Here at Bradley, people ask us all the time how long to cook different cuts of meat. One thing is very important to consider! When food smoking, smoking time isn’t as important as food temperature.
Doneness is influenced by cooking temp, meat thickness, meat type and other variables. Therefore, it’s impossible to pinpoint exactly how long a 5 lb brisket or 12 lb whole bird will take to reach a desired internal temperature. Well, maybe in a perfect world.
Smoking Time Will Vary
We made the following guide to give you a general idea of about how long your meat will take to cook and what the final internal temp should be. Remember that the smoking time is only an estimation. It will vary.
We strongly recommend that you follow a recipe to avoid under-smoking or over-smoking. In addition, you use a good quality digital probe meat thermometer to monitor internal meat temperature.
The finished temperatures provided represent safe internal meat temperatures. You may wish to cook certain meats a little longer. A good example is pork butt or beef brisket. To increase the temp of the meat, if the recipe calls for it, you should shoot for 185 F (85°C) for a good brisket.
Also, for certain meats, such as chicken thighs and turkey legs, it’s wise to check the internal temp in more than one spot to make sure the meat is fully cooked throughout.
*Tender is a word used to describe doneness of ribs. It can be easily measured by grasping each end of the rack and pulling in opposite directions. If the meat is “tender” then it will tear apart easily.
Bradley Smoker is a global food smoking company that specializes in food smoking products, bisquettes and recipes! The above images are not our own.
