Grilling vs Smoking! Knowing When to Due One over the Other

Who doesn’t love to grill in the summertime? To me it’s not really summer to the smell of charcoal is in the air and there’s sizzling of meat on the grill. I’ve been noticing a lot of new grills come as a grill/smoker combo now. So I thought that maybe people might be wondering what the difference is in smoking and grilling.

The main difference is the type of heat your cooking with. Grilling is the process of cooking meat quickly over high direct heat to cause a sear on the meat. Smoking, on the other hand, uses a low indirect heat over long periods of time to slow cook food.

Which one is better then, grilling or smoking? Are there some meats that are better off smoked then grilled? These are questions people have been asking for as long as civilization itself. In this article, I’d like to go over what exactly grilling and smoking are and when you want to use one over the other.

The above explanation I gave is the simplest explanation you can get. To better understand the differences, let’s take a look at what’s going on in both of these cooking processes. This way you know exactly what your getting yourself into, and help you figure out if you should be grilling or smoking the meat you bought for your cookout.

Types Of Heat

First, let’s look at the different types of heat. Now I mentioned above direct heat and indirect heat. In case you’re not sure what that means let me give you some examples of them. As well as a bit more explanation on the two of them.

Direct heat is when you put your food directly over the source of heat, like hot charcoals. About 3 to 6 inches directly above them. This way your food is getting the radiant heat directly off the charcoals. A good example of this is going to be when you put something in a hot frying pan. Where your food is directly on the heat source.

Now indirect heat would be placing your meat offset from your heat source, let’s use charcoal as an example again. So not directly above but slightly behind or off to the side of your charcoals. This way the meat isn’t getting any direct radiated heat just residual heat as it’s on its way out the exhaust.

A good example of this would be if your charcoals are lined up against the front of your grill and you place your meat closer to the back of the grill. Roughly 2 or 3 inches behind your charcoal. This is known as two-zone cooking. One hot zone for getting your sear and sealing in the juices and one cool zone to finish cooking without burning the outside of your food.

What is Grilling

Like I mentioned above grilling is a process of cooking meat over high direct heat to create a sear, this seals in the juices. That means that your food is going to cook quickly. This is ideal for tender or thinner cuts of meat that can be cooked in a short amount of time. Anything that can be fully cooked in about 15 to 20 minutes.

Typically the surface of the grill grates will be around 450F to 550F before you add your food. This will ensure you get a good sear and lock in all the juices. Just be careful not to leave your grill unattended for too long, or else you’ll end up burning your food beyond repair.

How to Grill

Grilling is the same whether using charcoal, gas or electric. The first thing you’re going to need to do is to get your grill up to temperature. In the case of charcoal, you’re going to need to start a large amount of charcoal and let the grill heat up. If you’re not familiar with how to light a charcoal grill you can check out my article on lighting charcoal by clicking here. Once your grill is up to the temperature you’re going for you’ll want to place your meat on the grate directly over the hot coals.

Remember your food is going to cook fast so don’t put it on and walk away. It’s always best to keep a close eye on what you’re cooking. At these temperatures, it may only be a 1 or 2 minutes before you need to flip your food and then another minute or 2 minutes before its done. This is especially true if you are trying to do a medium-rare steak.

If your cooking something that’s on the thicker side that’s going to take a while to get its internal temperature up to where it’s safe to eat. Then you’re going to need to set up for two-zone cooking. This is when youed want to sear it quickly on high heat and then move it to an indirect heat source to finish cooking.

What is Grilling Doing to Your Food

When you cook at these high temperatures with direct heat your cousin a Maillard Reaction in your food. This is a chemical reaction between amino acids and the gluten strands. This is what causes the meat to turn the golden brown color we associated with grilled foods. It’s also what gives it the flavor and aroma we all love so much.

There are two key factors for causing a Maillard reaction. The first is the speed at which the temperature changes on the surface of the meat. This is why you need to make sure your grill is at a high enough temperature before adding meat to it. You don’t want to be adding meat to a grill when it’s still cold you’ll never get a sear that way.

The second thing is the moisture content. Meats with a lot of water or juices on a surface will take longer because the moisture has to evaporate before the reaction starts to occur. This is why meets sitting in water or fat, like when you use a pan may never get this reaction to occur due to the moisture.

Advantages of grilling

There are some great advantages to grilling your food besides the added flavor. For starters, you’re eating less fat. When you grill the fat drips off your food and through the grate. Unlike when you use a pan and your food just sits in its own fat. The meats also retain more nutrients when grilled.

But it’s not just better for meats, vegetables are even better if they have been grilled. When you grill vegetables they retain more of their vitamins and minerals.

Types of grill/smoker combos

There’s a ton of grills to pick from the most basic and often the cheapest grill is charcoal. My favorite, charcoal might be more work than some other grills. But it’s worth the extra effort, charcoal adds its own flavor to your food. Something other grills won’t do. Even though charcoal needs more attention its worth the extra effort. I don’t mind spending a little more time outside.

When it comes to charcoal grills the most commonly seen one is a kettle grill. As it’s the most iconic of them all, you also have the barrel grill and in more recent times the kamado grill.

A Kettle grill is probably the simplest and most iconic charcoal grill of them all. It’s most commonly round and has a lid. It is good for grilling and can be used for smoking as well. Although they tend to be a bit small in size. So if your planning on having big cookouts it probably won’t be the grill for you.

Barrel grills have become more popular over the last few years. This type of grill is much larger and can cook more food at once. These tend to be among the biggest charcoal grilles. Normally comes with a side firebox or you can buy one to add to it so it can be used as a smoker.

Kamado is a Japanese style grill. These are becoming more common in the states. You might have heard of the Big Green Egg well that’s a Kamado style grill. Commonly this grill will be made from ceramic and they are excellent at maintaining heat. Whether it be high heat for grilling or low heat for smoking, this grill will do an amazing job.

It is worth mentioning they are the most expensive of the charcoal grills. But will also last the longest out of them all. This is due to the fact that they are made from ceramic. If you don’t want to spend a ton of money on a kamado grill there are low-cost ones that are made from double-wall steel with insulation between them.

Some other grills include gas grills but most gas grills aren’t really made to be smokers. You can smoke meat in a gas grill with the help of a wood chip box to hold your wood chips in. But most people would tell you to buy a gas smoker to get the same smoke you can do in a charcoal grill.

Wood pellet grilles are pretty much a small pellet stove not too unlike the pellet stover people heat there houses with. The problem I’ve seen with them is they don’t make a steady heat. Sins they work the same way home heating pellet stoves do the fire comes on and off as needed. This can cause uneven cooking to your food and not produce the smoke you need to get that smokey flavor your looking for.

What Should be Grilled

You can grill anything the question really is should it be cooked low and slow or hot and fast. But the grilling is especially good for tender or thinner meats. Like your burgers and hotdogs that we’re all used to seeing on the grill. But there’s nothing like a steak hot off the grill. Or you can get a good crispy skin on a piece of fish or chicken on the grill as well. Just remember if its something that’s thick your going to want to use a two-zone cooking set up.

They also make accessories for doing Seafood and any type of vegetable you could ever imagine. Really your options are endless with the right accessories and the right grill you may never need to cook in the house again. We’ll go over some meats that are best smoked, low and slow later.

Smokers

Now that we’ve looked at grills let’s take a look at some smokers. Smokers come in all shapes and sizes as you’ve already read most charcoal grilles are smokers. Most commonly you’re going to see a vertical smokers and horizontal, also known as offset, smokers.

So vertical smokers are just like the name says vertical. In this style smoker, your heat source is at the bottom with the food on the top. If your using a charcoal smoker your most likely going to put the wood chips or chunks right in with the charcoal before lighting them. On the other hand, if you’re using a gas or electric smoker there’s going to be a box above the heat source to put your chips in.

Some vertical smokers will have a place to put a pan of water in the middle. This does two things it blocks the heat so that the bottom of your food doesn’t get burned. It also helps to increase the humidity inside the smoker. You want a higher humidity inside the smoker so that the meat doesn’t dry out. Remember it’s going to be cooking in there for hours.

Now horizontal smokers or offset smokers will have the heat source off to the side. Commonly these are charcoal grill combos and to me, that’s the way to go. On this style smoker there’s no heat directly under your food, sins it’s been offset on the side. The problem with offsetting the heat is that you end up with a hot spot where the heat enters the grill.

So someone unfamiliar with an offset smoker might have a problem with food they put to close to the heat intake burning. This happened to me the first time I used my offset smoker, but I still think they’re the best options. There are a few ways to avoid this happening to you.

First, don’t put any food within six inches or so of the heat intake. But this will mean you have less room for your food. So if you have a lot to cook it might not be the best way to go. The second is to put something under the grate to act as a heat shield. This is the better way to go because it doesn’t make you give up cooking space. So now your probably thinking what can I put under the grates. I like to use a disposable baking sheet. Just get one that will fit without having to bend it too much and you can use it as a water pan.

How to Use a Smoker

No matter what style smoker you’re going to be using, how to use it is going to be about the same. You’re going to need your fuel for heating it weather that be charcoal, gas or pellet. Wood chips or chunks depending on the smoker you’re going to be using. A cut of meat that’s good for smoking and time, remember it’s called low and slow. Some larger cuts of meat may need to cook for 10+ hours.

Before you get started your going to want to soak your wood chips. Soaking your wood chips will stop them from catching fire. Also wet wood makes more smoke then dry wood chips and you’ll use fewer chips but get more flavor to your food.

Pro Tip: Take the meat you’re going to be smoking out of the refrigerator an hour or so before you plan on cooking it. Let it sit on the counter and come up to room temperature. It’s never a good idea to put cold food right on a hot grill.

To get started your going to need to get the smoker set up and ready. If you’re using charcoal start it with a chimney starter worth of charcoal. If you’re using gas or pellet make sure you have a full gas tank and a new bag of pellets just in case it takes longer to cook your food then you plan.

Let your smoker come up to your cooking temperature. In most cases, it’s going to be somewhere around 225F to 275F. Like I sad low temperature that’s why it takes so long. If you’re going to be using a water pan make sure you fill it before getting to cooking temperature. If you forgot to its ok to fill it just make sure you give it time to come up to temperature as well.

Now you’re ready to add your food to the smoker. Once you’ve added your food you’re going to see a drop in temperature, its normal for this to happen. If you’re using gas or pellet it will fix itself you don’t need to do anything. If you’re using charcoal you can open your air intake a little bit to help the temperature come back up faster. Just be careful you don’t overshoot your cooking temperature. If you’re going to do this its best to put the air intake back were it was as soon as you see the temperature starts to go up.

Now it’s the waiting game all you have to do is be patient and make sure it stays at the right temperature. I like to look in on it every 30 to 45 minutes just to check the temperature and to see if it looks like its cooking evenly. If it looks like its cooking faster on one side then the other you may want to turn it from time to time. Once you’ve gotten to a safe internal temperature, after hours of cooking, you can remove your food from the smoker and enjoy it.

What is smoking

So I’ve been going on about how to use a smoker but we haven’t really talked about what smoking is. Smoking is really just a way of slow-cooking meats and other food at low temperature. While using wood to add flavor and aroma to the meat or whatever you decide to smoke. Now that sounds easier then it is. In reality, there’s a lot of little tricks you need to know.

For starters, you need to know about the different types of wood and how there going to affect the food your smoking. If you’re looking for some help on this you can click here to read my article on using wood chips with charcoal. Next, you’re going to need to know about the food itself so that you can figure out how long it is going to take to cook at low temperatures.

If you’re cooking a larger cut of meat you might be looking at hours of cooking. But if your doing something small or thin then it might only need a half-hour or so. The last thing is going to be the best temperature to have the smoker at. Like I mentioned above most meats are smoked some were between 255F and 275F. This is better known as hot smoking. There is also cold smoking which is normally done at temperatures under 100F. Cold smoking is more commonly used to add smoke flavor to things like cheese.

Advantages of smoking

Smoking has some amazing advantages besides adding amazing flavor to your food. Smoking helps to preserve meats giving them longer shelf life. This is great if your someone that likes to buy meats in bulk when there’s a good sale. You can smoke some of them and not worry about them going bad before you get to them.

Furthermore, it’s much harder to under cook your food sins your slow cooking it at low temperature. It might take longer but that’s a good thing sins bacteria will be killed off once it gets to a safe temperature to eat. Cooking meat low and slow gives you plenty of time to let the internal temperature come up without the outside burning.

Lastly, it’s great for low-fat cooking most meats that you’re going to want to smoke are lean. So if you’re trying to eat healthy smoking can be a great option for cooking your food. Sins not only are you starting with meats that are low in fat but any fat that is in the meat will drip through the grates in the smoker.

Not like when you use a pan and your food sits in its own fat. Now you’ll notice that some meats you’re going to smoke will have a fat cap on them. You should trim this down so that there’s not too much fat, but don’t take it all off. You do want some fat to help add flavor to your food. You probably add oil to a pan when cooking so the food doesn’t stick to it. That is now adding more fat to your food. Leaving a little fat on the meat is no different.

Commonly smoked Foods

So really I think just about anything can be smoked. But I thought I give you some examples of some of the more commonly smoked meats and other foods. Just in case you’re looking for something to try your new smoker out with.

Probably the most commonly smoked meat is a bone-in pork shoulder. If you’re not used to seeing pork shoulder on a menu it’s because once it’s cooked its pulled apart and called pulled pork. It’s not the only pork that’s good for smoking a lot of people like to smoke ham and ribs as well. Some bacon and sausages are also smoked.

The second most common, and it’s a close second, is beef brisket. To me, smoked brisket is better than pulled pork but that’s just my opinion. You may have noticed that most of the meats that are good for smoking tend to be the cheaper cuts. That’s due to the fact that most of them need to be cooked low and slow and most people don’t want to start cooking dinner at 8 AM.

But smoking isn’t limited to meats, as I said earlier just about anything can be smoked. Like cheese, spices, you can even add smoky flavor to drinks if you wanted to.

Conclusion

So it’s safe to say no matter what you decide to do whether it be grilling some stakes or burgers and dogs for your family. Or smoking a 13-pound brisket and inviting the whole neighborhood over for a cookout, your in for a treat. It’s more about knowing how to cook your food. Knowing if it needs time to cook, low and slow, or if it can be cooked fast. As well as knowing if something should be started on high heat then moved to low heat to finish it. So you would need to set your grill up for two zone cooking or even three-zone cooking.

Both grilling and smoking can be a fun time especially if you involve your family and friends. I’m sure no matter who you invite over they’ll be more than happy to come and be a taste tester to your food. Also no matter what, you’ll get outside for a bit and if you get your kids involved your sure to make some great memories with them. Like playing in the yard with the smell of the smoker or the grill in the air. When they’re all grown up one day they’ll smell someone grilling or smoking in there neighborhood and think back to when they were a kid.

As Always, Happy Grilling