A lot of people don't understand the difference
between smoking, barbecuing, and grilling. When grilling, you quickly
seal in the juices from the piece you are cooking. An outside crust is
created that acts as a barrier and prevents meat juices from migrating
outside. Grilling takes minutes and it needs high temperatures to burn
the meat on the outside. Smoking takes hours, sometimes even days.
Don't be fooled by the common misconception that by throwing some wet
wood chips over hot coals you can smoke your meat. At best you can only
add some flavor on the outside because the moment the surface of the
meat becomes dry and cooked, a significant barrier exists that inhibits
smoke penetration. A properly smoked piece of meat has to be thoroughly
smoked, on the outside and everywhere else. Only prolonged cold smoking
will achieve that result. All these methods are different from each
other, especially smoking and grilling. The main factor separating them
is temperature.
Smoking – almost no heat, 52° – 140° F (12°-60° C), 1 hr to 2 weeks
Barbecuing – low heat, 200° – 300° F (93°-150° C), few hours
Grilling – high heat, 500° F (200° C), minutes
The purpose of grilling is to char the surface of meat and seal in the
juices by creating a smoky caramelized crust. By the same token a
barrier is erected that prevents smoke from flowing inside. The meat
may have a somewhat smoky flavor on the outside but it was never smoked
internally.
Barbecuing comes much closer, but not close enough. It is a long, slow,
indirect, low-heat method that uses charcoal or wood pieces to
smoke-cook the meat. The best definition is that barbecuing is cooking
with smoke. It is ideally suited for large pieces of meat like ribs,
loins or entire pigs. The temperature range of 200° –300° F is still
too high to smoke meats which is especially important when smoking
sausages since the fat will melt away through the casings and the final
product will taste like bread crumbs. A barbecue unit can be used for
smoking meats but remember that to smoke a large piece of meat will
take hours and if the temperature will be high the meat will be cooked
for a long time. That will make it very dry. Burn your charcoal
briquettes outside until the ash is white, then introduce them inside
otherwise they will impart a nasty flavor to your meat. This charcoal
flavor might be acceptable for barbecued meats but must not be allowed
when making quality smoked meat. Now wood chips may be placed on
glowing embers to generate smoke. You can not substitute hardwood with
charcoal briquettes no matter how pretty they look and how expensive
they are. Hardwood wins every time. Smoking is what the word says:
smoking meats with smoke that may or may not be followed by cooking.
Some products are only smoked at low temperatures and never cooked, yet
are safe to eat. Generally we may say that smoking consists of two
steps:
1. Smoking
2. Cooking
After smoking is done we increase the temperature to about 170° F (76°
C) to start cooking. The Food And Drug Administration recommends
cooking meat products to 160° F (71° C) which is fine when cooking
fresh meats. Meats to be smoked are almost always cured with nitrite
and a considerable safety margin is added and most professional books
recommend 154° F (68° C). Smoked meats don't always have to be baked to
the safe temperature inside of the smokehouse. Many smoked meats such
as hams, butts and sausages after smoking are cooked in hot water. The
correct word would be poached as the water temperature is kept at about
176° F (80° C). There are important differences between smoking and
barbecuing. Barbecued or grilled meats are eaten immediately the moment
they are done. Smoked meats are usually eaten cold at a later date.
When smoking foods a higher degree of smoke penetration is needed and
that can be only achieved at lower temperatures. Furthermore, smoked
meats are eaten cold. Many great recipes require that smoked products
hang for a designated time to lose more weight to become drier. It is
only then that they are ready for consumption.
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Smoking, Barbecuing, Grilling - What Is The Difference?
