10 Things To Know About Smoking Food

Now that we’ve been running the PitBoss Copperhead 3 Vertical Smoker for a while I wanted to share some of my thoughts and what I think everyone needs to know about smoking food.

10 Things To Know About Smoking Food

1. When it comes to smoking food it’s all about patience. The patience you have, the better the end result.
2. Expect everyone to want you to smoke for them. It’s crazy how often we hear, “You smoke foods? or Are you smoking food today? Can you make me a brisket?” — Yeah sure, I’ll get right on that.
3. The better you plan your cooks the less anxiety you will have. I actually keep a notebook with cook notes. This way the next time I set out to cook, I have the basic framework of what I did and what did (or did not) work well.
4. The better the quality of meat — the better the end product. You get what you pay for.
5. Always monitor temps. Internal meat temperatures and smoker temps are key. Use cook time as a basic frame of reference, but always rely on temps.
6. To support #5 — invest in a good meat thermometer. (Enough said.)
7. You can smoke all year round outside. Be prepared to adjust temps as per the weather, wind, temperatures and even where your smoker is positioned in the yard or smokehouse.
8. Find yourself a good BBQ community on social media. I like Weekend Warrior BBQ and Meat Church Congregation.
9. Smoke outside the box. Try something new. Try a new flavor profile. Try different foods. Experiment, experiment, experiment.
10. Have fun and enjoy the process. Just have fun, ask questions, and see what doors it opens.

These are just 10 things I have learned a long the way so far. If you enjoy it, keep on smoking food. It’s important for you to make food that’s delicious to you and yours, not to some standard set by someone who will never sit at your table.