Pizza mystery

bweekes

Have done quite a few pizzas over the years, but experienced something new last night. The first pizza had a strange taste, almost like gas or fumes. SWMBO commented on it immediately, referring to it as a "chemical" taste. So clearly not a successful cook with that kind of feedback! LOL. I did change a few things in my cook, as follows:

- New lump: WGWW (normally use maple leaf)

- Placement: Placed the pizza much higher in the dome using the top tier of the swing rack (normally have it about 6 inches lower)

- Lower temp: Went around 500 (normally cook them at around 600 to 650)

The second pizza did not have the same pronounced taste, but it was still slightly apparent. 

Going to try to preempt a few questions that might  be asked: 

1) I don't use starters of any sort - I have a MAPP torch 

2) the coals had been burning for about 15 minutes while the stone heated up 

3) same ingredients used on both pizzas.

Anyone experience this with pizza before? I'm stumped. Pics below - looks are deceiving!

DMW

IMHO, 15 minutes wasn't long enough to get rid of all the VOCs. That is why the "chemical" taste wasn't as pronounced in the second as in the first.

Give everything at least 30 minutes at your cook temp before launching your first pie.

Monaarts

My first pizza had a strange taste after letting the egg warm up for about 15 minutes. The second one did not, everything was the same except I waited about 30 minutes for the egg to warm up.

fusionhq

I would agree with @DMW‌ Let it burn/heat up for 30-45 minutes to ensure everything is lit and burnin right.

bweekes

DMW said:

IMHO, 15 minutes wasn't long enough to get rid of all the VOCs. That is why the "chemical" taste wasn't as pronounced as in the first.

Give everything at least 30 minutes at your cook temp before launching your first pie.

Thank you sir. Will definitely try that next time. And no need to be humble - i visited your FB page - you are a pizza master! 

stemc33

+1 with what DMW said. Prior to putting any kind of food into the egg, I place my hand over the smoke and smell it. If it has an acrid smell, I wait. Really hasn't been an issue since I switched to Ozark Oak.

GlennM

I once had a piece of charcoal that spoiled the cook. Not sure what it was but it looked a bit different when I lit the fire and there was a bad chemical taste in the food

jhl192

Two things that will help: 1) burn the lump longer and heat the stone longer. Check to be sure the smoke is clear and smells good. 2) do a clean burn of your BGE. You may have had a build up of soot and grease the burned off during your first pie. The more you do low and slow cooks the more often you need a clean burn before a high temp bake. Good luck!

bweekes

Thanks everyone! Definitely a few tweaks to make, which gives me hope for the next one!