Low-and-slow barbecue cooks meat with indirect heat and wood smoke, usually holding the pit between 225 and 250 °F. Cuts rich in connective tissue — brisket, pork shoulder, ribs — need hours at these temperatures for collagen to break down, which is why a brisket cook can run ten hours or more.
Wood choice shapes flavor: oak gives a medium smoke, hickory a stronger one, and fruitwoods a milder, sweeter note. In Alaska, alder is the traditional smoking wood, long used for salmon. Cold-weather smoking adds another variable, since low ambient temperatures force the pit to work harder to hold its target range.