Whats wrong here?


 
P

Pinny

TVWBB Super Fan
Lately I started (trying) smoking in my gas grill (Q 300), and the way I did it was by placing the food over a portion of my grill where there was no burner. Unfortunatly however, the food was still getting burnt on bottom so I tried instead to place foil over the burner and then placing my food on top of a roasting rack on top of the foil. Upon doing this the food ceased to burn, but I noticed that my food seemed to have lost some of it's bbq flavor.

I tried to fix this by adding more wood chips to my cooks, and the food for sure has a stronger "woodsy" flavor but it doesn't have the same bbq smokey flavor that it had before. I'm guessing that what's happening is I'm losing the flavor from the juices of the meat dripping and vaporizing back up (the foil doesn't really get hot enough to cause the juices to steam back up - you can actually see the juices pool), and replacing them with the less tasty (IMO) smoke from the wood chips.

Does any of this make sense? Maybe you have some idea's for me? Thanks!
 
Pinny,

I'm strictly a charcoal man these days, but here's my .02. Stay with the indirect method but adjust your temps accordingly. I don't necessarily agree with your 'dripping - vaporizing' theory because on a low and slow in the wsm, especially with water in the pan or foil over clay saucer, there is no vaporizing yet there is flavor. That comes from the smoke, meat and rub. I think your should continue to experiment with wood chips and temps in an indirect environment. Also, send off a personal email to Phil Hartcher for a quicker response. He knows his Weber grills. Konrad Haskins would be another excellent source for info. Both are regular contributors to this forum with years of experience.
 
Paul, I respect your opinion, as I know you probably have 1000x the grilling experience I do, but I'm not sure I agree with your reasoning - when you cook in the WSM, i think you do get a lot of vaporizing action. That is, even in a low-temp smoke, the grates still reach 250 degrees which is enough to vaporize drops of fat/marinade/juices that hit them. With my foil, however, I don't think it really retains any heat, or enough to noticably vaporize those liquids. I would add as further support to what I'm saying that burgers and steaks seem to have a kinda bbq taste even when cooked on a gas grill with no wood added. Since there's no wood smoke here, the bbq flavor can only be from the juices vaporizing as I'm describing.

I am likely however totally wrong. I'll ask Phil and Konrad like you suggest. Thanks.

Also, mike tu, good suggestion - I'm excited about getting one of the ProQ stackers to turn my SJP in a quasi-WSM. I'm just waiting to hear from someone how well it works before dropping $75+shipping.
 
Pinny,

I think we're confusing 2 different cooking methods here; grilling vs bbqing/smoking. You are correct that grilling (on the hot grates) does impart a distinct flavor to foods; that's why so many of us do it
icon_biggrin.gif
! And that's the flavor I believe you describe when you write about the burgers and steaks. But grilling is generally intended for quick-high heat cooks as opposed to the longer lower temp cooks of traditional bbqing. With grilling, do to the shorter cooks, it's more difficult to get the smoke flavoring imparted on the food from dry wood, but you do get flavor from the charcoal and/or drippings of juices/fats onto the heat source. I feel that grilling essentially creates the 'maillard reaction' which caramelizes the exterior of the meat and produces the good flavor. If you introduce foil into the equation, then you're adding a barrier between the hot grates and your meat which will detract from the intended affect (grill marks or seared meat and the associated flavor). Actually 250 is not that hot when one thinks about grilling. With grilling I feel you need to go up at least another 100+ degrees - 375 min to 500 and then use both direct and indirect cooking zones, but that's another topic, sorry.

The vaporization process you mention I think is different than true dripping of fat and juices onto coals, rocks or vaporizors (tented shields in gas grills) in charcoal and gas grills. If you put a foil barrier down to prevent burning you'll also prevent the fats/juices from dripping anywhere; they'll pool in the foil. Those that use the "Ugly Drum Smoker" (converted 55 or 85 gallon drums) swear that they get a distinct flavor from those drippings. If one were to remove the water pan from a WSM and cook with a high temp fire, you could duplicate that effect.

Maybe I misunderstood you, but you had started off by stating "Lately I started (trying) smoking in my gas grill...", so I went with the smoking route and that usually means a lower temp and longer cook. I'm sure Phil, Konrad or many others can come up with a pithy answer. I seem to be rambling on here. I hope I didn't confuse you more
icon_rolleyes.gif
.

Paul
 
Paul, I think you understood me well. I think I'm trying to achieve what the UDS people talk of - smoked food that also tastes grilled.

Likely the reason I got this in the past is because I "slow-cooked" my chicken at 375-400. And, yes, I know exactly what you're thinking - that 375 is not your typical slow cook temperature. But, that's probably why it came out grilled tasting.

Anyway, you've given me alot of ideas to play with, and I really appreciate it. Also I sent out emails; it'll be interesting to see what I hear back.
 
Great! For me, I love the process of learning, experimenting, cooking hands-on, and learning more. Enjoy the journey!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

 

Back
Top