takes is practice to figure out how you most prefer your food to be smoked. Backyard Middle East is here to make the process as easy and seamless as possible for you. If you have any questions about how to properly smoke your foods, or want to know the different variations of smokers we have in-store, please give us a call at +966 13 845 6798 and we will be more than happy to answer any and all of your questions.