Do you remember the first time you tasted smoked brisket or a perfectly smoked rib?

I do! It was at a festival after watching an episode of the first season of the tv show American pit masters and once I saw how good it looked I said I need to try this!

So I had a brisket roll. And it changed my life! Literally. No exaggeration.

I started trying different American BBQ restaurants, then my wife bought me a hark smoker for my anniversary present.

After a lot of reading and a lot of youtube videos I did my first cook.

It was not a big success.

So I decided I was going to try to cook a brisket next because I loved the texture and flavour.

So I watched Aaron Franklins video on preparing the brisket. I put some rub on it, pre heated my smoker to 275f, and thought here we go.

I thought it was going to take about 7 hours to cook. But I had forgotten about 1 important thing, the STALL, I couldn’t work out why it wasn’t getting to temperature.

So my wife suggested I wrap in foil and put in the slow cooker. Very disappointed with my failure, I listened and put it in the slow cooker on low.

The next morning I woke up to the most amazing smell! BRISKET.

I opened up the foil and sliced the first piece.

Super tender juicy brisket.

From that day forward I was in love with American Bbq.

Not every cook is going to be amazing, the point of that story is that regardless how much you think you know there is always more you will learn from practice and trial and error.

So here is part 1 of the basics you will need to know to be successful in cooking American BBQ.

Where to start

The first and most important decision is the type of smoker that is right for you. As with anything, practice makes perfect when it comes to mastering your smoker.

The following would be the 5 most popular types of smoker:-

Pellet- these are normally either electronic temperature controlled or have a series of vents that will control temperature.

Very easy to use but pellets can be expensive.

Gas- this is what I use! And love them!

Some people say that gas is cheating but if you are time poor and want to cook amazing Bbq then gas is for you.

Hark have great gas smokers starting at just $300.00

Offset - these are, in a lot of people’s opinions, the holy grail of smokers. These are the more traditional way to cook American Bbq.

The easiest way to manage an offset is a mixture of charcoal and logs of wood.

(Be careful when buying an offset, especially a cheap one, fire management takes a lot of time and patience, spikes and troughs in temperature can cause the meat to go tough)

Hark have great entry level offers smokers for under $1,000.00

Cabinet charcoal - these tend to be very well constructed thick steel in the firebox sometimes double skinned, creates great fuel efficiency, you get a great natural flavour especially when you add some wood chunks for extra flavour.

Because of the quality of construction these are more expensive starting at about $2,500.00

Kettle - these come in many forms and brands and they have been around for along time for very good reason.

These are great for family cooks, up to 10 people on a single kettle is about the limit.

Best to use a good quality charcoal and a great option is the JG BBQ OFFSET PLATE for even easier cooking.

Kettles can be found as cheap as $50 second hand and an offset plate is $110.

These points will hopefully help with your decision to purchase the right smoker.

Until next time

Paul

The Bbq guy