How long before the cook begins?

Papzi

I am a relatively new egger.

How long do you wait until starting to cook?  I cooked some pork chops last night and they had a bad taste (at least in my opinion.........no complaints from the family).  The grill was set at 350 direct raised. I put the meat on about 25-30 minutes after the first match.  I used a BGE cardboard-like square as a starter with some apple chips that I put in about 5 minutes prior to placing the meat. Royal Oak lump.

I'm thinking I didn't wait long enough for the initial smoke to clear. I did put my hand over the daisy wheel and it smelled good prior to putting on the meat.

Mattman3969

It sounds like you did everything correct to ensure that the nasties were gone. I found when quick cooks like chops that the lump would impart enough smoke flavor for my taste and I don't add any extra smoke now. This will vary by lump as some are more smokey than others.

BYS1981

Royal Oak has a smokey taste also even with VOCs burned off. If the problem consists and you think the VOCs are burning off, but RO is still smokey try a neutral lump.

lousubcap

First up-welcome aboard and enjoy the journey.  The simple smoke test, "If it smells good then it is good" takes the guess-work out of the VOC question.  Now regarding the "good" smoke, as has been mentioned different brands of lump have different natural smoke profiles.  So if you are still getting too much smoke flavor from the lump alone then you may want to try a more "smoke neutral" lump.  Rockwood and Wicked Good are about the most smoke neutral that I have found. I'm sure there are others.   FWIW-

Lmidkiff

Lots of factors in how long before the cook begins. Wind, amount of charcoal, starting method, etc. I use 2 or 3 starter squares and under normal conditions it's ready in 15 minutes, 20 tops.

Papzi

I only used one starter square.  I don't think all of the lump was glowing...mostly the coals around the starter.  I'll use more next time.

lousubcap

@Papzi-head's up; you don't need all the lump burning to get rid of the VOC's.  The ambient temp surrounding the localized area of the fire is hot enough to do the job.  The small initial fire volume is how the BGE can run for many hours (24+-LBGE) without a lump reload for low&slow cooks.

pgprescott

Most will not add any smoking woods when doing direct cooks, some will, but your food will definitely be quite smokey if you add wood. The size and type of protein makes a big difference when it comes to chips and chunks. It is easy to over do it with the smoke. Less is more to start, then ease it up if you find it not smokey enough. Hard to over smoke a pork butt, easy to over smoke a chicken.

Papzi

I think I may have over-smoked the meat. Thanks for the input all!