Chris D UK
New member
I have just started out smoking after purchasing a 14.5" WSM last week. After a dry run (without meat) on Saturday at roasting temperatures of 325° I tried smoking a gammon joint. Whilst the results were good, I have a few questions which I would really appreciate any help / advice with.
I went with the standard method and fired up about 2/3 of my Weber chimney starter with Weber briquettes. After about 15 mins when flames were licking at the top (not much ash visible yet on the coals, if that's significant) I dumped them in and assembled the cooker. My water pan was 90% full and within minutes I was at the 225°F mark, the level I was aiming to cook at. After initially assembling, I had lots of white smoke, some billowing out from under the lid. After probably 10 mins, the smoke escaping from the lid subsided, but there was still more smoke than I was aiming for, considering I hadn't yet added any wood. I had two bottom vents about 25% open, the other closed. My lid vent was wide open throughout the cook.
At this point I would have liked to open the vents more and hopefully lower the smoke production. I was worried if I did this, that I would get higher than my target cooking temperature and struggle to bring it back down again.
I added two small apple wood chunks and added my meat.
My gammon was small (under 2 pounds) and cooked to 150°F in under 2 hours. I wrapped it in foil and waited until it went over 160°F, then took it off. I had no trouble whatsoever maintaining 225°F throughout the cook, it almost seemed too easy.
First, the not so good: I took a bite of the end section (outside of meat): it wasn't a very pleasant taste which sort of made my tongue tingle, quite bitter. In the end I spat this mouthful out, it wasn't nice. My mouth still tastes a little bitter hours later.
The positives of my cook were that the meat was very moist and tender (perhaps helped by my brining). Inside the meat was lovely, just the exterior was more smokey / bitter than I would have liked.
I'm wondering if my problem was 'creosote', which I have read can give the flavour I think I experienced. My meat and the inside of the smoker had a brown like film of liquid on it, is this normal? I was expecting some build-up, but less of it, and more sooty, rather than the oily substance I ended up with. After cooking I closed all vents to extinguish the fire, perhaps this produced the oily substance.
Did I use too much wood, or was my problem not getting to a clean-burn before adding my meat?
Seeing the word creosote was a bit worrying, since in the UK this is associated with a potentially cancer causing wood preservative product.
Any advice, hints or tips would be very much appreciated.
I went with the standard method and fired up about 2/3 of my Weber chimney starter with Weber briquettes. After about 15 mins when flames were licking at the top (not much ash visible yet on the coals, if that's significant) I dumped them in and assembled the cooker. My water pan was 90% full and within minutes I was at the 225°F mark, the level I was aiming to cook at. After initially assembling, I had lots of white smoke, some billowing out from under the lid. After probably 10 mins, the smoke escaping from the lid subsided, but there was still more smoke than I was aiming for, considering I hadn't yet added any wood. I had two bottom vents about 25% open, the other closed. My lid vent was wide open throughout the cook.
At this point I would have liked to open the vents more and hopefully lower the smoke production. I was worried if I did this, that I would get higher than my target cooking temperature and struggle to bring it back down again.
I added two small apple wood chunks and added my meat.
My gammon was small (under 2 pounds) and cooked to 150°F in under 2 hours. I wrapped it in foil and waited until it went over 160°F, then took it off. I had no trouble whatsoever maintaining 225°F throughout the cook, it almost seemed too easy.
First, the not so good: I took a bite of the end section (outside of meat): it wasn't a very pleasant taste which sort of made my tongue tingle, quite bitter. In the end I spat this mouthful out, it wasn't nice. My mouth still tastes a little bitter hours later.
The positives of my cook were that the meat was very moist and tender (perhaps helped by my brining). Inside the meat was lovely, just the exterior was more smokey / bitter than I would have liked.
I'm wondering if my problem was 'creosote', which I have read can give the flavour I think I experienced. My meat and the inside of the smoker had a brown like film of liquid on it, is this normal? I was expecting some build-up, but less of it, and more sooty, rather than the oily substance I ended up with. After cooking I closed all vents to extinguish the fire, perhaps this produced the oily substance.
Did I use too much wood, or was my problem not getting to a clean-burn before adding my meat?
Seeing the word creosote was a bit worrying, since in the UK this is associated with a potentially cancer causing wood preservative product.
Any advice, hints or tips would be very much appreciated.