How does food get "too much smoke"?

[Rusty James]

Interesting thread here...

How does food get "too much smoke"?​

I saw it mentioned somewhere where adjusting the top vent to partially open can make food taste bad by trapping unwanted combustion byproducts. I think I will adapt this method to kettle smoking. There have been times when I thought kettle-smoked meats tasted a bit bitter compared to the WSM fare, and I assume that was due to me keeping the top vent partially open at times (I keep the top vent fully open on the WSM).

Food for thought.

 

[W Tyler]

What immediately comes to my mind are:

1. Too many wood chips/chunks.
2. Putting the meat on before the initial briquettes/lump/chunks have had a chance to settle in and get up to temp (charcoal and wood will often smoke excessively while temps are rising, and continue until stabilized).
3. Wrong kind of smoke wood/lump/coal for the product being smoked (i.e. mesquite chunks or lump for chicken or fish)

 

[Rusty James]

What immediately comes to my mind are:

1. Too many wood chips/chunks.
2. Putting the meat on before the initial briquettes/lump/chunks have had a chance to settle in and get up to temp (charcoal and wood will often smoke excessively while temps are rising, and continue until stabilized).
3. Wrong kind of smoke wood/lump/coal for the product being smoked (i.e. mesquite chunks or lump for chicken or fish)

That makes sense, since, it seems to me that improper combustion (too low heat setting, etc.) could impart a strong creosote flavor to the meat - especially if the top vent is partially closed. Course, I'm far from an expert in this field, as I know of some that do cold smoking at lower temperatures, but I would assume the chimney vent is fully open.

Fireplace chimneys have no obstructions that I am aware of, and the fire is controlled via a damper, so I presume that analogy applies to smoking meats as well.