Outdoor cooking takes on a new meaning when you use charcoal smokers, especially if you use add some flavoring to the fire with which you are cooking. There are some charcoal briquettes that have flavors burned into the food during manufacturing, but many outdoor cooks recommend the use of specific wood with regular charcoal to enhance the flavor of the meat.

The size of your smoker will depend on how much meat you plan to smoke, and many backyard smokers prefer the barrel type with the offset burner in which to set the fire. This can be used in the yard or packed onto your truck and hauled to the picnic grounds for larger gathering. It is going to require about 12 briquettes for every hour of smoking and if mixing different wood, the recipe remains the same in charcoal smokers.

When most of us think of charcoal, we think of the grill method. You burn the charcoal from the bottom, and cook the food on the heat that comes from the burning of the charcoal. However, there is another way to use charcoal to cook our food. This is called a charcoal smoker, and it works in a much different way.

Also, you need to be alright with trying something new. You are not going to get the exact same tasting food using a charcoal smoker than a regular grill, so beware that it will taste different. Most people decide to keep their regular charcoal grills alongside their smokers, because they feel that the differences in taste are simply too great for them to choose one or the other. Both can benefit you greatly when it comes to your cooking styles and techniques.