BBQ smokers – The coolest way to smoke food

So you’ve been inspired by BBQ smokers? Smoky favours are the thing at the moment. Different woods bring different scents and tastes, making a smoker the perfect choice for people wanting to delight friends and family with tasty treats. Let’s take a leisurely wander into smoker land, a magical place full of extraordinary machines designed to deliver ‘mmmmmm’ every time.

How do BBQ smokers work?

Smokers cook food inside a smoke-filled chamber, barbecuing involves either indirect heat or direct heat from the burning fuel. BBQs cook hot and fast, great when everyone’s hungry. Smokers cook low and slow for feasts worth waiting for.

The principle is the same as a BBQ. You light the smoker in the same way you’d light a regular BBQ, and it’s just as easy to use. The only difference is the design.

The smoke comes from wood chips or small chunks of wood. As the food slowly cooks the smoke flavours it. The end result is tender, moist and amazingly tasty. Every wood has its own flavour. You can combine woods to make your own unique blend, just like people do with posh coffee.

What woods are best to smoke food?

The best smoking wood depends on the food you’re smoking. The idea is to complement the flavour of the food, not hide it. Some woods have a mild taste, others are powerful.

Take oak, one of the most popular woods for smoking. It’s medium to strong, earthy and savoury with a subtle sweet edge. Ideal for all sorts of meat, fish and vegetables, people love it for smoking beef, pork, poultry, game, and seafood. And it’s amazing with sausages.

Have a look at this detailed guide to the best smoking woods.

Can you smoke food without wood?

Yes. If you don’t want an actual smoker BBQ, you can cut out the smoke part of life altogether with liquid smoke, which you paint onto the food then BBQ it as normal. It’s an easy short cut to smoked BBQ food on a regular barbie. But we think there’s nothing anywhere near as good as the real deal, and you don’t get that unique, slow-cooked magic.

Less talk, more eye candy!

Inspired by the thought of those mouth-watering flavours? Take a tour of these fabulous smoker BBQs and see which one makes your inner chef’s heart beat a little bit faster!

This is the Callow Vertical BBQ Smoker Grill, complete with fish. Excellent for small patios, this is simple vertical food smoking at its best.

Next, the Tepro Indianapolis Heavy Duty Offset BBQ Pit Smoker, a beast of a BBQ with a huge capacity and quirky ‘cowboy movie’ good looks.

How about the Tepro Biloxi Offset BBQ Pit Barrel Smoker, another BIG smoker? It’s solid, well made, and smokes loads of food at once. Here it is, closed and open.

The Tepro Wichita Offset Pit Charcoal BBQ Smoker is a good-looking, good quality, affordable way to add the drama of smoked cuisine to your BBQ garden life.

This independent Chimenea, Firepit and BBQ Food Smoker is a low cost alternative to a smoker barbie, simple and very effective. It’s versatile too. Take it camping if you like, to use on your portable barbie.

That’s smokers. Aren’t they great? It’s going to be an exciting foodie journey, and we wish you a great time discovering it!