smoking?


 
E

Erik G

TVWBB Pro
I made 2 butts for the first time Saturday night. I used a mixture of 3 Oak wood chunks,1 Mesquite chunk, 7 small Cherry wood chunks and 3 handful of Apple wood chips. After bbqing for 18 hours, the meat did not have any smoke taste whatsoever. Why is that? It had a nice smoke ring but lacked that flavor. I did notice in the beginning (first 2-3 hours) there was a lot of smoke and afterwards, no smoke coming out at all. I even tried to wrap the wood chunks in foil paper to slow down the smoking. I was worried that I might be oversmoking the meat and did not want a bitter taste so I didn't add more wood. The opposite occurred. Any advice would be appreciated.
 
Erik are you a smoker?

I am not but they say it makes a difference. When I started with the wsm, I used about 4 chunks. Hickory plus other woods. Oak has plenty of flavor and should get the job done. Now I use about 6 chunks and sometimes add more later in the cook. The 'smoke' should be like the exhaust out of your car. Near invisible. Visible smoke is not the goal. After the cooker settles in, you shouldn't see the smoke-the flavor is there. Thats what I know and do. I am not sure why you don't taste and smell smoke. When cooking some people have a sensory overload...you will smell it and taste it on day two if there is any bbq left.
 
When I smoke there is no visible smoke coming out of the WSM after it's good and fired up but you sure can smell and taste it. When my wife runs in the morning she says she can smell the smoker on the other side of the neighborhood.
 
No smoking here. Interesting, I was sitting right next to the smoker, looking for smoke to come out, if it didn't (or I guess if I can't see it),I added more wood. My cousin and uncle who are big bbqing fans also mentioned that the meat did not taste like it had been smoked. Although, when I was smoking the butts, I was wearing a jacket and a baseball cap (if you're wondering, a yankees hat) and they both overwhelmingly smell like smoke today. I feel like i'm a walking meat smoker. I'm not exactly sure what I did wrong. Another thing that kinda through me off was the fact on how fast the oak wood burned, after an hour or so, the wood completely burned to ashes.
 
Erik, I've noticed ,for me, that when I'm exposed to the smoke for a period of time I get desensitized to the aroma. It effects my smell and taste. This is why I have my wife taste the que cause I can't judge it. Usually after a good shower and a change of clothes I can taste a little better. It's gone by the next day.One other thing, I always use chunks of wood. If they don't burn down they make great charcoal pieces for the next burn.
 
I remember reading last year someone said to always take some and set it off to the side to eat the next day. That way you can taste what the people the day before tasted. I have many times eaten ribs that I made on the weekend and they weren't that smokey. Then a couple of days later I eat the same ribs leftover and the smoke flavor just about bowls me over.
 
Sensory over load, with all that smoke they were smokey but you sat in it and it will be very hard for you to taste that smoke. The next day having not been in smoke for hours you could taste what you put on that BBQ.
Jim
 
I don't believe it was a sensory overload since both my uncle and cousin did not taste the smoke either. They were no where near the smoke, they suggested to add more wood next time. Since this was my first butt smoke, I was a little hesitant of adding too much wood, I didn't want a bitter or over-powering taste. Next time I will not be using apple wood chips, I'm going to purchase some wood chunks.
 
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