Smoking guides
14 guides covering the cooks people actually attempt and the techniques that decide how they turn out. Every temperature here is cross-checked against the internal temperature chart and the cook time calculator, so nothing on the site contradicts anything else on it.
Cook a specific thing
Start to finish for the five cooks that account for most backyard barbecue. If your cut is not here, the per-cut pages cover another forty with times, pull temperatures, wrap points and wood pairings.
- How to Smoke a Brisket: The Full Cook From Trim to SliceHow to smoke a whole packer brisket start to finish: trimming, rub, grate temperature, when to wrap, pulling at 203F, resting... Open →
- How to Smoke a Pork Shoulder for Pulled PorkHow to smoke a Boston butt for pulled pork: trimming, rub, grate temperature, the stall, pulling at 203F when the bone slides... Open →
- How to Smoke Ribs: Spare Ribs and Baby Backs Step by StepHow to smoke pork ribs: removing the membrane, rub, 3-2-1 and 2-2-1 timings, when to wrap, the bend test, and when to sauce for... Open →
- How to Smoke Chicken: Whole Birds, Thighs and WingsHow to smoke chicken with skin worth eating: why to run 275F or hotter, brining, spatchcocking, and holding 165F as the floor while... Open →
- How to Smoke a Turkey Safely: Temperature, Time and BrineHow to smoke a whole turkey: why to run 275F to 325F rather than low, safe thawing, brining times, spatchcocking, and pulling both... Open →
Learn a technique
These are the pages that change results across every cut rather than one. Temperature control is the one to read first, because almost every problem people describe as a recipe problem is a fire problem.
- Temperature Control Guide: Holding a Steady Grate TemperatureGrate versus dome temperature, why built-in dials are 20F to 50F out, thermal mass and water pans, the vent rule, lid-opening cost... Open →
- The Stall Explained: Why Brisket Stops at 160°F for HoursWhat the barbecue stall is, why evaporative cooling causes it rather than collagen, what temperature it hits, how long it lasts by... Open →
- How to Wrap a Brisket: Foil, Butcher Paper or NakedWhen to wrap a brisket, how to fold it, foil versus butcher paper versus the boat method, how much liquid to add, and what each... Open →
- Wood Pairing Guide: Which Smoking Wood Goes With Which MeatWhich wood to use for brisket, pork, poultry and fish, ordered by strength, plus chunks versus chips versus pellets, why the first... Open →
- Offset Smoker Fire Management: How to Run a Clean Fire All DayHow to build and hold a fire in an offset smoker: small hot fires, preheated splits, the intake damper as the only control, an... Open →
Buy and look after a smoker
- First Smoker Buying Order: What to Buy, in What SequenceThe order to buy smoking gear in, with real prices and a running total: thermometer first, then cooker, wood, gloves, tongs, wrap... Open →
- How to Season a New Smoker Before the First CookWhy a new smoker needs seasoning, the 275F to 300F burn-off method step by step, which oils to use and which to avoid, and how the... Open →
- How to Clean a Smoker: Pellet, Electric, Charcoal and OffsetHow to clean each type of smoker, how often, why grease fires are the real hazard, how to smother one, and the parts of a cook... Open →
- Food Safety for Smoking Meat: Temperatures, the Danger Zone and the 4 Hour RuleUSDA safe minimum internal temperatures, the 40F to 140F danger zone, the 4 hour rule, safe thawing, holding, cross contamination... Open →