Tools and Materials

Tools

Charcoal chimney
Heat resistant gloves
Tongs
Foil Pan

Materials

Pre-Requirements for Smoking With a Charcoal Smoker

Safety First: Protect your hands from high temperatures and hot tongs by using heat-resistant gloves or mittens.
Charcoal: It is better to use briquettes for consistent heat, though lump charcoal can also be used.
Check Your Recipe: Different kinds of woods infuse grilled foods with distinct flavors. Check your recipe to know which kind of wood will achieve the desired flavor.
Wood Chunks or Chips: For indirect cooking, you should use wood chunks. If you are using wood chips, make sure you soak them in water for at least 30 minutes. They tend to burn up quickly.

Good to Know

Since wood chips are smaller, they will burn out quickly. But when soaked, they smolder as you cook, providing that delicious and smoky flavor. Wood chunks release smoke gradually, so soaking is not needed.

The Process

Smoking your food cooks food indirectly at low temperatures over hours.

To set up the charcoal grill, you will need to create two heat zones. One heat zone will let the charcoal heat directly.
The second zone will use the smoke and heat emitted from the charcoal, cooking your food indirectly.
Placing a piece of wood on the smoldering charcoal will enrich the smoky flavour.

How to Set Up and Use a Charcoal Smoker

There are two ways in which you can line up your briquettes. Both these methods account for prolonged and even cooking. We'll tell you about each:

Method 1: Push your briquettes to one side of the grate, leaving the other side empty. Fill up one-half or one-third of the grate. Pile on another layer but don't overspill from that area.
Method 2: Line up the briquettes alongside the edge of the grate in a C-shape. This snake method gives that gradual burn for longer cooking times.

Depending on how you have placed your charcoal briquettes on your smoker, how you light them up will differ. Here are two useful ways to start:

Method 1: If you have lined charcoal briquettes on one side of the grate, add some more briquettes to a charcoal chimney. Fill it up halfway. Use a fire starter cube or a lighter to light up the briquettes in the chimney. Once they start to burn, carefully pour these briquettes onto the pile of unlit ones on the grate.
Method 2: In the snake method, you directly light up one end of the briquettes and let a chain reaction light up the entire C-shaped arrangement.

Tip

Keep the bottom vents open for oxygen to light up the briquettes effectively.

Caution

Avoid using lighter fluid as it can be dangerous and can also give an unpalatable aftertaste to your food.

Place the cooking grate over the charcoal grill.
Cover the grill with the lid of the grill and keep the top vent open entirely.
Refer to the recipe and allow the temperature to reach the required range.
Open the lid and check for a light layer of ash over the cooking grate. This means that you can now place the wood for smoking on your charcoal smoker. Brush off the ash before you do so.

Tip

If you're using a hinge grate, keep the hinged side over the charcoal so that it's easier to add more charcoal throughout the process.

Irrespective of how you have placed and lit your charcoal briquettes, there are two ways to place your wood.

If you are using wood chunks, place them directly on top of the burning coal. You can use tongs to create an indent within the layered briquettes and place the chunks in that space.
For the soaked wood chips, use a pair of tongs and disperse them evenly throughout the briquette spread.
Cover the grill again and wait until you see smoke rise out of the vents.

Tip

Make sure that the soaked chips are damp and not wet or they might put out the fire.

Good to Know

The soaked chips may drop the temperature initially but the heat will rise as they start to smolder.

Open the grill and place the food over the cooking grate. See that you position it above the water pan you've placed underneath and not over the lit charcoal.
Cover the lid again and make sure that the vents align over the food.

Good to Know

This alignment is crucial to the indirect cooking process. It ensures that the heat first goes over the food and then out the vent. If the vents are directly over the lit charcoal, the smoke will escape without smoking your food.

Tip

If you're smoking your food on the charcoal grill for more than 30 minutes, add more charcoal as you go. Add briquettes after every hour.

Correctly adjusting your vents will help maintain proper airflow and will prevent the charcoal from burning too quickly.

Top Vents: Keep them slightly open to allow some smoke to escape and maintain a low temperature.
Bottom Vents: Close them most of the way, leaving a small gap to allow sufficient airflow.

Tip

Always refer to the recipe and depending on the temperature requirements, make adjustments to the vents. More airflow increases the temperature whereas less airflow decreases it.

Related Tags:

Kitchen

How to Smoke on a Charcoal Grill

Tools and Materials

Tools

Materials

Pre-Requirements for Smoking With a Charcoal Smoker

The Process

How to Set Up and Use a Charcoal Smoker

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