Here's How To Tell When Your Meat Is Smoked Properly

Smoking meat is not for the faint of heart. Once you purchase a smoker, you'll need to have the patience to let your proteins sit for a good long time — like in our Apple Cider Smoked Pulled Pork recipe, for example, which requires a whopping nine hours in the smoker. After all that waiting, it's tempting to just yank your food out of your device and chow down. But since meats, sauces, and appliances vary, it's important to know how to tell when your meal is actually done.

To get the inside scoop, we turned to Robbie Shoults, third-generation owner of Bear Creek Smokehouse and owner of Marshall Mercantile and High Horse 1898 in Marshall, Texas. The former sells smoked meats like turkey, bacon, and chicken, while the latter offers tasty smoked turkey sandwiches. Shoults says you need to check on two main variables: Color and texture. "You will know your meat has been adequately smoked when it turns a nice pecan brown color," Shoults says. "When pressed on lightly, it will have a tender feel."

In general, check that your meat has a beautiful brown hue, like Robbie Shoults advises, before you plate it up and dig in. However, you may notice that the protein won't always be entirely dark. Smoked meats can often come out with a pink ring, which occurs when nitric oxide from the smoker reacts with your food, altering its color but not its taste. And yet, you'll only see this on meats that contain the protein myoglobin (like pork or beef), not on smoked turkey or chicken.

Yet color alone isn't enough to tell if you're ready to eat. One of the major benefits of smoking meat is that it can become fall-off-the-bone tender — so after waiting all that time, you'll want to make sure you've achieved the right consistency. But while you'll want it to feel soft, it should also bounce back quickly once you touch it, and there are slight variations of doneness depending on the type of meat you're using. For example, rib meat and pork butt should easily separate from the bones. However, you may still wind up with a crispy crust if you sear your cut over direct heat. You can (and should) use a meat thermometer to ensure your food is safe to eat. But if it hasn't reached the two benchmarks Shoults describes, you'll want to keep it in the smoker for a little while longer.