K Kruger
TVWBB 1-Star Olympian
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">We generally accept that spice flavors can be pulled into meat right? </div></BLOCKQUOTE>
Um, no we don't. Not if you're talking rubbing ahead of time, or just rubbing in general. What flavors might get 'pulled' into meat are fairly immaterial. Now, flavor-brining, that's a different scenario. But it takes time to be very effective.
What people say about ground meat, etc., I'm not concerned with. People say a lot of things, Jerry's point for this thread in the first place.
Sure, it's due to surface area. Smoke flavor is made up of hundreds of different chemical combinations and particulates. Volatilization of smoke along with tiny particulates carry the smoke hither and yon and it sticks to various things (including inside your nose, which is why many Qers talk about the differences between smoking then eating the meat immediately vs. eating it the next day, when smoke has been more removed from the body, clothing, etc.). The aroma (or odor, as the case may be) is so permeating that concentration and source are virtually indistinguishable to the human nose. And smoke concentrated on a surface of food makes in impossible to tell that it's only on the food's surface. Smoke aroma/odor continues to volatilize for some time.
That the smoke seems to be right in the meat/cheese/whatever doesn't mean it is. Again, given enough time - plenty of time - and given the necessary porosity, and given the needed more closed environment, it's possible that some elements of smoke penetrate meat. But we generally do not smoke very long (even butts) and the environmental conditions do not support claims of 'penetration'. It's possible that traces of this and that in smoke might get pulled into the meat during the post-cook resting/cooling phase, but this would be fairly negligible and in no way near the elements on the surface and those that volatilize in the air.
Um, no we don't. Not if you're talking rubbing ahead of time, or just rubbing in general. What flavors might get 'pulled' into meat are fairly immaterial. Now, flavor-brining, that's a different scenario. But it takes time to be very effective.
What people say about ground meat, etc., I'm not concerned with. People say a lot of things, Jerry's point for this thread in the first place.
Sure, it's due to surface area. Smoke flavor is made up of hundreds of different chemical combinations and particulates. Volatilization of smoke along with tiny particulates carry the smoke hither and yon and it sticks to various things (including inside your nose, which is why many Qers talk about the differences between smoking then eating the meat immediately vs. eating it the next day, when smoke has been more removed from the body, clothing, etc.). The aroma (or odor, as the case may be) is so permeating that concentration and source are virtually indistinguishable to the human nose. And smoke concentrated on a surface of food makes in impossible to tell that it's only on the food's surface. Smoke aroma/odor continues to volatilize for some time.
That the smoke seems to be right in the meat/cheese/whatever doesn't mean it is. Again, given enough time - plenty of time - and given the necessary porosity, and given the needed more closed environment, it's possible that some elements of smoke penetrate meat. But we generally do not smoke very long (even butts) and the environmental conditions do not support claims of 'penetration'. It's possible that traces of this and that in smoke might get pulled into the meat during the post-cook resting/cooling phase, but this would be fairly negligible and in no way near the elements on the surface and those that volatilize in the air.
