Smoke Cooking Tips
*Water pan sold separately.
Flavoring Wood
Regulating Heat
•During the smoking process, avoid the temptation to open lid to check food. Opening the lid allows heat and smoke to escape, making additional cooking time necessary.
•Food closest to the firebox will cook and brown faster. Rotate food midway through the cooking cycle. If food is excessively browned or flavored with smoke, wrap food in aluminum foil after the first few hours of smoking. This will allow food to continue cooking without further browning or smoke flavoring.
•When cooking fish or extra lean cuts of meat, you may want to try water smoking to keep the food moist. Before starting a fire in firebox, place charcoal grate in cooking chamber. Use a flat bottom metal pan that is shallow enough to fit between the charcoal grate and cooking grill as a
water pan. Set the metal pan on charcoal grate under food and cooking grill and fill with water or marinade until q full.
CAUTION: Always use oven mitts/gloves to protect your hands. Liquid in water pan will be extremely hot and can scald or burn. Always allow liquid to cool completely before handling. Do not allow liquid to completely evaporate from water pan.
•Always use a meat thermometer to ensure food is fully cooked before removing from smoker. A meat thermometer may be ordered directly from Brinkmann by calling
To obtain your favorite smoke flavor, experiment by using chunks, sticks or chips of flavor producing wood such as hickory, pecan, apple, cherry, or mesquite. Most fruit or nut tree wood may be used for smoke flavoring. Do not use resinous wood such as pine as it will produce an unpleasant taste.
Sticks of wood 8" to 12” long and 2" to 3" thick work best. A lot of wood is not required to obtain a good smoke flavor. A recommended amount for the Cimarron is 5 to 6 sticks of wood. Experiment by using more wood for stronger smoke flavor or less wood for milder smoke flavor.
Additional flavoring wood should not have to be added during the cooking process. However, it may be necessary when cooking very large pieces of food. Follow instructions and cautions in the “Adding Charcoal/Wood During Cooking” section of this manual to avoid injury while adding wood.
To increase heat and air circulation, fully open firebox air vent and smokestack damper. If increased air circulation does not raise temperature sufficiently, more wood and/or charcoal may be needed. Follow instructions in “Adding Charcoal/Wood During Cooking” section of this manual.
To maintain the temperature, more wood and/or charcoal may need to be added during the cooking cycle.
NOTE: Dry wood burns hotter than charcoal, so you may want to increase the ratio of wood to charcoal to increase the cooking temperature. Hardwood such as oak, hickory, mesquite, fruit and nut wood are an excellent fuel because of their burning rate. When using wood as fuel, make sure the wood is seasoned and dry. DO NOT use resinous wood such as pine as it will produce an unpleasant taste.
Additional charcoal and/or wood may be required to maintain or increase cooking temperature.
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