Here is a fun one I learned in a pinch from Meathead over at amazingribs.com. After my latest and final Indian Candy Salmon Smoke out I decided my old Brinkman water smoker was as rusty as the side quarter panel of 84 Dodge K car that’d seen too many Iowa winters. I don’t know if smoking out of a rusted up smoker is bad for you or not but it seemed pretty gross to me so out to the dumpster it went. Having some leftover ribs and hankering for a smoke I found the post from Meathead about how to turn your gas grill into a smoker. It works!

Here’s what I did:

First off got a large aluminum steam pan from the Smart and Final, see photo, for the water tray. Got a bread loaf sized aluminum tray for the wood chips. Found an old top shelf to a broiler pan to use as the rack for the ribs to sit on. For bigger smokes down the road I can use the rack from my oven, but since this one was small the broil pan piece worked just fine. Boiled up my water which I’ve seen some folks on various how to smoke not do and I think that’s pretty wasteful when the whole idea of the smoker is to have lots of steam circulating.

I kept the fire pretty low but ran all 3 burners in my grill. Definitely had some major heat leaks as the lid to my grill didn’t shut quite properly due to the extra equipment inside. It took a little while to get to full heat and for the chips to start to smoke. However once things got going there was plenty of smoke, almost too much as the wood chips eventually cooked into embers and perhaps could have combusted into a fire. I put some water on the chips and it killed the glowing embers. Additionally not seeing the smoke early on I took some of the chips and put them in foil that I wrapped up and poked some air holes into. This packet was definitely the first to smoke, eventually I had to had to seal up the foil in an attempt to damper down the smoldering chips.

All total the ribs took about 3 hours and only got as high on the temp as 212 Fahrenheit, one hour less than I would leave them on the old charcoal smoker, they charred up nicely with a good ‘bark’ and had a great tender consistency, I think that traditional smoker did render a more ‘smoky’ flavor but this was certainly cleaner and easier than setting up the old smoker and dealing with the all the charcoal. Living in Los Angeles I do think about all the smoke I’m putting into the air and the implications of burning a bunch of charcoal. Which leads me to debate what is the next smoker I’m going to purchase. Converting the grill was fast and easy but there is something to be said for the process and traditional feel of using charcoal, I mean nothing kills a Satruday in the fall better than smoking meat and watching college football on the TV in the backyard, much to my girlfriend’s chagrin. 

Kick ass Salmon & Meat smoking dry rub

Ok here is a recipe passed down through the generations only to wind up in the hands of the Ruminant Grubber. This rub is traditionally meant for smoking salmon but works great for ribs and who knows what else.. If I was going to go all Hannibal Lector then I'd soak the victim's corpse in this rub for few days before polishing them on with some lava beans and a chianti. It's that good.

You're going to make a lot that you may not use so have a dry airtight storage container standing by. This amount will make about 5-6 pounds of salmon.

What you'll need:
2 lbs brown sugar dark
1/2 cup sea salt
Handful of chopped bay leaves
2-3 tbsp of garlic powder
2-3 tbsp lemon pepper

Mix it all together thoroughly

To make salmon:

Cut the salmon into 2" pieces across the grain
Pack the pieces into a deep baking pan layering with a generous amount of the rub. Cover with Saran wrap or an airtight lid and let it sit for at least 24-36 hours or longer (baby back ribs I let sit for several days in the rub)

Get ready for a surprise when you check in on your meat. The rub will have turned into a gelatinous brine.

Smoke from from 4-6 hours depending on the meat thickness and air temp outside. Usually for both ribs and salmon 4 hours on the nose it all it takes. If you are doing ribs be sure to wrap the ribs in foil after the first hour or two in the smoker. This will really help keep in the moisture. Also let the meat rest for about 5 minutes after removing it from the heat.

Always remember: more is more



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