Hey, Where Did My Smoke Go?


 
Thanks Dave, I guess I stand corrected, one of the books that I reference for cooks and recipes is Backyard BBQ: The Art of Smokology authored by Richard W McPeake, Mcpeake goes into great detail discussing smoke and internal temps. Maybe I just misconstrued what was he was implying or maybe he is incorrect.

I do feel I get a good smoke that complements the meats I am cooking and adds a layer to the flavor profile just like adding a marinade, rub, mop or sauce. I still want the meat to be the star of the show.
 
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Thanks everyone for your input. Dave just to clarify, when putting the wood on top of the unlit, when you add the lit coals do you place any of the lit ones on the wood?


JR, if you place wood on lit coals, or lit coals on top of wood, the wood will give off a white smoke in the beginning. Wait for that white smoke to go away, then put your meat on. Wood that is placed on top of, or mixed in with unlit coals will warm up to some extent and won't give off the same amount of white smoke. Does that make sense ?
 
And Dennis provides the answer. Blue to light smoke equals flavor any other is bad news, off flavors and resin. Mesquite is the worst offender but they all need to be pre-heated. It takes all of the moisture out of the wood, all of it. You get smoke and not anything else. Mesquite has a resin that is near impossible to get rid of, I had two year old chunks that spewed resin when I used them. Two years in a garage in Houston.
 
Thanks Dave, I guess I stand corrected, one of the books that I reference for cooks and recipes is Backyard BBQ: The Art of Smokology authored by Richard W McPeake, Mcpeake goes into great detail discussing smoke and internal temps. Maybe I just misconstrued what was he was implying or maybe he is incorrect.

I do feel I get a good smoke that complements the meats I am cooking and adds a layer to the flavor profile just like adding a marinade, rub, mop or sauce. I still want the meat to be the star of the show.


Kevin,

I haven't read the book so I can't say either way.


You can easily put this to a test. next time you do a butt, cook it in the oven first and bring it up to 140 degrees internal. Then take it out of the oven and finish it on your smoker rolling smoke the whole time. Go nekkid and don't wrap it.


As for the smoke being a compliment and the meat being the star, I completely agree with you. I change up the amount of smoke I apply based on what I'm cooking. Brisket ? More smoke. Butts ? Same thing. Ribs ? I go lighter and also use apple instead of hickory. Prime Rib ? Very light using a blend of cherry, oak and maple.
 
If you meant stronger smoke flavor use a different wood. I wouldn't want smoke going more than a few hours


Why not ? People have been smoking with wood only for centuries without the meat getting a bitter or acrid taste. Dennis and JL (and probably others, not going back to check) hit the nail right on the head. There's a huge difference between QUALITY of the smoke and QUANTITY of the smoke. You can run thick white smoke for 3 hours and completely ruin your meat while I can apply a nice thin blue smoke for 18 hours and have something tasting absolutely delicious and wonderfully smokey.
 
I looked at the instructions Chris gave, and wonder if he still does it this way, I never have.

@ Chris
When the smoke wood is engulfed in flames, but not fully consumed (Photo 6), assemble the cooker
That's Mike Scrutchfield's way of doing it for ribs. When I've done BRITU ribs, I do them as shown in those photos. But generally I don't do that for other ribs I make.

I usually place wood chunks on top of lit charcoal using Minion Method and I get visible smoke for the first 60 minutes and very little visible smoke after that. I don't care how much smoke I see during a long cook. I don't expect to see the WSM chugging away like a steam locomotive. I've added an amount of wood that I think is adequate, usually 2-3 good sized chunks, or maybe 4 for a long brisket cook, and let them do their job. I usually get a nice smoke flavor that's not overwhelming and I'm happy with the results.
 
Why not ? People have been smoking with wood only for centuries without the meat getting a bitter or acrid taste. Dennis and JL (and probably others, not going back to check) hit the nail right on the head. There's a huge difference between QUALITY of the smoke and QUANTITY of the smoke. You can run thick white smoke for 3 hours and completely ruin your meat while I can apply a nice thin blue smoke for 18 hours and have something tasting absolutely delicious and wonderfully smokey.
Well since I don't put out heavy white smoke for 3 hours I wouldn't know.... Usually the first 30-45 minutes is the 2 pieces of wood burning at the beginning. My brother uses a Lang so I understand what you're saying. Since I don't and don't like heavy smoke I don't want smoke throughout.
 
Well since I don't put out heavy white smoke for 3 hours I wouldn't know.... Usually the first 30-45 minutes is the 2 pieces of wood burning at the beginning. My brother uses a Lang so I understand what you're saying. Since I don't and don't like heavy smoke I don't want smoke throughout.


Nothing wrong with preferring a lighter touch of smoke. Also, I didn't mean to imply that you did put out heavy white smoke Just used you and I to illustrate the point, which is that there's no harm to applying good smoke for the whole entire cook if you want. That isn't what makes smoked meats bitter or acrid. Short version is that what everyone should be after is "good" smoke. If you want a light flavor, only add smoke for a little while. If you want a stronger flavor, go ahead and add smoke for as long as you want to suit your tastes.
 
That's Mike Scrutchfield's way of doing it for ribs. When I've done BRITU ribs, I do them as shown in those photos. But generally I don't do that for other ribs I make.

I usually place wood chunks on top of lit charcoal using Minion Method and I get visible smoke for the first 60 minutes and very little visible smoke after that. I don't care how much smoke I see during a
long cook. I don't expect to see the WSM chugging away like a steam locomotive. I've added an amount of wood that I think is adequate, usually 2-3 good sized chunks, or maybe 4 for a long brisket cook, and let them do their job. I usually get a nice smoke flavor that's not overwhelming and I'm happy with the results.

I have been doing the same and has served me well. Getting ready to do my first brisket flat, I've never done that long a cook and wanted to see what others do. Thanks Chris.
 
That's Mike Scrutchfield's way of doing it for ribs. When I've done BRITU ribs, I do them as shown in those photos. But generally I don't do that for other ribs I make.

I usually place wood chunks on top of lit charcoal using Minion Method and I get visible smoke for the first 60 minutes and very little visible smoke after that. I don't care how much smoke I see during a
long cook. I don't expect to see the WSM chugging away like a steam locomotive. I've added an amount of wood that I think is adequate, usually 2-3 good sized chunks, or maybe 4 for a long brisket cook, and let them do their job. I usually get a nice smoke flavor that's not overwhelming and I'm happy with the results.

I have been doing the same and has served me well. Getting ready to do my first brisket flat, I've never done that long a cook and wanted to see what others do. Thanks Chris.
 
I've never seen grey or black smoke from my WSM. I've even put salmon on when I started the cooker up, and had really good results. Maybe I'm just lucky!
 
If I don't like the color of the smoke during a cook I just take the door off for a few minutes. I can have a nice thin blue smoke for an hour and then ash falls and something new is burning and producing ugly smoke. As I stated before a little bad smoke isn't going to affect the final product IMO.
 

 

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