No Smoke ring Smoking in the Big Green Egg

Unknown

I have not been able to get a smoke ring cooking in my egg, I have been cooking on a pit for several years and have never had a problem. I cook low and slow on my egg with lots of smoke, but do not get any penetration into the meat. Meat comes out very tender and moist but with no smoke flavor and no smoke ring. I have been cooking brisket with hickory, pork shoulder and ribs with apple, turkey with mesquite. Like I said it has always been ok on my pit but I switched to the Big Green Egg because of the ease of maintaining temp but feel that I sacraficed for the smokey flavor. Does anyone have any ideas?

dhuffjr

KG,
I've never had a problem getting smoke flavor when I had wood chips/chuncks. [p]As far as the smoke ring goes, as I understand it it is a function of temperature and the length of time at that temperature not the actual smoke causing the "pinking" of the meat. Are you cooking slightly hotter than you used to?

thirdeye

KG,[p]What kind of cooker is your other pit? Does it have an accurate thermometer? Here is where I am headed with this. Lets say you think you are cooking at 225* but your actual temp at the grate is 200*. This means that your meat is in the ring formation zone for a longer period of time. With your Egg, you duplicate the technique that is familiar to you, using 225* at the grate and your ring formation zone is not as long, hence a less pronounced ring. Just a thought.[p]~thirdeye~[p]Oh, by the way the Egg will give you a good smoke ring.[p][p]

stike

dhuffjr,
nitrites in the smoke are wicked into the meat, become nitric acid, and cause the meat to turn pink (it reacts with hemoglobin). it's not smoke that does it, but the smoke does contain the nitrites. [p]that chemical reaction stops at 140.
smoke itself (the flavor of smoke) doesn't 'penetrate' into the meat per se, but really just lands on it. so smoke will flavor the meat no matter when the smoke is introdued into the cook.[p]the egg doesn't "do" anything any different with regrd to smoke than any other cooker. if your meat temp (surface, not internal) is 140, then the ring stops forming, offset, or BGE[p]if he's cooking hotter than usual, his meat surface temp might shoot quickly to 140 as you suggest. still though, he should still get smoke flavor.[p]

EddieMac

I always get a nice smoke ring on brisket and butts.....It seems like I get the better smoke ring when I start with meat that is still pretty cold....but I have no scientific reason or proof of that....I do know that you have to attack the meat early in the cook with the smoke to get the best flavor penetration.....I put a bunch of hickory or oak chunks early on.....[p]Ed McLean....eddiemac
Ft. Pierce, FL

stike

eddiemac,
remember, smoke doesn't 'penetrate'. that's a misinterpretation of the smoke ring. the smoke rings forms up to 140 degrees (meat temp at the location where the ring is forming, not internal temp).[p]smoke will flavor anything, at any time. you coul smoke only at the end, and you'd have great smoke flavor. might not have much of a smoke ring, though. using lump even without chips or chunks can actually still give you a smoke ring.[p]as you said, if you put the meat on colder, then it will be under 140 longer, and the smoke ring has more time to form.[p]but the amount of flavor (from smoke) is unaffected by the temp.[p]to get away from barbecue for a second... the pink in ham is caused by the same chemical reaction, introduced during curing. nitrates turn the meat pink, which goes all the way through the meat simply because it literally absorbs the brine/curing agent all the way through it. you can have a smoke ring without smoke....[p]

fishlessman

<p />KG,
i dont get as much smoke ring as some, but i go pretty light with the smoking woods. i always throw some cherry wood in there with whatever smoke wood i use as a base, the cherry adds more color from what i see and doesnt distract from the hickory, add 2 chunks hickory to 1 chunk cherry is my standard cook. 1 chunk cherry with 2 off guava is also good. if i want more smoke flavor i will smoke the sauce for a little while. i do throw the meat on from the fridge cold, i only let steak come to room temp before cooking. the cherry really darkens up poultry as well.

Unknown

dhuffjr,
Thanks to everyone for the input I really appreciate the help! As far as temp, I'm using the same thermometers as I did in my pit and I have trying anything from 180 to 250. I actually have oversmoked meat in my pit to the point that it tasted bad, but I have not had that problem in my egg. I really am just looking for the smokey flavor again. I have even thought of cooking two shoulders or briskets at the same time one on the pit and one on the egg, matching everything as I go to attempt to identify the problem.
I used to let the meat come to temp before putting it on, but a friend suggested to take it straight from the fridge to the smoker.
The only difference that I can see is offset vs heat source directly under but I am using a plate setter so I am cooking indirectly. I have two other close friends with eggs and they are not experiencing the same problem, in fact we all are using the same lump coal, the same smoking wood and all using a large green egg, and their food is identical to mine as far as moist and tender but theirs has a great smokey flavor. I'm so confused!

Unknown

thirdeye,
Thanks for the follow up, I have an offset pit from New Braunsfield. I don't use the thermometer I use 3 different digitals that I have tested and compared to each other. I use a block with a hole through it for the probe to hold it 3/4 of an inch above the grate for the grate temperature. But when I first got my egg, I compared my digital against the thermometer in the egg to find the difference. I guess that there could be a curve for different temps. I will try another brisket using the digital as a guide for temp. Maybe it is just that the temp is to high and the meat is cooking to fast.
Your brisket looks great and I hope that I can create some smokey flavored brisket on my egg. I don't even care so much about the smoke ring but just to get that smokey flavor again!
Thanks again to all that replied and I will take any advice that I can get to help create that smokey moist brisket in my egg!