During the summer season, one of the best things to do is have an outdoor barbecue with friends and family.

Just imagine going to the beach or park and you get to serve specialties like smoked ribs, pulled pork, and even whole pigs. These low and slow meats are flavored to perfection as the result of smoking them for hours. Any meat can achieve that tender, moist, and smoky flavor with the right tools and equipment.

Deliciously Smoked Meat

Do you want to elevate your grilling and smoking to another level?

You can do that by purchasing your own smoker to customize the flavor of your food. Truth be told, you can actually achieve the flavor of smoked meat on a charcoal grill, but if you want to your meat to stand out, you will need to invest in a smoker. With so many smokers to choose from, you can follow these steps to determine what equipment you should buy.

1. Know what your budget is – This is very important as you can spend as low as $50 for a smoker, while a high-end one will have you spending $10,000! So you need to answer the question of how much are you willing to spend? If you are a beginner, then it is better to choose the cheaper but efficient model. Buying a more expensive one will not guarantee better flavor if you’re not really an expert yet. Meanwhile, if you have been smoking for years, then you can shell out more cash if you want.

2. Determine what type of food and how much food you will cook/smoke – This includes what you are used to cooking and what you would like to cook in the future. Even the smallest-sized smokers can produce a meal good enough for as many as 20 people. But if you are looking to smoke meat for a large party in the next few months, it’s good to invest in large ones. There are also smokers that can function as a grill too. If you want this kind of versatility, there are cheap models that can do both.

3. Choose the fuel type – there are pros and cons for whatever type of smoker you choose. You can opt for charcoal and wood, which is the most traditionally used and really gives off the authentic flavor of smoke. But you can also choose to buy an electric smoker. This is perhaps the most convenient as there is no need to buy wood chips but you would also get a rather bland flavor.

Food smoking is easy when you have the determination to do it. It starts with having the right equipment. Then you can start experimenting with the kind of wood (for charcoal and wood smokers) you would like to use. Don’t forget the rubs and sauces you can pair with whatever meat you are cooking.

The Smoke Guys have all of these products available on their website. Be sure to check them out as you start on your food smoking journey.

Do you have experience smoking your own meats? Leave us your comment below.