Smoking Food Thread

[deacfan78]

I get my hickory and oak from a lumber yard in Cleveland, NC. They come in 6'x8' bundles. I saw them down from there.

Does what I described seem normal? After about 3 hours, I just stopped putting in wood chunks.

 

[deacfan78]

I have only been to Bibb's twice and both times I tried the brisket. I left not impressed. It tasted like someone smothered beef jerky with bbq sauce.

I have never had it before Bib's. I didn't think it was bad, but it just completely fell apart when I tried to pick up a piece with my fork. Isn't brisket supposed to be sliced and tender, not just fall apart?

 

[RacerDeac]

You should find out when the next auditions are and team up with Racer!

I think Tsy and I both entered our first competition at the same time. I have done a couple "backyard" competitions now, tasted some winning BBQ at Pro and amateur competitions, and have determined that I don't really like cooking competition BBQ. Competition BBQ tends to be over-seasoned, and is often very sweet IMO. It makes sense. You've got to pack a punch and make an impact on judges in 1-2 bites, so it's quite a bit different from smoking for a crowd or for dinner. For example: if you had to eat an entire rack of competition ribs, you'd probably end up with a stomach ache from all of the sugar/honey. I watched the winning competitor at one competition go through an entire Costco sized bottle of honey on two racks of baby backs. Pulled pork is often injected, rubbed, basted while cooking, seasoned after pulling, and then sauced with something sweet in an effort to pack a bunch of flavor into a single bite. Meanwhile, I prefer a basic rub, no basting and a light amount of a vinegar/pepper based dip if I'm smoking to make 1/3 pound pulled pork sandwiches. A competition smoked chicken thigh is often layered with so much sweet sauce that it forms like a 1/8 inch glaze on top of the thigh...looks like piece of birthday cake with BBQ fondant icing. I'm sure some folks do well with simple BBQ at competitions, but I've just never really tasted winning BBQ that I would want to sit down to an entire plate of. For me, the fun of smoking is having a lot of people over to the house or the tailgate, drinking beer all day and then chowing down on a bunch of BBQ.

From what I understand, that the recipe competition winning restaurants use in their restaurant is often quite a bit different from what they use in competition. But the trophies definitely draw a crowd and help your business!

All of that to say, I just don't like competition style BBQ.

 

[RacerDeac]

Where do you get your wood from? I think I need to find some bigger chunks than what I have picked up from Lowe's and/or Ace Hardware. The fist size chunks I have been using were turning to ash in about an hour and quit smoking while I had the butts on. Is that normal?

Sounds like your fire is too hot, IMO. You're using a charcoal smoker, right? I guess I could go back in this thread to check.

 

[deacfan78]

For me, the fun of smoking is having a lot of people over to the house or the tailgate, drinking beer all day and then chowing down on a bunch of BBQ.

I second that!

 

[RacerDeac]

Does what I described seem normal? After about 3 hours, I just stopped putting in wood chunks.

Tsy smokes with a wood burner, so he's operating under a different set of rules than a charcoal/wood chunk setup.

I prefer to never have to add fuel or more wood chunks. Using the minion method, I can smoke for 12-14 hours on a single load in my Weber unless it's really cold or windy or rainy. Generally, there's less smoke after 4-5 hours, but by then, the outer portions of the BBQ (the part that can absord smoke) is above 140 degrees, and meat doesn't absorb smoke above 140 anyway. In theory, at that point, you could finish it in the oven without really hurting the flavor. For that reason, some folks prefer to put their meat on the smoker very cold or even still partially frozen since it will give it some extra time below 140 to absorb more smoke flavor.

 

[deacfan78]

Sounds like your fire is too hot, IMO. You're using a charcoal smoker, right? I guess I could go back in this thread to check.

No, it's a gas fueled smoker with a wood pan. I read online where the wood pan that came with it was a poor design and the wood would catch fire, so people were putting a cast iron skilled on top of that and putting the wood in the skillet. Maybe I need to raise the cast iron skillet up a little higher?

 

[RacerDeac]

No, it's a gas fueled smoker with a wood pan. I read online where the wood pan that came with it was a poor design and the wood would catch fire, so people were putting a cast iron skilled on top of that and putting the wood in the skillet. Maybe I need to raise the cast iron skillet up a little higher?

Yeah, hard to tell. Can you see if the wood is actually flaming up or just smoldering? I assume the wood pan also acts as the buffer between the burner and the meat in your setup? Sounds like the wood may just be getting too hot.

 

[deacfan78]

Yeah, hard to tell. Can you see if the wood is actually flaming up or just smoldering? I assume the wood pan also acts as the buffer between the burner and the meat in your setup? Sounds like the wood may just be getting too hot.

The only time it has caught fire was when I was seasoning it. Instructions said to get it up to 300. Smoke was rolling great and I opened the door to check on it and as soon as it caught air, the wood flamed up.

Other than that, when I have smoked it has never caught fire but the wood has been cherry red on the bottom in spots and black/ashy on the sides and top. I may try wrapping the wood in foil next time and see how that works.

 

[RacerDeac]

Other than that, when I have smoked it has never caught fire but the wood has been cherry red on the bottom in spots and black/ashy on the sides and top. I may try wrapping the wood in foil next time and see how that works.

Try crumpling some tin foil, leaving some air pockets for insulation, and putting the wood chunks on top of that.

 

[deacfan78]

Try crumpling some tin foil, leaving some air pockets for insulation, and putting the wood chunks on top of that.

Will do. Thinking of smoking some stuffed chicken breasts wrapped in bacon tomorrow and maybe another fatty. The previous two I have made were with sausage, itching to try one with hamburger.

 

[tsywake]

Racer and I both smoke some damn fine meat, but our techniques are fundamentally different as he said above. I haven't smoked on a charcoal smoker in probably 5 years, but used a Brinkmann before that. I'm too spoiled with my wood burner now.

What kind of wood is ashing out on you? Hardwoods typically won't, but your flavoring wood typically goes to ash rather than coals.

Try crumpling some tin foil, leaving some air pockets for insulation, and putting the wood chunks on top of that.

This is also the first thing I'd try. Maybe soak the chunks longer in the water as well, or go with bigger chunks?

 

[OriginalAdmiral]

Got a butt on the Green Egg right now. The smell of smoke on a nice spring night is pretty damn awesome. Will be taking some Q with me to Martinsville on Sunday.

 

[deacfan78]

Racer and I both smoke some damn fine meat, but our techniques are fundamentally different as he said above. I haven't smoked on a charcoal smoker in probably 5 years, but used a Brinkmann before that. I'm too spoiled with my wood burner now.

What kind of wood is ashing out on you? Hardwoods typically won't, but your flavoring wood typically goes to ash rather than coals.


This is also the first thing I'd try. Maybe soak the chunks longer in the water as well, or go with bigger chunks?

I haven't soaked the wood at all, maybe that is the problem. I used hickory and apple on the butts.

 

[tsywake]

Yeah definitely soak the wood. Otherwise you're just adding fuel to the fire. I used to soak mine in a mixture of water and apple juice. It'll make them smolder rather than light up.

 

[tsywake]

A lot of people soak them overnight. I believe after 4-6 hours they'll have reached the peak amount of water absorbed.

 

[JDawg]

Manning up and posting pictures from last week

this was somewhere around 5-6 hours or so I think, had a bit of a fire issue and the charcoal was going out so I needed to relight, had lost a lot of heat so it wasn't an issue of losing time at that point

done!

oh and no idea if manifest pokes his head in this thread or not but you can see the spatula he gave me from the secret santa

 

[tsywake]

Nice smoke ring. Congrats!

 

[Jeff Fatt]

That looks really good. This thread needs more pictures. I have a few racks of ribs on the Egg now. Will post photos later if I don't drink too much beer. (Don't expect any photos)

 

[RacerDeac]

A lot of people soak them overnight. I believe after 4-6 hours they'll have reached the peak amount of water absorbed.

It seems like a good idea, but in practice, don't bother IMO. Wood won't soak up much water because the cells expand and seal off water from absorbing very far. Otherwise wooden barrels wouldn't hold liquids.