I have smoked cooked for about 20 years. I have always used a wood fired, masonary, hand built smoker. I have built two of them, one in Las Vegas and one here in in Texas. Both had a vertical smoking chamber with a water tray that catches the grease.
I used to invite people over for food, that I fussed with all day and sweated the process of putting a tasty product on the table at the annouced time. When I got it on the table, cold, hot, or overcooked, every was kind and said it was good, I had no clue, as I had inhaled wood smoke all day and was not a good judge of quality.
In recent years, I have learned that smoke is for flavor, cooking it for tenderness and the two processes need not go together.
Now I take meat with a dry rub and put it in the smoker at 150 or so to add flavor. After a few hours I pull it , let it cool, wrap it in foil and freeze it.
The day the guests are to arrive, I remove the frozen packages from the freezer and put them in the oven at noon or before at a oven setting of 200 or so. When the quests arrive I can chat with them, have a drink or two, and when the time is right put hot, tender meat on the tabe that I can taste. Seems pretty good to me.
I used to invite people over for food, that I fussed with all day and sweated the process of putting a tasty product on the table at the annouced time. When I got it on the table, cold, hot, or overcooked, every was kind and said it was good, I had no clue, as I had inhaled wood smoke all day and was not a good judge of quality.
In recent years, I have learned that smoke is for flavor, cooking it for tenderness and the two processes need not go together.
Now I take meat with a dry rub and put it in the smoker at 150 or so to add flavor. After a few hours I pull it , let it cool, wrap it in foil and freeze it.
The day the guests are to arrive, I remove the frozen packages from the freezer and put them in the oven at noon or before at a oven setting of 200 or so. When the quests arrive I can chat with them, have a drink or two, and when the time is right put hot, tender meat on the tabe that I can taste. Seems pretty good to me.