The concept of smoking food has evolved over the years. Today, it is more about taste and texture, not so much making food last longer. For tender and better-flavored meat, you may want to try out smoking your BBQ this season. When talking about smoked meat, most people think of ham and bacon, and not so much barbecue. But what if you could get just as much out of your electric smoker? The real question is, is it even possible to get your barbecue meat readied by your electric smoker? Find out below:
The art or science of smoking
Unlike the belief of most people, smoking is far much an art than it is a science. It is not so much about how well you can use your electric smoker, but how much patience and expertise you have in getting your barbecue meat evenly cooked.
Selecting a smoker
For your barbecue meat to be what you want it to be, you need to start with the choice of smoker you get. Technically, the entire process requires you to have a container to hold in the smoke, a source of the smoke, and the food to smoke. This means you need one of the best electric smokers there are in the market to set in for the cooking. However, when it comes to the choice of the smoker, you need to analyze it based on:
- The space you have
- The fuel you’d like to use
- The amount of effort you want to put into it
- the amount of food you would want to be preparing
- your budget
Your choice of fuel
Different smokers have different fuel needs, ranging from charcoal, wood pellets and propane, to hardwood and electricity.
However, for the best smokey taste on your barbecue meat, you need to get a smoker that relies on the hardwood as fuel. Freshly cut hardwood is the best as half of its weight is water. This gives your meat some nice, moist steam that will help flavor the meat. Other than that, hardwood contains a lot of sugars and carbohydrates, which further sweeten the meat.
The good thing is that you can find an electric smoker that can heat the wood and give you quite the results you need.
Controlling Temperature
Smoking barbecue meat requires a lot of patients and keenness to details. As the meat has to cook slow and low, you need a smoker that can control the temperatures. This is where an electric smoker can come in handy. Get one that has regulating controls to help with managing the temperatures. Remember that the low temperatures allow the smoke enough time to sink into the meat, while also to naturally tenderizing the meat.
Pro tip: Keep your temperature between 212 degrees Fahrenheit and 230 degrees Fahrenheit for best results.
Keep track of the smoke
On your electric smoker, you need to be alert with the kind of smoke you are using. The last thing you want is to end up with meat that tastes like they were in a house fire. Black smoke is a bad smoke you want to avoid. Your goal should be toward white and blue smoke, for a more refined taste. To avoid the black smoke, ensure that your food is not directly over the fire. The reason is that it will cause the juices of the meat to burn out because of the lack of proper ventilation.
To answer your question, it is very possible to enjoy barbecue meat smoked in an electric smoker. Like with other types of smokers, you will need to learn the art of smoking, so that your meat can be evenly and adequately cooked as you enjoy as much flavor and juices as possible.
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