The Water Pan and Smoking


 
D

Dano C.

New member
So I was given the book "Smoke and Spice" for Christmas. It is the #1 book in "BBQ and Grilling" category of books.

I was disappointed.

In the opening section, they talk about the concepts behind smoking meat, and they discuss smokers with water pans. It talks about how the purpose of the water pan is to create a "moist environment" that will make the meat juicier. (I think they also, later, mention temperature regulation.)

Am I correct in thinking that this is ridiculous? The meat is running with liquid juices that escape during the cooking process. Adding a small amount of water vapor will add a negligible amount of anything to the process.

I have heard people who don't really know about smokers talk about this as being the reason for the water pan, but I am surprised to find a widely popular book say this. What do you all think?
 
IMO, the only reason for having water in the pan is to regulate the temps to at/near the bp of water, thereby creating the perfect low temps needed for slow cookin'.
 
You are correct Dano. (And correct about the book. They are neither good writers nor very cook recipe developers, imo.)

The humidity created might make the the environnment moister, but the WSM is not a steam oven by any stretch of the imagination.

Were water needed to keep or make meat moist we'd all have waterpans in our kitchen ovens.
 
Welcome to the board, Dano. You'll soon come to realize that many thing stated about BBQ over the years have no basis in fact. Just to name a few:

1. Searing holds in the juices
2. Opening the lid extends your cook time significantly.
3. Barbecue can only be cooked low and slow.
4. Meat absorbs smoke (it actually sticks to the surface).

And many more.
 
Dano
I have both Smoke & Spice and Sublime Smoke by the Jamison's but I'm not a big fan of theirs. There are many books out there that are much better resources - anything by Steve Raichlen, any of the Weber books, Peace, Love, & BBQ by Mike Mills and Amy Mills Tunnecliffe, any by Dr. BBQ (Ray Lampe) to name a few. This forum is a great place to learn and exchange information.
I know many run their WSM's with no water, very little water, foil & foiled fire bricks or clay pots, sand, etc. First guy I ever saw using a 22 1/2"r was using a half dozen golf ball sized balls of foil. I have not experimented with any of these methods yet but I'm sure I will. I've always started mine with a full pan of water and have had no trouble bringing my WSM to temp or holding the temp (usually about 250) that I want. I have always been happy with my results.
 
I agree with the assessments of Smoke n
Spice. The great thing about these forums is that you usually get different views on most subjects and then you get to figure out what works for you. I don't think anyone here has ever said that the water creates moist meat. I have read some of the books but I really learned how to cook on the WSM and Kettle reading these forums.
 
Yeah so I might take a few recipes from the "Smoke & Spice", but I'm going to move onto another book. I got a couple more for Christmas so I'll see what those are like.

But yeah, overall, I get all my BBQ knowledge from here.

Although I learned by following all the instructions in Wiviott's book "Low and Slow". Worked well! But now I have moved on from some of his restrictions.

Anyways, thanks for the great website.
 
I had trouble with Wiviott. Think he is to opinionated and he thinks his way is the only method to great barbecue. Most of us know better.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Larry Corall:
I had trouble with Wiviott. Think he is to opinionated and he thinks his way is the only method to great barbecue. Most of us know better. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Yeah, he is obnoxious in his style. Sometimes I think he is trying to be cute, but it just isn't. But I chose to just laugh about that all while reading.

I didn't know the first thing about smoking when I first got my WSM, so I followed the book in every detail; and honestly, I'm glad I did. I think it is good idea for a beginner to focus on the fundamentals. And that is what is book tries to do. I think I agree with his central thesis too: that the most important aspect of smoking with charcoal is a good, clean burning fire.

Now that I have finished all his "lessons", I have moved to Kingsford briquettes, thermometers, and other recipes, but I do think I would recommend his book to someone who, like me, knew nothing about smoking and really wanted to learn.
 
I had grilled and barbecued and experimented for many years + read through many books + threads from various barbecue forums before I read him. Not even sure I'd recomend him to a beginner - like I mentioned, I like Raichlen's "How To Grill" for that and any of the Weber books. Wiviott is just to arbitrary.
 
Here's a little experiment I did back in 2003:
"Five brisket flats, each cut in half and trimmed to weigh the same. The 10 chunks were then mixed to even out any advantage that a difference in marbling might make in the test. The idea was to cook five brisket halves with sand and five with water in the wsm pan to determine the difference between a dry and a wet cook in the wsm. The five flats were cut in half to amplify the results (more surface area exposed). Each group had a total weight of 10 lb. The dry cook had 48% shrinkage, the wet cook had 46% shrinkage. For a ten pound brisket, that's about two ounces of moisture. Which might be around 1/4 cup of liquid. The internal texture from both cooks were similar. Slices from both oozed juice when I squeezed them. The main difference was the bark on the dry cook was a little drier and chewier as well as being a little darker in color.
Not enough difference to stop using sand for ease of cleanup at home."
 
Good information! I can live with 2%. I just got my WSM and was not keen on cleaning the crud out of that water bowl after every cook. I'm using a clay pot base wrapped in foil.

Doing my first pork butt on the WSM today. Wish me luck!
 
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