How to cook on a Flaming Coals Gas Smoker
Cooking with a Gas Smoker
Cooking on a gas smoker is a great way to dip your toes into the world of meat smoking. It is the happy medium between the familiarity of cooking on a gas BBQ versus jumping right into the deep end and using a solid-fuel meat smoker.
Using a gas smoker is just like cooking in a normal kitchen oven, just at lower temperatures and with the added dimension of smoking wood.
I've broken the process into a few simple steps.
Step 1: Check you have a full bottle of gas and that the gas bottle is correctly secured to the gas smoker.
Step 2: Add around 2 cups of chips into the wood chip tray. Soaking them beforehand will ensure a longer burn time, however it is not essential.
Step 3: Fill the stainless steel water pan with water until it is approximately 50% full. This will help regulate the heat, catch the drips from the meat and keep the gas smoker cooking chamber moist whilst cooking.
Step 4: Turn on the gas bottle, hold down the flame control knob and press the red ignite button on the gas smoker. If you have done this correctly, a blue flame will come out of the gas burner.
Step 5: Adjust the flame control knob to get the gas smoker to the desired temperature, just like a normal oven. Now remember, the name of the game is 'Low and Slow' so remember to turn the flame control knob down so you can maintain that low heat. Aim for an oven temperature of somewhere between 110-130 degrees for a long cook.
Step 6: Put your meat on the adjustable racks, insert your meat probes such as an EZTEMP if you're planning on using one and close both gas smoker doors.
Step 7: Keep an eye on the gas smoker to ensure smoke is continuing to flow out of the side vents. Once the smoke stops, it's time to add another cup or 2 of wood chips depending on how smokey you like your meat. Typically, the meat absorbs the vast majority of its smoke during the first 2 hours so I find it isn't necessary to top up the wood chips beyond 2 hours.
Other handy hints:
Have a full jug of water nearby to fill up the water pan during the cook.
Check you have enough gas BEFORE you start cooking, remembering that the benefit of using a gas smoker is the ease of use. If you run out of gas mid-way through, it could delay your cooking times considerably!
Get a digital thermometer. The only way to be 100% sure if your meat is ready is by testing the internal temperature of your meat. Rather than opening and closing the door to pierce a manual temperature probe, we use a digital remote use such as the EZTEMP. A device such as this can have temperatures programmed in and an alarm will sound when your meat is ready.
Wood Selection Guide - Different woods suit different types of meat. Fish will be destroyed by using a strong robust wood such as ironbark, but a beef brisket will turn out amazing when smoked with ironbark. Check out our previous blog post to learn more about choosing smoking wood for your bbq smoker.
The internal temperature guide can be found in our previous blog post.
