The idea of smoking meat for the first time can seem a little daunting because there are so many options! What meat to smoke, what wood to use, what rub to use, what temperature to smoke at and the list goes on. As a starting point, there are 4 main things to consider before you smoke meat for the first time.

1. What Meat to smoke - Brisket is touted as the holy grail of smoking, however, we recommend starting with something much simpler like pork ribs, sausages, or a lamb shoulder if you have the time.
2. What Smoking Wood to use- If you’re smoking meat for the first time, start with a smoking wood that has a mild to medium smoke flavour such as fruitwood. Stronger favoured woods like hickory, mesquite and ironbark impart a strong smoky flavour and can be overbearing if you’re not used to a heavy smoked meat flavour. Cherry wood is our favourite and is an all-rounder that goes with everything.
3. Rub - This is the seasoning you will apply to the meat before you put it into the meat smoker. For the same reasons mentioned above, steer clear of rubs that are smoked or are called a “hickory” rub for example. Over smoking and adding too much smoky flavour to your first cook can turn a lot of people off.
4. Cooking Temperature - There’s a lot of conflicting information about cooking temperatures (and times) which can be really confusing if you’ve never cooked in a BBQ smoker before. As you become more experienced, you’ll work out whether you like to smoke at lower temperatures for a longer period of time, or whether you like to crank the smoker up and get it done quicker. As a starting point, we recommend smoking at the lower end for longer, 225°f (107°c) is always our go to temperature.

For more information, check out our Beginners Guide to Meat Smoking

Yes, but it’s not as time-consuming as you think.

Cooking racks - You should clean the cooking grills in your barbecue smoker after every use. No one wants to put uncooked meat on top of uncleaned grills that still have meat and rub stuck to them from a previous cook.

Cooking chamber - use a paper towel to scoop out the fat that has dripped out from the meat and solidified down the bottom. The last thing you want when you next fire up the smoker is for the smell of the old fat to penetrate into your meat. There is no need to scrub or use any cleaning agents. A Paper towel to wipe the majority of it off is fine. I cannot stress enough not to use a scraper or anything abrasive which may scratch the interior coating. If this occurs, you will need to reseason your smoker again.

Fire-box - remove any wood and ash from your firebox. There is no need to wipe it out. Want a demonstration?

For more information, take a look at our guide on How to clean a meat smoker.

This carries on from my previous point about cleaning. Do not clean your smoker with any chemicals or anything abrasive as this will damage the internal coating. If you scratch the internal coating of your smoker, you should reseason it. Also, chemicals are a big no no, you don't want any chemicals left in the smoker that can then penetrate your food. 

Cuts of meat that have a low-fat content don’t tend to smoke very well as they dry out. This includes cuts such as goat, deer and kangaroo. I mean if you feel adventurous then give it a try. Just make sure you inject or wrap your meat in bacon or something similar. 

Every meat has its nuances, however, cooking a full brisket with both the point and flat attached can often take a smoking beginner a few attempts to get right. When you’re starting out, we recommend cooking half a brisket or just the flat as it does take some practice to get the point cook all the way through without drying out the flat.

All good quality offset smokers will come with baffle plates in the main cooking chamber to help set temperature zones. If you’re wanting the cooking chamber to be a consistent temperature throughout the meat smoker, you can position your baffle plates in a way that dampens down the heat closest to the firebox. Sometimes, however, you might intentionally want hot spots in your BBQ smoker if you’re wanting something to cook quicker than other bits of meat, or you know that one cut of meat is thicker than the others so you want to give it more heat. If this is the case, a position that meat closest to the firebox leaves larger gaps in between your baffle plates to allow the heat to penetrate through. The positioning of the meat in your smoker tends to be more based on the temperature you would like to cook at. Generaly a smoker will always be hotter on the firebox side so that is a good side to place your chicken or bork butt, while the fussier brisket and beef ribs can be on the far side opposite the smoker box.

Whether you own a reverse flow smoker, offset smoker or even a gravity feed smoker, we recommend seasoning your barbecue smoker every 6 months or after you give it a really good clean. We have put together a smoker seasoning instructional video that you can watch to help show you how to season your offset smoker. 

Like most things, if you look after your smoker oven, it’ll look after you. The biggest mistake people make which shortens the lifespan of their smoker is leaving it outside, uncovered, exposed to the elements. Ideally, once the smoker is fully cooled (usually the next day), clean the inside, empty the firebox and give the outside a wipe down with a light layer of WD40 or oil before putting a cover over it and/or storing it in the garage. Due to the extreme heat generated inside the smoker firebox, the firebox will start to discolour quite quickly which is completely normal. A habit I have fallen into that seems to work is to treat my firebox like cast iron cookware. After every cook, while the firebox is still hot, I give the outside a quick light spray with cooking oil. That seems to keep the corrosion away. If after a while the corrosion gets worst and it bothers you, you can give it a light sand and spray some pot belly black paint on the outside to bring it back to life.