Comparisons · Two ways of cooking
Indirect roasting or Low-and-slow smoking
Both keep the food away from the fire. They differ in temperature, in duration and in whether smoke is part of the point.
What each one is
Indirect roasting
Cooking with the lid down and the fire to one side, turning the barbecue into an oven that happens to smell of woodsmoke. The default for anything large.
Low-and-slow smoking
Many hours at low temperature with smoke, until collagen-rich cuts become tender. The method that gives American barbecue its name and its arguments.
What actually differs
| Aspect | Indirect roasting | Low-and-slow smoking |
|---|---|---|
| The fire it needs This is the difference. Everything else about the two techniques follows from where the fire is relative to the food. | Indirect heat | Smoking, Low and slow |
| What it suits | Whole birds; Joints and thick cuts; Anything where the centre has a long way to travel | Brisket, pork shoulder, ribs — high-collagen cuts; Any cut that toughens before it tenderises |
| What it does not suit The more useful half of the comparison, and the half most published guidance leaves out. | Thin cuts, which will dry before they colour | Lean cuts, which dry out long before anything useful happens |
| Cookers that can do it | 10 of the 11 modelled | 11 of the 11 modelled |
Which one, for what
Conditions rather than a verdict. Each line below is a thing one of them can do that the other cannot, or does without arrangement where the other needs it — taken from the what each cooker is documented as doing, rather than from a preference.
Indirect roasting, if:
- Whole birds.
- Joints and thick cuts.
- Anything where the centre has a long way to travel.
Low-and-slow smoking, if:
- Brisket, pork shoulder, ribs — high-collagen cuts.
- Any cut that toughens before it tenderises.