Amazing Ribs video last night

H12mike · December 2014

Did anyone see the discussion last night about smoke? According to Dr.Blonder the Egg does not have enough air flow to produce good smoke. He stated that in order for the egg to cook low and slow we starve the fire of oxygen which is needed for quality smoke. Did I mis-understand him? I have only had my Egg since July but have never have had acrid tasting meat. How do you increase the oxygen flow without increasing temps? Any ideas?

lousubcap · December 2014

Laws of physics say there's no way with a fire to dial up the air-flow (aka oxygen) and not increase the burn rate thus temp. But if someone figures it out please share.

theyolksonyou · December 2014

Two questions:

1. Are you happy with the taste/smoke quality of your food?

2. If the answer is yes, does it really matter what he said?

if you look at some of the cooks on the forum, you'll see some really good smoke rings. You'll see many people talking about friends/relatives raving about the food. I don't know the science he's using to get there, but my eyes and tongue tell me otherwise. JMHO

Photo Egg · December 2014

I was warned years ago, before I ever fired up my new BGE, not to over due it on wood chunks.

This was not an issue with my large offset smoker as long as there was a fire in the firebox. It was powered completely with split logs. If you some how smothered the fire it would smoke like a house fire and it would not take long for all the smoke to taint the food.

A good fire in a quality offset does produce great smoke flavor. I have never been able to get the same from my Eggs as easy.

If you add to many wood chunks to your Egg is just smolders more than it gives off good smoke. This is especially true if you soak the chunks in water first. Never soak for the Egg.

My first meal at a friends house with his new Egg was terrible…He soaked large pieces of oak in water an tossed them on the Egg just before putting the food on. It was just about the worst BBQ I have ever eaten. Bitter nasty taste.

We now cook with very little smoke. It's just what we like. I like to cook lots of extra food for leftovers. Heaver smoke is good for the first day but that's all we can take. lol

Legume · December 2014

I'm with Darian. I've also found that if I want lots of smoke on a low and slow, I can get there by going heavy on the wood chunks right away, cooking a little hotter to start and then dialing back and not worrying about trying to get lots of smoke throughout the cook. I'm not convinced smoke the whole way through a cook makes any difference. I no longer try to start a low and slow at 225 but will start higher like 350 and then back it down.

I have read others on this forum that say that smoke rings form early and best when the meat is chilled, to me this matches well with a heavy smoke / hotter temp first strategy.

Mickey · December 2014

Developed out of my compleat dislike for any wires in my Eggs and my wanting to sleep at night (hard enough anyway at my age). I do not cook anything less than 325 (so No reason to own a daisy wheel at all) and finding TURBO COOKS to be my friend I do not have that problem. I use both chunks and chips (no soaking ever at all) with good results. This just works for me, anything that can be cooked overnight can be cooked Turbo in a handful of hours + or - . This is not saying I can do a brisket as well as CenTex or Travis (never has SGH's), might be a reason I have not done one yet but lots of people do including Travis. I can tell you Turbo: ribs and butts are just fine (IMO).

tjv · December 2014

I think the good Dr. needs to expand on his context as best I can tell all cookers are starved for oxygen to maintain lo-slo smoking temps........guess it comes down to what or how much is starving........

t

SmokeyPitt · December 2014

Do you happen to have a link to the video, or was it on TV?

TigerTony · December 2014

I'm almost the opposite of @Mickey on my method and reason for smoking meats. I know good and well that Mickey knows his stuff and produces some outstanding cooks, So I'm not criticizing him, he is extremely knowledgeable.

With me:

The only time I cook without the daisy wheel is when try to do a sear and get my egg to nuclear temps. The daisy wheel works perfect for me. I can dial in temps easily by adjusting the bottom vent and top daisy wheel. I've learned where to set the openings to maintain certain temps. Plus it's part of the joy of cooking on the egg. Watching, tinkering, adjusting, etc..

As far as "Turbo cooks" I only do if it's strictly a time issue. I enjoy the low and slow cooks. Overnight smoked butts and briskets are some of my most enjoyable and best tasting cooks. And IMHO they come out much better then the turbo method. Hey, I said my opinion, maybe it's just me. Same with ribs no one will ever convince me that spares, baby backs etc are just a good turbo method as they are low slow method. I've tried turbo a few times and MY results weren't close to as good as the slow way. Good? Yes. Just as good? No. Better? Definitely not.

Yes anything that can be cooked overnight can be cooked turbo. So?

With smoke I add the chunks or chips distributed through out the lump. I do not soak and never add during the cook.

Sardonicus · December 2014

TigerTony said:

. . .I'm not criticizing . . .

With me:
. . . . The daisy wheel works perfect for me. I can dial in temps easily by adjusting the bottom vent and top daisy wheel. I've learned where to set the openings to maintain certain temps. Plus it's part of the joy of cooking on the egg. Watching, tinkering, adjusting, etc..

. . . I enjoy the low and slow cooks. Overnight smoked butts and briskets are some of my most enjoyable and best tasting cooks... . . no one will ever convince me that spares, baby backs etc are just a good turbo method as they are low slow method. I've tried turbo a few times and MY results weren't close to as good as the slow way. Good? Yes. Just as good? No. Better? Definitely not.
. . .

With smoke I add the chunks or chips distributed through out the lump. I do not soak and never add during the cook.

^:)^ Preach on, TigerTony. On this, you speak truth! =D>

H12mike · December 2014

The link is in the pit section of amazing ribs website.

SoCal_Griller · December 2014

I think the biggest difference between an offset and the egg, is the offset cooks with the heat coming from the smoke as it passes through the chamber. The egg cooks more like a convection oven, with smoke added. I had an offset and produced some great cooks on it, but what a PITA that was. It leaked air like a SOB, temp control was was chaotic at best.

The egg is stable and produces great low and slow.

Eggcelsior · December 2014

H12mike said:

The link is in the pit section of amazing ribs website.

Can you share the link? What "pit section"? There is "The Pit", which is the forum/messageboard there but you have to apparently be in the "Pitmaster Club" to see it. I'm not paying $24 to watch a video, so is the video you speak of on Youtube?

H12mike · December 2014

Apparently not. I watched it last night on you tube after signing into the pit but I could not see it on you tube today. I joined the pit prior to purchasing my egg and have found this forum more informative as it pertains to cooking on the egg. I should have never watched the seminar last night because of the conflict it has caused me between the science and my personal experiences with the Egg, which by the way have been outstanding.

cactus_darrell · December 2014

Photo Egg said:

I was warned years ago, before I ever fired up my new BGE, not to over due it on wood chunks.
This was not an issue with my large offset smoker as long as there was a fire in the firebox. It was powered completely with split logs. If you some how smothered the fire it would smoke like a house fire and it would not take long for all the smoke to taint the food.
A good fire in a quality offset does produce great smoke flavor. I have never been able to get the same from my Eggs as easy.
If you add to many wood chunks to your Egg is just smolders more than it gives off good smoke. This is especially true if you soak the chunks in water first. Never soak for the Egg.
My first meal at a friends house with his new Egg was terrible…He soaked large pieces of oak in water an tossed them on the Egg just before putting the food on. It was just about the worst BBQ I have ever eaten. Bitter nasty taste.
We now cook with very little smoke. It's just what we like. I like to cook lots of extra food for leftovers. Heaver smoke is good for the first day but that's all we can take. lol

I am a relative new eggman, but a very advanced low and slow smoker. I have been searching for the correct protocol for using wood in the egg. I have experinced several bad cooks due to over smoke flavor. I am suffering from the same problems you are describing. Last one was several steaks I tried to smoke at 225 then reverse sear. I used soaked wood chunks left over from T-Day, they were way too smokey. I have noticed the smothering effect smoke which is bad. Then when I bump temp up say 300 -325 I do not get enough smoke flavor. I thought I must be doing something wrong. I have tried wood chunks, wood chips, soaked and unsoaked. Not really happy with what I have been able to do as far as smoke flavor so far. I have experimented with low air flow to control heat and with using daisy wheel to choke down with open air flow. I am very interested to see how everyone else is using wood.

Jeepster47 · December 2014

H12mike said:

... I watched it last night on you tube after signing into the pit but I could not see it on you tube today. ...

@H12mike ... if you watched it on YouTube, then the link (URL) should be in your history folder. Would you mind checking?

SGH · December 2014

H12mike said:

Did anyone see the discussion last night about smoke? According to Dr.Blonder the Egg does not have enough air flow to produce good smoke. He stated that in order for the egg to cook low and slow we starve the fire of oxygen which is needed for quality smoke. Did I mis-understand him? I have only had my Egg since July but have never have had acrid tasting meat. How do you increase the oxygen flow without increasing temps? Any ideas?

First let me say take everything that some expert or guru says with a grain of salt. I do not totally discredit everything he said as there is a element of truth in equation. However they failed to take fire size in relation to the combustion chamber and the over all surface area to be heated into account. Rather than writing out the equation, let me say that I can and have proved him wrong by making my egg burn clean with a very small and hot fire. Sure it's much easier on my vertical, and even easier on my offset, but I can make the egg run clean. You can get perfectly acceptable smoked food from a Kamado. Here is the difference that I think that he his trying to point out. On a large offset, you are cooking almost entirely by draft (hot flue gas/exhaust). On a Kamado you are using several mechanisms to cook- Convective heat, radiant heat, reflective heat, direct heat and to a much smaller degree draft. This is the main reason a offset will impart a cleaner and smokier affect. The meat sits in and is cooked by the draft almost entirely. You have a very large clean burning fire steady burning and you are only using the the hot flue gas from the fire as the cooking mechanism. As a owner/ user of many differnt types of pits, I can say that there are some smokers that are better suited to certain cooking situations than the egg. However for general home use, the egg can more than hold its on with most anything out there. They can argue endlessly and debate the science all that they want, but if you know how to manage a fire and control your smoker, you can produce quality Q on about anything. Again take what you read and hear with a grain of salt and keep on cooking my friend. And for the record, the above is just my opinion and findings.

Eggcelsior · December 2014

H12mike said:

Apparently not. I watched it last night on you tube after signing into the pit but I could not see it on you tube today. I joined the pit prior to purchasing my egg and have found this forum more informative as it pertains to cooking on the egg. I should have never watched the seminar last night because of the conflict it has caused me between the science and my personal experiences with the Egg, which by the way have been outstanding.

No problem. I really enjoy Dr. Blonder's input on most everything but this has me scratching my head. It's mentioned here too, but I get "blue smoke" like any other cooker. I am not an anomaly.

Photo Egg · December 2014

cactus_darrell

I never soak wood chunks for low temp cooks in the Egg they will smoke great and not flame up unless you keep the dome open or open both vents enough to create enough air flow to kick up a flame.

Because of the great insulation of the ceramics in the Egg it needs and uses very little lump/fuel to hold low and slow temps compared to larger cookers such as offset steel cooker.

This is great in most cases. My only issue is the Egg holds in so much moisture it's not good at times. The inside of an Egg fully loaded with food at low and slow temps is almost dripping with moisture. Seems like very moist food picks up to much bad wood taste if it's over smoked.

My only advice is to use dry chunks and use more or less until you find the smoke level you enjoy. Type of wood, I feel, also makes more difference in the Egg. We like a lighter flavor smoke so we never use Oak. Allot of Apple and my fav is Cherry.

I know, not ground breaking advice, but it's the best I got. lol

You will find what works best for you. I use chunks for longer cooks and will toss in some chips for quick cooks and sears.

SmokeyPitt · December 2014

I haven't seen the video but it seems like they are failing to take into account that the primary fuel source on the egg is lump charcoal (not wood). Lump can burn with less air and burn clean. You mix in some chunks/chips but only a small amount are burning at any time so they burn pretty clean as well.

Bottom line is once the egg stabilizes the smoke smells good and the food tastes good

.

H12mike · December 2014

Re lump charcoal: He is not a fan of lump because of it's irregular shape. Personnally I use Rockwood and am very happy with it.

rtt121 · December 2014

Sardonicus said:

TigerTony said:

. . .I'm not criticizing . . .

With me:
. . . . The daisy wheel works perfect for me. I can dial in temps easily by adjusting the bottom vent and top daisy wheel. I've learned where to set the openings to maintain certain temps. Plus it's part of the joy of cooking on the egg. Watching, tinkering, adjusting, etc..

. . . I enjoy the low and slow cooks. Overnight smoked butts and briskets are some of my most enjoyable and best tasting cooks... . . no one will ever convince me that spares, baby backs etc are just a good turbo method as they are low slow method. I've tried turbo a few times and MY results weren't close to as good as the slow way. Good? Yes. Just as good? No. Better? Definitely not.
. . .

With smoke I add the chunks or chips distributed through out the lump. I do not soak and never add during the cook.

^:)^ Preach on, TigerTony. On this, you speak truth! =D>

+1. Low and slow and turbo results can't even be compared. Maybe a butt. other than that it just isn't as good. If I wanted "good enough" I would just push the button on the oven.

Amazing Ribs video last night

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