Most barrel-style charcoal grills (including Charbroil and Char-Griller brands) come with attached offset fireboxes or can be equipped with firebox add-ons available at many grilling outlets and retail Web sites. The offset fireboxes are key to converting the main chamber of the grill into a smoking chamber, allowing for indirect heat and use of flavorful smoke. Upright barrel smokers have charcoal grates at the base of the drum, with food sitting on grates generally two to three feet above the coals. Though positioned differently, both types of barrel smokers require similar techniques. Add this to my Recipe Box.
Instructions
Curing the Grill and Firebox
1. Brand new barrel grills or upright barrel smokers require a curing process to burn away factory chemicals and create a protective coating on the steel inside the cooking chambers. Use cooking spray or shortening to thoroughly coat the inside of the grill and firebox or smoking chamber (top, bottom and all cooking grates).
2. Build charcoal fires inside the main chamber and firebox if so equipped.
3. With lids closed, allow the fires to burn for at least an hour until smoke from the burning oil ceases.
4. After cooling, clean out unburned charcoal fragments and ash.
Preparing Meat, Wood Chips and Charcoal
5. Apply dry-rub seasonings to the desired meat the night before cooking and allow it to sit, draped in plastic wrap, in the fridge. This allows the seasonings to absorb into the meat, curing it.
6. Soak wood chips and/or chunks in a bucket or large bowl of water, beer or wine for at least an hour before beginning the smoking process. Wet wood burns longer and produces more smoke to enhance flavor.
7. Thirty minutes before smoking, build a small charcoal fire in the bottom of the barrel smoker or in the grill side firebox if using a side-by-side barrel grill-smoker combo. Use about four or five handfuls of lump charcoal. This size of fire should be maintained throughout the smoking process.
Smoking the Meat
8. Place the cured meat on the rack of the grill or smoking chamber and close the lid. A tightly sealed lid ensures more even, stable temperatures inside the smoking chamber.
9. Add a handful of wet wood chips or one or two fist-sized wood chunks to the hot coals every 30 minutes to slow-season the meat with natural hardwood smoke.
10. Add one or two handfuls of lump charcoal every hour or so, depending on the outside temperature and wind. The heavier the wind, the faster the charcoal will burn.
11. Apply the grilling sauce generously to the meat for the final hour or two of cooking, basting every 30 minutes or so. This provides multiple layers of glaze and locks in the smoky flavor.
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