food has strong smoky taste

Unknown

New BGE user. have cooked steak, chicken and salmon. salmon especially has bad smoky taste, almost bitter. not the good smoky flavor you would expect. could it be from the lump charcoal? anyone have any ideas why the strong taste?

egginator

Cactus griller,
It sounds like you need to wait until the fire burns clean. There should be no smoke or almost clear blueish smoke coming out of the egg, but not thick white smoke. Usually takes 15 to 30 minutes depending on how you light it.[p]Ed

Fidel

Cactus griller,[p]Exactly my thoughts. Light your egg and wait 20-30 minutes until the smoke changes from a heavy white smoke to a thin blue, almost invisible trail of smoke.[p]The thick white stuff is not good - that is the likely cause of your bitter taste.[p]What brand lump are you using?

Sundown

Good advice below but remember, any kind of fish, like chicken, picks up smoke very quickly and I think you an "over-smoke" sometimes.

Unknown

Fidel,
Barbeque's galore hardwood lump. I was also wondering if I started cooking too soon. The directions with the BGE are vague. It says to start cooking once you reach your desired temperature, but nothing about the smoke. Thanks for the suggestion. Thanks to egginator, too.

Big'un

All good advice below. Also remember that the grease dropping into the fire will cause an acrid taste. Drip pans are your friend!

egginator

cactus griller,
When I got my egg a couple of years ago, the advice was to use the BGE instruction book as a fire starter and come here with your questions. I think the DVD is better than the tape I got, but coming here with questons has always been great for me. Lots (okay pretty much all) of people on this board are smart and eager to help. [p]Ed

Haggis

Cactus griller,[p]In addition to the other recommendations, if you are using a wax-based fire starter (e.g., the BGE cubes) you might be misinterpreting the temp reading. Fire starters burn very inefficiently and put out a lot of crap that can ruin food. Unfortunately a starter, all by itself, can raise the temp reading pretty high and mislead you into thinking the Egg is where you want it. Only after it has totally curned off will the Egg be usable.[p]

stike

Haggis,
when i use firestarters, i now leave the lid OPEN. for one thing, as you said, the starters can burn inefficiently if there's not a lot of air. they'll smolder and take forever to completely burn off. i now open the top, which encorages them to flare up and burn more quickly.[p]that smoldering smoke can ruin the first hour of a low and slow cook if you toss the food on too quickly

Wilby

I just started using the fire starters over the past month and retired my electric starter. What I am reading here by others is also my experience. If you are using the fire starters you need to give them time to burn out. I have found that you can smell the smoke and can detect the fire starters verses the lump smell. Be patient wait a few extra minutes and it will cure your problem.

Remember you are going for quality cooking and you can't necessarily be in a hurry. Good cooking.

Unknown

Egginator,
Grilled hamburgers tonight and they were perfect. Waited longer before cooking and that seemed to make the difference.
Thanks for the help to everyone.

Unknown

Cactus griller,
I clean the soot from the dome and sides of the egg's interior when it gets too built up. I use my egg about 3 times a week in the spring, summer and fall then once a week in the winter. With this level of use it needs cleaning about once a year. i use a metal scraper to get the worst off then balled up newspapers to finish the job. It's a really messy process and you'll never achieve a totally clean result but removing thick build up really makes a big difference in eliminating an excessive smokiness in flavor. Had this egg for 10 years. Use propane torch to light rather than solid starters helps keep pollution down too. [p]eggs ackley