SMOKING MEAT-ELECTRIC OR OLD SCHOOL Luke Clayton

I love the flavor of smoked meat and have for most of my adult life spent countless hours tending a wood fired smoker. I’ve used everything from the old barrel shaped water smokers to homemade iron smokers mounted on a trailer that I pull behind my pickup. There is something special about the smell of hickory, pecan or mesquite wood smoke that gives meat a flavor that has fueled the increase in Barbeque restaurants the past couple decades.

Back in the fifties and sixties when I was growing up, barbeque joints were often small family run operations. Today, there is a plethora of chain restaurants as well as a few famous restaurants that have withstood the test of time in a very competitive market, all claiming to make the best barbeque. I’ve always enjoyed sampling the barbeque at different restaurants but honestly prefer doing the smoking myself, it’s a lifelong hobby that I thoroughly enjoy.

There’s basically two ways to prepare barbeque, using a wood fired smoker or one that uses electricity to heat an element that creates the heat and smoke. About twenty or so years ago, I purchased my first electric smoker, one of the smaller Smokin Tex units and soon discovered that I could turn out tasty smoked meats that were as good or better than what I made on my wood burners. These units have a burner over which slides a wood box. Just a few ounces of wood cut from the limbs or a pecan, hickory or fruit wood tree inside this box provides the same great smoke flavor I used to achieve with my “stick burner”. I put large cuts of meat in the smoker about bedtime, set the thermostat at about 200 degrees and let it cook all night while I am sleeping. In the morning, I have very tender, smoked to perfection brisket or venison or wild pork hams. Chickens, pork chops or ribs cook in about three hours with the smoker set at 225 degrees.

When the craze for pellet smokers hit a few years ago, I continued using my Smokin Tex. The unit had proven to be well constructed and cranked out the best smoked meats with the ease of setting a thermostat. These new pellet smokers simply had too many moving parts for me, too many things to “go out”. A few years ago I stepped up my game with one of the larger Smokin Tex units that allows me to smoke a large quantity of meat. Several of my family members were supplying me with meat that they wanted smoked. I also occasionally supply smoked wild game to a church that feeds needy folks and with the new

unit I could turn out much more meat in the same amount of time. I was then able to smoke a quartered wild hog weighing 125 pounds and turn the meat into tasty pulled pork that made a lot of sandwiches for folks that appreciated and needed it.

Over the Fourth of July, I had plans to supply the barbeque for a family get together. I decided to go “old school” and fire up my big trailer mounted iron smoker. The last time I used it was to make a huge pot of venison chili last winter and I thought It would be good to fire the old beast up. I was cooking a pork shoulder for pulled pork which I knew would take several hours tending the fire, a couple of chickens and a side of ribs were also on the agenda. I could have smoked everything with ease in my trusty Smokin Tex but I decided to fire up my old unit and see if I still remembered how to tend the fire and keep a constant eye on that thermostat. To make good barbeque, it’s important to keep a constant cooking temperature and when cooking with wood, this requires sticking close the fire, no setting the thermostat and letting the smoker do all the work when cooking with wood!

I began by building a fire and placing pieces of post oak in the firebox. It’s important to let the fire burn down to coals when cooking with wood. The bark on the wood creates a lot of smoke which can give the meat a bitter flavor. After about 45 minutes, the fire was ready for me to add the seasoned meat. To be honest, I was already wishing I had used my trusty electric smoker, if I had I would have already been cooking for almost an hour! But with the meat loaded and the thermometer pegging 250 degrees, I was feeling better. I left to let the smoker do its thing; I had a couple hours of yard work to do and surely the smoker with a full wood box of wood would maintain heat until I checked it a couple hours later.

I crawled off the mower a couple hours later and discovered the temperature in the smoker to be 140 degrees, not good! I reloaded the firebox with fresh wood which created a very heavy smoke, NOT what I needed. This would surely give the meat a bitter taste. Had I remained sitting near the fire and checking it every 45 minutes or so all would be well but my years using my electric smoker has spoiled me. I was then getting into panic mode. I had to have all the meat done by our planned dinner at 6 that afternoon and I wanted it to be tasty. I was about to ruin my reputation as a barbeque cook if I continued with my original plan. I did the only rational thing I could do and loaded the smoke box on the Smokin Tex with a few pieces of dry hickory and transferred the meat over and placed it on the grills. With the constant temperature of the electric smoker all the meat cooks at the same temperature. I let the chicken and ribs cook about 3 hours and then wrapped them in foil, the pork shoulder continued cooking for several more hours and when I pulled it from the smoker the meat was fall off the bone tender.

I think using the old smoker was as much about nostalgia as it is about smoking meat. Back in the day I thought nothing about hovering around a hot smoker in the middle of the

summer all day. I will probably use the old beast to make a big pot of venison chili again this fall but on second thought why? My electric smoker will create smoked chili that is just as tasty and probably better, I won’t have to worry about getting too much smoke and making the chili bitter! Load the pot in the smoker, add a few little sticks of wood in the smoke box, set the thermostat and walk away! Anyone in the market for a big smoker mounted on a trailer! I just don’t think I’ll be using this one any longer!

Check out Luke’s weekly podcast “Catfish Radio with Luke Clayton and Friends”. Email Luke at lukeclayton1950@gmail.com