Help, please


 
V

Virgil Berry

TVWBB Fan
Just finished smoking three big slabs of spare ribs, cut into a total of six pieces for the rack. Meat was very fresh, looked and smelled good. I know the butcher, and trust him.

Cooked the ribs at 250 degrees dome for almost exactly six hours with sugarless Texas rub. Some of the little bones near the ends almost fell out, but I had left the batch in to be sure the thicker sections were cooked. As they were.

NOW. When I took the ribs out, I detected an unmistakable, but not strong, ammonia smell, probably coming up from the water pan (Brinkman large). The ribs don't seem to carry the odor.

Has anyone else had this experience? Does anyone have an explanation?

I'd appreciate any input I can get. I assume the meat is perfectly O.K. to eat (it tasetes great, BTW, and is quite spicy as I probably overdid the rub))

Virgil
 
Did you use a cleaner containing ammonia to wash the waterpan and perhaps some residue remained ?

Paul
 
Jim, I used Kingsford. Same bag I had used from in my last cook. Do you think anything related to the Kingsford could have been responsible? Never had this smell before that I can recall. I also used several chunks of oak (with some bark) and hickory (no bark).

BTW, Jim, based on my last several cooks, I plan to start every one with the Minion method. The WSM responds so beautifully, and I never have had problems controlling the temp.

Paul, I never have used any cleaners on the WSM itself, only water spray from a hose. I use Dawn detergent to wash out the pan after each cook, and rinse quite well.

It has just occurred to me that maybe some nitrates, which are usually in bacon and other pork cuts, went through some chemical reaction in the water in the pan, which of course was near the boiling point at all times. I seem to recall that some pork is injected with nitrosamines as preservatives, and amines are chemically quite close to ammonia.

Virgil
 
I occasionally notice the same smell coming from my woodstove as I open it up to load in some more logs (red oak). I got a big blast of it tonight. So I bet the smell is a byproduct of what is being burnt and not what you are cooking with or cleaning. I would hazard a guess that under the right conditions something that smells like ammonia is released as a gas but not burnt off, and that it probably is more prone to happen as the fire cools down and runs low on fuel.
 
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