Judging smoke flavor


 
Thanks for this post Dave. I do like to see that "Thin Blue Smoke" until the internal meat temp hits approx. 140*. I've read here and elsewhere the smoke flavor imparted to the meat after that is negligible. That's just what I've read.

One other thing I do is to try to position the chunks of wood close to the 3 bottom vents on the WSM. They seem to produce more smoke longer with that slight induced air draft across them. I'm only a few smokes in so it may change as time goes on.
 
Mike, I know it's a commonly held idea, but I have to disagree with the correlation with 140*. That's the temp where you'll quit getting smoke ring formation, but from my experiences with stickburning on an offset, I think that it's better to get smoke (assuming it's clean) for the better part of the cook vs. the smoke quitting before bark formation. Not saying you need to see smoke for the whole cook though.

I'll have to try placing the wood chunks in front of the vents. Thanks for the tip.
icon_smile.gif
 
Yes you certainly can, but I gotta point out that you'll get cleaner smoke from wood buried in the coals.

HOWEVER, I certainly do find myself adding a small chunk to the fire when the smoke peters out sooner than I'd like...and I don't think my instincts are always wrong. On my turkey smoke a couple of weeks ago I remember wanting to add another chunk but resisted the temptation. Guess what? The smoke flavor was so subtle! Evidently, my fire was burning cleaner than usual, and I honestly think that a couple more pecan chunks would've just made it better. It was my very first low-n-slow, water-in-the-pan turkey though, and I thought I might oversmoke it, especially since it was butterflied. I tried something new and used four of the Weber firestarters in the top of the charcoal, not JUST lighting with the torch as I usually do.
 
Laying a cold chunk of wood right on top of lit coals doesn't "develop" dirty smoke. It's actually the first smoke you'll see (or smell) before you get better combustion and the smoke "cleans up" (lightens up)...that is, if your coal bed is hot enough to start getting better combustion. Of course, you'll also get bad smoke for a pretty good while if you let the wood catch fire with the cooker open and then shut it up.

Wood that's buried in the coals will be hot before it starts smoking though, so you get better combustion right off the bat.

By all means though, keep with what works for you. Besides, you probably don't use much wood anyway, and the less wood you use, the less potentially dirty smoke ends up on the meat. Right?
icon_wink.gif
I've never oversmoked anything on the wsm to the point that it raised any eyebrows with my guests, but when the flavor is just right, well...
icon_smile.gif
 
Dave,

I also resisted the urge to add more wood for my turkey last week, and was glad I did. It was a nice subtle flavor. I started with two medium sized chunks- one oak and one apple- and split those in two. Buried one of each, and put one of each on top.

It was the best smelling cook I've ever done (out of hundreds). Part of it might have been the roasting pan with goodies in it below the turkey, part of it might have been the herbal rub with the oil and high heat. I don't know.
 
The worst smoke flavor I ever tasted was produced by a buddy of mine who cooked on a weber kettle. He would load op one side with hot coals and wood and put his brisket on the other side. He tried to keep the temp down around 225 by closing the top vent. It was hard to pry the lid off due to years of tar build-up that he said was a seasoned pit. He thought that's what bbq was supposed to taste like. If your tounge didn't go numb from the bitterness, It wasn't smoked enough.
The best smoke flavor I ever ate was off of a huge offset pit. This sucker could hold four hogs. To heat the cooking chamber, I had to feed the firebox three or four logs every 45 minutes. After 20 hours of smoke from around 60 logs, the pork and brisket was the best I've ever tasted. Not a hint of bitterness. The meat had a deep, rich smoke flavor. The pork tasted like it was halfway to becoming ham.
Another buddy of mine, after hearing how pulled pork in the carolinas was so great, took a tour of the famous bbq joints there. Most joints pre-burn the wood down to coals and the pork is cooked directly over the hot bed. He discovered that there was almost no smoke flavor. Tasted like it was cooked in an oven, he said. But the locals call it bbq and love it.
So, these are examples of the wide range of smoke flavor in barbequing. A smoldering fire in the kettle, a very hot fire (nothing but burning coals) in the south, and the perfect fire, somewhere between 500 and 800 degrees in an large offset firebox.
In my little bullet, I try to reproduce the flavor from an offset. I've tried many different ways over the last 25 years. The closest I've gotten was when I put down a layer of charcoal, the spread wood chips on it, more charcoal, a few wood chunks, more wood chips, one more layer of charcoal and chunks and chips then I pour a full chimney of lit coals on top. Bottom vents open a crack, top vent wide open.
I run the pit around 235. If I let the temp drop below 225, I begin to get bitter smoke flavor. The temp of the coals drops too low and the smoke get a little bitter. I will toss a few wood chunks on top of the coals throughout the cook, but not at the beginning. As long as the pit is above 225, they will burn properly if they are not too large. After about 16 to 18 hours, I get a nicely smoked brisket. Not as good as an offset, but as close as I can get on a bullet.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by paul h:
Been putting my smoke wood on top of my lit coals for years. How does that develop "dirty" smoke
icon_confused.gif
</div></BLOCKQUOTE>

I was reminded of something during a chicken smoke the day before yesterday, and wanted to come back to Paul's post.

Basically, I was having a hard time getting my temp up where I wanted it, so I added a chimney bottom's worth of lit lump about 45 minutes after starting the cook. Well, it's a good thing that I only had one wood chunk on top, because when the hot coals hit that chunk, my smoke went from sweet to
icon_eek.gif
!!! The smoke was so bad that I couldn't see the wood chunk to remove without having to do the hot squat and replace the lump I knocked out of the ring! Immediately after putting the cooker back together I was thankful that my buried wood had started smoking....but thankfully, producing the sweet aroma I look for.
icon_smile.gif
Anyway, off the top of my head, the other two ways I've gotten similiar NASTY smoke is by letting the wood on top catch fire before getting the lid on, and turning wood chunks over to get more smoke out of 'em.

My point is, <span class="ev_code_RED">there's three classifications of smoke</span> in my opinion. We've got the occasional flat out toxic stuff as I 'fessed up to already, but the second category is the "mixed" smoke you get just after putting a wood chunk on the coals, and that's obviously not gonna ruin anything. However, over the course of a cook, like other users observe, I've found the need to limit the number of (cold) wood chunks introduced to the fire...hence the term, "oversmoked". If adding any during the cook, best suggestion I can give is to make sure they're well seasoned and small enough to first preheat between the ring and the bowl.

The third category though is SWEET...but don't go by sight alone since weather and steam from the pan can make it look like it isn't so. I smoked my chickens the other day for the ENTIRE COOK though, with lump and pecan. One chunk started on top, and three buried. The SMOKER was still smoking when I pulled the birds off, and the flavor was a fine as ever. No surprise though since all my smoke had passed the sniff test during the cook.
icon_wink.gif
 
My first attempts at BBQ were cooking offset in a gasser with smoke bags (thanks Food Network). Having used the WSM for 2 years now, I still remember my first butt on the gasser as one of my best.
My worst: First attempt at beer can chicken using mesquite. Great colour (rubber skin), great moisture but horrible, acrid smoke flavour. I think I must have used the equivalent of 10 fist sized chunks. I burped smoke for days.
Aside, this post has taken a few detours but I wanted to note that meat does not "stop absorbing smoke" at any temperature. Smoke particles will continue to adhere to meat as long as they are present (back to my charcoal chicken). Different woods have different levels of flavour. Instead of using more, maybe just use something more intense. For me, that no longer includes mesquite
icon_smile.gif
 
I use oak with every cook. Sometimes it's mixed with mesquite or apple or pecan, depending on what I'm cooking. Often it's used alone, and it is my "foundation" wood. There are two times it seems when it smells best. One is right when the lit lump is dumped into the ring at the start. But this awesome smell usually goes away within minutes as the smoke builds up before it settles down. The other is an hour or two into the cook, with that thin blue smoke. That is hard to get for long periods though.

The best smoke taste I think I ever had was the recent high heat turkey I did for Thanksgiving. I used two medium chunks and split them in two. Buried two of the smaller pieces, and put the other two smaller pieces on top. Smelled sweet after it settled down for 30 minutes. Smoke gave out after a couple hours or so, but it was perfect for the turkey.

I do think burying a few of the pieces helps.
 
Dave, Dave, Dave, Are you saying that one little ol' chunk of wood made that much difference and smoke
icon_rolleyes.gif
. I've been putting wood on hot coals for a long time. Evidently my conception and your conception of foul smoke must be different. I look at at this way,to each their own when it comes to BBQ. I happen to like the heavier smoke on certain meats(pork butt and brisket)but that's my taste. Lots of different ways of smoking. How do you know that the foul smell isn't a combo of your wood and the lump your using?
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by paul h:
Dave, Dave, Dave, Are you saying that one little ol' chunk made that much difference and smoke(?)...How do you know that the foul smell isn't a combo of your wood and the lump your using? </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

I assume you're referring to the one chunk of pecan that started putting off really nasty smoke when I poured glowing hot lump on to further raise my temp. It was pretty easy to see what had happened since the nasty smoke was immediately gone once I removed the chunk of wood.
 
Dave - I have learned through trial and error what works best for me to achieve the thin blue smoke that we desire for the best wood smoke flavor.

I began by trying to get smoke flavor from a Char-Broil infrared cooker that has no direct means to put smoke wood on. Basically, you throw a handful or two of smoke wood into a SS cooking chamber, preheat the cooker, and hope for a very slight smoke-kissed flavor that never was overwhelming regardless of how much wood, chips or pellets you used.

I then began tossing a handful of wood chips in a foil "smoke bomb" placed on a heat tent in a gas grill. This was like throwing a lit match into the ocean, as far as smoke flavor goes. Never had any luck with this, only had to clean out a foil ball with some charred wood bits in it.

Next, I got a Weber 22" OTG, and threw some wood chips and/or chunks directly on the coals once they were lit. This gave OK results, but not for long smokes on the kettle. I now get small hickory logs & apple wood chunks cut from logs and I split them myself into small but longer sticks, and put them on one side of the grill on top of the lit coals, with one small end touching a lit coal. This helps the smoke last longer for me anyway.

I now like to bury some wood chips and chunks in a ring of coals in my WSM. I use a smaller diameter coffee can for a modified Minion method start, and I will always put a wood chunk on the grate below the lit coals in the center of my charcoal ring. This helps to avoid the nasty bitter smoke associated with putting wood directly onto hot coals, and it usually gives the smoke flavor a head start until the buried pieces have a chance to begin smoking.

Dave - I guess my palate may not be as sensitive as yours when it comes to wood smoke flavor, but I can tell when it is bitter on my cooks. Also, I cannot stand the nasty KB smell when I try to use it before it is completely lit. It seems like I can tell when Kingsford has been used and wasn't completely ashed over before cooking began. I know that there has been some discussion about whether or not to using fully lit Kingsford vs. starting your cook on partially lit Kingsford will make a difference, but it sure seems to affect flavor, especially on chicken and hamburgers. I prefer Stubb's but only when I can get it on sale. Otherwise, I use KB and wait until it ashes over.
 
Jim, honestly don't think I have that sensitive a palate, and besides, sounds like you're more sensitive to the Kbb flavor than myself. For the longest, I'd read a post about it and think it was in folk's heads until I found out for myself. Sounds to me like you're willing to try different things and take note though, and that's what it's all about.

I think I'm rather slow in putting two and two together and after reading my post earlier about the 3 kinds of smoke I regretted stating what I now feel is the obvious. Consider this example of how I learned to get better ribeyes. I've always thought that steaks were supposed to have a really mean sear and that fat in the flames was the way to do it. Well, it took a post of Kevin Kruger's for me to put two and two together and realize that the flare-ups put a bitter flavor on the steaks. Next time I grilled steaks I only put lump under half the grate so I could spin the top around if needed. WOW. I found out how to get better steaks, but it wasn't because my palate was sensitive enough to realize there was anything wrong with my ribeyes to begin with. I just came across a post and the word "bitterness" seemed to click with me.

In the same way, not too long ago I was still using green fruitwood on the wsm, not worrying too much if my wood caught flame before getting the smoker shut and other mistakes, and experimenting with cooking dry on the wsm. Just like with the ribeyes, it's not that I was noticing anything bad about my bbq. Get my drift? I've just had some really eye-opening cooks lately and am starting to realize that just like with an offset stickburner, there's some techniques to smoking on the kettle and the bullet, after all.
 
I'm with you, Dave. It isn't always about being able to detect three fewer grains of salt or pepper in a bite of a particular dish, but learning what effect small changes have in the taste or complexity of a meal or an entree.

Sometimes understanding the meaning of a word in relation to making changes in the way you prepare food can make a huge difference in the finished product. Hope that makes sense.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Jim H.:
Sometimes understanding the meaning of a word in relation to making changes in the way you prepare food can make a huge difference in the finished product. Hope that makes sense. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

HMMMMM..Don't know that I get what you're trying to say there. I mean, I know that you don't want to put four TB of fresh ground pepper on a chop if the recipe calls for "cracked" black pepper, but care to elaborate on the connection? Like I said, I'm slow.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

 

Back
Top