Putting meat on the smoker


 
J

James Mundy

TVWBB Member
My question is thus -

Do you wait until your smoker has come up to the correct cooking temperature before adding meat? Or do you slap the meat on the racks as soon as you've emptied your chimney on top of your coals?

Due to time constraints and my own forgetfulness I put a couple of spare rib racks on the weber as soon as I'd added the lit charcoal and wood chunks. So I started cooking from 99 Celsius and didn't reach my proper cooking temp of 135 celcius (275f) for about 45 minutes, I cooked them for 2 hours 45 mins before foiling for 1 1/2 hours.

The ribs were still wonderfully tender and moist, though perhaps a smidgen overdone. I think I could have cooked them for slightly less time.

What say you gentlemen?
Thanks.
 
Hi James,

I do what you do, except I spend a little time setting up the stoker... maybe 2 minutes, then on with the meat.
 
Interesting that there are two contrasting opinions, Bob, do you find that adding meat straight to a wsm when not up to temp adds to your cooking time much? I'm unsure of whether to increase cooking time due to this or stick to the time in the recipe.

I added an extra 15 mins of smoking before foiling and they probably didn't need this.
 
Also depends on how you light your smoker and how long it takes to bring the temps up. I use a foiled pan, minion method and hit the coals a bit with a torch to bring it up quickly. I find doing this I get to a thin blue smoke quicker. I toss the meat on right away but don't start the timer till I come up to temp but it is pretty quick doing it this way. Usually about 15 minutes give or take.
 
dump the charcoal and flop down the meat.
what are you waiting for? :D
i'm hungry, let's eet!
no timer required, the meat's done when it's done!
 
James,

Really don't know the answer to the question since I never, ever, bbq by time. Yes, I have expectations of when a particular cook will be done. Unlike cooking or baking, which generally use products that have some consistency (quality control wise), the items you most often BBQ do not. So, as Jim noted : "the meat's done when it's done!". HTH
 
I guess I am the odd ball. I am not so concerned with getting the cooker to temp as I am getting the fire burning clean. Therefore, I usually wait a few minutes. I plan an hour for lighting the chimney, putting the lit on the unlit, and getting a clean burning fire. Once the fire is burning clean the food goes on whether the cooker is to temp or not -- it'll get there soon enough. If I want any smoke I add it with wood chunks. I also agree with the "it's done when it's done" rule. I use time as a trigger to check the food, not consider it done.
 
I wait till the cooker comes up to temp. This way I'm not trying to regulate the temp because I have had it spike and it took a little while to get it down.
 
As it was spare ribs I was cooking I couldn't rely on internal temps, so I followed the recipe of 2.5 hours then 1.5hours foiled, after this they were nicely done, and perhaps a tad over. I think in future I'll spend a few minutes getting the smoker temp up a bit and then shove it on.
 
I generally wait about as long as it takes me to assemble the cooker after adding the coals for the minion method. Then its on with the meat!
 
What is your definition of " burning clean " and how that effects the finished product? I am a light the fire, kick the tire and on goes the meat guy.
 
I have switched to the Minion method exclusively now and it I have got it down now where I can dump the coals from the chimney load it and close it right away and I can prevent the temp spike now.
 
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