Smoking & Barbecue
Master clean smoke, patient heat and the cuts that reward low-and-slow cooking.
Hot-Smoked Salmon
A brine-and-smoke recipe, with the FDA rules on temperature and refrigeration.
Read the guide →Double-Smoked Ham
A precooked ham re-smoked and glazed, with USDA ham guidance.
Read the guide →Smoking Sausage
A low-and-slow method and the USDA temperatures for each type.
Read the guide →Pork Belly Burnt Ends
Weber’s cured, smoked and glazed belly cubes.
Read the guide →Smoking Meat Safely
A USDA and UK FSA checklist from thawing to leftovers.
Read the guide →Seasoning a New Smoker
What the makers and independent cooks advise for a first burn-in.
Read the guide →Lump vs Briquettes
What the tests found on burn time, heat, ash and flavour.
Read the guide →How Pellet Grills Make Smoke
Augers, smoke settings and why pellet smoke tastes lighter.
Read the guide →Texas-Style Smoked Brisket
A full whole-packer recipe with timings, temperatures and the hold.
Read the guide →How to Trim a Brisket
Franklin, Meathead and Texas A&M compared on fat cap, seam fat and edges.
Read the guide →Wrapping Brisket
Butcher paper, foil or no wrap: what each source says and why.
Read the guide →Resting, Holding and Slicing
How long to rest, how to hold safely, and how to slice point and flat.
Read the guide →Hot-and-Fast Brisket
What the test cooks found when they cooked brisket at 275 to 400°F.
Read the guide →Brisket Burnt Ends
A published recipe from a smoked point, cubed, sauced and finished.
Read the guide →St. Louis Ribs
Weber’s smoked spare ribs with a mop and smoked-onion sauce.
Read the guide →Pulled Pork Shoulder
Smoked, wrapped and held: texture targets versus the safe minimum.
Read the guide →Snake vs Minion Method
Two ways to light charcoal for a long, steady burn.
Read the guide →Do You Need to Soak Wood?
Chips, chunks and logs, and the disagreement over soaking.
Read the guide →Water Pans in Smokers
What a water pan does, and where the experts disagree.
Read the guide →Thin Blue Smoke vs White Smoke
Recognise cleaner smoke and understand why heavy white smoke can create harsh flavours.
Read the guide →Cold Smoking vs Hot Smoking
Understand the crucial temperature and food-safety differences between the two methods.
Read the guide →Brisket Point vs Flat
Know the structure of a whole brisket before deciding how to trim and cook it.
Read the guide →Texas Dino Ribs
Explore the cut and technique behind Texas-style smoked beef ribs.
Read the guide →Choosing Smoking Wood
Compare common smoking woods and build a more considered flavour profile.
Read the guide →The Science of Fat Rendering
Learn what heat does to fat and collagen during long barbecue cooks.
Read the guide →Lighting Charcoal With a Chimney Starter
Steps, timing and safety, with where Weber, AmazingRibs and NFPA differ.
Read the guide →Charcoal Grill Vents
Intake versus exhaust: how Weber and AmazingRibs steer temperature differently.
Read the guide →Texas Brisket Mop Sauce
Walter Jetton’s thin basting liquid, LBJ’s pitmaster, scaled down for home pits.
Read the guide →Big Bob Gibson’s White Sauce
A Decatur railroad worker’s 1925 backyard pit, and the mayonnaise sauce it produced.
Read the guide →Eastern NC Whole-Hog Barbecue
From colonial-era pits to the Skylight Inn and Sam Jones BBQ, wood-fired since 1947.
Read the guide →Central Texas Meat Markets
Lockhart’s butcher-shop barbecue, and the 1999 split that made Kreuz Market and Smitty’s.
Read the guide →Baltimore Pit Beef
Charcoal-seared, thin-sliced beef with tiger sauce, from Pulaski Highway to Chaps.
Read the guide →Cold-Smoking Cheese
Ambient temperature, session length and what’s genuinely not well documented.
Read the guide →Smoked Queso Dip
Hey Grill Hey’s double-smoked sausage, peppers and Velveeta party dip.
Read the guide →Crispy Smoked Chicken Wings
A baking-powder dry brine, two smoker temperatures, and a 175°F pull.
Read the guide →The Weber Kettle’s Invention
A Chicago buoy shop, a burnt steak, and George Stephen’s 1952 fix.
Read the guide →The Gas Grill’s Contested First
Two company histories, two years, two claims to inventing it first.
Read the guide →The Charcoal Briquette’s Ford Roots
How Model T scrap wood became the modern briquette, and then Kingsford.
Read the guide →