Smoking out good recipes

One of the aspects of the great outdoors that provides me just as much enjoyment as hunting and fishing is outdoor cooking. So I was quite happy when I received a high tech electric smoker for Christmas.
Smoking meat and fish is an ancient way of preserving them. Smoking is a cooking technique that showed up shortly after man discovered fire and has been used ever since. Today smoking has a lot more to do with imparting flavor to foods than preserving them. Smoking is an art, but the availability of information is so good that what were previously closely guarded family secrets are now all over the Internet. Smoking also tenderizes meat, turning some of the lesser cuts like beef brisket into a great meal.
To make smoked meat and fish, you really don't need a high-tech piece of gear. Smoking can be done with a simple fire pit. While I was in Texas at the Colorado Ranch the owner, Celso Uribe, made pork chops one evening on their version of the smoker, an open fire pit made of steel. The meat was marinated in the refrigerator for several hours and then cooked on the other end of the grill, away from the mesquite fire. Needless to say, the meal was excellent.
While you can get great results with a simple fire pit, there's something to be said for technology. It's nice having the temperature correctly regulated with an electric or gas smoker that has a controller. Charcoal smokers also work well.
The basic cooking principle is to cook at a low temperature until the meat reaches the proper internal temperature (which varies, lower for beef, higher for poultry or pork). Typical ideal smoking temperatures run from 200–220 degrees Fahrenheit. A meat thermometer is a necessary piece of equipment.
Most of the recipes for smoking have two to three components. They use a dry rub, which is a combination of spices and a sugar, usually brown sugar. The dry rub cooks into the meat and the sugar helps tenderize it while adding a sweet flavor. In addition to the dry rub, some of the recipes use a baste (called a mop). Barbeque sauces are also added, usually at the end of the smoking session.
The type of wood that you use makes a big difference. Any hardwood will do, but some are far better than others. The most common are mesquite, apple, hickory, and oak. Softwoods are not good for smokers, nor are wood scraps or anything like that.