Learn the differences between baby back, spare and St. Louis ribs, what to look for in a rack and which cut fits your next smoker cook.

Once the meat comes off the smoker, it’s easy to get busy slicing, serving and making sure there’s something left for the cook, but the smoker still needs a little...

Lump charcoal and briquettes can both make good barbecue, but they don’t always behave the same way in the fire basket. The size of the pieces, how they fit together...

A water pan can be useful in a smoker, but it isn’t something every cooker needs, and it won’t keep a piece of meat juicy after you’ve cooked it too...

A smoker box is a simple way to add wood smoke to a gas grill, but it can be a little frustrating when the grill is hot, dinner is ready...

If you have a gas grill but haven’t bought a smoker yet, you can still cook some mighty good smoked meat. With an indirect cooking area and a suitable way...

A gravity-fed charcoal smoker gives you charcoal cooking with some of the convenience you would expect from a pellet grill. You load a hopper, light the charcoal and set a...

A propane smoker gives you a convenient way to cook with wood smoke without having to manage a charcoal fire or feed splits into a firebox. The gas burner supplies...

A drum smoker is proof that you don’t need a complicated cooker to make good barbecue. With a charcoal basket down below and the meat cooking above it, you can...

A kamado grill can cook a steak over a hot charcoal fire, bake a pizza and then, on another day, settle in for a long cook with a pork butt...

A kettle grill can turn out some mighty good smoked meat, and you don’t need to buy a pile of accessories to make it happen. The same grill you use...

One of the most useful things you can do when cooking on a grill is leave yourself an area without burning charcoal or a lit burner directly underneath it. That...

The snake method is a way of arranging charcoal so it burns gradually along a connected path, giving you several hours of cooking heat without having to keep adding another...

A charcoal smoker is a good way to learn how heat, smoke and airflow work together because you get to control the fire without necessarily having to tend it throughout...

Before you put food in a new smoker, there’s usually a little preparation to take care of, and depending on the cooker you bought, the instructions might call it seasoning,...

An offset smoker puts you in charge of the fire, which means there’s a little more to learn than turning a dial and waiting for the smoker to heat up,...

An electric smoker is one of the easiest ways to get started smoking meat because it handles the cooking heat while you concentrate on preparing the food, adding smoke, and...

Dry brining is one of my favorite ways to prepare a turkey for the smoker because it is simple, it doesn't require a bucket or several gallons of liquid, and...

Smoking a turkey usually means there is going to be some meat left over, and around my house, that is not an accident. I generally cook more turkey than I...

If you've cooked turkey for very long, you've probably heard that it must reach 165°F (74°C) to be safe. While that's certainly a safe temperature, it's not the whole story....