Smilling – Combining Grillin’ and Smoking

Lesson

In this lesson, we offer up a new technique we call Smilling—a combination of grillin’ and smoking.

Grillin’ offers quicker cooking times and gives the meat a charred “barbecued” look. With grillin’, you place food over direct heat, which cooks much faster than in a smoker, where the food is mainly heated by the hot smoke from an adjacent firebox.

Smoking food over fragrant fruit and hardwoods gives them a super, smoky taste that enhances just about anything. Smoking usually makes meat moister than grillin’, because the lower temperatures and slower cooking time allow the natural juices to stay inside the meat, instead of dripping or bubbling off.

The best way to combine the two methods? Combine direct grillin’, where the food sits right over the source of heat, with indirect grillin’, where the meat spends part of the time over the unheated side of the grill.

An example of Smilling

Let’s say we have a large pork roast to cook. (See our lesson on grillin’ chops for how to prep the meat.)

First, prepare your smoke package.

  1. Soak your favorite wood chips, like oak, pecan, or apple (see Woods to Smoke With for more ideas) in water for up to 2 hours. Pre-soaked wood produces more of a smoke ring.
  2. Take a large square piece of heavy duty aluminum foil about 12 × 12 inches, and lay it flat on a table.
  3. Place 1 or 2 handfuls of your soaked wood chips in a mound in the center of the foil.
  4. Fold over all sides until you have a sealed foil packet.
  5. Take a pencil or sharp knife and poke 3 to 4 small holes into the TOP of the foil. Do not go entirely through the package.

Before you place the smoke package in the grill, make sure the top vents of your smoker or grill are open. This allows air to circulate and ensures the smoke imparts a tasty flavor, not a bitter one.

Now, place the smoke packet directly on the coals, briquettes, or a gas jet. Then place the pork roast on the heated side of the grill and close the lid. Almost immediately the wood chunks in the foil will begin to smolder, sending fragrant clouds of smoke around your food. The smoke from the foil packet will last for about 20 minutes—all you need to add a nice smoky flavor.

Sear the meat on both sides over direct heat, then move it to the indirect side to finish cooking. Keep the lid closed when you’re not turning the meat. (To learn how to tell when meat is done, see our lessons on grillin’ temperatures for chops and grillin’ chops.)

It’s that easy. And that delicious. You’ll be smiling when you’re SMILLING.