Bake or Broil Expanded

            I have already covered the difference between smoking and grilling in a past post, now let’s look at this same concept, but go a little bit deeper. Now if you have done any reading on BBQ you have come across the phrase “Low and Slow”. This basically means you are smoking at a low temperature (usually around 200 degrees) and you will be cooking it slow (with the lower temperature you will be increasing your cook time, average size brisket cooked at 200 degrees the entire time will be at least 18 hours cook time).

            So understanding this you will see you have two kinds of smoking, stuff you will bake at more of a traditional baking temperature like 375, and stuff you are cooking low and slow like 200. This is much like baking vs. slow cooking in the Crockpot.

            Let’s go back to our chicken example this time instead of boneless skinless breasts we are going to be looking at chicken quarters, chicken thighs, etc (something bone in and skin on). Now have you EVER seen a recipe that calls for a chicken quarter to be cooked in the slow cooker? No! Bone in skin on chicken is almost always bake fried (baked at a higher temperature that causes the skin to fry making it crispy).

            Just like you use the logic of do I smoke or grill (i.e. do I bake or broil) you can take it one more step, do you bake or slow cook. You would not bake a roast in the oven at 400 degrees; you would put it in a slow cooker at 200. So here again you have a whole slew of resources at your finger tips in slow cooker recipes and baking recipes, given not everything will work on the smoker, but this will keep you from making mistakes of slow cooking items that really should be baked at a higher temperature or vise versa.

- From no to know

Nathan Conner

http://bbqbasics.blogspot.com/