"I smoked for x and the cooked for y."

[Gecko10]

I often see a recipe which says "I smoked it (say chicken) for 1 hour, then cooked it at 350 for 2 more hours. OK, what in this context, is meant by the word "smoked." What setting is being reffered to?

 

[Winterrider]

I think normally 225° or under

 

[kruizer]

I have smoked chicken but------it is very difficult to keep lit. Seriously, That is the method the Harry Soo uses. He has the protien in the smoker for as long as he wants and then finishes in the oven to deeired temp.

 

[Sowsage]

possibly what you are seeing is from the folks with a pellet smoker. I know I have seen what you are talking about mostly on some social media like Facebook and it seems to be the pellet smokers. A lot of them have a "smoke" setting that probably runs around 180-190. That gives it time to get some smoke flavor before blasting with some high heat for crispy skin. I could be wrong. Just a guess.

 

[smokerjim]

when i do chicken i'll smoke for an hour at a low temp170-180 to get a good smokey flavor then crank it up to 350-375 to get crispy skin this is with a pellet smoker, if i use mes 30 i'll smoke at 100-120 for an hour then crank that up to 275 that's the highest setting, comes out good but skin doesn't get as crispy at 350 with a pellet grill.

 

[tallbm]

I often see a recipe which says "I smoked it (say chicken) for 1 hour, then cooked it at 350 for 2 more hours. OK, what in this context, is meant by the word "smoked." What setting is being reffered to?

I think it works like this.
I smoked (applied smoke) for X hours and cooked (no smoke going) for Y amount of hours.

Or can be like, I cooked for a total of X hours and applied smoke for Y hours.

That's how I have posted things and how I interpret such comments :)

 

[D.W.]

There's typically a range of heat that identifies the cooking method. Some thermometers take that into consideration. Not all cooking methods constitute a true "smoke" all the way through, or looking for a preservation approach. Typically that will be with cured protein, or if you have time, noncured to desired doneness if you have the time but doesn't have the same shelf life. Often meats are cooked in a smoking phase then finished at a higher temperature. Maybe what you are thinking about is that. Here is a standard guage of temps but doesn't take into account cold smoking, which is done at much lower Temps for cured meats or cheeses, etc.

 

[D.W.]

I failed to mention fuel in that post, any fuel for the most part can do what you want. You just have to manage it accordingly.

 

[bill1]

The idea with low-temperature (<220F) "smoking" is that:

1. the meat heats up slower so has more time to absorb the smoke​

2. meat moisture is very slowly leaving the surface from evaporation at temps<212F​

2a this keeps the meat moist longer​

2b smoke sticks well to water because a water molecule is highly "polar"​

3. the meat bulk is staying under the 120-140F temps at which fats melt and drip out​

3a. An oily surface does not attract smoke well​

3b the smoke diffuses better into the meat before that fat melts​

Many believe that once your inside temperature is >120F, more smoke is just wasting time. Take the temperature way up and get the cook over with (ie reach your final desired inner temperature.)

But I agree that recipes like you're reading are almost certainly referring to "pellet grills" which have traditionally come with a Cook Mode (which is thermostatically controlled to a set point by feeding fuel pellets as needed) and a Smoke Mode (which is based on slowly feeding pellets at a fixed timing rate and thus leads readily to temps <200F.)

 

[Chasdev]

I only grill my chickens over direct coals, hot and fast all the way.
I start with a white hot fire, place the spatchcock bird ribs down with vents around 1/3 open then check the fire and internal temps at 30 minutes, adjusting the fire and vents if needed.
Around 30 minutes after that check the bird is perfectly cooked.

 

[chilerelleno]

Late to the party but agree with others.

X = application of smoke for flavor, usually at lower temps.
Y = application of heat for cooking, usually at higher temps.

X = application of of smoke at lower temps (225° or lower) is done to allow as much smoke flavor infusion as possible without actually cooking the bird to finished IT.
Y = finishing the poultry at much higher temps into get a better bite through consistency to the skin.
Best results from either very high smoker temps, e.g. 350°+, or direct heat sources such as grill or oven.