What If . . .

Ok, weird thought here... but stick with me.

not to open a new debate about smoke rings and the 140 degree threshold... for the sake if this discussion, let's just assume that it is settled science that smoke flavor and ring only develop while the meat is less than 140 degrees.

If that is the case... what if you were to slow the first part of the cook WAY down... like smoking at 150 or 160 (almost cold smoking), then, once the meat reaches 140, crank it up to 250 or a little higher for the rest of the cook. Say you did that with butts (obviously wouldn't be applicable to poultry or ribs). Then it could take anywhere from 6-10 hours or so for the meat to get to 140. Then, the last half of the cook would be done at 275, which would probably take another 6-10 hours. In all, not much longer than a normal butt, but possibly with deeper smoke flavor and maybe the best smoke ring ever?

I guess there would be two risks. First, that you get too much smoke. You could mitigate that by the kind of wood you use. The second risk is that the meat would dry out before it is cooked.

Anyhow, forgive the stream of conscious... you folks are the only ones I know who would actually care about something like this. anyhow, this was just something that floated to the top of my mind when reading another post on the newbies board.

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by adam clyde:
...smoke flavor and ring only develop while the meat is less than 140 degrees.
</div></BLOCKQUOTE>

My understanding was that the meat will continue to adsorb smoke as long as it is exposed to it, regarless of temp. I have understood that the reaction which causes the smoke ring only occurs up to 140. Maybe I'm remembering this wrong ?

Paul

One more problem might be in food safety. The meat, with no cure on it, would stay in the danger zone of 40-140*F too long.

Rita

Paul and Rita are both correct. The smokering would quit at 140 or so (smoking continues as long as smoke is present) but you'd be opening yourself up to bacteria city. Food smoked at very low temps needs to be cured first to avoid a bacterial bloom. The exception to this is for that which smokes briefly, like cheese.

Adam, this is where a cook using the Minion method can help you. If you use MM and put your meat on the smoker immediately after adding your 15 or so hot coals, then you get to take advantage of that slow heat-up to build up more smoke ring, but not so slow as to open yourself up to nasty wee-beasties growing on your meat.

Keri C

Keri - thanks. yeah, I do minion method and throw the cold meat on as soon as I throw the coals on. I also don't worry about spiking the temp on the smoker as fast as I can...

I guess to avoid the prospect of killing off my guests, I won't let the smoker hang out at 150 for prolonged periods of time. (though, depending on how well I like my guests... )

oh well...

If low & slow is good, it doesn't necessarily mean that lower and slower is better. Remember that what we are doing here is barbecueing, not smoking, even though the tool we use is called a smoker.

I have seen a hog go bad while cooking cause the pit temps were to low. As others have said to cook at low pit temps a cure is needed ie: ham, bacon, sausage and cold smoked fish all use a cure to slow bacteria growth.
Jim

I believe the BBQ FAQ mentions cooking for 1 hour at 135*F then bringing the temp up to standard 225*F, I've tried it and didn't notice any profound difference on pork shoulder, but I did with ribs.
Found it here
Look about a third of the way down the page.
A lot of talk about ribs in this section.
Speaking of ribs ... the other critical temp I've been playing with is getting the ribs up to the 165*F+ temp quickly to stop them drying out while the tenderise, this really seems to work.

enjoy
PS, I've been back from California and Mexico for almost a week, now I'm itching to get out back and fire up R2D2!

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Morgan Sziraki:
I believe the BBQ FAQ mentions cooking for 1 hour at 135*F then bringing the temp up to standard 225*F, I've tried it and didn't notice any profound difference on pork shoulder, but I did with ribs.
Found it here
Look about a third of the way down the page.
A lot of talk about ribs in this section.
Speaking of ribs ... the other critical temp I've been playing with is getting the ribs up to the 165*F+ temp quickly to stop them drying out while the tenderise, this really seems to work.

enjoy
PS, I've been back from California and Mexico for almost a week, now I'm itching to get out back and fire up R2D2! </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

This has left me more than a little bewildered. When firing up the WSM Minion Method, I normally bury 2 or 3 chunks of wood when filling the chamber. When it gets close to my target temp., I'll set a couple more chunks on the pile, then put the meat on. From what I read in the FAQ, this could be a bad thing. I do get a temp spike not long into the cook which I assume is the top wood igniting. I'm also a little concerned about the "smoldering wood" aspect. Would the buried wood "smolder"?

Any thoughts from you Pro's would be appreciated.

A Newbie,

JimT

Jim--

Bury the wood and put some on top when you fill the ring. When you top the ring with your lit coals and assemble the smoker add the meat. Since at this point the cooker is cool, if any wood ignites it's no big deal, it'll settle down soon enough. (I don't use really large pieces on top though--just in case).

The buried wood will burn slowly when the lit coals burn down to it. Unless you're using green or substantially-less-than-seasoned wood it will not smolder and throw off creosote-y soot.


Morgan--

Unless you're shooting for a killer smokering (which as you know has nothing to do with flavor, smoke or otherwise) I don't see the point in cooking at a specific low temp for a specific time. Smokering-wise, imo using a MM start and using cold meat is more than enough time for good ring development as the cooker rises to the target temp. Like you, I speed up the rise a bit for ribs.

Hope you enjoyed Calif and Mexico. Just left Calif--been a while since I've been in Mexico: too long.