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How to decrease smoky flavor?

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AnsonWilson
AnsonWilson Posts: 33
edited November -1 in EggHead Forum
Hey guys,

Purchased an Egg recently, and still trying to perfect grilling over coals rather than my old propane Weber.

Do I need to wait until all the coals are ashed over before I put any food on? I grilled some zuchinni and yellow squash, and they turned out far to smoky. The only thing I could think of was that I had not allowed the coals to ash over.

Is this something that would decrease the smoky flavor? With meat, it's great, but it really overpowered the veggies.

Thanks in advance!
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  • Morro Bay Rich
    Morro Bay Rich Posts: 2,227
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    If you are using mesquite charcoal you can expect a smokey taste. That is why the steakhouses use mesquite. Oak lump when burning clean will give practically no smoke taste.

    Make sure not to put things in the Egg until the smoke coming out the top is almost non-existent.
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  • Little Steven
    Little Steven Posts: 28,817
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    AnsonWilson,

    What Rich said. You wait till the smoke turns clear or no smoke before putting food on with any lump.

    Steve

    Steve 

    Caledon, ON

     

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  • Grandpas Grub
    Grandpas Grub Posts: 14,226
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    Welcome to the forum.

    When lighting the lump there is a bad smoke, smoke that has aroma that is acrid and cooking food at that stage will also impart an acrid taste.

    Letting the smoke clear to a very light or even clear bluish color will result in a pleasant aroma and pleasant flavor in the food being cooked.

    Hopefully you have let the egg and lump get to a clear or pleasant aroma state.

    If you want to reduce the smoke flavor from there look into using Cowboy Lump which burns with little smoke aroma and then control the temperature mostly with the lower vent leaving the DFMT as wide open as possible or even take it off of the egg. The object is to allow the the smoke to vent freely out of the egg.

    Hopefully these suggestions will be of help.

    GG
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  • AnsonWilson
    AnsonWilson Posts: 33
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    I don't think it's Mesquite, (Publix Brand).

    I guess the smoke is more intense if the coals are not heated up?

    Thanks for the help.
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  • FearlessGrill
    FearlessGrill Posts: 695
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    Lump charcoal (you are using lump, not briquettes, right?) doesn't 'ash over'. When it's going, it will burn red like the embers in the bottom of a fireplace. As the others have said, you need to give the smoke a chance to clear before putting your food on. A good rule of thumb is to smell the smoke coming out the top of the Egg before putting your food on. If it smells bitter, it won't taste good. If it smells good, you're set to go.

    -John
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  • Morro Bay Rich
    Morro Bay Rich Posts: 2,227
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    I forgot about leaving the daisy wheel off when grilling. GOOD POINT. It is what allowed me to cook steaks using the dwell method and not get the acrid taste that my wife hates so much.
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  • AnsonWilson
    AnsonWilson Posts: 33
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    Those are some good tips. I may try out the Cowboy, but i've heard mixed reviews, but for the price, it's worth a shot.

    I more than likely did not wait long enough to put the food on!
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  • Morro Bay Rich
    Morro Bay Rich Posts: 2,227
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    You really need to let the lump burn for 30 or so minutes before you start cooking. In that time it ought to be burning clean.
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  • AnsonWilson
    AnsonWilson Posts: 33
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    Morro Bay Rich wrote:
    I forgot about leaving the daisy wheel off when grilling. GOOD POINT. It is what allowed me to cook steaks using the dwell method and not get the acrid taste that my wife hates so much.

    So a good rule of thumb is NO daisy wheel when grilling? Makes sense, but I guess you just control temps with the bottom vent?
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  • Morro Bay Rich
    Morro Bay Rich Posts: 2,227
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    Several of the people on this Forum use nothing but Cowboy so I'd just forget about the ratings and try a batch.
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  • AnsonWilson
    AnsonWilson Posts: 33
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    FearlessGrill wrote:
    Lump charcoal (you are using lump, not briquettes, right?) doesn't 'ash over'. When it's going, it will burn red like the embers in the bottom of a fireplace. As the others have said, you need to give the smoke a chance to clear before putting your food on. A good rule of thumb is to smell the smoke coming out the top of the Egg before putting your food on. If it smells bitter, it won't taste good. If it smells good, you're set to go.

    -John

    Yes, I was using lump. I played around when I first got the Egg with keeping it at temperature, and I noticed the smoke smell seemed to go away after about 30 minutes.

    How long does it normally take to get clear for you guys? Or does it vary?
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  • AnsonWilson
    AnsonWilson Posts: 33
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    That's what I was thinking (in hindsight, of course).

    Thanks for the help.
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  • Morro Bay Rich
    Morro Bay Rich Posts: 2,227
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    To me, grilling is quite different than roasting. In grilling you are cooking using the radiant heat coming directly from the coals (like you were cooking over a campfire) whereas with roasting you are controlling the temp of the Egg like a kitchen oven.
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  • misfit
    misfit Posts: 358
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    GG, dropped you a line thru the forum email.
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  • Unknown
    Unknown
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    I just finished my first bag of cowboy. I didn't really like it because like you, I found the mesquite flavour a little over powering on grilled vegetables. I'd rather has clean burning lump and add the smokes I want. having said that, cowboy will burn clean, I think the first just needs more time to heat up and be at a higher temp than Oak.

    The bag of Cowboy that I had did have some ridiculously large hunks of lump which I saved for a long shoulder cook - which was useful. I have also found cowboy to be a little slower to light and heat up.

    Anyway, royal oak is just easier and likely what I'm mostly use from now on.
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  • walrusegger
    walrusegger Posts: 314
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    For lump with little or no smoke also try Frontier if you have an ACE hardware near you. I use it when I'm cooking for my wife as she doesn't like much smoke flavor and it seems to put off even less than Cowboy (I've found). Cowboy is good lump, don't be shy. Also, I light the fire with the lid up about 3-5 minutes, redistribute a few pieces of lump right near the action and then put the dome down without the daisy wheel and it's ready in about another 7-10 minutes at least around 450-500. Then I stabalize the temp to where I need it for that particular cook and start eggin'! Thirty min seems like a long time to me. You don't have to have all the outer pieces glowing and the temp up to a nuclear 600-700 to start reducing your temps and throwing your food on.

    My two pennies. Welcome aboard, I'm relatively new myself and this place is great.
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  • Capt Frank
    Capt Frank Posts: 2,578
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    Publix Greenwise brand of Lump charcoal is Royal Oak, the same as BGE :)

    Capt Frank
    Homosassa, FL
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  • AnsonWilson
    AnsonWilson Posts: 33
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    Capt. Frank wrote:
    Publix Greenwise brand of Lump charcoal is Royal Oak, the same as BGE :)

    Capt Frank
    Homosassa, FL

    Yeah that's what I used. I think I just didn't let it burn long enough.
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  • Grandpas Grub
    Grandpas Grub Posts: 14,226
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    Tweev-tip wrote:
    I just finished my first bag of cowboy. I didn't really like it because like you, I found the mesquite flavour a little over powering on grilled vegetables...

    Cowboy isn't mesquite. Cowboy, out here anyway, is more large pieces than smaller pieces, it has a tendency to burn hotter which is probably due to the size and shape of the pieces rather than the base wood product itself. There has been no problem with long low and slow cooks with Cowboy and no need to reload the lump during those long cooks.

    With the lump that is available out this way, my preference is Royal Oak. The least expensive is mesquite.

    GG
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  • Central IL Egger
    Central IL Egger Posts: 260
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    Pretty much covered all the bases it looks like, but for my 2 cents:

    1) don't even use the daisy wheel when I'm cooking a 10 LB turkey breast, strictly use the bottom damper

    2)Royal Oak is one of the mildest lumps I've found, and

    3) make sure you do a clean burn if you cook anything greasy . . . I do that to mine probably every 3rd cook.
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  • AnsonWilson
    AnsonWilson Posts: 33
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    Central IL Egger wrote:
    Pretty much covered all the bases it looks like, but for my 2 cents:

    1) don't even use the daisy wheel when I'm cooking a 10 LB turkey breast, strictly use the bottom damper

    2)Royal Oak is one of the mildest lumps I've found, and

    3) make sure you do a clean burn if you cook anything greasy . . . I do that to mine probably every 3rd cook.

    Thanks for the help. What's a clean burn? High temps long times?
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  • Unknown
    Unknown
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    Wow, complete brain melt-down. I think all of those westerns I watched as a kid cross some neurons in my brain.
    I was thinking about this as cowboy:

    mequite_lg.png

    Yeah, that's NOT cowboy. Sorry about that. I still stand on royal oak. I like it.
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  • Grandpas Grub
    Grandpas Grub Posts: 14,226
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    Wondered if you were thinking of something else. Cowboy is made from flooring material, it's just odd seeing those shaped pieces as lump.

    My favorite is Royal Oak. So far I haven't found any lump I don't like as far as flavor goes.

    GG
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  • Unknown
    Unknown
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    I think almost every lump has it's place. It's also difficult not to generalize up from one bad bag. The one bag of West I had was really sparky and had a fair but of uncarbonized lump. That may have caused the excessive smoke I had on some cooks.
    That also happened with a bum BGE bag as well.

    I think it's fun to cook desert on the egg. I think it's silly but it's fun - but I don't really want mesquite flavoured brownies.

    When I opened up my first bag of Royal Oak the other day - It was up to a 500F rager within 5 minutes - and were all medium sized chunks (my preference). First impressions can carry a lot of weight. :)

    Off topic, but I've been trying to find a cast iron grill grate for my spider for searing steaks. Do you know any on-line sources? I can't seem to find any and the closest well stocked BGE dealer is 2 hours away. Thanks.
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  • Grandpas Grub
    Grandpas Grub Posts: 14,226
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    Over the years there have been some good cast iron grates. But I don't remember the brands. One interesting one was a rectangle which was expandable length wise.

    I would look at the bigger hardware type stores and shops that carry a good inventory of bbq equipment. 2fategghead used ground down a CI grid to fit his spider. I don't use my CI grid much. Others, like Mr. Steam Man (Ross In Ventura) uses his all the time.

    GG
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  • Unknown
    Unknown
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    This looks pretty awesome.

    http://www.cast-iron-grate.com/store/cast-iron-grate-185-p-6.html

    I'm thinking of picking one up just for the flexibility of having a grate, griddle/hotplate - plus an easy way to throw more chips if I want.

    Then again, I really just want the cast-iron for searing - instead of: blast egg up to 700 - sear steaks, wait for 15 while it cools down then finish cooking steak.

    I liked your idea of 1) blast close to coals, throw steak up on AR to finish. Seems to make more sense to me.
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  • Marc from IL
    Marc from IL Posts: 499
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    You just need a few more cooks on the egg and you will be craving for more smoke.....
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  • Humphrey Chimpden Earwicker
    Humphrey Chimpden Earwicker Posts: 3,743
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    Second time you've mentioned cowboy being mesquite. No matter how many times you say it, though, can't make it so. Maybe what you are smelling is simply whatever yer smoking.
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  • Humphrey Chimpden Earwicker
    Humphrey Chimpden Earwicker Posts: 3,743
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    Here's a guy who makes his living off statistics saying it's 'difficult not to generalize up from one bad bag'. What color is the fvcking sky in your world?
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  • Little Chef
    Little Chef Posts: 4,725
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    It varies for the targeted temp IMO. I never plan on putting anything on the Egg, regardless of the temp, for at least 30 minutes after lighting. I light the egg, set my vents, then do my prep. If I am doing a steak or chicken, I usually target the egg to stabilize about 400*. Let it do its thing 30 minutes. One tell tale sign that the lump isn't ready is if you open the Egg and get a minor flare up on the lump into the dome...ie...small flashback. That usually means there are still VOC's (Volatile Organic Compounds) that still need to burn off. Low n slows are a different story. Just waft the fumes (do NOT stick your nose over the chimney!) Waft the fumes...if they smell acrid (oil or bitter like) , wait.
    Don't worry...you'll get it !! But smell the fumes coming out of the egg. If they smell good, that is the flavor you will get on your food. If they smell funky, well...same deal. WHatever odor is coming out the top, is what will be imparted to the food inside. FYI...we try to avoid smoke flavors all together, and believe it or not, it is easily done!! Just takes some patience! Happy Eggin!!
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