Smoking Meat by Jeff Phillips Read Free Book Online Page A

tool should be used to clean the grate after each smoking session. After cleaning my grate, I like to spray it lightly with oil to get it ready for the next use.
    Spray bottle
    Another must-have tool is a spray bottle. These bottles are great for spraying meat with various liquids as it cooks; for example, ribs with apple juice, or turkey with melted butter. The applications are endless, and you’ll find yourself using the bottles over and over.
    I found some small spray bottles in the beauty supplies section of my local department store. I purchased several in varying colors to help me remember which liquid is in each bottle. You can also just as easily label each bottle to show that it contains apple juice, olive oil, water, or whatever you like to use.
    Gloves and Aprons
    When working with burning charcoal, flaming wood, and sizzling hot meat, it’s necessary to protect your hands and clothing. For this reason, folks have put their heads together to come up with wearable items that protect you and your clothing from heat and splatters that naturally occur during cooking. While you can possibly cook and smoke meat without these items, they are in the “nice to have” category. At a minimum, I highly recommend buying a good set of heat-resistant gloves (that go up to your elbows) and an apron that will keep your clothes free of grease and food splatters. I prefer an apron with lots of pockets for carrying thermometers, cooking utensils, pencils, and seasonings.
    I feel that Weber has done the best job of producing well-thought-out items that fit into this category. I love their long, thick, heat-resistant gloves and their heavy-duty, full-body aprons emblazoned with the stylish Weber logo. Having said that, I also have a pair of cheap heat-resistant, silicone mittens, which I like to use for flipping meat over or removing hot meat from the smoker. Shop around and buy the best protective gear you can afford—your hands and clothing will thank you for it.
    Flavor Chunks, Chips, and Pellets
    When using charcoal, electricity, or gas as a heat source, wood of some sort must be added to the mix in order to flavor the meat. This is where wood chunks and wood chips come in. These can be purchased in varying sizes and types of wood almost anywhere smokers or grills are sold. The most common varieties are hickory and mesquite, but other woods such as apple, cherry, oak, and pecan can also be found if you look around a bit. I go into more detail on suitable wood for smoking later in this chapter. If you cannot find the wood you want where you live, consider looking online at retailers like Amazon.com.
    Electric smokers such as the Bradley and the Traeger use compressed sawdust in the form of pellets or biscuits to smoke the meat. These can be purchased in almost any flavor directly from the manufacturer, in specialty stores, or online.
    TO SOAK OR NOT TO SOAK
    This is probably the question I am asked most frequently when it comes to the use of wood chips or chunks, and the answer comes down to personal need
and experience.
    My recommendation is to soak the wood only if you absolutely must. I rarely do, simply because it just isn’t necessary in most cases. As a caveat to that statement, I have found that I must soak wood chunks for about 30 to 60 minutes when I am using them in my Brinkmann Gourmet Electric Smoker & Grill. In this smoker, you must place the wood chunks on top of the lava rocks between the curved areas of the heating element. If the wood chunks are left dry they will burst into flames within minutes of putting them into the smoker. If you soak them first, you can get 45 to 60 minutes of excellent smoke with no flare-ups.
    tips and techniques
    Seasoning a Smoker
    All new smokers must be seasoned. Oils, paints, and other chemicals are used during the manufacturing process, leaving residue on the metal. If you don’t season your smoker (and thereby remove this residue) your food will taste and smell like