Smoking
Smoking is the slow way to cook meat, and slow is the entire point. You’re not rushing collagen into gelatin — you’re waiting for it, usually somewhere between 225°F and 275°F, for as long as the cut demands. A pork butt might take twelve hours. A rack of ribs might take five. That’s not a bug in the process. It’s the process.
Most of what’s collected here started as a brisket or a pork shoulder that needed six-plus hours of unattended smoke, which is also why the recipes lean heavy on beef and pork. Granted, poultry and sides get less real estate in a smoking vertical than beef and pork do — that’s not a snub, it’s just where the biggest, most forgiving cuts naturally land.
I test everything on a Traeger Pro 34, with an offset or a vertical smoker in rotation when I want more control over the fire itself. If a recipe calls for post oak and you’ve only got hickory, use the hickory. The wood matters less than people think once the bark’s already set.
Start with a cut you can afford to get wrong once. That’s still the best way I know to learn a smoker.
