Exposure Time to smoke

[Guest]

All - I have read that the first hour or hours exposure to the smoke gains all of the flavor. Basically adding smoke wood every few hours to say a pork butt is just burning smoke wood and really there is a diminishing return over time. Any input on this. I mainly make ribs and pork butt. Thanks!

Ted

 

[Kevin Taylor]

Hi Ted!

Sounds like the ole smokering vs. smoke flavor thingy......this has been confused by many a cook. You have to separate the 2 items...one has to do with the formation of the smokering and the other has to do with flavor.

The real issue with the early smoke is the formation of the smokering. This is a chemical process that takes place and it ends when the meat hits 140?....usually the first couple of hours.

You can continue to add smoke to the meat after this initial period and the meat will get much smokier. But, be careful! Too much smoke is not good either.

Having said that, I normally only apply smoke for the first few hours...that seems to be plenty of smoke for me.