How To Smoke Food

Anyone who loves a tender barbecue pork roast should know how to smoke food. Smoked food is slow cooked over indirect heat and infused with wood smoke, imparting a richness of flavor you won't get through any other cooking method. Even if you don't own a smoker, it's very easy to learn how to smoke food on a regular charcoal grill.

To smoke food, such as a pork roast, you will need:

• A charcoal grill
• Charcoal
• Wood chips. You can purchase dried wood chips at any barbecue store but, for a cheaper, more authentic flavor, use some bark from a tree in your yard, such as cedar or cherry.
• A pan to hold water
• A spritzer bottle
• A 3 pound pork roast

1. Place four large handfuls of wood chips in a bucket of water to soak.  You MUST soak the chips before using them to smoke the food or they will just flame up. Soak the chips for at least an hour for the best results. The water soaked chips will create smoke instead of flame.
2. Light the charcoal and wait for the embers to form. You want to wait at least until most of the charcoal is turning white before adding the soaked chips.
3. Push the charcoal to one side of the grill and add a handful of chips on top of the charcoal embers. The wood chips should immediately sizzle and start to smoke.
4. Place the pork roast on the cool side of the grill, away from the hot embers. Cooking through indirect heat will give you the most tender pork roast.
5. Place the top on the grill to contain the smoke. Every twenty minutes, turn the roast and add more chips to the charcoal as needed. The goal is to have a thick, rich smoke built up inside the grill. Your three pound pork roast should be done in about an hour by using this method to smoke the food.

Tip:

• As needed, spritz the wood chips on the charcoal to create more smoke or to put out any flames which may flare.