BBQ Guru,No Water


 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Dave Penn:
I use a water bath when I bake cheesecakes at 325 degrees; an oven has a much lower air turnover rate than any cook in a WSM but it's a similar effect to what you're trying to achieve when using a water pan in the WSM. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

What you are doing with the water bath, or bain-marie, is insulating the mixture you are cooking...not adding moisture to the environment to keep your cheesecake moist. It's more to stop the top of the cheesecake from cracking than anything else. Using a water bath with delicate contents prevents them from curdling (creme brûlée) by ensuring even cooking and preventing the contents placed under the water line from going over ~212 degrees (assuming you're near sea level and haven't added any salt to the water).

Using a water pan in a WSM has the same effect, it insulates the food from the heat source and prevents rapid shifts in temperature. Sine an ATC is designed to this, by nature, there is no need to use a water pan with one and there is no way to keep your product moist by increasing the amount of moisture in the cooker.

Hot air rises, whether it's moist, or dry, and the air flow in a WSM is bottom to top. Any moisture added to the cooker would just head out the holes in the top with the rest of the air.
 
All I know is differences that can be seen with the eye and felt in the mouth (mainly in texture).

All that steam can only get out of the cooker so fast, and that's what slows down the evaporation off the meats surface and inhibits bark development. Call it "slower bark" if you want, but I agree, an ATC will also help get "slower bark" from eliminating temp spikes. I was kind of shocked when I read what Gary Wiviott said in "Low and Slow" about WANTING some spikes in temp for better bark. Of course, he goes through a lot water as well. Hmmm
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Stuart S:
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Dave Penn:
I use a water bath when I bake cheesecakes at 325 degrees; an oven has a much lower air turnover rate than any cook in a WSM but it's a similar effect to what you're trying to achieve when using a water pan in the WSM. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

What you are doing with the water bath, or bain-marie, is insulating the mixture you are cooking...not adding moisture to the environment to keep your cheesecake moist. It's more to stop the top of the cheesecake from cracking than anything else. Using a water bath with delicate contents prevents them from curdling (creme brûlée) by ensuring even cooking and preventing the contents placed under the water line from going over ~212 degrees (assuming you're near sea level and haven't added any salt to the water).

Using a water pan in a WSM has the same effect, it insulates the food from the heat source and prevents rapid shifts in temperature. Sine an ATC is designed to this, by nature, there is no need to use a water pan with one and there is no way to keep your product moist by increasing the amount of moisture in the cooker.

Hot air rises, whether it's moist, or dry, and the air flow in a WSM is bottom to top. Any moisture added to the cooker would just head out the holes in the top with the rest of the air. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Stuart, thanks for the clarifications on the water bath technique. That makes complete sense, as does your explanation of why a water pan isn't essential if you're using an ATC. The "steam" scenario does have a certain ring of truth to it, I'll concede. I can visualize the meat being bathed in super-humid smoky air, and it's making me hungry :-). It's just that at the temps I'm cooking at there isn't any steam because the water in the pan isn't boiling. Without steam there's just evaporation, and I don't think it'll happen fast enough to make any substantial difference in the meat.

Very informative posts, all. I appreciate the expertise you folks are throwing out.

Dave
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Dave Russell:
All I know is differences that can be seen with the eye and felt in the mouth (mainly in texture).

All that steam can only get out of the cooker so fast, and that's what slows down the evaporation off the meats surface and inhibits bark development. Call it "slower bark" if you want, but I agree, an ATC will also help get "slower bark" from eliminating temp spikes. I was kind of shocked when I read what Gary Wiviott said in "Low and Slow" about WANTING some spikes in temp for better bark. Of course, he goes through a lot water as well. Hmmm </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Dave, I can't argue with your preference for using water and about bark production...I've learned allot about cooking BBQ from you, and others on this site, over the last year since my "awakening" to charcoal.

I will, however, say that there is no way that a piece of meat will be sucking up moisture in the air when it is releasing moisture itself. Scientifically, it's just not possible.
 
I think we naturally believe that the moisture in the raw meat gets evaporated out as we cook it. Based on that, we'd naturally want to prevent or limit that process somehow - for instance by making the environment (cooker) super-humid. But if my understanding of the cooking process is correct, the moisture is in fact getting squeezed out as the meat contracts as it cooks. If this is what's going on, extra humidity in the cooker won't have much effect.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Dave Penn:
I think we naturally believe that the moisture in the raw meat gets evaporated out as we cook it. Based on that, we'd naturally want to prevent or limit that process somehow - for instance by making the environment (cooker) super-humid. But if my understanding of the cooking process is correct, the moisture is in fact getting squeezed out as the meat contracts as it cooks. If this is what's going on, extra humidity in the cooker won't have much effect. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Precisely.
 
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