How to Use a Smoker Grill: A Guide for Meat Lovers

Are you looking for a different way to cook your meat and wow your guests? Do you want to unlock a new level of flavor in your grilled meat? If so, then you need a smoker grill to do so.

Having a smoker grill is an amazing amenity. It allows you to cook the meat at a slow pace and give your meat a smokey and juicy flavor. It’s the ultimate tool for all grilling fanatics.

If you’ve never used one before or are looking for tips, see below for how to use a smoker grill. Be sure to follow these steps to a “T” for the best results.

1. What Is Cold Smoking?

While you may not have realized it, there are actually two major ways for you to use your smoker grill. 

The traditional way, hot smoking, involves cooking your meat anywhere between 180 to 240 degrees Fahrenheit over a certain amount of hours. Sometimes it’s only 4 hours or so, other times it almost takes a complete day to cook.

Cold smoking, on the other hand, is when you turn that temperature down to around 80 or 90 degrees Fahrenheit and run it for a collection of days. This will help you preserve the meat, but not cook it. 

Be sure to research all that you can about cold smoking to see if you want to use it to preserve your meat. This is especially helpful if you have a bit party coming up.

2. Choose Your Meat

Contrary to popular belief from beginners, the smoking process doesn’t start by lighting up the grill. It starts back at the grocery store or meat market.

While almost any form of meat is delicious when smoked, fattier meats tend to taste the best. Start by looking around the store for a few tender meat options with some optimum cuts on them.

The fat of the meat will provide more flavor. As the heat fluctuates in the smoker, the fat will create a hot and moist environment inside the cut. This will cook it more thoroughly while it grills.

Please note that you aren’t simply looking for the fattiest piece of meat that the store has to offer. Make sure the meat you choose has small layers of fat throughout the body of it, rather than one giant fat cap.

3. Season Your Meat

If you haven’t already done so, take your meat out of the fridge. If you’ve frozen your meat for whatever reason, make sure to give it time to thaw before firing up the smoker. Ideally, you wouldn’t freeze your meat if you intend to use it on a smoker grill.

Next, take out the seasoning that you’re wanting to put on your meat. Dry rub is great because it cooks well during the long smoking process. If you use sauce then most of it will wear off while the meat cooks.

Take your favorite dry rub and drizzle it on the meat, rubbing it in to make sure that it sticks. Give yourself a few hours before firing up the grill to add the rub and let it sit. This will help the meat hold in its moisture while in the smoker grill.

4. Set Up the Grill

First things first, you need to get the smoker ready to use. Remember, you’ll be running this bad boy several hours non-stop, so don’t plan accordingly.

Make sure to fill the smoker grill with your preference of either charcoal or hardwood chips, whichever your grill’s manufacturer recommends most. If you’re going to use hardwood, just know that the different types of wood bring out different flavors.

Many grilling experts recommend that you do a combination of the two. If that’s your choice, then stack the coals on one side of the grill. You’ll use the other side for your drip pan while the meat cooks.

After the coals light up, cover the top of the coals with a healthy layer of wood chips. Be careful not to get your hand too close during this process.

5. Allow Smoke to Move

Many beginners have the wrong impression of smoke grilling. They believe the key to how to smoke meat is letting it sit in as much smoke as possible. That couldn’t be further from the truth.

If the smoke just billows inside the grill and stays put, it will give your meat a burnt taste, as if you were biting down on a piece of coal. That won’t be very tasty for your guests.

Instead, the key to smoker grilling is smoke movement. All successful smoking techniques involve a way for the smoke to slowly escape. 

Many manufacturers today have a way for the smoke to escape through the top of your grill’s cover. This limits the need for you to open the lid.

The small opening will create a movement for the smoke, rising from the wood chips, through your meat, and out the small opening of your grill. If you’re shopping around for a smoker, make sure to opening is proportionate to the rest of the grill.

How to Use a Smoker Grill: Patience and Experience

Now that you’ve seen several tips on how to use a smoker grill, you must take the time to walk through each step. 

The more times that you use your smoker grill, the easier it will be. In no time, you’ll be able to smoke your favorite meat cuts like the back of your hand.

Be sure to browse our website for more articles on how to use a smoker grill, as well as many other helpful topics that you’ll love.