Grilling and smoking are both methods of preparing food over a fire, but sometimes the terms are used interchangeably—and that can be a little confusing. Here’s how to tell them apart.
A few years ago, a gentleman I know told me about the first time he smoked his own meat at home. He said it was an incredibly easy process: he only had to put the meat over a bed of wood chips in a big metal box, and then he let it sit overnight. Come morning, he had some tender, juicy cuts that were prepared with almost no effort on his part. It sounds great, right? But this guy was talking about one of the simplest kinds of grilling—he wasn’t smoking the meat.
By definition, smoking is a cooking method in which food is exposed to smoke from burning or smoldering material (usually wood). The smoke dehydrates food, which helps keep it moist while also giving it flavor. The smoke also carries flavor compounds from the material it’s coming from, much like what happens when you burn paper in your fireplace and catch some ash in your mouth—it tastes like you’re eating paper!
What is Smoking?
Smoking is the process of flavoring foods by exposing them to smoke from burning or smoldering material. This includes:
- Liquid smoke
- Wood chips (typically hickory or mesquite)
- Wood chunks (typically oak, apple, peach, or cherry)
Smoke can be used to flavor meats, fish, and vegetables. Most often, this is done by hanging meat in a smoky environment. The flavor comes from the smoke and combustion products that form when you burn wood. The term “smoking” has become more popular in recent years because of products like liquid smoke, which you can use to cook barbecue at home.
It’s important to note that these products are not the same as traditional smoking—they’re not made with real wood, and they don’t produce any of the combustion products that give authentic barbecue its unique flavor. It’s true that in many cases, you can get similar results by using liquid smoke instead of traditional smoking techniques (the flavor is basically the same), but it’s not the same.
How to smoke food?
Smoking meat is one of the oldest methods to preserve and add flavor to food. Native Americans used it for centuries before anyone else caught on. Today, smoking is a popular way to make the most of cheap cuts of meat. Smoking adds an unmistakable flavor that can be hard to replicate any other way. The process is surprisingly simple and a great way to get the family involved in the kitchen.
Fruit and Vegetables
Smoked fruit can be an excellent accompaniment to a cheese plate or dessert tray as well as an interesting addition to salads, pastas, and other savory dishes. Smoked vegetables are also very popular in dishes like pasta carbonara, risotto, and fritattas.
Smoking Fruit and Vegetables:
- Choose your fruit or vegetable
- Wash and dry it thoroughly
- Remove any leaves or stems that might get in the way of smoke penetration
- Cut your fruit or vegetable into thick slices if it will fit that way on your smoker rack and you like the look better that way
- If you’re using a gas grill, set up a smoker box with a 2″x2″x2″ block of charcoal at one end of the grill (on top of the grates
Food to smoke
The most important thing when smoking food is not to drown it in sauce or marinade. The flavor of the food should always be the star of the show. I know it’s tempting, but resist! If you’re using fruit like apples or pears, you can go with a honey and cinnamon glaze. If you’re using more savory ingredients, try adding some olive oil, pepper, and salt.
Here are some ideas for popular smoked foods:
Eggplant—eggplant works well with just olive oil and salt
Zucchini—zucchini is best when brushed with balsamic vinegar and sprinkled with fresh herbs
Celery—chopped celery is awesome with a little bit of oil and some garlic powder
Avocado—smoked avocados are delicious! Mix in some chopped cilantro, lime juice, salt, and pepper
Pickles—pickles work well with a sweet glaze made from brown sugar and maple syrup
Cucumber—a savory glaze of lemon juice, garlic powder, salt, and pepper works well on cucumber
Figs—figs are great drizzled with honey. You can also add some cinnamon for an interesting twist
What is Grilling?
The term “grilling” refers to a method of cooking with radiant heat, and it’s been done for centuries in various incarnations. Roasting meat over a fire is a common example, but in the last century or so, we’ve come to think of grilling in terms of the charcoal and gas grills we see today. To grill food, there are two main elements to master: heat control and food placement.
In terms of heat control, you need to know how high to turn up the heat on your grill so that your food cooks quickly enough on the outside that it doesn’t spoil on the inside while not burning and charring it before it’s cooked. Food placement refers to the best way to get your food as close as possible to the heat source without burning it. The best way to learn these skills is to watch an experienced grill master at work—we’re more than happy to teach you!
How to Grill Food?
There are three ways to grill food: hot and fast, hot and slow, and cold. Each method has different benefits, so you want to figure out what works best for the type of food you’re grilling. Hot and fast is best for foods that have a high-fat content, like steaks, burgers, chicken breasts, or fish fillets. That’s because they can cook faster than lean meats like pork chops or chicken thighs.
A hot-and-fast method is also ideal for vegetables like corn or portobellos—vegetables with a high water content can be tough when grilled since they need low heat to cook all the way through without burning the outside. The hot-and-slow method is best for lean foods with less surface area and gives you more control over the final texture of the food you’re grilling.
If you’re using a charcoal grill, add hardwood chunks or chips to your fire to get a smoky flavor—but if you’re using a gas grill, don’t use wood chips (they’ll just burn up before they impart any flavor). Last but not least, cold grilling is great for foods that need an extra kick in flavor or texture.
Grilling Recipies
Here are three delicious recipes for you to enjoy during your next backyard barbecue.
- Grilled chicken is a classic recipe that will never go out of style.
- Eggplant and summer squash dish that combines the smoky flavor of the grilled veggies with some light seasonings.
- The third is a grilled peach dessert that will be a hit with your friends and family.
Which is best, smoking or Grilling?
Smoking and grilling both have their own advantages and disadvantages. Smoking produces a different flavor in your meat than grilling does. Grilling makes your meat taste the way you’ve prepared it, while smoking tends to give your meat a unique flavor that’s hard to describe.
Both smoking and grilling can be done on the same day if you store the meat correctly. It takes anywhere from 4 hours to over 24 hours to smoke your meat properly, depending on what kind of smoker you have and how much food you are making. If you don’t have the time, there is a method that makes your food taste like it was smoked for up to 6 hours using dry ice. Grilling can take as little as 30 minutes, or if you want it cooked longer, you can keep adding charcoal when needed.
Smoking gives you more variety in cooking compared to grilling because of the temperature range that it uses. You can smoke anything from hamburgers, hot dogs, pork chops, chicken, fish, and shish-kabob.
Conclusion
Burning something to get heat is called grilling, while smoking is when you use smoke to flavor the food you’re grilling. In smoking, the food cooks without being exposed to high heat. This can be done in a smoker (a dedicated grill specifically for smoking) or using an indirect method in a grill that’s been modified for this purpose. When food is being smoked, it can be kept over smoldering wood chips or sawdust in a box, in a pan with holes in it placed over the heat source, or hanging from hooks within the grill itself.
There are many other ways to smoke foods, but these are the most common methods. Smoking adds flavor to food by infusing the fat and juices within it with the smokiness of whatever fuel you’re using. Grilling doesn’t add any smoke flavor to the food—in fact, if you don’t like your food tasting smoky, then you’ll want to use a grill that doesn’t give off much smoke while cooking.