New to smoking - any suggestions

[Kbsherriff]

Hi all, im from the UK new to smoking, i like bbq'ing and saw videos of smoking and loved how the food looked so i bought a bbq big enough to do both, any suggestions on what to start with first?

 

[PrairieGeek]

Chicken. It's cheap so if you destroy it you aren't wasting big money.

 

[kruizer]

Welcome to SMF from Minnesota. Try pork spare ribs. Cheap and easy.

 

[SmokinVOLfan]

Welcome from East TN. What type of smoker/bbq did you get? I would either start out with chicken or a pork butt. Both are cheap and very forgiving.

 

[JC in GB]

Welcome from Wisconsin.

Chicken is inexpensive and cooks quickly but doesn't give you the satisfaction of a low and slow cook.

I would start with pork shoulder. Bone in if you can get them.

It is satisfying to pull that bone easily out of an expertly prepared shoulder.

Also, pulled pork makes great leftovers. Tacos, burritos, breakfast hash, chili.... Your imagination is the limit.

Have fun and don't forget to post pics of your cooks...

JC

 

[Kbsherriff]

Welcome from East TN. What type of smoker/bbq did you get? I would either start out with chicken or a pork butt. Both are cheap and very forgiving.

I bought a cheap charcoal bbq with coal tray that lowers and front hatch to add coals if needed

 

[JCAP]

Echo the above. Pork butt is easy. Chicken thighs don’t take long but you can still get that nice smoke flavor!

 

[banderson7474]

Yep another vote for pork butt

 

[newbienick]

Welcome! NW Ohio, USA here...

Being in the UK, your meat prices/availability might be different. I would also suggest a pork shoulder/butt if it is available. For us, they are cheap and plentiful, and they are hard to mess up.

For my own curiosity, what cuts of meat are available for smoking that we are used to?

 

[Kbsherriff]

Thanks for all the suggestions, i think chicken might be my first try for the speed of it to mainly try and keep the temps and get results quicker then try shoulder/butt as my second attempt as a more satisfying cook, i will look into getting some meat probes to help get accurate temps and cooking times, i do have a digital meat probe and analogue one but theyre not instant

 

[zwiller]

I would do a few short dry runs to season the smoker and get a feel of it first.

 

[Kbsherriff]

I have used it as bbq a few times so far if that counts

 

[mike243]

Thats all good suggestions, looks more like a large charcoal grill and if it is you will need to build your fire off to 1 side, welcome and good luck with your cooks

 

[tallbm]

Hi all, im from the UK new to smoking, i like bbq'ing and saw videos of smoking and loved how the food looked so i bought a bbq big enough to do both, any suggestions on what to start with first?

Hi there and welcome!

I too would recommend chicken since it is cheap and tasty. That makes learning fun!
As for chicken the EASIEST cut in the world to cook in any form or fashion, including smoking, would be Boneless Skinless Chicken Thighs!

Season them and cook them.
No need to brine.
No worrying about getting tough skin... there is no skin.
They never come out dry... they are not breast meat.
They taste AMAZING!
You can easily scale up from small amounts to large amounts as you learn your smoker.

You cannot hardly lose with boneless skinless chicken thighs.
I would suggest you practice on them while you learn:

1. How to control your fire
2. How to control your smoke
3. How to use thermometers to measure both smoker and meat temp
4. How to control/maintain steady temps

Once you have all of that figured out pretty well you can then try different meats and focus on the quirks and techniques for cooking each specific meat cut.
Each cut of meat has it's own special tricks and quirks to handle so no need in throwing the 4 other things on top of learning the meat itself while getting started.

Best of luck! :)

 

[Kbsherriff]

Welcome! NW Ohio, USA here...

Being in the UK, your meat prices/availability might be different. I would also suggest a pork shoulder/butt if it is available. For us, they are cheap and plentiful, and they are hard to mess up.

For my own curiosity, what cuts of meat are available for smoking that we are used to?

Im pretty sure most the cuts of meat you get we do too although i havent often seen bone in pork shoulder, as for price i have seen rack or spare ribs (1kg/2.2lb) for £5.99 which works out about $7.50ish is this high or low for you guys?

 

[tallbm]

Im pretty sure most the cuts of meat you get we do too although i havent often seen bone in pork shoulder, as for price i have seen rack or spare ribs (1kg/2.2lb) for £5.99 which works out about $7.50ish is this high or low for you guys?

In North Texas that seems about on par with rib costs. I never buy them at that price. I wait until they go on sale which is roughly have price or less :)

 

[Kbsherriff]

Is there any flavour woodchip you guys recommend? i have no idea what i would like the taste of

 

[newbienick]

Im pretty sure most the cuts of meat you get we do too although i havent often seen bone in pork shoulder, as for price i have seen rack or spare ribs (1kg/2.2lb) for £5.99 which works out about $7.50ish is this high or low for you guys?

I usually buy when spareribs are $2.00/lbs or less. If my math is right, that's about 3.5 GBP / kg. You might have to look around to see where the deals are.

Honestly, one of the challenges that I love about smoking is finding some cheap cut of meat and making something delicious out of it! You might visit your local grocer or butcher and see what is cheap. Report back with what you find, and we'll figure out what part of the animal it is and how to cook it. :)

 

[tallbm]

Is there any flavour woodchip you guys recommend? i have no idea what i would like the taste of

I like a variety of woods for a variety of meats. You may run into the issue that you are limited to only 1-3 options.

Hickory is the king of woods and is a strong wood flavor. I personally don't like too much hickory because too much makes things taste like bacon so I usually pair it up with another wood. I like bacon but I like when my bacon tasted like bacon not when my ribs taste like bacon :)

I'm a fan of Maple over Oak for my middle of the road more generic wood. Think of like Oak being like vanilla ice cream where Maple is vanilla ice cream with nuts or a little flavor sauce (chocolate/cherry/caramel) to kick it up a notch.
Maple is an excellent wood to blend with Hickory or other woods as well so it is very versatile.

Finally, Apple is a very good one to go with. You could easily blend Apple with Maple or Hickory. When blending Apple with Hickory you are basically getting good strong flavor without overdoing the hickory.
When Blending Apple with Maple you are making Apple the star of the show with Maple to supplement it.

If you can get Mesquite, that to me beats all other woods for use with beef. I also really like Cherry with beef but it is not as strong so also works good as a blend. Most "Competition Blends" of wood pellets are Maple/Cherry/Hickory :)

Hope this info helps! :)

 

[Kbsherriff]

I like a variety of woods for a variety of meats. You may run into the issue that you are limited to only 1-3 options.

Hickory is the king of woods and is a strong wood flavor. I personally don't like too much hickory because too much makes things taste like bacon so I usually pair it up with another wood. I like bacon but I like when my bacon tasted like bacon not when my ribs taste like bacon :)

I'm a fan of Maple over Oak for my middle of the road more generic wood. Think of like Oak being like vanilla ice cream where Maple is vanilla ice cream with nuts or a little flavor sauce (chocolate/cherry/caramel) to kick it up a notch.
Maple is an excellent wood to blend with Hickory or other woods as well so it is very versatile.

Finally, Apple is a very good one to go with. You could easily blend Apple with Maple or Hickory. When blending Apple with Hickory you are basically getting good strong flavor without overdoing the hickory.
When Blending Apple with Maple you are making Apple the star of the show with Maple to supplement it.

If you can get Mesquite, that to me beats all other woods for use with beef. I also really like Cherry with beef but it is not as strong so also works good as a blend. Most "Competition Blends" of wood pellets are Maple/Cherry/Hickory :)

Hope this info helps! :)

Great help thanks