Cooking without a water pan


 
J

JRPfeff

TVWBB Guru
The following was posted at the BBQ Bible message board. I am interested in getting the perspective of WSM users on cooking directly over charcoal in the WSM without a water pan. Based on the comments from James Stewart, the flavor is outstanding and unmatched by normal indirect smoking methods.

Jamesstew said:<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">BBcue-Z said: I could see cooking without any water in the pan, but no barrier between the meat and the fire is asking for trouble. Flare ups comes to mind first, or perhaps putting out the fire all together. The amount of liquid brisket, pork shoulder or ribs put out is large and you’d have to have a drip pan to catch it. You could use an empty pan or use the sand filled pan instead.
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The key is good draft-control in an enclosed unit, there is practically no way to get flare-ups in my unit or in the BDS, the drippings vaporize upon hitting the coals. This is the way many of the traditional open pits do it in South Carolina and Texas and flareups are not an issue either. Now it probably wouldn't work well in a WSM or a ceramic due to how close the fire and the food grate are but I have about 28" of clearance in mine and I believe the WSM has about 24". Give it a try with some chicken pieces or a whole chicken and you'll see what I mean about the flavor, can't be matched by other methods. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>In my experience with Weber products, flare-ups are minimal as long as the lid in kept on and air flow minimized. I may experiment with this method on some shorter cooks - ribs or chicken - cooking on the top grate only.
 
Jim
I need to start practicing chicken, and I may give this a whirl on some thighs. It would be interesting to see how this would turn out. I love the way chicken tastes when the fat drips onto hot coals.
 
Clark - I pulled out some ribs to thaw and discovered I had a 4-pack. I'm going to do a controlled test this weekend, two racks indirect with high heat on my kettle (my normal preferred method) and two racks on the WSM without a water pan.

I'll post my results.

Jim
 
Well, I had an Oooops during a Butt cook for Christmas eve. I must have bumped the WSM or something, but the Piedmont set up tipped, and must have caught itself on the second pan, keeping it at an angle during the cook. After it got stable, I left for 6-8 hours, and the juice was just running into the fuel creating a different flavor. Everyone noticed a different flavor, and most preferred it. Created a nice mess in the bottom of the WSM.
 
I usually do tri-tip and chicken, on high heat, on the top grate, without the water pan.

Russell
 
I believe Jamesstew's concern was that since the food would be closer to the flame it would need to be turned more to cook on a WSM. Really though if your just using the top grate you should be fine. I find that chicken really tastes great when the fat vaporizes on the coals and flavors the chicken, just like Harbormaster states. You'll probably find that larger cuts, if you try them, are finished much sooner without the barrier and have a more pronounced smoke ring. Just be sure to use the Minion Method or something similar, and take pics. I'd love to see the results. In closing I hear that Jamesstew on that other forum is a swell guy.
 
I don't think the 4" difference between 24"-28" is big enough to matter as to the effect of flare-ups.

Use the bottom grate and you might have a problem.
 
I measured a little over 21" from the bottom of the coal grate to the top cooking grate, Now if I put the BGE raised grate on it we're talking @ 24" . You will want to turn the meat every so often, and it will be cooking faster. If you do it post some pics! I love that drum smoker smell!
 
Here's a post from a while back describing a chicken cook with no pan. Though you can expect some flaring from drippings it's not a major issue. They dispate fairly quickly (except when opening the lid to flip) and don't get all that high.
 
I've been cooking chicken on the WSM for some time without a pan in the cooker. I usually cook legs and thighs, about half ring of charcoal, 20 minutes skin side down, flip; 20 minutes skin side up, flip; twenty minutes skin side down...add sauce about the last 10-15 minutes.

Flare ups are not a problem and the flavor is excellent.
 
I cooked these ribs last week without using the water pan. I did not have a flare-up problem from the ribs, but some grease from my previous cook spilled into the lower bowl and was fully ablaze when I opened the lid the first time. I also didn't control temperatures well and was near 400F for a portion of the cook.

The ribs in the back of the picture were the result. They were definitely more sooty and charred looking than the other two racks cooked by conventional smoking methods.

dscf0007editedri7.jpg


Taste-wise the ribs smoked over the charcoal had a combination of barbecued and grilled flavors. I'll try this again, but next time will pay more attention to any grease in the bowl and my WSM temperatures.
 
I have a suggestion about getting that grease flavor and keeping in the water pan in. I have switched to a piedmont pan setup. My idea or suggestion will not work using water in the pan.

If you want the taste of the grease in the fire simply drill a small 1/16" or smaller drill bit in the 2 brinkman pans. That will allow the grease that hits the pan to drip on down to the fire. You may want to drill several holes in the bottom pan so it hits the fire in several places.

The cleanup won't be as easy but would solve the couple of problems. The flame up and the distance from the fire. I would imagine you could use the bottom grate using this method. For the cleanup doing the piedmont pan with the screws up from the bottom pan and put a nut or 2 on to act as a space and just sit the top pan on the bottom. That will help make the cleanup easier.

Now that I think about it would you even need the grease to actually drip into the fire? When it drips to the lower pan it is going to burn to an extent.

Just a thought.
 
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