# Smoking Foods before or after cooking ?

**URL:** <https://community.anovaculinary.com/t/smoking-foods-before-or-after-cooking/15164>\
**Category:** Anova Precision® Cooker\
**Tags:** smoking\
**Created:** [June 19, 2018, 12:20pm UTC](https://community.anovaculinary.com/t/smoking-foods-before-or-after-cooking/15164 "2018-06-19T12:20:31Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![earthman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9dc877/32.png) [@earthman](https://community.anovaculinary.com/u/earthman)\
**Post date:** [June 19, 2018, 12:20pm UTC](https://community.anovaculinary.com/t/smoking-foods-before-or-after-cooking/15164/1 "2018-06-19T12:20:31Z")

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I am an avid smoker and charcoal griller… I have an electric smoker with an automatic feed chip Hopper… my question is should I smoke A meet such as a brisket first then sous vide it or the other way around?

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**Author:** ![michihenning](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/community.anovaculinary.com/michihenning/32/1655_2.png) [@michihenning](https://community.anovaculinary.com/u/michihenning)\
**Post date:** [June 19, 2018, 1:54pm UTC](https://community.anovaculinary.com/t/smoking-foods-before-or-after-cooking/15164/2 "2018-06-19T13:54:24Z")

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I’d cook first and smoke second. If you smoke first, the moisture that is expelled from the meat while cooking will dilute the smoke flavour.

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**Author:** ![chatnoir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ecd19e/32.png) [@chatnoir](https://community.anovaculinary.com/u/chatnoir)\
**Post date:** [June 19, 2018, 9:03pm UTC](https://community.anovaculinary.com/t/smoking-foods-before-or-after-cooking/15164/3 "2018-06-19T21:03:32Z")

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Earth, i’ve done it both ways and find similar outcomes. Pre-smoking yields a little more color and smoke penetration because the raw meat is usually cool and wet which enhances the smoking process.

Post-Smoking achieves much the same flavour and you don’t have the flavour dilution factor Michi points out. Post-smoking also seems to be an easier process to manage.

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**Author:** ![Ember](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/community.anovaculinary.com/ember/32/729_2.png) [@Ember](https://community.anovaculinary.com/u/Ember)\
**Post date:** [June 19, 2018, 9:47pm UTC](https://community.anovaculinary.com/t/smoking-foods-before-or-after-cooking/15164/4 "2018-06-19T21:47:17Z")

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Very little difference between outcomes whichever way you do it. Though sous vide first then smoke is probably the better way for food safety. Plus you don’t get that stall point during the smoke.

I do like the simplicity of sous vide to desired point, shock chill and refrigerate overnight then smoke back up to temperature the following day.

I’d really only bother with smoke then sous vide if I was doing cured foods. Then the time sitting at low internal temperatures isn’t a problem. In that instance I’d be cold smoking the meat for a couple of hours and then cooking it sous vide.

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**Author:** ![earthman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9dc877/32.png) [@earthman](https://community.anovaculinary.com/u/earthman)\
**Post date:** [June 20, 2018, 4:37pm UTC](https://community.anovaculinary.com/t/smoking-foods-before-or-after-cooking/15164/5 "2018-06-20T16:37:28Z")

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thanks for the response