Not getting a smoke ring

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Scott C Smithville

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Looking for some help my neighbors say that the rub and the test is good on my ribs and pork butt but the lack of smoke and smoke ring they are not tasteing. I am at 225 on temp and have used apple wood everytime I smoke just looking for some advice. No bark and 4 chunks of wood half the size of tennis balls each. Any info would be helpful. Thank you.
 
You can't taste a smoke ring, but put the meat on cold and keep your smoke going until the meat reaches what...140* or something when smoke ring formation ends? I smoke a lot longer than that though, especially with butt or brisket.

Anyway, for pork butt I'd suggest mixing some hickory and/or oak with that apple since you want a lot MORE and LONGER smoke and the denser nutwoods will help. It's EASY to oversmoke ribs (and chicken), but kind of hard to do with pork butts and brisket, at least on the wsm. Keep in mind though that if your neighbors have had some really exceptional bbq cooked in wood-fired pits, that's gonna be hard to duplicate on a wsm. You can get pretty good smoke flavor on the wsm though, and most folks with wood-fired pits, at least "backyard" size offsets, tend to OVER-smoke anyway. It's a LOT of work to do long cooks and keep a clean fire on what I'd call an "affordable" wood-fired pit.
 
Smoke flavor will continue to develop as long as smoke is present. The smoke ring, which is a chemical reaction that starts at the surface and extends inward, ceases as the meat warms, as Dave notes.

I agree: use hickory or add some to your apple.
 
Scott, I put my meat on cold, and before the WSM has made it up to temp. (just lazy I guess), and always have a good ring. I also use about 60 to 70 % hickory and 30 to 40 % apple on almost all of my pork or beef smokes. My chickens, turkey, etc gets more fruit woods.
Dave and Kevin said it first, so I guess I am just adding my 2 cents also!
Grab some hickory.
Oh, and I have never worried about being bark free.
 
A few years ago my wife and I did a rib cookoff at the cottage for guests. I used an old gasser with smoke bags offset for a few hours and she used a cheapie charcoal grill and tossed liberal amounts of wood chips on for her 45 minute cook. At the end, she had a great smoke ring and I had a lesser ring. Hers were tough and sinewy and mine were tender and smoky flavoured. Pretty is nice but tasty is nicer.

Respectful of the above, any hardwood will give you a ring.
 
Hi,

apple do not have a strong smoke flavor so it might not help .... personnally i use Maple, yellow birch or oak wood and my chunks are bigger than a tennis ball ... take a look at this pics i posted a while back :
IMG_0336.jpg


with ribs i use 3-4 chuck like this and butt maybe 5-6 ...
 
I ditched apple wood a long time ago. I had read rave reviews for apple. But, for my tastes, it is too mild. I like a strong smoke flavor. For ribs and butts, I would also recommend hickory, though mesquite works well too, IMO.
 
Steve, I agree with all the other advice you've been given, but I'd like to add that a variety of woods can add great flavor. I personally do not have easy access to hickory so I use pecan wood, an excellent substitute, and apple, which is also available to me. The pecan is stronger than the apple but I can tell when I don't use any apple so I know it helps. It sounds like you're not using enough wood to begin with and could use a stronger brand, and I'd recommend a blend. Good luck!
 
Well, I used apple (only) on a prime rib roast on the week end. I think the smoke from the briquettes totally dominated.

In my case, I think the apple was a waste in this attempt.

I guess the next time I won't use any and see what the end result is.

Your mileage may vary.
 
Originally posted by Len Dennis:
Well, I used apple (only) on a prime rib roast on the week end. I think the smoke from the briquettes totally dominated.

In my case, I think the apple was a waste in this attempt.

I guess the next time I won't use any and see what the end result is.

Your mileage may vary.
Click to expand...

Try some oak next time. Beef's what the Good Lord made it for.
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According to Alton Brown on his recent "Good Eats: Right on Q" episode on Food Network, the importance of a smoke ring is a fallacy. He said that it can be reproduced by applying certain things to the meat and you can have a perfectly smoked piece of meat that has little or no smoke ring. He even said that the presence of a smoke ring (or not) has been disqualified as a scoring condition for many professional BBQ competitions around the country.
 
This has been a known issue long before AB became a 'personality'. Notwithstanding the ease of artificially creating one (a little nitrate will do it), smoke rings add a certain something to finished look and many of us like to see them.
 
Amen, Kevin. If someone plated me up a few brisket slices, no garnish or sauce drizzle would distract me from the absence of a decent smoke ring. That's just basic and it's what tells me it's smoked before I even take a bite.
 
While I absolutely agree that it looks great and if given the choice, I'd rather see one than not, I'd rather have a great end product with no smoke ring than a less-than-great end product with a great smoke ring. And trust me, I've done way more of the latter myself, than the former.
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I did a turkey a few weekends ago that looked and tasted great and had a great smoke ring, but bottom line was I overcooked by about 20 degrees (I don't have a probe and need to get one) and the end result was dry turkey.
 
Just to mirror the above, WOW, that seems to be a lot of wood. I probably use half of that depending on what I'm cooking. I also have a bark question that I'll post separaetley.
 
The downside of a great smoke ring...

You have to reassure people who have never had "real" home cooked BBQ that, "The pink is the smoke ring, NOT undercooked pork...."

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I've had to do it several times....
 
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