When you think about one of the best investments you could make for your family and home, you probably don’t think of a smoker. I never did. You bet that I’m eating my words now, literally. We are so obsessed that when there was a small earthquake we actually felt, my husband ran to the back door as I was yelling, “THE BIG GREEN EGG!” to make sure our smoker didn’t tip over and crash. Seriously.
A smoker is an outdoor cooker that can maintain low cooking temperatures for long periods of time while producing smoke. There are wood smokers, charcoal smokers, gas smokers, electric smokers and pellet smokers. Two of the more popular ones I found as we researched what smoker to get for us, were pellet and charcoal, specifically kamado ceramic smokers. I’m not an expert but I did do a bunch of research before we purchased our smoker. I don’t have a lot of knowledge on the pellet smokers but we have lots of experience with our ceramic kamado smoker. We have had ours for four years and use it most weekends year round.
A pellet smoker such as a Traeger or a Yoder, use wood pellets as fuel and can be used as a smoker or a grill. Most pellet smokers are electric so you can fire it up with a touch of a button, set the temp and let it preheat, toss the meat on and let it do its thing. These types of smokers are very user friendly and it maintains a steady temp without having to mess or fiddle with anything. If you aren’t in to messing with charcoal or don’t want to spend time getting the smoker to the correct temperature and monitoring it, then a pellet smoker is for you.
A kamado ceramic smoker such as the Big Green Egg or Kamado Joe, is a ceramic, charcoal fueled smokers. The airflow design of them and the insulation of ceramic make them perfect smokers for low and slow smokes. They can be used as a grill or a smoker. These are more expensive and an investment. The ceramic smokers do require a few more accessories than a pellet smoker and is more labor intensive when starting and maintaining temperature as they are not computerized. Our family owns a Big Green Egg and bought from a local dealer who had a wealth of knowledge and were great in helping us with the basics. It’s a trial and error product for sure. We loved the idea of a purer smoke from wood chunks and flavor from charcoal if choosing to grill. This is for you if you don’t mind some effort in smoking. The results are amazing and delicious.
One of the main reasons we love our BGE (Big Green Egg) is because the food is always so moist, tender and full of flavor. We love making whole chickens and using them for meals all week long. It’s great for meal prepping because you can spend your Sunday smoking one or two meats and making multiple meals from it. We have a tough time eating chicken made any other way than smoking it. Don’t even get me started on pulled pork. It takes a while to smoke one but it’s seriously so simple and easy and yields the most juicy and melt in your mouth meat. It’s so fun to use your smoker as an oven as well and bake cinnamon rolls, homemade pretzels and desserts on them. Our favorite is a smoked peach blackberry pie.
I’ll share some of my favorite recipes from our family cookbook. We love smoking so much we have our own little cookbook with over 100 recipes we’ve tried and tested.
Pulled Pork
We’ve made this recipe probably 20-25 times and it’s a no fail, perfect pulled pork that you can eat plain, on sandwiches, as nachos or whatever way you want. It’ll take anywhere from 7-9 hours but worth it!
Ingredients
- 4-5lb pork shoulder
- Mustard
- Salt & Pepper
- BBQ Rub you like (Famous Dave’s is always a good one if you don’t know what to pick)
Directions
Rub your pork shoulder with mustard then salt, pepper and rub. Wrap tightly in plastic wrap and set in fridge for at least an hour but best overnight. Heat your smoker to 250 degrees (indirect heat) and using wood of choice. We like apple wood.Remove pork from plastic wrap and set out for an hour before smoking to come to room temp.Place on smoker and smoke until the internal temp reaches 165 degrees.Remove the pork and wrap tightly in foil and return to smoker until reaches internal temp of 203 degrees.Keep wrapped and let it rest for one hour then shred and stuff your face.
Smoked Stuffed Apples
This dessert is like individual apple crisps and something fun to make on a smoker. We love to serve ours with ice cream and a drizzle of caramel sauce.
Ingredients
- 1 cup oats
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 2 tsp cinnamon
- 1/2 stick softened butter
- 5 granny smith apples, cored
Directions
Mix toppings together and stuff into apples. Set apples in foil and wrap with a handle. Heat smoker to 350, indirect. Smoke for 45-60 minutes until apples are tender. Serve with ice cream and caramel drizzle and don’t forget to wear your stretchy pants.
Thanks for sticking with me through this nerdy passion of mine. I’m pretty sure I should be working at All Things BBQ in Wichita or any BGE local retailer and sell these things. If you’re interested in a smoker, do some research online and call or go in to some retailers like All Things BBQ, Ultra Modern Pool & Patio, Tendercare Lawn & Landscape, or Ace Hardware. Big box retailers also sell smokers but I love to shop smaller and local and talk to people who really know their stuff! Now go buy a smoker!
