However, this isn’t the case. Sometimes side dishes can taste just as good, if not better, than the main meal itself when smoked properly.

Of course, it can be a hard decision when trying to choose some tasty sides for your main course, so we’ve made a list of smoked side dishes to accompany your food.

Smoked Prawns

Prawns are an extremely popular and versatile variation of shellfish that features in too many different meals to count.

However, they’re also great because of their size. It’s rare that you’ll ever see fish as a side dish because they’re too big, however, prawns are the perfect size to be classed as finger food or a side dish at the very least.

Smoking prawns doesn’t take too long because of their size and they are easier to cook large quantities of them than other seafood.

With regards to what they can go with, we recommend that you smoke them and they prepare them on a small plate with garlic sauce. Combining the fishy flavors with the strong hints of garlic, you have yourself an explosively tasty accompaniment to your main dish.

On top of this, you can also add a sprinkle of chili flakes and some chili sauce to add an extra layer to the smoky, garlicky goodness.

Accompany this with some fresh rocket or cress and you can turn this small dish into a worthy starter for any barbecue. Don’t forget a slice of fresh lemon to squeeze the juice over your prawns!

Smoked Vegetables

When having a barbecue or some sort of little gathering, it’s always nice to have a balance of meats, carbs, and vegetables.

By placing smoked vegetables like peppers and tomatoes onto a skewer and smoking them, you’re able to add that extra crunch to any meal that will leave you wanting more. 

As previously mentioned, a lot of people will prefer to have finger food for their sides so they can eat easily without having to worry about looking rude or messy.

This makes vegetable skewers a perfect little feature to include in any barbecue, however, they can also be used as a topper or some sort of garnish for a good steak or chicken meal.

For vegetarians, smoked vegetables can be a good substitute for meat when having some sort of pasta dish or rice dish because of the vegetables’ crunchiness and added taste.

With regards to another way to implement these vegetables into a meal, you can always make a vegetable curry with some rice and fries. It’ll fill you up, that’s for sure!

Jalapeño Poppers

On a similar note, smoked jalapeño poppers are an all time classic when it comes to grilled and smoked side dishes.

The combination of pepper, cheesy goodness, and savory bacon make an unbelievable tasty combination.

The best part? Preparation isn’t hard at all and doesn’t take much time at all. From there, all you have to do is throw your poppers on the cooking grate and let your smoker do the work.

Check out our bacon wrapped jalapeño poppers recipe for more on this incredible side dish.

Smoked Meat Skewers

When it comes to having smoked meats as a side dish, you can always enjoy a bit of smoked beef, pork, and chicken on a skewer.

Skewers are a great way of eating easily without spilling all of the meat juices onto your clothes and allow you to eat without the added stress of making a mess. When a bit of smoked meat is prepared perfectly, it can be even better than the main meal!

These skewers can be any size you want, depending on the size of your appetite and how much meat you have at your disposal.

As previously mentioned, smoked vegetables also make a great skewered food and can be combined with the meat to make a very balanced presentation. You can also add in vegetables like smoked carrots and onions for that extra bit of flavor.

Smoked Mac & Cheese

Out of all the smoked side dish ideas on this list, smoked mac and cheese probably takes the most time and energy.

But, if you’re willing to make some mac and put it on the smoker, you’ll be rewarded with one of the tastiest and widely loved side dishes that can go with your BBQ.

The best part is, you can easily put your pan of mac and cheese inside your smoker right next to your meat – that way it can pick up some smokey flavor while your main course finishes cooking.

Smoked Chicken Bites

Chicken has to be one of the most versatile foods in the world, being used in food dishes all over the globe. In parts of Europe and Asia, people have been known to make a starter or side dish called chicken tikka, where the chicken is accompanied by various vegetables and some sauce.

Smoking this chicken combines the cloudy flavor of the smoker with the sweet and savory tones in the chicken tikka, making this dish something very unique. Add a bit of garnish and it looks great too!

Another way to have smoked chicken bites as a side dish is to accompany them with a dip. Breaded chicken strips work incredibly well with a BBQ dip or glaze, with sesame seeds. Seen in many popular food chains, you could always try and replicate your favorite restaurant sides at home, whilst adding a smoky twist!

On top of this, you could always make smoked chicken wraps. Making them small enough to be able to eat in a single bite is a great way to keep them as a side dish, rather than as the main focusing point of your meal.

This can be combined with smoked vegetables and some sort of spread like hummus or a garlic spread. An interesting combination of flavors, that’s for sure!

Smoked Beef Strips

When it comes to setting up a meal and giving people a taste of what’s to come, having smoked beef strips is the way to go. By having a few strips of succulent beef, you can set the stomach for the meal that’s yet to come.

With regards to how you cook these, the choice is all yours. By making some of these beef strips rare, you can have a softer, more tender set of sides that fall apart in your mouth.

Pairing steak strips or beef strips with a dip of peppercorn sauce or BBQ sauce can be a great way to ensure that your side dish isn’t too dry. Salt and pepper are always welcome too!

Burnt Ends

Brisket burnt ends are essentially delectable little bursts of BBQ. If you’re smoking an entire brisket for a main course, burnt ends are a great side dish choice to elevate the experience.

You can also make burnt ends with the brisket point section, or you could opt for poor man’s burnt ends which utilizes a smoked chuck roast for the bites instead of brisket.

Final Thoughts

Smoking food can be incredibly enjoyable and the list of foods available to you is endless. Whether you prefer the lighter meat of chicken, or the heavier but tender beef and steak, you can find a side dish that suits any occasion.

The best thing about side dishes is that a lot of them are small enough for you to eat with your hands or a small knife and fork.

Pairing some smoked meats with some juicy smoked vegetables is a great way to ensure that you’re getting a balance to settle the stomach before having a great meal. Try some different combinations! The choices are infinite!

The post Smoked Side Dish Ideas appeared first on Own The Grill.

The great thing about smoking fish is that there are so many types that you can try out. All fish can be smoked, and there is no reason why you should not consider different options and flavor combinations.

Whether you want to make the most out of your smoking set-up, or if you want to experiment with unique aromas, these are some of the best types of fish to smoke. 

While most fish can be smoked to enhance its flavor and create a delicate, flaky texture, fatty fish tends to respond best in the smoker.

Fatty fish absorb the wood flavors from the smoke better than lean, simply because they have more fat to soak it up. Try to focus on using fish that is high in omega 3 for a healthy source of fat in your diet.

Best Types of Fish to Smoke

Striped Mullet

This fish has a particularly high oil content, which makes it an especially decadent-tasting finished product when smoked. It is recommended that you brine the fish before smoking. This helps make the structure of the meat more stable, and less likely to fall apart while it is in the smoker. 

Cut off the head of your mullet, leaving the scales and skin on the body. Cut along the side fin from head to tail, so that the body folds out in one piece. After brining, you should rinse with cold water and then leave to dry overnight. This can help make a crispy exterior. 

Striped mullet pairs well with hickory or pecan wood if it is available to you. Add lemon, olive oil, and salt to the fish for additional flavor enhancement. Once you have everything set up, you can leave your fish for around 3 hours, or longer if you are using a colder temperature than average. 

Mackerel

Smoked mackerel is a crowd-pleaser. It is packed full of moisture and flavor, which is why it is one of the most popular types of fish to smoke. Mackerel can take on a slightly sweet taste depending on the wood you fill your smoker with. 

While mackerel can become dry a little easier than some other fish which creates an unpleasant texture, it’s easy to prevent this by brining it before smoking. Use more salt than you think you will need, as this can also help maintain some structural integrity of the mackerel. 

Another way to prevent mackerel from drying out too much is to ensure that you are smoking it for the right amount of time and under the correct temperature. You can cold smoke it at around 100 Fahrenheit for four hours, and then hot smoke for 2-3 hours at 200 Fahrenheit. 

This is one of the best ways to preserve the mackerel’s texture and bring out its fragrant aromas. However, it really depends on your smoker and what settings are available, because some make great tasting smoked mackerel within twenty minutes!

Salmon

This is another fish that is often smoked, because of its unique profile and rich taste overall. Again, it’s important to soak the fish in brine ahead of time. While it was originally seen as a luxury by many cultures, you can create your own smoked salmon at home. 

Because of its color, you do not want to risk over-or undercooking this delicate fish. That is why you should invest in a high-quality meat thermometer to keep a close eye on the salmon and remove it when it is ready. 

Depending on the settings of your smoker and the total capacity, smoking salmon can take anywhere between one and four hours. It can be a great centerpiece if you are using a large fillet or the perfect addition to a charcuterie board for entertaining next to a glass of wine. 

Bluefish

For a robust, flaky-tasting fish that is fragrant and an excellent source of selenium, you could also try adding bluefish to your smoker. Because of its flaky texture, smoked bluefish is a great addition to dips, sauces, and omelets. 

Because it has a more fragrant aroma, balance out the flavors of the fish by topping generously with black pepper before adding it to your smoker.

Bluefish needs to be left to do its thing in the smoker on high for thirty minutes to an hour, depending on the size of the fish, before lowering the temperature and leaving it for around three hours. 

Again, it is worth using a meat thermometer to avoid overcooking the bluefish because it can be easy to become an overly dry texture that is unpleasant to eat. 

Trout

Another fish that pairs well with sweet and salty flavors is trout. It is an exceptional fish to smoke because of the way that it takes on additional flavors without compromising the balanced taste that this fish provides. Cedar, cherry, and alder wood are preferred for smoking trout because of the slight sweetness that they can add. 

In comparison to salmon, which looks very similar to once they have both been smoked, trout has a more delicate flavor. This makes the fish more light and fresh-tasting, even after going through the smoking process. 

The internal temperature of trout once it is fully cooked should be around 145 Fahrenheit. Depending on the smoke set-up you have, the process can take approximately one hour for every half pound of fish. 

Swordfish

Do not be put off by the size range that these fish can be seen in, swordfish can have a subtle tasting sweetness without some of the excessive fishiness that other fish tend to have. When it has been smoked, swordfish is gentle meat that is soft, tender, and moist. 

It is usually best to buy swordfish fillets because they are easier to work with than the entire fish, and a lot cheaper. Filling your smoker with maple chips is a perfect way to bring out the sweetness within the fillets. 

The smoking process usually takes around two hours, but it is done when the internal temperature on the thickest fillet has reached 145 Fahrenheit. As long as you season liberally with salt, pepper, garlic and onion powder, then swordfish can be a highly impressive type of meat to work with. 

Tuna

Tuna meat is strangely similar to beef, especially when it has been filleted. It pairs well with the cooking methods of a smoker because of its more subtle fishy taste. Mild flavors are best for this fish, like cherry or apple. You can use whatever type of tuna you like, but we would recommend Ahi tuna. 

Smoked tuna fillets are a luxury unlike any other, and their unique meaty flavor combined with the fishy undertones is sure to impress the toughest of critics. It can be a great way to introduce new flavors to picky eaters or to add to a salad during the warmer months. 

Scallops, Clams, Oysters

While these are not necessarily considered fish, scallops, clams, and oysters taste amazing when they have been put through the smoker.

This is because of the impressive range of flavor that each has, and how the smoking process brings this out. Whiskey butter, garlic, and creamy mustard sauce all pair well with these types of fish when they are smoked. 

This is due to the way that they respond to certain aromas and retain their own texture when they are cooked correctly. It doesn’t take as long to prepare and cook scallops, clams, and oysters using the smoker because they are much smaller than some fish fillets you may be using. 

Add these during the last thirty minutes of smoking to allow them to retain the deep aromas without becoming dry. 

Things To Consider When Smoking Fish

These are some factors to be mindful of when you are preparing to smoke fish. Of course, the weather can be an influential factor if you live in an area that has more unpredictable rainfall.

If your smoking equipment is set up outdoors then you could consider setting it up under a shelter, waiting for a clearer day, or using the oven to smoke your fish. 

Wood is another important thing that can affect the taste of the fish and anything else that you choose to smoke. Different types of wood create slightly different aromas which will infuse into the fish to create a unique taste.

Consider how soft each type of wood is, and whether you want to soak it ahead of time because this can help with the overall flavor achieved. 

Sweeter wood like hickory typically works best with meats such as pork and ribs, whereas maple wood is recommended for poultry. Alder, apple, mulberry, and oak are some of the most commonly recommended types of wood to smoke fish and seafood. 

It is, however, up to you to decide which types of wood you want to use. The beauty of the smoking process is that you can experiment with different combinations to see how they affect the overall taste, texture, and aromas of the fish. 

Depending on how you choose to get started with the smoking process, you could consider using it to develop a new skill. Changing the heat settings, hanging up the fish, and checking it over time can be highly rewarding and satisfying.

For an extra DIY idea, you could try to use leftover pieces of metal, or old oil can build your own smoking machine. 

There is a range of smoking equipment on the market, and small intricacies such as the size of the chamber can impact the total time it takes to smoke certain foods.

For example, longer meat smokers such as this one provide slightly less area for the wood chips. This can have an effect on the taste of the fish because there will be less smoke created in total. 

Another design to consider if you don’t have a smoker is the wider layout that allows more space to move wood around and space the fish apart. This can allow you to keep things at different temperatures because you can gain better control over the wood and therefore heat. 

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Smoked Fish Good For You?

It is one of the healthiest ways to cook fish because there is less need for oils and other fats that are normally used in frying or sautéing certain fish. Smoking locks in the omega-3 enriched oils of the fish without adding more fats that are unhealthy. 

How Long Does Smoked Fish Last?

In the refrigerator, most smoked fish lasts around ten days in an airtight container. However, it might be hard to resist snacking on the delicious, delicate-tasting fish ready at your fingertips.

Apart from the taste, the main difference between store-bought smoked fish and what you have smoked yourself is the shelf life. Homemade smoked fish has a much shorter shelf life, although the taste certainly makes up for it! 

Why Would I Smoke Fish?

Traditionally, meats were smoked to help preserve them and make them last longer. The smoking process helps prevent the growth of bacteria, and locks in some of the essential moisture that keeps its taste. The aromas of smoked fish are unlike anything else, and it’s worth trying the process purely for the taste of freshly smoked fish. 

Final Thoughts

There are so many types of tastes, aromas, and textures that contribute to the experience of smoked fish that it is difficult to decide on one specific type of fish to name as the ‘best’ to smoke.

That is why this guide has covered some of the most popular types of fish to smoke, and how their unique characteristics can be enhanced with particular wood types, smoking times, sauces and seasoning. 

Build your own smoker or buy one today to begin experimenting with different types of wood. Create your own smoked meats and fish to impress your loved ones at your next dinner party. It is certainly a labor of love worth the time spent on the process.

The post Best Fish To Smoke (10 Ideas) appeared first on Own The Grill.

Having good wood is crucial to putting flavor into your cheese while you’re smoking it. The type of cheese you choose will affect the kind of wood you buy. Oak wood for example does a great job of complementing the flavors that are in Cheddar, Gouda, Mozzarella, and Monterey Jack.

Other common wood types popular for smoking cheese are apple, cherry, pecan, and hickory. We will go over all the flavor options below, as well as some great brands to choose from when you are ready to start smoking cheese.

If you’re unsure about how to actually flavor your cheese, be sure to check out our guide on how to cold smoke cheese after you read this!

Oak

Oak is one of the most common wood choices for smoking cheese because it flatters so many different kinds and types of cheese. When in doubt, oak is a good place to start if you are new to using wood to smoke cheese.

Keep in mind that oak burns for a long time and can reach higher temperatures than other kinds of wood. If you smoke the cheese for too long, it will begin to melt and not stay intact.

What the Pros Use

Western Premium BBQ Products Post Oak

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Apple

Apple is one of the mildest flavors of wood you can purchase. It keeps more of the natural flavor of the cheese and also sweetens it. It will also add a smoky flavor that is more delicate than what oak adds. The apple flavor will never overwhelm the natural cheese flavor.

Cooking with Applewood is easier than smoking with other wood flavors, so it is great for beginners. Applewood does not get to extremely high temperatures.

Camerons Apple Smoking Wood Chunks

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Cherry

The cheese will absorb many flavors from cherry wood which makes it a unique choice for adding in a sweet, heavy, and heady aroma. It will provide a variety of flavor profiles to your cheese. The flavor is still pretty mild, so it won’t take away from the natural flavor of the cheese.

Camerons Products Cherry Smoking Wood Chunks

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Pecan

Pecan adds a more robust flavor to cheese than many other wood options. Pecan wood is also great for mixing different varieties of wood if you want to experiment and try to create your own custom flavor.

For hard cheeses, pecan wood will give it a mild to medium intensity of flavor. It will also be nutty and savory. While assertive, the flavor from pecan wood will also be delicate enough to balance with the natural flavor of the cheese that you are smoking.

Western Premium Pecan BBQ Cooking Chunks

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Hickory

If you are using a block of cheese with a very strong natural flavor or using hard cheeses, hickory is a perfect choice. The flavor will end up tasting like bacon and it is intense and robust. Some people even make grilled cheese sandwiches with hickory wood.

Hickory wood is paired with cheeses like cheddar and stilton. It will help mellow the cheese’s natural flavors and mask some of the more pungent aromas. Start cooking with low amounts of heat and gradually increase until you have higher heat.

Hickory wood can be tough to get right the first few times, so be patient. Also, try cooking with other woods before using hickory.

Most Versatile BBQ Wood

Smoak Firewood Hickory Cooking Wood Logs

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Peach

Peach wood gives a very unique flavor that other kinds of woods simply do not provide. Peach flavor wood can bring a flavor that is very sweet, mild, and floral.

This makes an ideal choice for cheese that is already mild and needs a special flavor added to it. The peach wood will naturally add a light red coating to any cheese that you smoke which makes it look fancier for entertaining and feeding guests.

Fire & Flavor Premium All Natural Wood Chips for Smoker - Wood Chips for Smoking - Smoker Wood Chips - Smoker Accessories Gifts for Men and Women - Peach - 2lbs

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Final Thoughts

There are several different flavors of wood, and each provides something unique to cheese while you are smoking it. Oak and Apple are the most popular kinds and are the easiest to pair cheese with.

It’s also worth noting here that we are suggesting wood chunks, which are fit for use for most types of smokers.  However, if you have a pellet grill, for example, you’ll need to get the above flavors in wood pellet form instead of chunks.  Learn the difference between “regular” wood and wood pellets right here.

The post What’s the Best Wood for Smoking Cheese? Our 6 Favorite Types appeared first on Own The Grill.

While electric smokers may not put out the pure BBQ power of wood-fired or charcoal smokers, the control and versatility of the electric smoker make it a formidable tool that can put out some seriously tasty eats.

From savory to sweet, we have compiled some of the best electric smoker recipes around.

Here is our list of the top recipes we’ve found on the internet for your electric smoker!  Each recipe has a link to the original source.

Mesquite Smoked Tomato Bruschetta

If you want to switch things up and put a twist on a classic, this delicious smoked tomato bruschetta is a perfect choice. Whether you want a light lunch for a day at home or you want to bring a dish to share with your friends or family at the upcoming potluck, this is sure to please.

If you have ever had the classic bruschetta, you know how delicious this simple dish is. With this recipe, you’ll be taking this classic to the next level by smoking the tomatoes. Don’t worry, they won’t lose their signature texture, just be sure to follow the instructions carefully. Served on a flame-grilled baguette, this tasty dish is a great summer treat.

Smoked Rack of Pork with Black Cherry Sauce

Fantastic for a weeknight or a holiday gathering, your family will ask again and again for this sweet and savory main dish. Pork pairs beautifully with all kinds of fruits, from apples and peaches to raspberries and cherries. The smoky, salty meat with the tangy and sweet sauce is the perfect combination.

Smoked with cherry wood, the smokiness of the meat is the ideal match for the black cherry sauce, as the flavors play off of each other perfectly. If you’re looking for a sweet and savory dish that is a little bit out of the box, then you’ll definitely want to check this one out.

Smoked Apple Crumble

Your electric smoker isn’t just limited to created juicy, smoked meats. You can also make dessert in it. With a few ramekins, some apples, and a few staples from your baking cabinet, you’ll be on your way to having the best apple crumble you’ve ever tasted.

If gooey, buttery, and sticky are what you are looking for in an apple crumble, look no further. Apple pie is an autumn staple, but most people stick to the oven. Your smoker can cook meat, why not dessert, too? Served with vanilla bean ice cream, you’ve got the perfect dessert.

Bacon Explosion

Is there really anything in this world that is better than bacon? We didn’t think so! This recipe is perfect for the meat lovers out there. Combining bacon, sausage, more bacon, smoky dry rub, and your favorite barbeque sauce, the Bacon Explosion is great sliced for sandwiches or served alongside your favorite side dishes.

One of the best things about this recipe is that it is really easy to customize. If you want a spicier experience, use hot sausage and add jalapenos and pepper jack to the filling. If you’re looking for a pizza explosion, you can use Italian sausage, fill it with mozzarella and pepperoni, and serve it with garlic bread and your favorite marinara sauce. The possibilities are endless!

Smoked Mac And Cheese

If you’re having a cookout and need an option for a vegetarian friend or you just want a simple side that goes with just about any dish your guests choose to bring, this smoked mac and cheese would be a fantastic choice.

This recipe starts with the basics – your favorite pasta and a roux. Throw in some whole milk, cream cheese, and your favorite freshly shredded cheeses and you’re on your way to a mouthwatering dish that even the pickiest eaters will love. You go with the classic mac and cheese or you can mix in bacon and jalapenos, top it with breadcrumbs, or go with a garlic and herb flavor profile.

Smoked Lobster Tails

One of the most delectable and succulent dishes is a perfectly cooked lobster tail, but achieving this can prove difficult sometimes. There is a fine line between just right and a piece of tough rubber. This recipe for smoked lobster tails is not only delicious but it is also easy to make. With just three ingredients, you’ll be on your way to one of the tastiest things you’ll ever make in your smoker.

The lobster is truly the star of the show in this recipe. Brushed with a bit of garlic butter and then cooked on the smoker, there is nothing that will cover or take away from the natural beauty of the lobster. While we love the simplicity of this recipe, the best thing really is how quickly it comes together. In right around half an hour, you’ll be able to enjoy a luscious lobster tail right out of the smoker.

Smoked Brisket

Brisket is one of the staples in backyard or home meat smoking. Even though it is extremely popular, it is also extremely easy to overcook and dry out your precious cut of meat. This recipe for a smoked brisket lays out the process in an easy way, along with a tip for getting past the frustrating “stall” that happens during the brisket smoking process.

This is one of those recipes that should go in your permanent collection since brisket meat is one of the smoker staples that can be used in just about anything from tacos to sandwiches to mac and cheese and beyond.

Make sure to pay particular attention to the brisket preparation portion of this recipe. The preparation and sizing can mean success or failure in your smoking adventure. Too large of a cut will mean your cook time gets greatly magnified, while too small of a cut means it is going to be done well ahead of expectations.

This recipe calls for about a 10-pound brisket, but make sure that doesn’t include 2 pounds of fat. The butcher may trim the meat beforehand, or they may not, your best course of action is to specifically request that they leave only about a quarter-inch of fat on the brisket. Just that little bit of fat left will be more than enough to add moisture and flavor to the meat.

Buttery Smoked Corn On The Cob

Here’s a great opportunity to make an amazing side dish in your smoker, and as a bonus, it’s even a vegetable! This simple recipe for buttery smoked corn on the cob lets you flex your smoker muscles on a starter or side order, which are often overlooked in a lot of backyard smoker cuisine. The best part is, you can get corn super cheap in-season, freeze it, and enjoy smoked corn year-round.

Featuring a little seasoned butter mixture and green onion, you will peel and shuck the corn first, then brush with the butter mix and smoke away. You’ll want to have your smoker preheated to 225, and you’ll smoke the corn for about 60 minutes, turning the cobs once during smoking.

Easy Double Smoked Turkey

One of the staples in smoker cooking is the turkey, and while most people would be happy to smoke a turkey once, this recipe for a twice-smoked turkey might just change your Thanksgiving for years to come. This recipe can be used to great effect with an entire turkey, but you can get more bang for your buck by using a whole turkey breast. Not only will you not have to wry about carving around bones, but you can fit several of them in a smoker with ease.

This recipe uses an all-purpose bbq rub and requires you to hold the temperature at 250 for 3-4 hours in total, though there are points where you will need to baste the meat every twenty minutes or so. This is another one that is perfect for an electric smoker since you’ll be opening it frequently when it approaches the finish line because it can hold a more steady temperature and compensate for “peeking”.

Smoked Salmon

When you have your electric smoker broken in, and you want to really try some serious smoking, it’s probably time to give this recipe for smoked salmon a try. Salmon is definitely one of the easiest and best fish to smoke.

You will need to cure the fish for more than 24 hours, as well as dry it, before smoking. The simple spice mix consists of just salt, sugar, brown sugar, and peppercorns, and gives the final product enough flavor to accent the smokiness without overpowering it.

Once the fish has been seasoned and set in the fridge, a heavy book or pan is placed on top of it, helping to squeeze out more of the remaining liquid. After that t is taken out and set to dry for a few hours. Finally, it is smoked at about 150-160 until the thickest portion of the fillet measures 150 degrees.

Caplansky’s Smoked Meatloaf

Ask anyone about meatloaf, and you’ll likely get one of two answers, either they have never had a good meatloaf so they think they hate it, or they love it and probably have their own favorite meatloaf recipe. You can knock all their socks off with this life-changing smoked meatloaf recipe. In addition to your smoker, you’ll need a pair of rectangular bread molds for this, along with some wax paper to line them with.

Once the meat is combined with the spice mix and the rest of the dry ingredients, it’s loaded into the paper-lined bread pans and set in the smoker for about 3 hours. The sauce that you make to accompany the meatloaf with be almost salsa-like in its consistency, and it is really the perfect finishing touch for this meatloaf.

Mesquite-Smoked Beef Ribs with Vinegar BBQ Sauce

One of the things everyone is eager to try with a smoker is a recipe for fall off the bone ribs. When you make these mesquite-smoked superstars you will never want to go out for ribs again. With a fairly standard spice mix in the rub and a vinegar-based bbq sauce, you’ll find these taste like competition ribs without the stress and all-day cook.

This recipe has you make convenient smoke pouches with your wet and dry chips so that you can quickly add smoke at certain stages. With an easily manageable 2.5-3 hour cook time and 30-minute basting schedule, these beef ribs are perfect for your electric smoker. You’ll be in there frequently to baste them, so you will enjoy having the electric smoker manage that temperature control.

Hunan Smoked Beef Ribs

When you want a new twist on your standard ribs, these Hunan smoked beef ribs give you an amazing sweet and sour hoisin flavor that is hard to beat. The five-spice powder gives you that perfect Hunan beef flavor, while the brown sugar helps put that caramelized crust on the meat that makes it simply divine.

This recipe will have you do some of the preparation the day before you smoke the ribs, such as having the meat marinate in a resealable bag in the fridge to let those muscle fibers tenderize. The easy to add smoke pouches let you add premeasured amounts of wood chips to the process at predetermined times. You’ll only need about 3 hours at 220 for these bad boys to be plate-ready.

Smoked Whole Turkey

While it may seem like an intimidating task at first, this recipe for smoking an entire turkey makes it nearly foolproof. It even covers one of the biggest caveats with smoking a whole large bird, with is choosing your wood chips ahead of time and properly preparing them before smoking. To get the best smoke flavor and volume, you want to make sure your chips are soaking in cold water for at least two full days before you put that turkey in.

This recipe works best with a 15-17lb turkey and will require 4-5 hours to finish. It will need the smoker to hold at about 275 for the entire cooking duration. Once it is done, make sure you do the hardest step, which is letting the meat rest before carving, otherwise, all those juices will run right out.

Smoked Ham with Maple Mustard Glaze

This recipe for a whole ham incorporates a maple mustard glaze that has the perfect amount of sugar to carmelize and provide that crust that we all love. The mustard imparts a bit of the vinegar taste to cut the sweetness and makes an unbeatable combination of sweet and savory in one amazing piece of meat.

While this isn’t one of the quickest recipes, as it needs about four and a half hours to smoke and finish, but with it taking less than some other large cuts of meat, it makes this a great candidate for a holiday ham, since it helps keep the oven and kitchen free for other preparation.

Smoked Beef Cheeks

Cheek meat is one of the most overlooked pieces of meat on the cow. When smoked, then either sliced or pulled and shredded, beef cheeks have uniquely rich flavor and a soft almost buttery texture. This recipe for smoked beef cheeks produces some of the most tender and delicious beef cheeks that you can then use in tacos, sliders, mixed into mac and cheese, and so on.

The important preparation of the cheeks s covered since they are smaller and more delicate pieces of meat, and easy to overcook or toughen. Luckily there is a strip of collagen through the cheek that makes drying the meat out nearly impossible.

Smoked Crab Legs

Most people enjoy crab legs either steamed or boiled, but once you have them smoked you’ll never order crab legs in a restaurant again. You might think that the smoke would have a hard time getting to the meat inside the shells but you would be sorely mistaken.

This recipe for smoked crab legs recommends using softer flavored wood and advises to stay away from woods like mesquite and hickory which can overpower the delicate flavor of the crab meat. The butter and spice mix is all you’ll need in addition to the flavor that the smoke imparts.

This recipe is built for using alder or oak and holding it at about 225 for only approximately 30 minutes. One of the caveats with this recipe is making sure the temperature is consistent before putting the legs in, or they can end up overcooked.

Smoked Pastrami

This recipe for homemade pastrami nearly guarantees you won’t need the deli for your delicious smoked and peppered sandwich stuffing. While most pastrami is beef pastrami, coming from the beef naval with the ability to smoke your own meat, you can turn beef, pork, and even lamb into amazing pastrami.

This recipe uses a brisket flat, and a simple peppercorn and mustard rub. This one takes some preparation since you’ll need to brine your meat for nearly six days ahead of time, but once it’s finished you’ll have perfectly seasoned pastrami.

Final Thoughts

I hope you’ve enjoyed this round up of the best electric smoker recipes!  Be sure to visit the links above and support the creators who came up with all of these tasty recipes.

The post 18 Electric Smoker Recipes appeared first on Own The Grill.

Many people will get confused between smoking and grilling and the differences in the flavors. Many of us love cooking on the smoker grills we purchase but are unsure how smoking meat at home works.

The benefits of smoking meat at home is also another reason we love it. The aroma that gets absorbed into the meat makes it soft, juicy, and brimming with flavor.

So, while we have you for today we will tell you all about the ways in which you can smoke meat, the difference it makes, and the different ways in which you can do so. Let’s get you smoking your meat perfectly!

Smoking Meat: The Basics

When you smoke meat you are basically just exposing food to the smoke in order to brown the meat, preserve it or add that gorgeous smokey flavor that none of us can resist. It is probably the oldest cooking technique there is going back to when we would cook over a fire.

It is simply done by hanging the meat or placing it on a rack inside a chamber that traps the smoke that is made by a roasting hot hardwood fire. Of course, different woods will give your meat a different flavor, but we will get into that later.

The Method

So, what exactly can the method do to your meat? Well, it is said that smoking creates better flavors overall and tastier aromas when it is cooked in this fashion.

We should however remember that the quality of the wood and the meat will influence the overall cook as well. The better the wood is and the better the meat is, the better your eventual flavor will be.

Those who have mastered this profession curate the best wood they can, this does not only craft a gorgeous flavor that tickles your taste buds, but it also manages to aid in crafting the most tender and juicy meats as well.

Smoking meat is also ideal as it will tenderize the meat, which is good for typically tough meats like pork, or some cuts of beef such as brisket. Typically, if you get ribs that have the meat just fall off the bone then the chance is that they were not grilled, but were smoked.

It is also important to note that there are two different types of smoking meat, there is cold smoking and hot smoking.

Cold smoking is done when the meat is exposed to a low-temperature smoke which is usually from 60-120 degree Fahrenheit, and away from the source of the heat. This is done to preserve the meat and enhance the flavor. This does not cook meat, so the meat is usually cured prior.

Hot smoking on the other hand, is basically barbecuing, it exposes the meat to a smoke that is hot enough to be able to cook the meat through, usually from 200 to 300 degree Fahrenheit.

When you do this you actually add the flavor in by either smoking the flavor compounds into the meat via the surface, or through the act of slow cooking which makes the meat very tender.

The Process

The process of smoking does not technically need a smoker. Grilling meat uses direct heat for a short time span, but smoking uses indirect heat to cook the meat at a lower temperature for a long time frame. Smokers and grills are basically opposites.

Indirect heat is where the magic is made, you do not place the meat on the heat source, instead, you just let the heat and smoke waft over your meat, keeping it out of the path of the heat.

Using a proper smoker does make doing this much easier, as they are designed to do this properly and effectively. It does this but allows the smoke to reach the meat and for the meat to absorb the smoke, thus tenderizing it and giving it that delicious smoky flavor you want.

Good smokers are made to do this, they make sure that the smoke and the heat adequately circulate through the smoker to provide the meat with an even cook all round.

It is actually a very simple process, but it is not the easiest thing to master so it may take some time to get it perfect.

15 Tips And Tricks

So, interested in giving this a go? We aren’t surprised, but you want to make sure that you do this right, so, to get started we will give you some top tips and tricks to make sure that you get started on the right track with your smoking.

Know Your Wood

You need to know your woods if you are going to start smoking. If you have a wood fire in your home you are probably already fairly accustomed to the fact that every wood has a different smell when burned.

Not only do different woods influence the flavor though, they also influence the tenderness and juiciness of your meats. Different woods will work best with different meats, however.

That being said, it also depends on your taste buds as well, so, while we will give you some guidance here, we also recommend you play around and experiment to see what works best for you.

• Alder Wood: Alder wood is best when used to cook seafood, pork, and chicken.
• Apple: Applewood is best used for cooking chicken and seafood.
• Cherry Wood & Oak Wood: These woods are best used to cook pork, beef, seafood pork, and chicken,
• Hickory, Walnut, and Mesquite Wood: These woods can be used for cooking with both pork and beef.
• Maple Wood: Maple works well with chicken.
• Peach, Pecan, and Pear Wood: These work well with pork and chicken.

Slow And Steady

When you are smoking you are cooking for a long time, hours in fact, and you use indirect heat to do so, so you want to keep the heat up slow and steady.

We recommend a temperature range between 200 and 250 degrees Fahrenheit.

Typically, you will also want a thermometer as well to monitor your grill heat as you cook. Bluetooth ones are probably the best as you can just poop it in and monitor it while you sit on the couch.

Do not forget to manage the fire though, you will need to change out the charcoal and wood every few hours to keep the heat consistent.

Start Your Coals

Not everyone uses wood though, some people use coals. Although we do warn against using lighter fluid or charcoal impregnated with it. If you use charcoal use high-quality briquettes or even a lump charcoal.

Smoking meat is about keeping lit coals burning at your disposal for a consistent temperature. You do not put raw coals in, but you need something going on the side, perhaps another grill with burning coals in it.

A chimney starter is a good investment for this, you don’t need to start it again, instead, you just have a fire that is constantly going.

This is the beauty of using this, it keeps things lit, which you need, and you won’t risk the temperature of your smoker dropping, which is important.

Temperature consistency is a huge part of successfully smoking meat, and you do not want to risk messing this up, so keep your coals started up and ready to go.

Get The Right Equipment

Sure, you could just buy some cheap stuff, maybe you could even use your current grill as a smoker, but we don’t advise it. You want to get the right stuff.

Get a smoker, they can be known by how they generate heat. A smoker that works via wood is also best, you can get decent grills that generate their heat from charcoal and gas, sure, but wood generally does the best.

There are tons of different smokers too, so choose wisely. You also need your wood, and as you see above, there are different woods for different meats. To use a grill you want wood chips though, chunks are best for a kettle grill.

You also need a smoke box if you are using a gas or charcoal grill, a water pan to add some humidity to your cooking chamber, a spray bottle to spritz the meat exterior to prevent it drying out, as well as a drip pan to prevent grease and fat dripping into your cooking chamber.

Invest In The Right Meats

Getting the right meats to smoke is all about your own preference really, but some meats work better. You should try and smoke a steak for example, instead you want to smoke tough cuts of meat. Meats with a lot of fat and collagen.

Beef brisket is ideal meat for smoking. The more fat they have the less likely they will dry out, and collagen will melt into a tender gelatin as well.

With more marble you will also find more flavor and moisture, not to mention how much better it absorbs the flavor of smoke as well.

Pork is one of the best meats to use on a smoker, pork shoulder, ribs, butt, and such are great choices. Tender cuts are not ideal as they will dry out.

Know Your Burning Stages

We aren’t talking about the burning stages of the food, but instead the wood. Wood will produce its cleanest smoke at around 600 degrees Fahrenheit, as you go to hit this you will be burning off gasses, moisture and oil-soluble chemicals. After that it’s just vapor.

Vapor will settle on the surface of the meat and evaporate, leaving traces of guaiacol and syringol which give it flavor and smell.

There are 4 burning stages for when you are burning wood for your smoker.

Stage 1- dehydration, which will happen at around 500 degrees, any water in the wood will start to evaporate, so it can burn.

Stage 2- This is the pyrolysis and gasification stage, happening between 500 and 700 degrees, the wood will start to break down.

Stage 3- This is the burning, between 700 and 100 degrees, flames appear and this is where you get the vapor which gives you the aromatic smoke you need.

Stage 4- Finally char burning, this is where there is only the carbon in charcoal left, it will have little to no smoke and no flame.

No Need To Flip

When you are smoking you do not need to flip your meat on the grill. Many novices will make the mistake of doing this.

You do not have to think about one side being hotter than the other, this is because your meat is being cooked indirectly. You should keep the lid closed at all times until the meat is ready.If you are looking at the meat, then it’s not cooking.

The only reason you should be touching the grill or meat at any point would be to add in new wood chips or to spritz the meat.

Plan Your Smoking Times In Advance

You need to make a game plan when you are smoking meat. You can easily forget where you’re at during a long cook, so it’s good to make a plan, and even set alarms, so you are almost working by a daily calendar.

Write out a plan and work backward from when you want to serve.

So, if you want to serve a brisket at 6 pm, and you think it’ll take 12 hours, with an hour to rest you will want to start cooking at 5 am. If you want to push up the heat 10 degrees after the first three hours, you want to note the time and set an alarm.

Make yourself a step-by-step guide for whatever it is that you are cooking and plan ahead!

Use Dry Wood

The cook you choose is very important, not just for flavor and burn, and not just for the type of wood you get either. We can all go to the shop and pick up some wood chips for burning, however, some people like to source it themselves and that is totally fine to do.

However, if you do this, make sure you are getting the right wood.

You want to use hardwoods like alder, maple, oak, pecan, apple, cherry, mesquite, or hickory. And stay far away from any woods that look like they may have damage of any sort.

Powdery, rotting, or waterlogged wood is a bad idea, and it won’t burn properly, or taste good either.

You should also avoid softwoods like pine, fir, or spruce, they are high in oils and this produces an acrid smoke when it is lit.

It is still best to buy your wood from a seller as then you know it is quality and… it is dry.

Invest In The Right Wood

You should also think about the RIGHT wood for what you want to cook, this means type, no we aren’t talking about the tree it came from again, but instead, we are talking about the size and shape of the wood you use.

If you want to use wood chips this is great for an hour or so to cook. The best thing to remember is that the bigger and thicker the wood is, the longer it will last.

Wood chunks are a great investment for smokers who will be working on a cook all day. Pellets are another option, but these should only ever be used with a pellet smoker.

Choose your fuel wisely, you can always try chips first and then move on to chunks if you need something a little more.

Wrap Your Meats

One reason we often love smoked meats is their unhinged juiciness, we love it, but sometimes if you leave a cut of meat uncovered for a whole cook you are leaving it to the potential of drying out.

So, if you want to get a juicier cut of meat, we recommend wrapping it up in foil, or even butcher paper for a section of the time you intend on smoking for. However, do not wrap it for the whole cook, this would be ill-advised.

Some people will leave meat exposed all the time, but some won’t, it is your choice.

Some smoking experts will leave meat exposed for only half the cook, then wrap it in foil and cook for a third of the time, and then unwrap it and leave it unwrapped for the rest of the time.

So if you had a 2-hour cook, you would leave it exposed for an hour, then wrap for 40 minutes and unwrap for the rest of the 20 minutes.

Open The Lid As Little As Possible

As we said earlier, you don’t want to flip your meat, and honestly, if you can avoid spritzing it, that is probably a good idea too. You see, you do not want to be opening the lid. There is no point in looking at your meat when it is in the smoker.

It won’t hurt you not to look and by keeping the lid closed you’re keeping the smoke where it needs to be. All you need to do is manage the coals and the temperature.

If you have a coal smoker, and you need to refuel, then quickly remove the meat and grate, pop in your hot coals (readied) pop in the grate and meat and close the lit quickly.

You do not want to leave it open for too long if you can help it.

Rest Your Meat

You don’t necessarily need to rest every cut of meat you cook, but you should certainly be resting meats like brisket. These cuts can be chewy and unpleasant when they are not properly cooked.

Not only this but the flat contains less fat than you find in the point, so the meat on this end can be too tough to eat if the juices and steam escape.

You could actually lose a fair amount of the moisture if you choose not to rest a brisket, you could actually lose a whole 10 tablespoons worth of liquid if you don’t.

Yet, if you rest the meat for only 40 minutes after cooking you will decrease the most you lose to only less than a single tablespoon.

If you are resting pork chops or chicken breasts, they will only need a few minutes, if you are dealing with a whole brisket, you will want to rest it for much longer, an hour is suitable.

Keep Your Meat Moist

Keeping the meat moist is about retaining the juices. When we cook over direct heat the meat is likely to lose juices easier, when smoking this won’t happen so easily, but it doesn’t mean you don’t lose some. This is why we have a drip pan.

Some meats will retain moisture better than others, and the fact that meat can lose its juices is often the reason why many people will choose to spritz certain meats during intervals of the cooking period.

However, while this works you should be cautious about doing it too often as you can lose heat by doing so.

One of the best ways to retain moisture is to properly rest your meat after the cook is done.

Do Not Oversmoke Your Meats

It can be tempting to oversmoke when you are first starting, you might worry that it won’t work out as you planned, or there’s not enough smoke for a big cut of meat, perhaps you are worried about getting it perfect, or concerned about the flavor.

While it can be difficult when you are having your first smoke, you need to be patient and just leave it be, let the smoke do its job on its own. You do not need to go crazy or overboard, the meat itself will provide you with the majority of your flavor.

You should avoid not smoking it for any longer than half of the cooking time, so if you wrap it the best time for wrapping is for ⅓ of the cook. If you use a heavy wood like mesquite you might want to wrap for even less time.

But do not try and oversmoke for the sake of doing so, or for the flavor, the flavor is already there.

Beginner Friendly Smoked Meat Recipes

Meat smoking is a slow process, and it can take a little while for people who are new to it to get the hang of doing it. It is a slow procedure that uses smoke as the source of the heat to prepare the meal.

Every type of meat you can smoke will have different needs through the smoking process, so you want to make sure you know what you are doing for each meat type you want to smoke.

Here are five smoked meat recipes ideal for beginners to this culinary craft.

Smoked Chuck Roast

A chuck roast is probably one of the first meats that comes to mind when we think of the best meats to smoke. They are nice and easy and do not take too much effort to smoke well, and what is even better is that you just know it will still taste absolutely fantastic1

You can smoke this for around 10-12 hours at a continuous temperature of 205 degrees Fahrenheit, and the best wood to use to smoke this would be hickory wood.

You can season it and flavor it as you want and then get the delicious smokey taste and smell from smoking it.

Its longer smoking time means that it is easy to do, and you can just leave it there, all you need to do is just keep the fuel going.

Smoked Brisket

We mentioned brisket earlier, so we will cover this one too as a brisket smoked well can be absolutely delicious. In order to prepare a smoked brisket you want to be calm and ready for a long process.

You may come across some trial and error, but you need to be patient, you will achieve perfect and excellently smoked meat within around 10 to 14 hours, generally.

Brisket is unlike pork ribs or beef ribs, as it is a tough meat, and it requires any external fats it has to make it tender.

You’ll need to preheat your smoker and gently trim your brisket, checking it afterward. Do not forget to season it well and then pop it on your smoker for its first smoking, you want to remove and wrap it for 13 of the overall cook time,

Then give it its second smoke and once done take it out of the smoker and allow it to rest for around an hour to ensure it is tender and delicious.

Resting is one of the most important parts of the smoking process for brisket.

Smoked Pork Ribs

This is a classic that you just cannot hate. Pork ribs are a favorite for many, and when cooked perfectly they taste incredible and everyone at the table will be fighting over them. They are easy to smoke and to cook.

You only need to cook these for around 6 hours, so it is shorter than brisket although still a long time, but the glorious tenderness is definitely worth it in the end.

There is not much you have to consider with these, they are pretty easy to do, however, make sure that you serve them with your favorite BBQ sauce once you’re done to add that perfect rib flavor to the smokey goodness.

Smoked Chicken Breast

Chicken is a very common dish at the dinner table and is probably the most eaten meat in the US next to beef meat. However, it does take a little more effort to make chicken taste delicious, as generally, it can be rather without flavor.

However, this is where smoking comes in. Chicken skin will dry up when cooking as there is a very limited amount of fat available, so smoking it can do a good trick.

Just take the whole breast and marinade it for a while before you smoke it. And aim for a finished temperature of around 170 degrees Fahrenheit.

Smoked chicken breast takes the shortest amount of time of all our recipes so far only taking 1 hour and 10 minutes on average.

However, the bigger the breast the longer you may want to leave it on for. That being said, remember not to over-smoke any meat, especially chicken, as chicken can easily dry out.

Smoked Salmon

We haven’t spoken much about putting fish on the smoker, have we? Well, you can smoke fish as well, and you can get some incredible results by doing so. Smoking does not actually take that much effort with fish, thanks to the oils in fish.

Smoked salmon is a delicacy, and with its fatty oils it takes very little time in comparison to others, so if you want a super easy place to start your smoking, salmon is a good shout.

This fish will only take around 17 minutes overall to smoke with a temperature of 400 degrees Fahrenheit to get it ready.

If you are going to smoke some salmon we recommend cherry wood or alder wood for the best flavor. Remember that the wood you use is important to the flavor, and you need to match the wood to what you are cooking, that is the main thing to think about with fish.

Otherwise, salmon is an easy smoked dish.

Summary

Smoking meat can yield some absolutely incredible results overall, everyone loves the flavors it brings, and it can really make your mouth water. Do remember that you need to choose your wood carefully and match it to what you are cooking.

Do not let temptation catch you and have you lift the lid, just let your food cook, patience is a virtue, and it is a virtue that comes with rewards in this case!

So, will you give it a try? Are you going to try and smoke your meat instead of doing things the fast way? If you do, you will love what happens!

The post The Ultimate Guide To Smoking Meat At Home appeared first on Own The Grill.

In order for your smoked salmon to turn out perfect every time, you need to make sure you use the right type of wood when smoking it.

Different types of wood can impart different flavors to your salmon, so choosing the right kind is essential if you want a flavorful final product.

In this article we will discuss some of the best types of wood for smoking salmon and how they can help bring out its unique flavor.

The Best Wood For Smoking Salmon

Hickory

Hickory is at the top of our list for best wood for smoking salmon. It has a strong and distinct flavor that really stands out.

Hickory imparts a sweet yet smoky taste to your salmon, making it an excellent choice for those who like bold flavors. However, hickory can be quite overpowering so make sure you don’t use too much of it when smoking your salmon.

Applewood

Applewood comes in second for the best wood for smoking salmon.  Applewood has a subtle yet sweet flavor that adds depth to the taste of your smoked salmon without overpowering it.

Additionally, applewood helps produce a nice pink color in the flesh of the fish, making it a great choice for those who want to achieve an aesthetically pleasing finished product.

Maple

Lastly, maple wood is also great for smoking salmon. Maple imparts a mild and slightly sweet flavor that complements the taste of salmon without overshadowing it. Additionally, the smokiness of maple is rather subtle, making it a good choice for those who don’t want an overly smoky flavor.

Wood Types We’d Avoid For Salmon

Mesquite

Mesquite is one of the most popular types of wood for smoking, but it should be avoided when smoking salmon. Mesquite has a pungent flavor that can easily overpower the delicate flavor of salmon, making it an unwise choice for this particular type of fish.

Oak

Lastly, oak wood is not recommended for smoking salmon. Oak has a strong and intense flavor that can easily overpower the taste of salmon.

While it’s not quite as strong as mesquite, it is still easy to overdo it on salmon – so we think it’s best to stay away from it when smoking any type of fish.

Bonus Suggestion: Cedar

Ok so cedar isn’t a wood you’d normally use in a BBQ smoker.  However, we’d be remiss to not include it on this list because one of the most popular ways to prepare salmon is by grilling it over a cedar plank.

Simply soak your cedar planks, put’em on the grill, add your salmon, and you’ll be well on your way to incredibly tasty flavor.  The cedar smoke is a perfect complement to the delicate salmon flavor profile.

Final Thoughts

When it comes to smoking salmon, the type of wood you choose can really make or break the final product.

By using one of these three types of wood – hickory, applewood, or maple – you can be sure that your smoked salmon will have a delicious flavor that will make it stand out from the rest. So, get your smoker ready for some smoky salmon goodness!  Happy smoking!

The post Best Wood For Smoking Salmon – And What Not To Use appeared first on Own The Grill.

The process is a lot simpler than you might think. Most of the work is done before you even start the smoke. We are going to jump into the recipe for smoked pumpkin pie- you will like it so much more than the original recipe!

The Best Pumpkin Pie You’ll Ever Try

Pumpkin pie is a tradition in most homes at Thanksgiving. When you heat it in the smoker, you get a lot more flavor and a delicious, smokey taste. This Smoked Pumpkin Pie Recipe is the perfect dessert to try out this fall- your friends and family will be sure to love it.

If you have never smoked anything before, this is a good place to start. We are going to take you through all of the steps, getting you to the best pumpkin pie you have ever tasted. Check out our recipe below to get started making your own!

I make this recipe on my Camp Chef Woodwind Wifi pellet smoker, but any type of smoker will do!  You can even get away with doing this on a grill if you have a way to supplement your grill with wood fired smoke.

Getting Your Smoked Pumpkin Pie Ready

Before you start, you always want to be sure that the smoker is on. Preheat your oven or grill to 425ºF. Also, preheat your smoker to 350ºF.  With the smoker, the goal is to have at least a little bit of smoke flavoring the pie.

Pour your pumpkin pie filling into the crust, then cook it in the oven or grill at 425ºF for 15 minutes.

You can tell if your pie is cooked the whole way by doing the “knife test”. You can do this by inserting a table knife, or even a toothpick, into the center of your pumpkin pie.

If your knife comes out clean, with nothing on it, then the pie has finished cooking. You want to do this when the pie is warm, as the knife test might cause the filling to crack when it is cooling.

Another way to tell if you are ready to move onto the next step is to gently shake the pumpkin pie. If it jiggles, then the filling is not completely cooked yet and needs some more time in the oven or grill. Once you are sure that your pie is done, you can move onto the next step- using the smoker!

Why Use a Canned Filling?

When it comes to pumpkin pie fillings, canned pumpkin puree works amazingly. You might think that to make a delicious pie, you need to work completely from scratch. However, when it comes to a smoked pumpkin pie, the puree really nicely.

Fresh, real pumpkins can vary in size and moisture. Which means that your cooking time might vary as well. If you want to make a consistent pie that cooks well the first time, we recommend using a filling.

You can try making your filling if you are confident, of course! We are thinking of beginners to using a smoker and how this recipe can be a learning experience for you.

What Wood to Use

When smoking your pumpkin pie, you are going to want to use either maple, cherry, applewood, or equivalently flavored pellets if you’re using a pellet grill.

Lighter woods work better with pies since they do not hide the flavors of the pumpkin pie filling. You want to choose a wood that is not going to overpower your pie. Once you have your wood or pellets picked out, then you can move on to smoking your pie, these are the steps.

Smoking Your Pumpkin Pie

You will want to let the pumpkin pie cool down for 15 minutes before you do anything else with it. After you put in your choice of light wood and the pie has cooled some, it is time to smoke the pie! Go out to your smoker with the pie and place it inside.

Once you have transferred the pie to the smoker cook the pie for another 45 minutes or until you can complete the knife or toothpick test successfully. There should be barely any pie on either of those items during the test.

You could also check it with a cooking thermometer if you have one. The pumpkin pie should have an internal temperature of 175 F when it is finished. If it is not there yet, you can always put it back in for a few minutes.

Before that, while the pie is cooking, you might want to cover the edges of the pie halfway through the smoking time. This stops the crust from burning since it is receiving the most heat. Finally, you can remove the pumpkin pie from the smoker and let it cool for at least two hours before you serve it.

Cool and Serve

Once your pumpkin pie has cooled for those two hours, you can carefully take it from the fridge and set it on a table. Cutting the pie to serve is easy- you have already likely cut pies before! All you need to do is slice it into the sizes that you want. Serving smoked pumpkin pie is simple.

Pumpkin pie goes best with vanilla ice cream or a whipped cream topping. As you can see, making a delicious smoked pumpkin pie and serving it to your family and friends is easy! If you need a recipe to try using your new smoker for the first time, then we would recommend that you give this a try.

You might want to serve your pie warm, however, your pie should cool completely before you serve it. It can be tempting, but it is better to wait. Pies can stay warm in the center when their outside is cooled. If you want that perfect slice of smoked pumpkin pie, then it is going to be much better to wait- trust us on that one!

Print

Smoked Pumpkin Pie

The Last Pumpkin Pie Recipe You Will Ever Need!

Course Dessert

Cuisine American, Fall, Thanksgiving

Keyword Pellet Grill Dessert, Pumpkin Pie, Smoked Pumpkin Pie, Thanksgiving

Prep Time 10 minutes minutes

Cook Time 1 hour hour

Resting Time 2 hours hours

Total Time 3 hours hours 10 minutes minutes

Servings 8 slices

Calories 400kcal

Equipment

• 9" pie dish

Ingredients

Ingredients

• 1 pie crust pre-made or homemade

Pie Filling Ingredients

• 2 eggs
• 1 additional egg yolk
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp ground ginger
• 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp ground cloves
• 1 can pumpkin purée 15 oz

Instructions

• Preheat oven or grill to 425°F
• Preheat smoker to 350°F
• Combine pie filling ingredients. Whisk until combined
• Place pie crust into pie dish then pour filling mixture into the crust
• Place pie into oven or grill and bake for 15 minutes on 425°F
• After 15 minutes, remove pie from oven or grill and transfer to smoker, which should be running 350°F
• Bake pie on smoker for an additional 45 minutes. The pie is done when you can insert the tip of a knife or a toothpick into the center and it comes out clean. A little bit of pie on the knife or toothpick is ok
• Consider covering the pie edges halfway through the cook to not char the crust
• Remove pie from smoker and allow it to cool for at least 2 hours before serving
• Slice, serve, and enjoy!

Nutrition

Calories: 400kcal

Final Thoughts

Making a smoked pumpkin pie is easy and fun! It gives you a chance to make a classic fall dessert in a smoker, which can be a great way to become more familiar with using the cooking tool. If you have any questions, do not hesitate to shoot us a message! We would love to hear about what you are doing.

The post Smoked Pumpkin Pie Recipe – The Ultimate Fall Time Dessert appeared first on Own The Grill.

It shouldn’t surprise you when I share that pellet grills are one of the absolute cookers to smoke a turkey.  Do it right and the flavor will come out perfectly, the bird tender, and the meat will have the perfect amount of smokey taste in every bite.

Maybe it’s Thanksgiving and you’re trying to make sure you deliver the goods to family and friends.  Or maybe turkey just sounded like a great addition to your weekend BBQ spread.  Either way, we’ve got you covered.

In this article, we’ve created a complete guide to pellet grill turkey.  We’ll share our recipe along with some pellet grill knowledge and tips to help you get the absolute most out of your turkey.

A Quick Note on Pellet Grills – And Why They’re Perfect for Turkey

If you’ve made it to this pellet grill turkey recipe, I probably don’t need to sell you what makes pellet grills so great. But it’s worth pointing out a few specific attributes of the pellet grill that make them the perfect vessel to prepare a turkey in.

First and foremost, these cookers have a temperature range that can steadily hold low heat for extended periods – which is exactly why you want to smoke meat low and slow.  Most pellet grills can easily hold temperatures as low as 200°F.

Second, pellet grills are set and forget it style of smokers.  All you have to do to get your grill fired up is turn a dial on your control panel.  It’s as simple as that to get your cook started!  There’s no need to mess around with building and babysitting a fire.

Pellet grills also work as convection style cookers with an indirect heating method – which ultimately leads to evenly cooked results without having to rotate your bird throughout the cook.

Last, but certainly not least, is that these grills will deliver some pretty incredible flavor to your food.  Wood pellets are the fuel source for these grills, and they impart delicious smokey flavor onto your turkey.

Our top recommendation for turkey is cherry pellets – but if you’re stuck deciding which type of wood pellets to use with your turkey smoke, check out our resource on the best wood for smoking turkey to help you decide.

Things You’ll Need for Smoked Turkey

Here is everything you’ll need to get started on your pellet grill turkey:

• A turkey – ideally 12-15 pounds and fully thawed.
• Wood pellets – if you own a pellet grill, odds are you have plenty of pellets around.  Just make sure you have enough to get you through a 6-8 hour smoke.
• Probe meat thermometer – the only way you’ll know for sure when your bird is done is by measuring the meat’s internal temperature.
• Foil drip pan – this will help catch the turkey’s juicy drippings and also ensure that your cooking chamber remains moist during the smoke.  A water pan isn’t 100% necessary but it will add extra moisture to your cook.
• Butcher twine – this is optional, but it will allow for you to tie up the legs for better presentation and to minimize the risk of burning the edge parts of your turkey.

Preparing the Turkey

To make things easier, I’d recommend buying a pre-brined turkey.  Most store-bought turkeys are pre-brined as this helps to keep the bird moist while it cooks.

If you prefer to brine the turkey yourself, that’s no problem!  Just be sure to allow extra time for the turkey to properly soak in a brine.

From there, I like to apply a rub to the turkey to add extra flavor.  The rub in our recipe later in this article is a fairly traditional Thanksgiving turkey rub, but I’d also recommend sweet rubs.  These work particularly well with a smoked turkey recipe that will result in some pretty tasty sweet and smokey results.

Here is a step-by-step look at what you need to do before placing your bird on the pellet grill:

• Defrost your turkey.  The only way to safely defrost a turkey is to put it in the fridge well before cooking day.  As a rule of thumb, you should plan to thaw it in the fridge for 24 hours for every 4 to 5 pounds of bird.
• After the turkey has thawed, remove it from any packaging and remove the giblets and the neck from the inside cavity.  If you brine your turkey, be sure to wash the outside of the bird with cold water.
• Pat down the outside of the turkey with paper towels.
• Tie the legs together, then tuck the wings behind the bird’s shoulder joints.
• Rub the outside of the turkey with an olive oil or melted butter base, followed by your rub.

From here, your turkey is ready to go on the pellet grill!

To Stuff or Not to Stuff?

I personally don’t think a pellet grill turkey needs stuffing, but you certainly can if you want to.

The key is to make sure you don’t overdo it.  If you pack the stuffing in too tight, you might run into a bad situation where the stuffing doesn’t reach a safe temperature to consume by the time your turkey has finished cooking.

Less is more when stuffing a pellet grill turkey – place a small enough amount in the cavity that plenty of air can still circulate while it cooks.

Getting the Bird on the Grill

Preheat your pellet grill to 225°F.  If your grill has a smoke setting, I like to set the smoke intensity to somewhere in between high and low for turkey.

After it’s nice and rubbed down and your grill has come to temperature, you can proceed with placing the bird on the grill grates.  If your grill has two tiers of grates, place the turkey on the top grate and an aluminum drip pan underneath it on the bottom grate.  You can fill the pan with 2-3 cups of water or apple cider vinegar to help keep the chamber extra moist.

If your grill only has one grate level, no worries!  Place your turkey on the grill and your aluminum pan alongside the bird – this will still help with moisture levels as the cook goes on.

From there, insert a probe meat thermometer into the centermost point of the turkey breast so you can monitor the internal temperature as the cook progresses.

When Is Turkey Ready to Come Off Of the Pellet Grill?

As a general rule of thumb, you can plan on smoking your turkey for about 30 minutes per each pound it weighs.  So for example, a 12-pound bird will spend approximately 6 hours cooking.

But really, the turkey is ready to come off of the grates once it’s reached a safe internal temperature.  Turkey is done once it reaches an internal temperature of 165°F.  It should measure at least this temperature at all of the deepest sections of meat before it’s ready to come off.

I like to start measuring the internal temperature about an hour before I expect the turkey to be finished – from there, I check every 15 minutes or so to make sure I take it off the grill at the optimal time.

Final Touches for Your Pellet Grill Turkey

After your bird comes off of the grill, you’ll want to let it rest for about 15-20 minutes before you carve into it.  When meat cooks, the juices all concentrate to the centermost sections of the meat, so this rest time allows for the fibers to relax and redistribute moisture evenly throughout the meat.

Once it’s rested, it’s time to carve it up!  Carve into slices and serve on a serving platter alongside your Thanksgiving or BBQ cookout fixins!

Print

Pellet Grill Turkey

A Thanksgiving classic recipe but specifically tailored to cooking low and slow on a pellet grill.

Course Main Course

Cuisine American, BBQ, Thanksgiving

Keyword BBQ, Pellet Grill, Pellet Grill Turkey, Thanksgiving, Turkey

Prep Time 30 minutes minutes

Cook Time 8 hours hours

Resting Time 20 minutes minutes

Total Time 8 hours hours 50 minutes minutes

Servings 12 people

Calories 625kcal

Author Jenna Hansen

Equipment

• Aluminum foil drip pan
• Probe meat thermometer
• Butcher twine (optional)

Ingredients

• 1 14-16 lb turkey defrosted
• 1/2 lb butter softened
• 8 sprigs thyme chopped
• 6 cloves garlic minced
• 2 sprigs rosemary chopped
• 2 sprigs fresh sage chopped
• 1 tbsp ground black pepper
• 1 tbsp kosher salt

Instructions

• In a bowl, combine butter with thyme, minced garlic, rosemary, sage, pepper, and salt.
• Separate the skin from the defrosted turkey breast and insert butter mixture into the pocket, covering the entire breast and outside of the bird generously.
• Rub the exterior of the turkey with kosher salt and fresh black pepper.
• Preheat pellet grill to 225°F
• Place your turkey on the pellet grill and close the lid. Place an aluminum foil drip pan underneath the turkey and fill with 2-3 cups of water to help keep the environment moist.
• Smoke the turkey for 6-7 hours. The turkey is ready to come off of the pellet grill when the centermost point of the breast reads an internal temperature of 165°F on your probe thermometer.
• Remove turkey from grill grates and let it rest on a dish or serving platter for about 20 minutes.
• Carve, serve, and enjoy!

Nutrition

Calories: 625kcal

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The post Pellet Grill Turkey – Our Favorite Recipe & Guide to Smoked Turkey on the Pellet Smoker appeared first on Own The Grill.

Most times, peppers are used as a complimentary ingredient and are diced, sliced, and sautéd to be combined with other foods.  Maybe they’re more featured during your meal time and are stuffed with cheese and wrapped with bacon.

But did you know there’s another method of cooking peppers?  Smoking peppers will lead to longer lasting food, incredible taste, and retention of most of the healthy nutrients that come packed in peppers.

In this article, we’ll go over everything you need to know for how to smoke peppers at home, no matter which type of smoker you are!  By the end, you’ll be ready to make and enjoy smoked peppers year round.

Smoked Peppers – Quick Overview

When it comes to smoking peppers, there are really two routes you can take.  Each is quite different from the other, but both result in deliciousness and are worth trying out!

First, you can smoke peppers as a main or secondary ingredient of your meal – for example a stuffed smoked pepper dinner.  Smoking peppers this way is a great way to incorporate delicious flavors into a normally more ordinary tasting meal.  This method works great with bell peppers, poblano peppers, or really any of the mild to medium type of peppers.

The other reason to smoke peppers is to add flavor to them for use as ingredients and/or spices.  This happens by using a process that will involve a dehydrator or an oven.  Dehydrating is a method used to preserve fruits, veggies, and to make jerky and other foods. Basically when moisture is removed from your peppers, it helps to prevent the growth of bacteria and decay of the food – which extends the shelf life of your food.

After your peppers absorb flavor on the smoker, they are then placed into a dehydrator for around 12 hours to dehydrate.  This process removes moisture and results in a perfectly smoked pepper that will last for a long time and can be ground into delicious homemade spices.

The art of the homemade spice has been lost in many regards.  Nowadays, we typically just buy processed store bought spices from our local grocer.  While these spices are totally fine to use, they’re suppressed in flavor and don’t stack up at all in comparison to the flavor of homemade spices.

Great for Homemade Spices

Mueller HyperGrind Precision Electric Spice Grinder

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Smoked Peppers – Step By Step Guide

Here is a step by step process for smoking peppers with the intent of making homemade spices!

Preheat Your Smoker

Get your smoker started so that it can heat up while you prepare your peppers.  Temperature wise, you want your smoker to be around 200-225°F and no hotter.  Just before your smoker reaches its desired temperature, add wood for flavoring.

Prepare Your Peppers

Before the peppers go on the smoker, there are a couple of steps you should take to ensure that the peppers are clean and fully prepared for the cook.

First, you should wash your peppers by placing them in running water.  This simple step shouldn’t be overlooked and is very important in the process of making smoked peppers.  Running water over them will remove any dirt or leftover remnants of fertilizers that might still be lingering from the growing process.

From there, you can trim your peppers and remove seeds if you want to.  Trimming the peppers before hand won’t change how long they remain on the smoker, but it could reduce the amount of time you have to spend grinding them on the back end.

Removing seeds or not comes down to personal preference.  With most peppers, more seeds means more heat and spiciness.  If you like your smoked peppers hot, leave more or all seeds in.  If you want to make the end result more mild and less spicy, remove seeds.

*Note* Be careful when slicing and handling hot peppers.  They will release oils that are spicy to touch, and the last thing you want to do is transfer this oil to your eyes or to somebody else by rubbing them.  Use kitchen gloves if desired.

Place Peppers on the Smoker

Once your smoker is up to temperature and your peppers are prepared, it’s time to place your peppers on the smoker.

Remember, the objective is to cook the peppers on low and slow heat.  Over time, they’ll absorb the delicious smokey flavor we’re going after.  If your temperature gets too hot, you’ll effectively be grilling your peppers instead of smoking them.

You’ll also want to check in on your temperature frequently if you’re using a traditional smoker to make sure that you aren’t over doing it on heat.

The process takes about 2-4 hours to properly smoke peppers.  Part of the amount of time depends on the size of your peppers, and part depends on your personal preference.  The more time they spend on the smoker, the more smokey flavor they absorb.

After this time, your peppers will have darkened some and the skin will be softer but not particularly wrinkled.

Move Smoked Peppers to the Food Dehydrator

Now that your peppers have completed their time on the smoker, it’s time to move them over to the food dehydrator to remove any remaining moisture.  Set your dehydrator’s temperature to 140°F.

Place your smoked peppers into the dehydrator.  The amount of time your peppers will need to spend dehydrating largely depends on how thick the walls are.  But typically after they’ve been on the smoker for a few hours, the dehydrating process takes about 8-10 more hours.

After your peppers have dried, take them out of the dehydrator and allow for them to cool to room temperature.  From there, grind your peppers to the desired coarseness.

Storage

Now it’s time to properly store your fresh, homemade smoked pepper spices to truly maximize their shelf life.  I like to use glass jars to store my homemade spices, but a resealable plastic bags or plastic container can get the job done too.

You’ll also want to store your spices in a dark place, ideally just in your pantry.  You can also store whole smoked peppers before you’ve ground them if you’d prefer.  The storage method is largely the same.  Whole smoked peppers will last about a month in your fridge or up to three months in the freezer.

Practical Uses for Smoked Peppers

You might be wondering why you should go through all of the trouble to smoke peppers.  We’ve mentioned already that smoked peppers make for some incredible homemade spices.  If you’ve never done a side by side comparison of homemade red pepper flakes to store bought, you need to do it ASAP.  Nothing beats the complexity and robustness of homemade spices.

In addition, the smokey flavor in particular is a fantastic compliment to many dishes.  From homemade chili to enchiladas to fajitas to just about anything else, a hint of smokey flavor is a major enhancer for your food.

You can also dehydrate smoked peppers right after they’re harvested and have maximum freshness to store for later use when peppers aren’t in season.  You can easily rehydrate them to make sauces, salsas, or food seasonings in the future.

In addition to all of that, smoking fresh peppers at home is healthier than using generic store bought spices.  Making them at home ensures no added preservatives or food processing substances.

Final Thoughts

Smoked peppers are one of the best ways to spice up your cooking game.  I love them because you get to combine smokey flavor with a ton of different dishes when you have ground smoked peppers at your disposal.

While it takes a decent amount of time to make smoked peppers the right way, it’s a pretty simple and straightforward process.  As long as you have a smoker and a dehydrator or oven, you can get the job done!

Remember, the goal is to cook your peppers low and slow so that they can absorb lots of flavor over time.  We aren’t trying to grill them over direct heat when we use the smoking process.

Did you use the techniques we shared in this guide of how to smoke peppers?  How did it turn out?  We’d love to hear about it in the comments section below!

The post Smoked Peppers: How to Make the Best Peppers at Home appeared first on Own The Grill.

A cured ham has been pre treated to kill off bacteria through either a wet curing or a brine curing process.  Cured ham has a pink or deep rose color. These are the types of ham that you’d generally find at the grocery store.

A fresh ham is a ham that has not been cured.  They are typically more beige or pale pink in appearance, kind of like a fresh pork roast.  Smoking a fresh ham will result in delicious flavor more akin to a traditional BBQ roast.  In this post, we’ll go over everything you need to know for how to smoke a fresh ham!

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Ofargo 304-Stainless Steel Meat Injector Syringe Kit

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Preheat Your Smoker

Smoking a fresh ham is a time consuming process, so I always like to maximize efficiency with my time.  With that in mind, I think it’s best to get the fire going so that you can prepare the fresh ham while your smoker gets up to desired temperature.

Preheat your smoker, then let the heat rise and smoke curate.  When smoking a ham, you want the temperature of your smoker to run at 225 degrees Fahrenheit.  Be sure to check in often to make sure your temperature is right.

Prep the Ham

While your smoker heats up, it’s time to prepare the ham.  The first thing you should do is take a knife and cut long slits, creating a diamond pattern across the entire ham skin.  You want the cuts to only go about a quarter of an inch deep, and take care to not cut into the meat.

We do this for a couple of reasons.  First, it the slits will make it easier for the outside of the ham to crisp up when it smokes.  The second reason is that it creates more surface area for the rub and seasoning to absorb in.

Speaking of seasoning, our next step is to take the yellow mustard and coat the entire ham in a light layer.  The mustard is primarily in place to make sure that the dry rub will stick well to the fresh ham while it smokes.  So don’t worry about it if you don’t like the flavor of yellow mustard.

Next, apply a generous coat of your dry rub and/or spices.  You should coat the entire ham evenly, and don’t forget to season the insides of the diamond pattern we cut earlier.

To inject the ham, mix the injection recipe ingredients we listed above in a saucepan.  Use low heat and bring the mixture to a boil.  Inject evenly throughout the ham, including spots close to the skin and near the center.  After injection, let the ham rest for a moment to cool.

Fresh Ham On the Smoker

Put the ham on the smoker after it’s been seasoned and the smoker is at 225 degrees Fahrenheit. It’s ok if the temperature is higher or lower by a few degrees, but 225 is where we want to be.  Add coals or adjust your air ducts as necessary to get the temperature right and consistent.  Also add wood chips as necessary to keep a steady flow of smoke.

The rule of thumb for ham is 20 minutes per pound, but we’re really just cooking to an internal temperature of 165 degrees.

Every 2 hours, mix pineapple juice with a pinch of brown sugar (I like to do 1 Tbsp brown sugar per cup of pineapple juice) and baste the mixture over the outside of the ham with your silicone basting brush.  This will caramelize the crust and add to the delectability of the ham.

Once the center of your ham reaches an internal temperature of 135 degrees, remove the ham from the smoker and wrap it loosely in aluminum foil.  You should leave openings on the ends so that the ham will continue to get exposure to the smoke.

Pro Tip: Don’t open the lid unless you absolutely have to.  Each time you open it, valuable heat escapes and it takes time to get the temperature right again.  You should really only open the lid to baste the ham a few times and wrap it in foil during the entire cook.

Place the ham back on the grill and continue to smoke until it reaches an internal temperature of 165 degrees at the center.

Rest, Then Prepare, Then Feast

The last part that comes in the process of how to smoke a fresh ham is to let it rest.  After the internal temp reaches 165 degrees F, take it off the grill to rest, but leave the foil on.  We want to let the ham rest for about 30 minutes before cutting into it.

Similar to a steak, allowing the ham to rest lets the juices redistribute away from the center of the meat.  This will in turn make the entire fresh ham much more tender and juicy when it’s time to eat.

Once the ham has rested, carve into it, serve, and enjoy!  I recommend carving quarter inch slices, but feel free to slice to the width of your preference. This makes a great festive meal for holidays like Easter, Christmas, or New Years!

Print

How to Smoke a Fresh Ham

How to Smoke a Fresh Ham – Complete Guide

Course Main Course

Cuisine American

Keyword How to Smoke a Fresh Ham, Smoked Fresh Ham, Smoked Ham, Smoking

Prep Time 45 minutes minutes

Cook Time 8 hours hours

Resting Time 30 minutes minutes

Total Time 9 hours hours 15 minutes minutes

Servings 8 people

Calories 400kcal

Author Jimmy Watts

Equipment

• Smoker
• Charcoal
• Flavored Wood Chips (Hickory, Apple, or Cherry)
• Silicone Basting Brush
• Aluminum Foil
• Probe Thermometer
• Meat Injector (Optional)

Ingredients

• 10 lbs fresh ham
• 2 cups dry rub
• 1 cup yellow mustard
• 1 cup pineapple juice
• 1 tbsp brown sugar

Optional Fresh Ham Injection Ingredients

• 3/4 cups apple juice
• 1/4 cups pineapple juice
• 1 cup water
• 1/2 cup kosher salt
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1 tbs Worcestershire sauce

Instructions

• Preheat your smoker to 225 degrees. Add charcoal first then add wood chips for smoke after charcoals have achieved a glowing red center.
• Prepare the ham. Cut a diamond shaped pattern of slits into the skin of the ham, going 1/4 inch deep. Be sure to not penetrate the skin enough to cut into the meat. Coat the outside of the fresh ham with a light layer of yellow mustard.
• Coat the outside of the fresh ham with your dry rub evenly and generously. Be sure to get the rub inside of the slits just cut into the skin.
• Optional: Bring injection ingredients to a boil over low heat in a sacuepan and mix. Inject evenly throughout the ham. After injection, allow the ham to rest and cool down.
• After the smoker has reached 225 degrees Fahrenheit, place the fresh ham on the smoker's grate. Close the lid.
• Mix 1 cup of pineapple juice with a tablespoon of brown sugar. Every 2 hours, use a silicone basting brush to coat mixture over the entire outside of the ham.
• When the fresh ham's internal temperature reaches 135ºF, loosely wrap the ham in aluminum foil. Leave openings at each end so that the ham will still have exposure to the smoke.
• Place the foil wrapped ham back on the cooking grate and continue smoking.
• As soon as the internal temperature reaches 165ºF, remove the ham from the smoker and allow it to rest at room temperature for 30 minutes.
• Carve, serve, and enjoy!

Nutrition

Calories: 400kcal

How Long to Smoke a Fresh Ham Per Pound?

The rule of thumb for how long to smoke a fresh ham per pound is 20-30 minutes per pound.  That being said, we always recommend to cook to an internal temperature of 165 degrees, no matter how long that takes.

Frequently Asked Questions

What Temperature Do You Smoke A Raw Ham?

The temperature of a raw ham when being smoked is as important as the length of time it should be smoked. A fresh raw ham generally requires around 15 to 20 minutes per pound to become fully smoked. Therefore, it is wise to use your time efficiently.

While you prepare your ham, you should preheat your smoker. We recommend adding charcoal to the fire to get it going. After only a few minutes, the coals should have ashed over on top. You’ll know this when you see the center glowing bright red.

Once you see this red, it is time to add soaked wood chunks. Then, close the lid and allow the heat to rise up and the smoke to build.

When you smoke your fresh raw ham, you will want to maintain the temperature between 220-230 degrees Fahrenheit. Check this temperature while it preheats and do so regularly as the ham cooks.

Is a Smoked Ham Fully Cooked?

Some smoked hams are fully cooked but people often mistake uncooked hams for the cooked variety. In short, if a ham is cured, smoked, or baked, it is considered “pre-cooked.” Therefore, it doesn’t technically need to be cooked again.

Most hams that are sold to consumers are already cured, smoked, or baked. Therefore, it can be eaten right from the refrigerator. However, other hams are generally reheated for an improved texture and flavor. If you buy fresh, raw ham, it will need to be cooked before serving.

Luckily, it is easy to see if your ham has been processed or not as the packaging should state what type of ham it is. If the packaging includes a statement indicating that it needs cooking, it should also display cooking directions. Also, if the packaging states this, it will not be a cured ham.

Does Uncured Smoked Ham Need to Be Cooked?

An uncured smoked ham can be cooked in the same manner as a cured ham. However, the majority of uncured meats we purchase in stores and markets are fully cooked before they hit the shelves. Therefore, you only need to reheat the meat to your liking on most occasions.

To cook an uncured smoked ham, you should place it in a roasting pan and then on a rack. You should add a little dash of water to the bottom of the pan before covering it securely with a lid or kitchen foil.

Bake the ham at 325 degrees Fahrenheit for 15 to 18 minutes per pound. Do this until the meat thermometer reaches a temperature of 140 degrees Fahrenheit. Also, basting the ham as it heats will add extra moisture and improve the overall flavor of the meat.

What is the Difference Between a Picnic Ham and a Smoked Ham?

There are so many different kinds of hams out there. Even the oldest surviving Latin prose from the first century BC has instructions on preparing ham! Two popular hams are picnic hams and smoked hams.

A picnic ham is a cut of pork from the upper portion of the foreleg. This piece extends into a portion of the pig’s shoulder. Because it doesn’t come from the back leg, it is not considered a true ham.

A smoked ham, on the other hand, is a section of a leg of pork. It is then cured in a brine and hung in a smokehouse where it is smoked over low heat for a long period of time. This adds extra flavor to the ham.

Both fresh ham and cooked ham can be smoked, depending on what somebody prefers.

How Long Does a Smoked Ham Last?

We’ve written a complete guide to storing ham here, but a general rule of thumb is that smoked ham lasts 5 days in the fridge and 3 months in the freezer.

Wrap Up

Now you’ve got the knowledge for how to smoke a fresh ham – that’s it!  If the process seems overwhelming, just take it step by step and you’ll get the hang of it.  Smoked fresh ham is a wonderful shareable main dish for any holiday or family gathering.

If you used this recipe, I’d love to hear how it turned out!  Get in touch in the comments section below or email us to let us know how your smoked ham adventure went.

Check out our guide on the best meat slicers next if you want to turn your smoked fresh ham into lunch meat slices!

The post How to Smoke a Fresh Ham – Recipe, Tips, and Complete Guide appeared first on Own The Grill.