Neither rain, nor snow or sleet will stop you from enjoying all your favorite smoked BBQ entrees when you know how easy it is to smoke them right on your indoor stove top. The controlled environment on your gas or electric kitchen stove coupled with an inexpensive homemade or store bought stove top smoker is your ticket to dinning on some fine down home BBQ in any kind of weather. We'll explore how you can make your own smoker with readily obtainable materials. Plus, I'll teach you how to smoke a Boston butt even if you don't know how to cook. The smoker can also be used for BBQ ribs, loins or brisket. We are going to start with a Boston butt because it can be very forgiving if times and temperatures aren't adhered to more than other cuts of meat. Our finished product will be pulled and chopped pork, a favorite of BBQ lovers. But wait, there's more. As and added bonus, today only, I am going to show you another prize winning way to cook a 'butt'. This is information you won't normally hear about from those competition BBQ contest like 'Memphis in May' or 'Degaque' at the Talladega Speedway. We will also be using a Boston butt in today's lesson because they are normally an inexpensive cut of meat. Plus, I recently found them on sale for $.99 a pound and bought several of them. When shopping for your Boston butt try to purchase them with the blade bone still intact. Let's take a look now at what we will need for our all weather smoker.

Step 1: Basic stove top smoker

The smoker is made up of 4 basic parts

1.) A square , rectangle or round metal pan about 2 or 3 inches deep and big enough to hold the butt. A 10 by 12 inch pan is large enough that it can span 2 of the stove eyes. This is not a requirement, but is nice support, especially for larger butts.
2.) A shallow pan a little smaller than the main pan. This pan will sit over the wood chips and be a drip pan to catch the fat juices.
3.) A metal or wire grill rack to support the meat and raise it above the fat in the drip pan.
4.) A lid. This can be as simple as a sheet of aluminum foil crimped around the edges.

In a nutshell that is all you need for the smoker. You can find stove top smokers on the internet and in restaurant supply houses. I bought a medium size one on the internet several years ago for about $25 USD. (Pictures included below) The one I purchased has a lid that works fine for ribs and tenderloins. However, for butts and most briskets I have to use aluminum foil to create a lid because the main pan is not deep enough for the lid to clear the larger cuts of meat.

For the larger main pan you can find disposable aluminum pans in most grocery stores here in the States. The turkey roasting pans will work although they are larger than you actually need. In the same area as the roasting pans you can usually find smaller pans that can be used for the drip pan as well. Racks from small gills work good for supporting the meat. I have even used the metal shelves from toaster ovens.
what should i set my stove top to to reach the right temp? How will i know when i get there?
Inside the oven won't work I'm afraid. The smoke is only produced when direct heat is applied to the bottom of the main pan. You enjoyed what most people would refer to as baked or oven roasted. Similar to baking a turkey. 250 degrees of radiant heat is not nearly hot enough to get the water soaked chips to a smoking point.
<p>Smoke House Willie, thanks for this! We did it exactly as instructed, using the stovetop smoker in the oven at 250 degrees with a temp probe. Took out the butt at 200 degrees after 5 and a half hours when the probe registered done. It fell apart beautifully &amp; was great... but the chips didn't smoke at all. They just sat there in the 2/3 cup of water &amp; did nothing. The pulled pork was yummy but had no smoke flavor. What did we do wrong?</p>
&nbsp;How big does the exhaust fan need to be ? My house is going to fill up with smoke. Will the regular fan over the stove work?
I love the use of plastic wrap for applying the rub and marinating! I'll definitely be doing that next time I make something like this. It does make it a ton easier!
Glad you liked that multitasking use of the cling wrap. Now, maybe you can help me. I have a hard time with the rub on my fingers making a mess everywhere.
Mouth-wateringly cool Instructable. Thorough and easy to follow. Thanks!
Thank you very much. Hope you enjoy smoking a butt soon.
You two fisted it and ate them both at the same time, with a side of 'slaw.. hehe Looks yummy!
Your close. I had baked beans instead of the slaw.
The wood chips, they don't actually catch on fire?!? Where does the "smoke" come in?
Soaking the wood chips or sawdust in water or red wine for several hours or better, overnight helps prevent the chips from turning into a small campfire in your kitchen. The wood chips on the direct heat source produce a slow smoldering smoke which is captured best for our purposes here if the stove top smoker is as air tight as possible. This is similar to the desired results when smoking with an open flame outdoors. Either way, if your wood chips 'catch fire' your efforts just went up in smoke, so to speak. Note that the sawdust variety is best used when smoking at higher temperatures for shorter time periods for fish or chicken. With meats that are going to slow cook for many hours it is best to use very small wood chips rather than the sawdust that will peak with smoke fast, and after several hours will will leave a burnt taste on your meat.
Looks awesome, thanks for the upload : )

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