Smoke gives a unique flavour to meat that grilling simply can’t live up to. It infuses your food with caramelised sugars from burnt hardwood, which are available in flavours like hickory, apple, and pecan. The meat is tender, juicy and falls apart in your mouth. Smokers are easy to use and can feed the whole family, too. But if you’ve never bought one before, you’re probably wondering what the best smoker for beginners is.
Smokers are a different kind of BBQ known for their “low and slow” cooking style. While a traditional BBQ cooks over direct heat, a smoker BBQ burns charcoal or wood that gives an irreplaceable smoky flavour to cuisines of all kinds.
Smoker BBQs work a lot like traditional ovens. You put the hood down, and they cook in an enclosed space with a fan to circulate the heat and the flavour. Not only is smoked meat delicious, but it can actually reduce the fat in your food by leaving it to drip out during the smoking process.
If you’re looking for the best smoker for beginners, let Home Fires be your guide.
Best Smokers for Beginners
Smokers come in all shapes and sizes, but they’re typically powered by one of four main types of fuel: charcoal, electricity, pellets, or propane. While charcoal models are the most traditional, electrical models are definitely the most convenient.
Consider your budget. You may need time to decide whether or not a smoker is really for you before you splash out on anything too fancy. Choose the right size. Is your smoker just for solo camping trips or for feeding your whole family regularly? If your smoker doesn’t have a good seal on it, the cuisine will turn out uneven and inconsistent.
Some of Home Fires’ best smokers for beginners include:
Weber Smokey Mountain Cooker
Available in 37cm, 47cm and 57cm varieties, Weber’s Smokey Mountain Cooker is portable and both easy and fun to use. It comes with a porcelain enamelled water pan that generates steam in order to keep the cooking temperature low and even. The different sizes cater to the different needs, so whether you’re just feeding two people or catering for a whole party, these cookers are built to suit you.
Hark Hickory Pit Smoker
The Hark Hickory Pit Smoker can be fuelled by charcoal or wood (or a combination of both), so you can decide which fuel source suits you best. It also has a long cooking chamber that provides plenty of room to spread out your favourite cuts.
Hark Chubby Offset Smoker
The little brother to Hark’s Texas Pro Pit design, the Hark Chubby Offset Smoker is compact and sturdy. It gives you all the tools you need to become a BBQ wizard in your own backyard. Packed with great features like large cooking grids and warming shelves, this is the BBQ that will turn you from a budding smoker to a seasoned meat-smoking aficionado.
How to Get the Smoker Started
If you’re a total newbie to backyard barbecuing, you may be wondering how a smoker even works and how you can go about firing one up. Here’s how to use a smoker for beginners:
1. Give yourself time
Smoking meat is a slow and steady endeavour, and producing the best flavours can take several hours. A large brisket, for example, can spend the whole day in the smoker. Take it easy, be patient and have fun. Soon, you’ll enjoy the moment as much as the meal.
2. Choose the right wood
If you’re cooking with wood chips, choose the flavour you like the most and don’t be afraid to experiment with different varieties. There are some combinations known for being especially effective, like pork and apple wood or beef and hickory.
3. Set up the right temperature probes
Many Home Fires smokers come with access grommets, so you can run a digital thermometer straight into your cooking area and make sure your meat is cooked to the exact temperature you like.
4. Light the charcoal
Light a full load of charcoal in a chimney starter or side burner using firelighters or another ignition source. Wait about 15 minutes for the coals to get red hot. Then, open both the intake baffle and the chimney baffle on the smoker and dump the coals in the firebox. Once the thermometer indicates cooking conditions have reached the right temperature, add the meat to the smoker.
5. Maintain your temperature
To start controlling the heat, adjust the intake baffle by gradually closing or opening it.
6. Add wood chunks
If you have a charcoal BBQ, you can scatter the wood chips over the coals.
7. Smoke until you reach the desired temperature
Smoke your meat until it reaches the inner temperature you desire, and remember that overcooking results in a dryer cut.
Best Beginner Smoker Recipes
If you’re wondering what to cook when you get your new smoker, some reliable beginner smoker recipes include:
Smoked brisket
Smoked brisket is one of the most reliably popular choices when using a smoker, and mastering it will help you throw a get-together that’s satisfying for everyone.
Smoked pork butt
Tender, crisp and falls apart in your mouth, smoked pork butt is always a winning recipe, and it’s incredibly easy to cook as well.
Smoked whole chicken
Smoking is an easy way to prepare a whole chook, and when it’s done right, the results are far better than anything you’ll find in the supermarket.
Smoked Baby Back ribs
Ribs are always a crowd-pleaser, and baby back ribs are a simple, delicious, easy-to-prepare option.
Buy Smokers at Home Fires
If you want a smoker that delivers quality you can trust, take your pick from the smoker range at Home Fires including high-quality options from the likes of Hark and Weber.
We also sell BBQ and smoker accessories like smoking wood, convection trays, cleaners and seasoning. A trusted name for over 40 years, Home Fires is one of Sydney’s leading fireplace and BBQ retailers, committed to quality customer service and value.
To learn more, contact the Home Fires team or drop into our Minto or Casula locations.
