You can barbecue in a smoker (a cooking vessel specially designed for barbecuing), a ceramic cooker, a basic kettle grill, or even in a gas grill.
How to Barbecue with a Smoker
Family-size smokers are sold at home-supply stores for as little as $100. Bullet smokers, also called water smokers, have a cooking chamber that sits vertically above the fire and is separated from the fire by a water pan. The smoker has a side hatch that lets you add fuel to the fire without exposing the cooking meat to the outside air. Charcoal is used as a main fuel source in these smokers, with wood chips or chunks added to the fire for flavor.
Serious barbecuers often use a different type of smoker, called an offset smoker. Most serious barbecuers get their offset smokers custom-made by welders, which can cost thousands of dollars.
How to Barbecue with a Charcoal Grill
You can use ceramic cookers and kettle grills (though not hibachis) to barbecue by either buying a water pan as an insert or separating the fire from the meat.
- Build a small fire in one corner of the grill.
- Place food in the other corner of the grill.
- Add fresh coals to the fire periodically to maintain a steady temperature.
The main drawback of barbecuing in a grill is that you lose much of the grill’s heat every time you lift off the lid to add fuel to the fire. Ceramic cookers work much better than kettle grills for barbecue, because a ceramic cooker’s thick walls help it retain more heat when the lid is lifted.
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How to Barbecue with a Gas Grill
Gas grills are clumsier to convert into smokers than charcoal grills are, but they can have nearly the same effect.
- Place a pan of soaked wood chips over one ignited burner set to the low setting.
- When smoke begins to escape from the grill’s closed lid, place the food on the cold side of the grill (as far as possible from the one lit burner) and close the lid.
- Replenish the pan of wood chips about every hour.
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