What Are The Different Types Of Cajun Smokers?
In another article, about portable smokers we have talked about different kinds of smokers for Cajun cuisine. In this article we are going to talk about their flexibility, what are the best types of smokers for different styles of smoking?
Types of BBQ smoking
Kansas City
Kansas City smoking style has a wide variety of meats – thanks to its central location and rail access – but many places specialize in burnt ends, which come from beef brisket. In other words, Kansas City is not associated with any meat. In Kansas City, barbecues are done wet, so they tend to be thicker and/or sweeter with added sauce. Because of this, there is a lot of emphasis on sauces in Kansas City and everyone has their own favorites.
Kansas City BBQ has a hot and sweet sauce. Usually made from tomato product and molasses or some other type of sweetener. This is the type of barbecue sauce you are likely to find in your grocery market.
BBQ With Marble Beef Only
Brisket – beef brisket. This part of the cow is so specific that usually no one cooks it separately, except for the residents of Texas. It is possible to make it juicy and tender only under two conditions: the beef must be marbled, and the Smoker must be from Texas! Any Texan prefers beef to any other meat. You can make countless arguments for pork, chicken, etc., but convincing a Texan of superiority over beef will not work.
Brisket Comes In Two Types
The brisket has two parts: fat and lean. Most establishments in Texas serve both. But even those places where they prefer one of these types will gladly cut off the part that the Guest prefers.
Preparing “Low & Slow”
The heart of a real barbecue is careful control of the cooking temperature. If you cook meat at high temperatures and quickly, the meat will be tough. Cooking the right Brisket can sometimes take up to 20 hours.
Cajun barbecue and how to cook it?
Cajun barbecue is the general name for food that is cooked on charcoal or another heating element. Moreover, it can be not only traditional meat, but also fish, seafood, various vegetables, mushrooms baked on the grill or speared on skewers. Of course, nothing beats a dish cooked on the smoldering coals of a real fire in the smoke and in the fresh air. However, you can risk cooking a Cajun barbecue at home – an electric grill, a gas stove, etc.
What meat to choose for a Cajun barbecue?
Many types of meat are great for Cajun barbecue. It can be pork, beef, lamb, as well as poultry. Tougher meat should be marinated in advance, but, for example, chicken or turkey do not require additional processing at all – the bird can simply be cut and sent to coals. Also, for greater softness, the meat can be pre-beaten.
Cut Cajun meat properly
It’s important to cut the Cajun barbecue meat properly. The pieces of meat should be flat so they can cook through easily and do not remain soggy on the inside. However, do not cut too thin, otherwise meat may fall through the openings of your grate and coal may coat the meat.
If you cut the meat into small portioned pieces then they can be strung on wooden skewers – this is practical when cooking and beautiful when serving.
Cajun BBQ Marinade
Meat selected for Cajun barbecue should be marinated in advance. In this case, the meat turns out to be more tender, soft, and tasty, and cooks on coals faster. Meat is marinated from 2-3 hours (poultry, pork), up to a day (beef, veal, lamb, large game).
The most commonly used Cajun marinades are honey, soy sauce, mayonnaise, yogurt, kefir, wine and balsamic vinegar, lemon, pomegranate juice, olive oil, white or red dry wine, or other alcohol.
Of vegetables and seasonings, onions, garlic, dry herbs, and spices are required – suneli hops, coriander, freshly ground pepper, oregano, thyme, paprika, cumin, mustard, etc.
A simple rule that connoisseurs usually use is not to fry meat over an open fire. First, you should burn a sufficient amount of wood, and then extinguish the fire (without completely filling it) and cook the meat already on hot coals making sure that no new tongues of flame appear.
The meat is spread on a wire rack in pieces or strung on skewers, periodically turned over and sprinkled with the marinade in which it was wine or just water to form a golden-brown crust. Cajun Barbecue is prepared depending on the type of meat and the size of the pieces and cooked on average from 15-30 minutes to 24 hours.
The readiness of the meat is checked by piercing a piece in the thickest place – if clear juice is released and not blood then the barbecue is ready.
What dishes best go with Cajun barbecue?
Best served hot with fresh vegetables, salads, herbs, and various sauces. As a side dish, potatoes and rice are perfect as well as vegetables baked on charcoal – tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, zucchini, potatoes, mushrooms, etc.
Types of smokers for Cajun Barbeque
It is always good to have a good Cajun smoker at home, invite friends over and have fun, but it is mandatory to know how to cook good Cajun barbeque. Even though there are many recipes of different style of cooking, one thing is always the same – the smoker. Remember that, choosing a perfect smoker for the type of Cajun barbecue you are going to prepare is crucial.
Cajun smokers are specifically designed to smoke large quantities of food over a long period. Using indirect heat, Cajun smokers cook at lower temperatures creating a smoky environment. This smoky environment fills the food with flavor and usually makes the food more tender in the long run.
Many Cajun smokers function differently than other smokers by using a wood chip instead of flavor charcoal and a water basin to control the temperature. While charcoal and gas smokers can be hacked in a sense and function as a smoker, Cajun smokers cannot function like a regular smoker. So, if you want to quickly and easily, or make many different types of food at one time, the smoker may not be the right apparatus.
Collapsible Cajun Smoker
Collapsible Cajun smokers consist of a set consisting of several flat parts, which, when brought into the working position, engage with each other.
Folding Cajun Smoker
Folding Cajun smoker models have the form of a transformer with two positions: working and traveling. They can be folded in just a few movements which saves time.
Stationary Cajun Smoker
A stationary Cajun smoker is a rather complex and cumbersome structure. It is made of thick-walled metal. Its design is usually designed for cooking for a large company and implies the possibility of adding a fresh portion of coals when the previous ones die out.
Expensive models are equipped with a rain canopy, a dome with a chimney for removing fumes, stands or shelves for dishes and accessories, and numerous accessories for various methods of cooking food.
Steel or Cast-iron Cajun Smoker
The most accessible materials for the manufacture of Cajun smokers are steel and cast iron. Steel is more technological. It lends itself better to welding, cutting, and stamping. Highly artistic designs can be made from it. This material has high strength even at low thickness. It is from this material that all portable models of Cajun smokers are made.
Structural steel does not tolerate high temperatures very well. Heat-resistant steel costs several times more and it corrodes. Products with a thickness of 3-5 mm can serve for 10-15 years, after which deformations and continuous burnouts are found.
Cast-iron retains heat better than steel and is able to withstand a huge number of heating and cooling cycles. It is less susceptible to corrosion. Welding or machining such material requires special technologies and is rarely used.
The main disadvantage of cast iron is fragility. Because of it, you have to make thicker and more massive parts. In frosty weather, such a Cajun smoker should be heated, especially careful to prevent cracks. Usually cast-iron models are not so attractive in appearance, but they last longer.
How To Prepare Cajun Barbecue
First, be patient. Cajun smoking is a long process, but extremely enjoyable. It will take approximately six hours to cook the meat. Yes, during this time all the drinks will be drunk, and the anecdotes will be told, but barbecue is not so much a way of cooking meat as a way of spending time. Hence the big glasses, and the whole weekend for cooking with the obligatory guests and the reason to meet.
If you follow all the rules and conventions, the meat must go through three stages of direct cooking:
- three hours of smoking under the lid,
- two hours of smoking without a lid, but in foil,
- Another hour just on the wire rack.
Moreover, all stages take place at a temperature not exceeding 120 degrees. Of course, there are simpler and less time-consuming methods, but all this will not be so fair. Expect the taste of meat to be different.
You will cook Cajun meat in a different type of smoker, depending on what you are planning to cook. The most commonly used smoker is a special smoker that keeps the temperature at 100 degrees, preventing the products from becoming “grilled” (which means cooking quickly ─ at temperatures above 145 degrees). It is necessary to heat the “oven” with lump charcoal ─ only this option is extremely correct and reasonable from the point of view of the specifics of the dish.
Do not pierce the meat with a fork to make sure it is done. Juice will flow from the puncture site, and ultimately the meat will be dry and tasteless (and you still have no idea about the readiness). Use a special thermometer (this is usually the case for imported frozen turkey): yes, you still have to pierce the meat, but in this case you will be guaranteed to know the degree of roasting.
Memo: about 50 degrees – half-baked, about 60 degrees – medium-fried, above 65 degrees – almost fried and more than 70 degrees – completely fried.
A lot also depends on the choice of meat, rather than choice of smoker. Traditionally, pork ribs or shoulder blades are chosen for Cajun barbecue, but beef brisket is also suitable. However, lately, anything has been smoked including chicken and seafood.
An important step in Cajun barbecue cooking is marinating, which has nothing to do with marinating in our usual sense. Meat is not “bathed” in liquids or sauces, but coated with spices, put in bags and kept for a day or two.
A word of caution: Not all spices and combinations are suitable for Cajun barbecue. There are more than 70 popular varieties of Cajun barbecue seasonings, among which you can find mixtures of 4-5 ingredients up to 15.
One of the main components of Cajun BBQ seasonings is black pepper. It is followed by salt, sugar and paprika, then you can fantasize. Cajun barbecue spices, of course, are real science, but the main thing is to observe the basic rule: salt and sugar should be in equal parts, and everything else is to taste.
How To Smoke Cajun Barbecue Correctly
- The correct way to smoke Cajun barbeque is in special smokers.
- There are large and medium Cajun barbeque smokers as well as small folding Cajun smokers. The Cajun BBQ smoker usually has a hearth and an additional hearth located separately.
- There is a water bath in the baking hearth, which helps to extinguish excess fire and gives the Cajun meat additional moisture. There is a grill above the water bath for roasting meat and other food products.
- Some Cajun BBQ smokers have a so-called ‘wok’ pan that you can use to fry meat, cook wok dishes, or heat sauces.
Cajun Meat Selection & Cooking Times
- Various types of Cajun meat can be cooked in the Cajun smokers, but mainly large pieces of meat, as well as fish, vegetables and fruits, desserts, etc. are baked in such smokers.
- Cajun smokers are best for Cajun pork ribs and bacon. In addition, very good results can be obtained when roasting pork and beef tenderloins and other types of meat.
- A special experience is roasting a whole pork carcass (usually up to 40 kg) in a large Cajun smoker, as well as a lamb carcass or a small young calf.
- Depending on the type of Cajun meat, the cooking time can be from 1 to 20 hours.
- Since it takes a long time to cook, Cajun meat with some fat content is best.
Cajun Smoked Meat Seasonings
- In the case of Cajun barbecues, the meat does not need to be pre-marinated, since the marinade neutralizes the taste of the sauce applied during cooking, as well as the taste of the meat itself. If we are dealing with tougher Cajun meats then moderate marinating in oxidizing agents will be beneficial.
- For Cajun meats with bones (such as pork ribs) or for harder meats, papain (meat tenderizer) can be used when seasoning. You can also use some condiments, spices and salt or sugar (these ingredients can also be injected as a solution in salt water). All of these additives should be used in moderation as the mop sauce provides the main flavor to the meat.
What else is important to know about Cajun barbecue smoking?
- The smoking process begins with kindling the Cajun smoker. When the temperature reaches approximately 100 ° C or 211 °F, the meat can be placed in the hearth and allowed to soak in white smoke (for meat weighing several kilograms, the soaking lasts about 1 hour). Then the meat is brushed with a mop sauce every 15 minutes until it is fully cooked (about 2 hours).
- It is especially important that the water bath and the fume cupboard are constantly filled with water (water evaporates at high temperatures and gives off moisture).
- In case of emergency, to reduce the cooking time of Cajun meat, you can use foil (the meat is wrapped in foil and then placed back in the oven).
As mentioned earlier, in the case of Cajun barbecue, the meat is properly baked in special smokers. But sometimes Cajun barbecue is called a cooking method when meat is cooked over coals whose temperature does not exceed the boiling point of water (100 °C or 211 °F). And in this case, it is important to apply mop sauce to the meat from time to time in order to give the dish taste and color, as well as to protect it from drying out.
In addition to various cuts of meat, piglets and pigs weighing up to 40 lbs. are also cooked on the special Cajun barbecue smokers. Remember, by choosing the right smoker for the job, Cajun barbecued dishes tend to be juicier and tastier.