Teach me about smoking meat in a gas grill?

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sorry, Atticus, strangely your posts don't show any text on my screen. Must be one of those pesky settings...



OK, back to smoking. Thanks for the advice folks. Will try all that first chance I get.
 
lol...good to see that some things never change...
 
well, since my goal in life is to keep you guys amused :D, here is the latest one that should help:

I tried the smoking bit. Got some mesquite chips, soaked them for an hour, maybe 2, wrapped them in foil, dropped the bit on the heat plates and waited...





















.... and nothing... a couple minor wisps of smoke... then I figured must be too tight and no room for smoke to come out, so I poke out a couple small holes. Couple more wisps of smoke but that's it. A bit of flame at one opening, probably burning up volatiles. Blowing that out still led to basically no smoke. Put it on the grill in case it was too hot. Nothing.

Ironically, the sausages I was grilling at the same time were making copious amounts of smoke to add insult to injury. Turned out delicious btw, hot italian sausages grilled with pasta and marinated pork chops, with grilled corn, hmmm, hmmm....


But wait, here is the best part: when I opened up the package afterward I discovered I had made charcoal...! Beautiful chips of charcoal. So not all was lost... If I do this like 200 times I will have enough charcoal to cook a steak... LOL.... :D


Boringly back to tech, though, probably not enough oxygen and heat if the result was charcoal, I guess. Next time bigger holes and on the flames...

The smoking saga continues... Next installment coming to a theater near you... :)
 
Live the foil open, more of a tray, don't completely wrap the chips up with it.
 
Other extreme: threw a few soaked chips in an open metal can set on the heat plates. Small amount of smoke. Not enough to make much difference in taste I think, though.
A closed can with holes will be next but enough of this for now.

Well, OK, one last thing: One way to get some flavor in that I used before was to throw some green rosemary branches on the grate. That did make a fair amount of smoke and did seem to impart some taste. Great for chicken and lamb on the spit.

Enjoy your summer grilling!
 
How is that extreme?

Skip the rosemary next time, and toss some fat, green oleander sticks on there.






EDIT: Don't really do that.
 
If an open can made a little smoke, but you want more, why would you go to a closed can with holes in it?

This really could not be any easier. Take a couple of handfuls of chips in the wood that you would like. Soak them for a couple of hours in water. Place them in a metal pan on top of the burner under the grate. Or put them in a tin foil boat under the grate. It will get hot, and they will smoke. Start doing that BEFORE you put your meat on, and you will have smoke cooking your meat.

I really don't get how you don't get this. You are making the simple impossible.
 
e9999 said:
nope, too easy... :) thanks though
Click to expand...

Well, have someone fab one up for you, then. If you start a new thread or ask "Which is better for a custom fabbed smoker box for my gas grill - steel or aluminum?", I'm gonna fly to California and stick a shank in your neck.

Atticus really is right on this one. It's easy - if you can't get enough smoke to suit you using a rinky dink piece of foil and wood chips, switch over to a wood and/or charcoal grill. That's what about 95% of good outdoor cooks do. You can probably sell some of your rehabbed Webers and come out ahead on the deal. Keep a gas grill and a charcoal grill.
 
Points taken. I do have a charcoal grill too actually. It is certainly possible that one can get a better sear on those and that the meat may taste better too, but for me at least the gas grills beat the charcoal ones hand down for control and convenience, so I'm using gas for my "routine" grilling. Which, of course, is what prompted the original question as far as trying to come up with perhaps the best of both worlds.
Be that as it may, next chance I get I will indeed build a hot oakwood fire in my firepit and grill a nice choice steak in the great outdoors tradition and sip a nice red to Mudders' good health, smoke or no smoke!
 
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e9999 said:
Be that as it may, next chance I get I will indeed build a hot oakwood fire in my firepit and grill a nice choice steak in the great outdoors tradition and sip a nice red to Mudders' good health, smoke or no smoke!
Click to expand...

Can you do this without starting more threads?
 
e9999 said:
was afraid of that, doesn't look like rigid Alum would do so well anyway on high heat...
shoot, that would have been a great coincidence. No lottery ticket for me to buy then eh?



and FWIW, I thought about putting this in the campfire cuisine forum , but decided that taking my big propane grill setup would be a bit much for a campfire... :D If it's gas, it ain't campin' as they say... :)



OK, anyway, this smoking bit can't be rocket science. I'll just try out a few ways to do this... Got some mesquite chips already...
Click to expand...

PM me with your mailing address and I'll send you a gadget I came across for containerizing some wood chips for your gas grill.

:cheers:
 
Okay, I need MUDS collective knowledge here. I'd like to smoke a turkey with my Weber Gas Grill. I plan to pick up the smoker box attachment for the grill so as to avoid E49's mistake.

However, I'm a complete newb with this smoking thing. So, if you guys could provide some additional advice and recipes, I'd be very appreciative. I plan on trying a chicken this weekend to make sure I don't screw it up too much.

TIA
 
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