{"id":1015,"date":"2025-05-29T15:53:11","date_gmt":"2025-05-29T15:53:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/plated.photography\/?p=1015"},"modified":"2025-05-29T15:53:27","modified_gmt":"2025-05-29T15:53:27","slug":"smoking","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/plated.photography\/?p=1015","title":{"rendered":"Smoking"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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This vertical smoker is my newest wood-fired acquisition\u2014and an exciting addition to my outdoor kitchen.\u00a0<\/p>

I didn\u2019t grow up smoking meats, nor do I have family members who passed down
their secrets. Still, I felt compelled to dive into the world of smoking and\u00a0make it part of my cooking repertoire.<\/p>

A Diamond in the (Rusty) Rough<\/strong><\/p>

We found the smoker secondhand, and it needed serious TLC. I\u00a0rolled up my sleeves and got to work\u2014scrubbing off years of built-up grime,\u00a0tackling rusted areas, and restoring it to working condition. It was certainly a labor of\u00a0love.<\/p>

\u00a0From\u00a0there, I dove headfirst into learning\u2014reading articles, watching tutorials, and\u00a0soaking up every bit of smoking wisdom I could find. I found Michael Symon\u2019s\u00a0Playing\u00a0with Fire<\/em>\u00a0cookbook one of the most inspirational and one I return to often.<\/p>

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My first cook was brisket, I know what you are thinking…\u00a0are you crazy?<\/em>\u00a0well, maybe, managing the heat was by far the most challenging part, but I was proud to keep the temperature steady for the entire duration. The end result wasn\u2019t perfect, but it was promising\u2014and incredibly rewarding.<\/p>

I especially like this vertical smoker because of its space efficiency. It fits neatly into my wood-fired kitchen and features multiple shelves, allowing me to cook large quantities of food without taking up too much room.<\/p>

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This is a recent photo of me after smoking a Pork Shoulder Butt<\/p>

What\u2019s Next: BBQ School and a Whole Hog<\/strong><\/p>

To continue improving my skills, I will be taking a BBQ class this summer which includes smoking. I\u2019m hoping to pick up some insider tips and tricks\u2014and of course, I\u2019ll be sharing plenty of photos and lessons learned.<\/p>

One of the most exciting parts? We\u2019ll be barbecuing a\u00a0whole\u00a0hog<\/em>. Yes, you read that right. Don\u2019t be surprised if you see a new 4-foot-deep, 4-foot-high, 5-foot-long (1.2m x 1.2m x 1.5m) structure appear in my backyard sometime soon!<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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Pork Shoulder<\/figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Pork Shoulder after 8 hrs Cooked to internal temperature of 203 F (95 C)<\/figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t
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Final touch before we eat!<\/figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This vertical smoker is my newest wood-fired acquisition\u2014and an exciting addition to my outdoor kitchen.\u00a0 I didn\u2019t grow up smoking meats, nor do I have family members who passed downtheir secrets. Still, I felt compelled to dive into the world of smoking and\u00a0make it part of my cooking repertoire. A Diamond in the (Rusty) Rough […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1015","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/plated.photography\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1015","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/plated.photography\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/plated.photography\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/plated.photography\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/plated.photography\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1015"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/plated.photography\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1015\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1060,"href":"https:\/\/plated.photography\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1015\/revisions\/1060"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/plated.photography\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1015"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/plated.photography\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1015"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/plated.photography\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1015"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}