Why doesn't Minion method tait food?

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I have only had my WSM for a few weeks and have cooked a few times on it and absolutely love it.

One of the things that I don't find particurally enjoyable about Qing is getting the smoker fired up and ready to cook. So I was naturally interested in and intrigued by the Minion method and decided to give it a shot this past weekend.

I should also say up-front that I am skeptical by nature. I also happen to think that charcoal REALLY stinks when first lit so I was pretty much convinced that it was going to taint the taste of the food but decided to try anyway based on information on this site.

I fired up the cooker according the article posted on this site and cooked two Boston Butts and two slabs of ribs. Much to my surprise and delight the food came off fantastic and without even a hint of charcoal taste. Needless to say that I am quite convinced and will use it from here on.

My question: I think that the nasty smell of charcoal FAR overpowers the sweet smell of the smoking wood and yet the food takes on taste from the wood and not the charcoal. How is this so? Believe me, I am in no way complaining I am mearly curious as it is really counter-intuitive to me.

Thanks in advance for your time . . .

Larry
 
I don't have an answer, but I have a question that also has to do with firing up. For shorter cooks I like the Standard method because the fuel consumption is more reasonable. There are a couple of things I don't like. One, you have to manage the temp on the way down. Second, it seems to take a long time before you can actually start cooking. Has anyone tried putting the meat on immediately after you put on the unlit coals. Of course I could experiment, but it's much easier to just ask the question. There is nothing new under the sun and not much new on this forum ! /infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif

Thanks, PRG
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Paul G.:
[qb]Has anyone tried putting the meat on immediately after you put on the unlit coals.[/qb] <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>You could, but then you'd have to keep an eye on the cooker for the temp change as the second chimney of briquets lights up. I've almost come to the conclusion that $13 for a second Weber chimney would be money well spent-- I could be fired up, at target temp, and cooking in under an hour.

I know a lot of people place emphasis on the "getting cooking sooner" aspect of the Minion method-- and I don't have a problem with cooking with not-yet-lit charcoal in the cooker-- but I guess I just don't find it a big problem to bring the cooker down to target.
 
Paul-

Yep, I have done that many times (added the meat right after putting unlit briqs on top of lit briqs.) You do have a to keep a close eye on temps as the unlit will catch quickly since they are being lit from the briqs below. In the past when I have done this, I have usually had to utilize some cold water in the water pan to keep things in check. It evens out after an hour or 90 mins in most cases, though.

These days, I use the MM for all WSM cooks. Light a chimney, fill the ring, rub the meat, add the lit to the ring, assemble cooker, add meat. I'm lazy! Usually I get to my target cooking temp of 230 (for most things) within 45 mins to an hour.

HTH,
Rich G.
 
Welcome Larry!

Not sure about your dilemna! I personally think so many have heard about unlit charcoal being so foul smelling that they detect something that is not really there?

Regardless, I have long held that if you slather a rub on your meat, then apply smoke and then apply sauce, there is simply NO way you could detect any foul tastes from unlit charcoal.

Anyway, glad to hear your cook came out great!

Paul....

Ever since finding Jim Minion I have never fired up the WSM in any other way....no matter how long the cook will be. I ALWAYS put my meat on immediately upon putting the cooker together. I know exactly how much charcoal to use and I very rarley have any leftover.

This alleviates the 2 problems you mentioned......you are cooking right away and you can control the temp on the way up.
 
Stogie

Thanks for the info on firing up. I would also prefer to use Minion for all low temp cooks. Could you tell me the amount of charcoal you use for shorter cooks with average amounts of meat, i.e. 4 to 6 chicken halves or 2 to 4 racks of ribs. Also do you use water and if so which pan.

Thanks, PRG
 
I always use the Minion Method and have yet to have anything close to bad tasting, aside from using too much wood smoke when I was first learning to use the smoker.

I suppose that using poor quality charcoal "might" cause the food to be tainted. I always use Kingsford, without issue.
 
Paul....

Boy, that's a hard one. Only because there are so many variables...wind, ambient temp, amount of lit coals I use, meat load, etc.

I fill the charcoal ring about 3/8...not quite half when cooking anything for 6 hours...ribs mainly. It doesn't matter how many racks as they all take 6 hours to finish. I use my kettle for cooking chicken so no help there. For long cooks, I have the charcoal ring overflowing with fresh briqs.

All I can suggest is to practice and keep notes. If you do overshoot, I ALWAYS use the remaining coals on my next cook.

I use the regular WSM pan and use sand....NO need to buy the Brinkman pan if using sand. Have been using sand since last year when DB mentioned it. The only drawback that we MAY notice is the rusting of the water pan. Sand will trap moisture and any bare metal it comes in contact with will rust over time. The WSM pan is coated so this shouldn't be an issue for many years.
 
Ladies and Gentlemen

Now to reveal the real reason most people do not notice a taint to food cooked using Minion. The lack of tainted taste is directly related to the number of adult beverages consumed during the course of the cook. Too few will lead to many complaints, such as "when will it be ready"; "company will be here in a few minutes"; "did you cook enough for eveyone"; you cooked way too much"; and, "this food has a funny taste". With the correct number of beverages, the problems just don't seem to bother you. With too many beverages, the problems don't bother you, but you bother other people. /infopop/emoticons/icon_biggrin.gif

PRG
 
The bad smell of unlit or partially lit charcoal is a fallacy, assuming you're not using Match Light or something similar. This also assumes you use Kingsford, other brands may be just as good, I don't know. I know Kingsford works, so I stick with it. Why mess with a good thing? I'm not sure why or where this idea came from, but it's wrong. In a truly blind taste test I defy anyone to tell the difference in any food. By this I mean having no idea, which plate of food came from which method of cooking. Ask most anyone on this board.
 
Larry
When you put a flame to Kingsford the smell you are talking about is present but just placing burning coals on unlit charcoal does not produce that same odor. After years of having the food going through blind judging by a large number of competition cooks we find that the taste you describe is just not present.
Jim
PS: Paul adult beverages can help the taste of anything. /infopop/emoticons/icon_wink.gif
 
Jim (and others), thanks for the reply. I too noticed that the taste was not present. However, I did notice the smell coming from the top vent of my WSM during cooking (perhaps I was being overly sensitive as it was my first time trying it).

But based on the fact that it did not impart a taste to the meat I am a really happy camper and probably won't ever start my WSM the "conventional" way again.

I too agree that adult beverages help the tase of things - I always make sure I have plenty on hand for guests. /infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif

L
 
That is a tough query. I wonder the same myself. However, think of it this way: the same stuff on the outside of the charcoal is on the inside of the charcoal.

Really, there is no difference in material throughout the charcoal briquet, so why would one expect any difference in taste when cooking over fully gray vs black/gray briquets? /infopop/emoticons/icon_confused.gif
 
Doug, I completely agree that a Kingsford charcoal Briquette is basically a homogenious blob of "stuff". In earlier smokes when I have started the smoker using the "conventional" method the smoke coming out of the smoker carried the sweet smell of the smoking wood. However, when I did my cook starting with the Minion method, the smoke coming from the cooker had a distinctly pungent smell - much like the smell I smell when starting charcoal. Maybe it is just me (or that I am imagining it) but I think that freshly list charcoal has a distinctly different smell thant charcoal that has been lit for a while and turned nice and grey (hence my question).

That said, the food came off great and there was no taste so my question was more based on simple curiosity than anything else and the Minion method is it for me from now on.

BTW: I am (and have always) used standard Kingsford Charcoal - not the match-lite stuff.

Thanks again for your time . . .

Larry
 
On the subject of charcoal and setting up for MM cooks both short and long. Does anyone know the number of pounds of charcoal to fill a Weber chimney Also, how many chimneys does it take to fill the charcaol ring ?

Thanks, PRG
 
It's supposed to hold 6 pounds. My estimation is a full ring is 2.5 to a little under 3 Weber chimneys.
 
I have heard in reference to "Adult Beverages" that..."The Perfect dinner is an additional drink and an hours delay."

/infopop/emoticons/icon_wink.gif The neat thing about BBQing is that both are very possible!

Ed

"Sutainio Alas!"
 
Could be that the "bad" aroma component of the charcoal volatilizes during the warm-up and the high temp coals thoroughly oxidize the results. When starting a fresh load there are no high temp (already lit) coals to do this, so you smell it on start-up but less so as you add briqs later.

I have used an ECB for about 10 years and have always used the Minion method, although I didn't know it had a name. I don't recall ever noticing the charcoal start-up smell during the cook. Only noticed it when lighting up a fresh chimney.
 
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