How To Get The Best Smoke Flavor...

[D Arita]

After about 10 cooks on the WSM, I'm finding that there really is such a thing as too much smoke flavor...or maybe I should say there's good smoke flavor and bad smoke flavor. Question is, I'm not sure when good smokiness becomes bad, when bad becomes good or how to achieve it.
Following the Method, I place my 3 chunks in the coals, put the lit coals in the center, then put the WSM together and put the meat on. Is there a better way to do this or am I good with this method? By the way, the WSM billows smoke for awhile, maybe an hour, then it reduces to a mere wisp of smoke for a shorter while, then almost no smoke for the remainder of the cook.

 

[Russ Harris]

I think you're good. I've done it that way and didn't have any problems. I think thats the way most people do it.

 

[D Arita]

But what about that thin blue wispy smoke that everyone tries to attain? How do I get that in my WSM?

 

[Peter Matijevich]

I prefer no wood chunks. I just use the lump charcoal and get the flavor from that.

 

[timothy]

Try splitting your chunks into 3 or 4 pcs. That was a tip I read from Kevin Kruger and I noticed a big difference. It gets you out of that heavy white smoke a lot quicker and into that thin blue smoke that we all love, a cleaner burn IMO.

HTH

Tim

 

[Dave Russell]

You definately want to let your smoke clean up some before putting the meat on, especially for chicken and even ribs...but if the humidity is low and it's a cool day, that white smoke you're seeing can very well be steam from the water pan. That's one thing I DON'T like about using water in the pan. For that matter, I think I get a better smoke flavor when I don't use water in the pan, but maybe that's in my head.

What you're cooking should dictate what you need in smoke, not only in terms of the amount of wood used, but in the kind and how much moisture's still in the wood. Chicken needs the least smoke, so less wood and/or dryer wood for less smoke. Pork butts and briskets, on the other hand, need a lot more smoke, so you don't want to use wood that's near as dry. It won't smoke near as long and you'll be tempted to add wood, which never results in good smoke, at least for a while. For brisket/butt cooks, if my wood has plenty of moisture, I don't need any more than three chunks buried in the coals, and three on top, w/ chunks that average a little smaller than my fist.

Chicken is a whole diffent matter. Less is more. In Paul Kirk's book, "Paul Kirk's Championship Barbecue", he suggests to use only "one thumb-size chunk" of wood, saying that "sixty to 90 minutes of smoke are sufficient for chicken". While I agree with his smoke time assessment, I don't agree with using such a small piece to begin with and to "add a second chunk if the first is used up at the first fuel addition". I'll use a couple of wood chunks to begin with, the size mainly depending on moisture content, and like I mentioned earlier, I'll wait until the smoke cleans up before putting the poultry on.

Hope this helps. It's a personal and subjective thing as well, so just try different amounts/kinds/season levels in your wood and find out what you like. The dryer the wood, the milder the smoke, but it's more apt to catch fire when the lid is off, and it'll often quit smoking before you want it to as well.

 

[timothy]

Before I joined the TVWB and owned a WSM I had a SNP and a ECB. I searched around the web to help me make a better BBQ for my self, and I found this link.
http://www.cbbqa.org/wiki/inde...Q_FAQ:_Using_Smokers
There is a boat load of info on there although very subjective and opinionated.
If you scroll down there is a whole section on what is the rite or wrong type of smoke that you would want.
Again that's just the opinion of those folks, what I learned was to experiment, and find out what works for me.

Tim

 

[M. Chesney]

For a nice well balanced long lasting smoke flavor I use when not using my WSM is I take a chunk of wood, wrap tin foil around it but leave a small opening for air and place it near the ashen coals. I used this technique when using my performer and wanting to add a bit of flavor for my indirect and direct grilling. I did a single rack of ribs recently I which didn't justify using my large WSM and after 5 hours the single chunk was still smoking away. Nothing beats the flavor when using a WSM but this technique was close.