Although smoking meat takes longer than either grilling or steaming, it does help keep the meat tender through indirect cooking and lends it a distinctive smoky flavor. Meat like pork can be smoked on both a charcoal and propane powered grill. While charcoal grills have smoking attachments that you can add to the grill, smoking meat on a propane grill will require a little modification and some cheap materials to get the same results.
Charcoal Grill
Step 1
Fill a sealable plastic bag with your favorite pork marinade. Thoroughly wash your pork in cool water before placing it in the bag to marinate. Place the bag with the pork inside into the fridge and allow the meat to marinate for at least half an hour.
Step 2
Place some bunched up newspaper in the bottom of the charcoal chimney and fill it with lump charcoal. Light the newspaper and allow the charcoal to heat up for 10 to 15 minutes
Step 3
Place the prepared charcoal into the charcoal pan and fill the water pan with about 1 qt. of water. Place the grill's grate back in place.
Step 4
Open the access door on the side of the smoker and place a handful or two of chips directly on top of the coals. Place the meat directly onto the grill and close the lid.
Step 5
Smoke the pork for about two to three hours or until the internal temperature of the meat reaches 160 F. Remove the pork from the grill, allow it to cool and serve.
Propane Grill
Step 1
Place the pork in a sealable plastic bag filled with pork marinade and refrigerate for a half hour, or dry season it with pork rub and other spices.
Step 2
Remove the grilling grates and warming rack from the propane grill. Place two aluminum lasagna trays in the grill, leaving space all the way to the left for the cake pan.
Step 3
Place the wood chips in a bowl, fill it with water and soak the chips for about 30 minutes.
Step 4
Place a handful of soaked wood chips into the cake pan, leaving enough room on the bottom to allow the chips to breathe. If the chips are smothered they won't smoke properly. Cover the cake pan in aluminum foil and poke holes in the top.
Step 5
Place one of the grill grates over the two lasagna trays and put the cake pan over the left most burner. Fill the lasagna trays to nearly the brim with water.
Step 6
Place the electric thermometer next to the grill and place the probe into on of the vent holes on the side of the grill. This will allow you to accurately measure the temperature inside of the grill.
Step 7
Turn the left burner on "High" and allow the inside temperature to reach at least 225 F . Wait until you begin to see smoke coming from the cake pan to put the pork on the grill.
Step 8
Close the lid on the grill and keep the temperature at 225 F by tweaking the burner levels. Replace the wood chips inside the cake pan every 45 minutes or so and allow the pork to cook for about two and a half to three hours. Using the meat thermometer, check the internal temperature of the thickest part of the pork. Pork is safe to eat at an internal temperature of 160 F.
Tips and Warnings
- You can substitute the water in the lasagna pans with other liquids like beer, wine and fruit juices to add subtle flavor to your pork.
Things You'll Need
- Pork
- Marinade
- Sealable plastic bags
- Propane or charcoal grill
- Charcoal smoker
- Charcoal chimney
- Lump charcoal
- Newspaper
- Aluminum lasagna trays
- Narrow aluminum cake pan
- Wood chips
- Aluminum foil
- Electric thermometer
- Meat thermometer
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