Edible Sacramento Summer 2022

They control the temperature by ad justing the amount of air they allow in. “Keep the lid closed,” Kamara cau tions about letting out the heat, “because when you’re looking, you’re not cooking.” For home cooks who don’t have smok ers, Kamara says, “You can offset your meat on one side of the grill and add wood on the other side. Wood chips, chunks, or logs all work.” The snake charcoal method, which refers to the linear arrangement of bri quettes along the outer edges combined with wood, will also turn your grill into a smoker. It’s also easy to turn your gas grill into a smoker whether it comes with a built-in smoker box, or you purchase one sepa rately. Alternatively, a DIY smoker box made with aluminum foil, or metal pan covered with aluminum foil, with holes poked in the foil to allow smoke to escape, works. Simply add soaked (for 30 min utes) and drainedwood chips to the smok er box, and place it on the burners. Be sure to o”set the meat for indirect cooking.

GRILL IT OR SMOKE IT? What is the difference between grill ing and smoking? Kamara says, “When you’re grilling, the fire touches the meat. But when you’re smoking, the fire never touches the meat.” Smoking is an ancient technique that was used to preserve food as well as meat throughout the ages. But now, in the age of refrigeration, we add smoke for flavor, not for safety. Smoking calls for adding hard woods (such as hickory, oak, mesquite, pecan, apple, or cherry) to create smoke that flavors meat on the grill. The tech nique is simple, but you need to pay atten tion to the temperature in the barbecue. At Urban Roots, Desmangles uses a combination of woods, including white oak, cherry, apple, and almond. “For beef, the favorite is mesquite wood,” Kamara says. “But for pork, I pre fer cherry wood. It creates a nice mahog any color on the meat.” He adds that pe can wood also works for all types of meat. Both chefs say the ideal smoking temperature is 225 to 275 degrees F.

Clockwise from left: Slicing a moist brisket fresh out of the smoker at Urban Roots; Chef Greg Desmangle, culinary director at Urban Roots, tends the smoker. Photos by Debbie Cunningham; Kamara seasons a 14-pound brisket before smoking it. Photo by Rachel Valley; An Urban Roots cook grills a house-ground brisket burger. Photo by Debbie Cunningham

22 SUMMER 2022

edible Sacramento e i le