How to Make Your Own Smoker

I can't tell you how mind numbing I find food-related television. Thank god for Alton Brown! The man has a knack for making the science of cooking interesting and entertaining. And since my husband is a foodie and watches all the food TV he can, I at least have one program I can enjoy.

Above is my husband's clay pot smoker. He built it after watching an episode of Alton Brown's Good Eats. We take no credit for the idea...but it is brilliant. The ribs that come out of this thing are apparently awesome and the cost of building it was much cheaper than buying a commercial clay smoker. I think we spent about $60 total. The hardest thing to find was the unglazed, untreated terra cota pots. Everything else was readily available at our local home improvement store.

If you want to take a look at the Good Eats episode, I found it HERE.

The supplies you need are:

• 2 large clay pots that fit together nicely
• 1 hotplate
• 3 clay pot feet
• 1 round pie pan
• 1 grill grate like those found in a round charcoal grill
• 1 oven thermometer
• Smoking wood

We had to disassemble the hot plate because the variety we bought had a plastic base and it would not fit in the bottom of the pot. Other than that it assembles easily just like you think it would. The clay feet support the heating element. The pie pan holds the wet (soaked for an hour) wood. The grill sits in the top of the clay pot. And the thermometer we found fits nicely into the hole on the cover pot. It is as easy as can be.

I don't eat pork or beef, but my husband has smoked several racks of ribs since we built the smoker and he says they are perfect. In a couple of weeks we are going to try smoking a turkey breast. I can't wait!