Smoke Gets In Your Eyes
October 08, 2010, By Jason Avant 2 comments
The new house came with an outdoor kitchen. A big shiny aluminum grill with a sink next to it, built into a rock countertop that also had a small cabinet, the perfect size for a mini-fridge. The whole setup sits on our back patio, which overlooks a pretty little canyon, the perfect vista for flipping burgers or searing a side of beef. Most Grillmasters – and I call myself the family Grillmaster, for I am the one who does all of the outdoor cooking – would be salivating over the prospect of cooking with the new grill.
I was less than enthusiastic. Don’t get me wrong – the thing puts out some serious heat, is big enough to cook at least two whole chickens, and has an upper warming rack to boot. It’s truly a great gas grill.
The key word being gas.
Last year, I bought something I’d been lusting after: a black-barrel barbecue with a side-mounted firebox. A smoker. I’d wanted to dive into the savory realm of true BBQ, and I was finally equipped to do so. To me, there’s no substitute for burning coals and smoldering wood. Meat grilled over fire that isn’t blue simply tastes better. And smoking – cooking the meat via indirect heat and smoke at a low temperature, using a wood fire burning in the side-mounted firebox – is the very best way to cook meat outdoors.
The smoker and I had worked through our relationship, reaching the point where we truly understood each other. We’d started off tentatively – our first date was a brisket, dry-rubbed with salt, pepper and a little garlic power. It was clumsy and awkward – I ended up putting it in the over for a bit, after I’d miscalculated the amount of wood I’d need to keep the fire going for eight to 10 hours.
Our next encounter was with a tri-tip; I opted for a Jamaican jerk rub, and it was heavenly; a smoky crust, the meat cooked to juicy perfection. A few pork shoulders later, I decided to take our relationship to the next level: Thanksgiving dinner, and a 15 pound turkey. After 12 hours of smoking (applewood!), I knew I’d found the one. My dear smoker and I would never part. I’ve come up with a few creative ways to use it; most recently, I’ve started grilling directly over wood fires – bratwursts cooked over cherry wood, flank steak over mesquite. As with any relationship, you need to spice things up a bit to keep it fun.
An aside: smoking is a time-consuming process, typically taking an entire day. It’s tedious work: you’re typically checking the barbecue’s temperature every 10 minutes or so, to make sure it stays in that low 200 degree range. Therein lies the genius of the true barbecuer: sorry, spouse, friends and relatives, but you simply must stay by your “pit” to make sure that everything’s going right, and therefore you can’t go to Target to get diapers or take the car to get it washed, lest dinner be completely ruined. Really, all you can do is sit there and watch the barbecue. And drink beer. And keep an eye on the football game.
I broke in the new gas grill last night; it did a nice job on some steaks, and if they were a tad overcooked, that was my fault, not the grill’s. I suspect that the gas grill is always hotter than one thinks it is, and that’s not a bad thing – a good sear is key to a great hamburger. Despite our great new outdoor kitchen, I made it plain that I was not willing to give up the smoker. And so now I’m in a polygamous relationship of sorts. We have several more weeks of barbecue-friendly weather ahead of us, and the smoker rests on the side of the house, waiting for our next 8 to 12 hour date.
Jason Avant is the founder and managing editor of DadCentric.com and a featured contributor to ManoftheHouse.com.
Comments (2):