BBQ Meat Smoking 101

Every grilling guru or barbecue lover knows there are few foods that cannot be improved by the smoky goodness of the outdoor grill. Thanks to our good friends at the National Barbecue Association, here are some tips on the popular grilling technique, smoking:

Smoking – addition of smoke to meat that will be finished by some other cooking method.

Cold Smoke
Smoking occurs at 70°F to 100°F, imparting flavor without firming proteins. Items may be cold smoked, then finished in the oven. 80 degrees is average in a smoke house. There will be slight dehydration but very little actual cooking.

Hot Smoke
Smoking occurs at 160°F to 225°F, imparting flavor and cooking the product. Temperature of smokehouse 160°F for all sausage (casings) 185°F for all solid meats.


Types of Smoking Methods

1. Conventional - More smoke flavor, due to less circulation of air. Product must be dry.
2. Convection - Less smoke flavor because the air is being circulated. Product does not have to be dry because of the air circulation.
3. Pan - Pan smoking gives a lot of flavor in short period of time. Can be done with no special equipment.


Key Cooking and Smoking temperatures
· 103°F Proteins begin to set or denature

· 137.5°F Trichinosis bacteria is killed

· 155°F Federal requirement for cooking pork

· 155°F All meats

· 160°F All proteins are coagulated

· 165°F Federal requirement for cooking all poultry