4 of 122 report cooking 'naked'


 
S

Steve Petrone

TVWBB Diamond Member
When asked about using water in wsm pan, brinkman pan, sand or no pan-4% report no pan-naked. It is my understanding that old time traditional bbqing was just that. A form of direct slow cooking. So that begs the question...
What are we missing?
Or, do we get a better result without dripping fat on a fire?
Who has tried it?
Top rack cooks should be able to be done because of the distance to the fire.
 
Other than baby-back ribs(with a foiled dry pan), I never use the water pan. I prefer the taste the drippings hitting the coals give the meat. I hardly ever use wood for smoke anymore.

I always keep 2 bottom vents closed with a 3rd vent opened to 10% at the most. The top vent is usually open 50-75%. I've had no problems keeping the dome temperature around 250-260* allowing the slow and low at the top grate.

I've done all-nighters this way as well. The WSM after getting it broke in is a great BBQ cooker.
 
IMO I'm not sure you realy get much if any flavor on the meat from fat drippings. I think you do get ash lifting onto the meat.

For a long cook, I want the temperature control of the water pan.

The fat dripping onto hot coals sure does smell good though.
 
Geeze, I thought you ment cooking naked.

I can attest to the fact that it's a lot of fun, but somewhat dangerous.
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JimT
 
Been there; done that; will do it again for chicken. I like this "no pan" or "traditional" method for chicken as browning is good and it cooks in the same time as if done indirectly.

Most of the guys I know around here using "the big green eggs" cook this way.

I recently cooked a brisket this way on my WSM with success. I saw no strong advantage though and will return to using a water pan for long cooks just to get the stabilization of temperature and small amount of moisture benefits from the water pan.
People that "mop" a lot and heavily will have an ash problem. Ash wasn't a problem for me.
Loren
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Scott, do you do MM cooks? </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Yes I do. Even when I had a ECB, I'd start a cook with just a few lighted coals. Until I discovered this site, I never knew this process was called the 'Minion Method'. I've been goofing around with smokers and 55 gallon pits for over 20 years and figured it out through trial and error(much error =)).
 
I once cooked a brisket without the water pan. I found that the flavor of the fat dripping in the fire was overpowering. If I were to do it again, I would go a few hours without the pan at the beginning of the cook and see how it tastes.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by JimT:
Geeze, I thought you ment cooking naked.

I can attest to the fact that it's a lot of fun, but somewhat dangerous.
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JimT </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

From experience, I can tell you that cooking bacon this way is particularly dangerous.
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<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Steve Petrone:
When asked about using water in wsm pan, brinkman pan, sand or no pan-4% report no pan-naked. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>FYI, Steve is referring to this poll:

Water, sand, empty pan, or no pan at all?

Regards,
Chris
 
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