Cajun smoking has become a great way to have some amazing cuisine made in the comfort of your home. It is a great way to prepare some recipes that will have you and your friends licking their fingers in no time. There are some amazing dishes that you can prepare in your home, if you become an expert in the art of Cajun smoking. The dishes shouldn’t take much time and you will be hailed as a chef by family and friends alike.
Just like any cuisine, Cajun cuisine becomes more appealing and more taste centric, by using the right tools. The tools for Cajun smoking are different kinds of smokers that are available in the stores. These smokers are great for making different Cajun recipes and preparing some amazing desserts to. To have an idea of the different types of Cajun smokers, you can check the article on our site.
Grill, oven, charcoal smoker, pellet smokers, are just few of the many Cajun smokers that food enthusiasts can use to make some amazing dishes like Gumbo, Jambalaya etc. These are some of the most famous Cajun recipes that have been tried and loved by foodies all around the world. You can prepare them if you have the right equipment at your disposal. That brings us to the question in hand- is your Cajun smoker a multipurpose smoker? And if not, how can you make it into one?
Before starting to talk about the different ways through which you can change your Cajun smoker into a multipurpose smoker, let us look at the different types of smokers in brief.
Types Of Cajun Smokers
Pellet smokers- A pellet smoker will allow you to cook the food at your own pace and with a lot less smoke than other kinds of smokers. As if that were not enough to get in for buying this amazing smoker, they also work like convection ovens and cook food evenly. It is versatile, fast and offers more options to the cook as compared to the other methods of Cajun smoking. They allow you to cook a wide range of food in minutes. You can cook anything from braised short ribs to chicken wings in them.
They are also faster as they preheat quickly. Any cooking method that saves time is going to be welcomed in the world of foodies. That is one of the many reasons that the pellet smokers are gaining immense popularity in such a short span of time. Cooking evenly and better temperature regulation are some other benefits of using pellet smokers.
The latest addition to the list of benefits is the one that we are going to be talking about. It is- the ease with which you can convert pellet grills to different smokers and vice versa. This gives a whole new aspect to the Cajun smoking methods and can make it easier to prepare many great Cajun recipes. It is a great way to ensure that you can buy a smoker that not only fits your budget but also helps you in catering to the whims of the foodie inside you.
Some companies also offer cold smokers added up with pellet smokers. You can cook cheese and salmon dishes. There are many pellet grill accessories that are provided by many big brands. These can help the food enthusiasts to prepare amazing dishes in a matter of minutes.
The Wet Smoke Kit
The wet smoke kit provided by companies is a great tool to make your Cajun smoker a multipurpose smoker.
It is designed in such a way that you do not need to sacrifice even an inch of cooking space. You can have the benefit of having more options when it comes to cooking Cajun food. It also helps you in catching grease due to its design.
It also adds some moisture to the heat of the smoker, for enhanced wood fired flavor. The water pan present in it can create an indirect cooking space. This allows for grilling low-and-slow
The dual-purpose design of the product also supports you in grease management & clean up. It sits right beneath the cooking grate for giving you maximum grilling space. It can be a great add on for you and you can have a multipurpose Cajun smoker for a very reasonable price.
Turn A Propane Grill Into A Smoker
Turning your propane grill into a smoker has many benefits just like we have discussed above. We will now talk about the different ways by which you can convert your propane grill into a smoker. Going through the steps one at a time, you will be able to make good use of the propane grill for Cajun smoking. So, let us begin.
You should start the process by identifying the heat sources. You should then get the grill setup done for a little indirect cooking. When you are cooking it low and slow [107-124°C]), you should make sure that you avoid any kind of direct exposure of your meat to the source of heat. That, as we all know, is called grilling.
Now comes setting up the cooker. You should set up your cooker in a way that your meat is not directly coming in the path of the heat source. If that happens, it allows for the heat to get circulated around your meat
This can result in the cooking to take place by the process of convection. Air currents transfer the heat to the food that you are preparing. The process of conduction carries the heat of the surface through, to the center of the cut.
These steps should be followed meticulously and with utmost care. Though this process may require some time, but in the end, you would be having a multipurpose smoker for Cajun smoking. Keep that in mind as we hop on to our next step, which is-
Set-Up Your Gas Grill For A 2-zone Fire!
In this step, you need to establish some hot and cool zones. This can easily be done by simply turning on (or by leaving off) the burners. Let us give you an example- if the propane grill you have, is equipped with 4 burners in it, then you need to turn on the burners 1 and 2 or the burners 3 and 4. What this does is, that it creates one single heat source. This will allow you to place the meat in an area of the gas grill which is relatively cooler than the others.
If your propane cooker consists of 3 burners only, for instance, then you can turn the burner closest to the right (or the left for that matter) on high. You can then set the middle burner to medium flame or low flame. This will depend up on the target temperature that you are aiming to get. You should then leave the remaining burner turned towards the off position. This will allow you to create a cool zone. This can help you to land the meat over the burner which you previously left turned off.
The Water Pan
When you have all your heat sources fully identified, you can continue the set-up process. You will now need a water pan. We recommend a disposable aluminum pan. This pan should be filled up with water. This is to deliver moisture to the mostly dry environment of your grill. Wood chunks are dry, so this water also functions to give your meat a sweet taste of the exotic flavor of smoke. The exterior surface of the meat is well cooked in the humid environment that the pan provides.
You should start up by gently removing the grates of the grill. We again start by getting a disposable aluminum pan and then filling it halfway with water. We set it up on the top of the heat deflectors, which we had made before.
Just adjacent to the water pan that we have, and as near to, as possible to the heat as you can possibly get, you should place the wood chunks. Avoid any kind of flare ups, the best idea is wrapping up the chunks, or the chips of wood, in an aluminum foil, while also ensuring that some holes are poked at the top. This is done to facilitate the escaping of smoke easily and smoothly. Keeping the heat deflectors in the hot zone, which was created, is the best way to proceed further.
Temperature Tracing
Temperature is the essence of every cooking method. It becomes even more vital in Cajun smoking where the meat needs to be cooked at the right temperature for us to notice the desired effects when we taste it. It can be done easily for some, while some new food enthusiasts who love Cajun cuisine, need guidance. We are here to help you get more ideas about temperature tracing when you turn your gas grill into a smoker.
When you have the water pan in the right place, and all the wood chunks are ready, you should think about replacing the grill grates. The next step should be turning on the burners. This is done in the hot zone which we had designated previously. The temperature should be around 107-121°C (225-250°F), this should make sure that you cook for about 20 to 25 minutes. You can then maintain the target temperature by adjusting the settings as you wish.
Whatever you do, remember one thing- do not start using a from the factory thermometer. It is a thermometer that usually come along with the cooker. It is given to monitor the internal temperature of the grill that you would be using for Cajun smoking. Using a thermocouple probe thermometer is totally a better option and will help you monitor the temperature more closely.
Properly Placing The Probe
The probe’s placement is extremely important with the assurance that you can keep a good eye monitoring the temperature correctly. For the larger grill surfaces, all you need to do is placing the sensor 1 inch from the meat surface. Doing this will help to measure accurate temperature at the surface of the meat that you will be cooking.
You should put the probe less than 1 inch from the wall of the Cajun smoker, when the grill surface is small, and your meat is going to take up most of the cooking area. Put it any closer and you risk getting readings which are not accurate. This is so because the walls will also emit some surface heat which will compromise your readings.
When it comes to monitoring the internal temperature of your meat, you can easily do it with a leave-in probe thermometer. The smokehouse penetration probe maybe used for this purpose. The stainless-steel lead is exceptionally durable and can withstand the high temperature of the grill. On the other hand, it is also exceptionally thin and can easily close in the lid of the cooker that you are using to cook food.
For additional meat pieces, both the internal temperature and ambient temperature can be monitored with ease. You can use ThermaQ 2 channel thermocouple alarm. It can help you get an idea about what’s happening inside of your smoker, without you having to open the lid. You will also avoid losing any heat or smoke. This means that you can serve your dinner sooner than expected.
If you are still aiming for even more power and further convenience, then you also have the option of using ThermaQ Wi-Fi unit. It pairs with an app on your phone.. This is greatly appreciated since you can get live updates about the temperature and still roam all around the town without a worry in the world. It can make Cajun smoking all the more easier for you.
In this manner, you can convert your propane gas grill to be used as a Cajun smoker. You can make your grill a proper Cajun smoker and cook some amazing dishes in no time. It may take some time, considering that quality work is required to ease the processes of conversion. But if done with zeal, you will have a home-made Cajun smoker ready to be used at any time. It will be an easy way to fulfil your taste for Cajun cuisine and enjoy the delicious dishes that Cajun has to offer.
Let us now talk about the way you can use your oven as a smoker and Cajun smoke different dishes in it. There is no rocket science involved in it, just remarkably simple techniques. Using them, you can again make Cajun cuisine to serve your friends and family. So, let us begin.
Use Your Cajun Smoker As An Oven
Oven can also be used to smoke and prepare some amazing Cajun dishes. You can make some amazing desserts in the oven. But that fact is known to all foodies. We are here to talk about the different ways by which you can make more dishes using your oven for Cajun smoking. We will talk about the benefits of using oven for Cajun smoking.
An oven offers fast cooking time and allows you to monitor the rate of cooking. Temperature control and smooth cooking in an effortless fashion are some other benefits of using oven. You can also spend enough time with your friends and family as the food you placed in the oven continues to get cooked. This is an amazing benefit as most other smokers require constant attention most of the times.
You can also use your oven to Cajun smoke some dishes. We will now talk about the way you can Cajun smoke using your oven as a multipurpose smoker.
Use Your Oven As A Cajun Smoker
Before you preheat the oven, you should move at least 1 oven rack. You should move it in such a way that it sits in the oven floor. Now, you need to set the oven on the right temperature. A cooking time of three hours is needed for this method.
This is followed by soaking wood chips in water. The wood chips should be soaked for an hour. Now place these wood chips at the bottom of the roasting pan. This should be done using reserved soaking water. The water should not be too much. We do not want the wood chips to swim in the water.
Now, we need to put the ribs in a gentle manner on the top of your roasting rack. This should be followed by sealing roasting rack with aluminum foil. The foil is kept tented to provide enough room so that the smoke can circulate easily.
Conversions
These are the ways by which you can convert your grill or oven in a multipurpose Cajun smoker. These easy methods can help you enjoy Cajun cuisine with ease!