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If you love BBQ but don’t own a horizontal stick burner, vertical cabinet, or bullet type water smoker, the video below will show you how to do the next best thing; smoke food on your propane grill using a cast iron skillet. (In this case, baby back ribs.)
To do this, Randy of Readyville, Tennessee (rldel149 on YouTube) recommends using a good quality cast iron skillet with a lid (he uses a Lodge #8 lid and skillet) to hold and smoke the aromatic woods safely and securely in the bottom of your propane grill.
The benefit of using a thick cast iron saucepan or skillet as a smoke pot is it should last for many years of making delicious smoked meat, seafood, poultry, and vegetables. If you’ve ever tried making a smoke pot out of cake baking pans, you’ll find they won’t last the test of time due to their thin metal construction.
The popular foil pouch method for smoking wood works well, but isn’t nearly as convenient to setup and maintain as this cast iron skillet smoking method.
As shown in the video, to make your own homemade cast iron smoke pot, just drill 8 more or less evenly spaced 0.25″ diameter holes in your cast iron lid so that the smoke from the wood can gradually escape to flavor your food. The secret to deliciously smoked meat is to cook it low and slow, so a good temperature gauge or thermometer will also come in handy.
Another benefit of using a large cast iron skillet for a smoke pot is that you have more freedom when it comes to the length of the wood you use for smoking.
As with any time you grill, don’t forget to practice the basic grilling safety precautions as you normally would. Additionally, Randy states, “Run the grill on low and watch for flare-ups. Space the meat as high as possible and keep an eye on it.”
How to Make and Test a Smoke-Pot for your Existing LP Grill
In the above video, Randy makes his smoky ribs using a Memphis Style Dry Rub and Hollow BBQ Sauce. Just watch the video below to find out how his Tennessee style dry rub and the BBQ sauce is made:
Enjoy!
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August 26th, 2009 at 11:03 am
Thanks for this! I can’t tell you how much cast iron I have in my kitchen, so I can’t wait to give it a try.
+Jessie