minion method ??

[Glenn Fleming]

sup folks:

decided too do a rack of spares yesterday on the kettle. got my fire bricks setup and started with some WGC lump and chunks of apple and oak then added 4 to five lit briquettes, all went well but there seems too be Alot of harsh smoke at the beginning of the process,a dn wondered it it has a negative effect on the meat, i could not tell though.. smoked for bout 4.5 hours really good time.. thanx

glenn in SC

 

[Phil Perrin]

Glenn,did you use Kingsford? It has a bad reputation for smelling bad when being lit. I've never noticed it before,but some people really hate on the K.

 

[Mike Purnell]

Wood at first will produce a lot of dense smoke. If it was, you should wait a little for it to settle down before adding the meat. The light, consistent smoke is what you're looking for. That harsh, thick smoke can add a nasty flavor & residue to the food.

 

[Shawn W]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Mike Purnell:
Wood at first will produce a lot of dense smoke. If it was, you should wait a little for it to settle down before adding the meat. The light, consistent smoke is what you're looking for. That harsh, thick smoke can add a nasty flavor & residue to the food. </div></BLOCKQUOTE> What Mike said. you can choose to do minion method, let the smoke clear, let the smoker stabilize to some degree then quickly add your food. It's the same with adding smoke wood really.

After doing smoking for a few years I began to appreciate comments I'd read about adding chunks of wood and allowing it to 'fire over' .... engulf in flames then settle into a nice low smoke before adding the food.

Not sure how else to describe it ... clean smoke tastes much better than 'wood lighting up' smoke.