This cooking meat method derives from one of the oldest means of cooking used: cooking over an open fire, where the smoke naturally imparts flavor into the meat as the heat cooks it.
It is the art of slowly cooking over indirect heat for extended periods -often 12 to 16 hours, sometimes even more-, while the smoke flavors the meat and gives it a unique flavor and texture.
There are a few reasons to smoke a piece of meat instead of just cooking it over direct heat – even with the extended effort, since smoking isn’t exactly a quick, easy process-:
As the meat sits over the flame, it absorbs the thick, somewhat tangy, comforting flavor of the smoke itself, creating a unique, all-natural, and dare-we-say, smoky, flavor.
Absorbing smoke into the meat also helps create the bark, the dark, chewy, spicy and tangy, crust-like texture that forms on the outside of the meat during the smoking process and that is considered one of the tastiest parts of the meat and is an important part of judging smoked meats in competition.
It creates a softer and much more tender piece of meat, by virtue of its low-and-slow cooking process that melts in your mouth. This low-and-slow cooking allows the fats and connective tissue – collagens - in the meat to slowly break down -render- into something soft. Collagen has a very high melting point, and when cooked too quickly, dries out and toughens up into something that feels and tastes like rubber, and is just as hard to chew.
Smoking meat low-and-slow, on the other hand, keeps the moisture from evaporating too quickly, allowing you to achieve the perfect combination of tenderness and juiciness.
So now you can tell your mates why our smoked meats are so delicious when you visit us!
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