The Hack To Turn Any Grill Into A Smoker
A complete "backyard cooking set" often has two things: A grill for those beautifully charred thick steaks, ribs, or kebabs, and a smoker for slow-cooking something fragrant and tender like smoked pulled pork. Getting both, however, will put a serious dent in your wallet, especially if you're after the latest and greatest models. Here's the good news for the budget-minded pit masters out there: Your grill can also turn into a smoker in a pinch.
When you lay out the blueprint for a grill and a smoker side by side, you'll notice they share a lot in common. Both have a heat source, an air inlet, a main cooking chamber with grates, and a smoke stack. The key difference? In a smoker, the heat source is used to smolder wood chips, which will let off flavorful plumes of smoke that will slowly cook your food. Meanwhile, in a grill, the heat source has a direct hand in cooking the food.
So, if you can somehow mod your grill to smolder wood chips, it should be able to work like a smoker, too. Fortunately, that's totally doable — here's what you need to do.
Prepping your grill for smoking
Since a grill doesn't come with a wood chip tray, you'll have to improvise a little. Take your wood chips and wrap them up in aluminum foil so you have a small packet. Then, use a pair of scissors or a knife to poke a few holes on top. They'll be your ventilation holes that'll allow the smoke to come out and infuse your cooking chamber with its awesome flavor.
Next up, grab an aluminum tray that you don't mind parting with and fill it with water. Just like in a smoker, the water will heat up and create steam, which works wonders for stabilizing the temperature inside your cooking chamber. Plus, it'll help your meat take to the fragrant smoke better, too.
Now, let's talk about fire. You'll be using a two-zone fire for this, so even though you're not firing it up just yet, it'll be smart to plan ahead on which part of the grill you're going to use. If you're working with a gas grill, keep the burners on one side off (the cool zone) and crank up the heat on the other side (the hot zone). The same goes for a charcoal grill — simply pile your coals on one side and leave the other side bare.
Getting to smoking
On the big day, remove the grates on top of your designated hot zone and set the water pan on top of the burner. As for the wood chips, put them right next to the pan and as close to the heat source as you can get without it burning up. If you have a heat deflector handy, place both the water pan and the chips packet on top of it — it'll help you keep both from getting too toasty. For those using a charcoal grill, you can place both the pan and the wood chip packet on top of the coals.
Now, fire up your grill and make sure that your grill temperature reads anywhere between 225 to 300 degrees Fahrenheit. As the heat rises and the wood chips start to smolder, place your meat on the cooler zone of the grill and shut the lid. Keep in mind that you'll need to replace the wood chip packet every three hours, so if you're planning a marathon smoking session, make sure to prep several packets in advance and swap them regularly. Keep a close eye on the water pan, too, and refill it when the water level's looking low. When the meat probe displays the correct temperature for your desired doneness level, switch off the heat and tuck in.
So hold off on that top-of-the-line smoker purchase. A good grill is seriously all you need to make a smoky, slow-cooked meal right in the backyard.