Chef's Choice Special: Barbecue Tips from Mike Emerson of Pappy's Smokehouse

A smoker's indirect heat is necessary. There's no way to replicate the smokiness of true barbecue in an oven. A grill will give some smokiness, but not to the degree you'll experience at Pappy's.

Without real smoke -- preferably from fruit trees that create sweet smoke -- the meat doesn't get that pink smoke ring, which is created by a chemical reaction between the meat and nitrogen dioxide in the smoke. The ring indicates that the meat was, indeed, cooked with low heat over a long period of time with real wood.

You don't need a giant carousel smoker like Wise Ol' Walter, the beast that keeps ribs rotating at Pappy's. Emerson claims, "You're not a true redneck if you don't name your smoker.

"When we got this one, Skip [Steele] was in Vegas, working at RUB. I called him to tell him we'd bought a smoker and named it Walter, which is Skip's real name. He thought about it a sec and said, 'Yep, Walter'll be a wise ol' smoker.'"

While I'm not a professional, my vertical wood smoker has served me well. Like the professional carousel smokers, the vertical allows rendered fat to drip away from the meat. This keeps ribs moist without leaving them in a pool of grease.

Build a fire in the smoker, allowing time for the smoker to reach 225 degrees.