Simple How To: Smoking stuff without a smoker.

We would all love to have a dedicated smoker, but those things are either super expensive, or a giant pain to make. You can get a quick smoke using nothing but a multi-zone propane grill.

It’s pretty simple. So simple a metal-head could do it.

1.  Choose what ya wanna smoke.

2. Get some trimmings from a hardwood tree. I love apricot, but apple or pear works wonderfully too. I’ll be honest, I’m not the biggest fan of Hickory or Mesquite, which are traditional further east, but any kind of hard wood will do.

3. Cut the wood to lengths small enough to fit in the grill. 8 to 12 inches should do. The wispy branches are great, but need soaking. The best stuff is half an inch to one and a half inches thick.

4. If you have a new-fangled grill with the super hi-tech heat diffusers, you will have to remove them as they prevent the wood from actually smoking without cooking the hell out of your product.

5. Get some piece of metal to keep the ashes from falling through the grilles. I use an old fajita plate

and it seems to work pretty well. It will also keep the smaller bits of wood from bursting into flame.

6. Turn on all zones of the grill on high to cook off anything left over, then clean the grilles well.

7. Turn off all but one burner (or two if you have more than 5 zones) Turn the heat down to low. Place the wood on the sizzle plate and put it on the burners you left on.

8. Put your product on the bottom of the side furthest from the burner(s)

9. Allow to go for a while, checking occasionally that the wood is beginning to smoke.

10. This is not a “fire and forget” process like using a real smoker, so crack a beer, turn on some loud-ass punk and take care of some other things, remembering to check progress every 10 or so minutes.

11. If your grill gets too hot, wedge something to keep it open. We are smoking, not cooking.

12. If the wood won’t smoke, set some over the edge of your sizzle plate. If it burns too quickly, spray it with water or beer to keep it from flaming up.

13. Continue to check and fiddle with the wood. Every grill, each type of food, each type of wood will give different results, so this is a fun way to experiment.

14. The food will take anywhere from an hour for thin strips of meat, to several hours for large pork roasts or beef briskets. Whole chickens will take anywhere from 2 to 4  hours to cook through.

15. Have fun with this and let me know how it works for you.