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Sustaining smoke for long cook
Valencia, CA
Comments
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Go with chunks. Put them close to the fire they will be there for a long time. Much of time through the whole cook.Steve Van Wert, Ohio XL BGE
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Go with chunks. Put them close to the fire they will be there for a long time. Much of time through the whole cook.
Chunks for sure. spread them throughout your lump. Not sure of the science, but a lot of posters say that after 140 degrees IT the meat does not absorb any more smoke. Your last worry will be getting enough smoke. It will be plenty smokey tasting even if you just used the lump. -
Go with chunks/big pieces...I use alot of pecan. Also your coal is wood too so you'll always have the smoky flavor anyways.....Good luck on your table......Hunting-Fishing-Cookin' on my EGG! Nothing else compares!
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Thanks Phoenix and Jai-Bo! That explains a lot. The table should be in Thursday so I'm hoping to be starting my Egg venture next weekend. From your responses and other related postings I've seen I'm getting the impression that soaking the chunks is not necessary, and is actually counterproductive. Is this the case?
LBGE - July 2012
Valencia, CA -
Chunks for sure. spread them throughout your lump. Not sure of the science, but a lot of posters say that after 140 degrees IT the meat does not absorb any more smoke. Your last worry will be getting enough smoke. It will be plenty smokey tasting even if you just used the lump.
That is an urban myth. Meat does not absorb smoke. The smoke flavor comes from smoke particles that are deposited on the surface of the meat. The smokey flavor will increase as long as there is smoke in the cooking chamber, regardless of the meat's temperature. This myth may have come from confusing smoke flavor with the smoke ring. The smoke ring does stop forming when the surface of the meat gets to be around 140 degrees, but the smoke ring has no flavor, just color.
The Naked Whiz -
What follows is a post that I saved from stike of quite a while ago that summarizes the chips/chunks discussion:
Originally posted by Stike a while ago-
“frankly, wood is wood. i use chips, chunks, barked, no bark, etc.
chips and chunks don't do anything better than the other, unless you use one like you'd use the other. meaning, use chips like chips and chunks like chunks. people win contests with either, so it doesn't affect the food. you just gotta use them "corrrectly". In the BGE chips can be mixed throughout the lump to maximize smoke during a lo and slo. your fire crawls around, so you want chips where the fire will be. you won't use up all the chips because the fire won't use up all the lump. don't screw with wet chips. in a ggasser, you wet chips to keep them from burning outright, and flaming. they can't do that in the egg. you can have a raging fire, and toss in wood, and it WILL NOT CATCH FIRE as long as the lid is shut and the airflow is dialed in. open the lid, and the wood WILL burst in to flame. shut it, and it goes out. it WILL smoke though. and that's what you want. <?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />
chunks are fine too. you strategically put them around the lump, and maybe push one into your fire right at the start, just to make sure.
put in as many chips/chunks as you want. smoke flavor is added as long as there is smoke. that means, if you had a butt going 20 hours, and the smoke only showed up for the last hour, it'll still smell like (and taste like) smoke. it's the smoke RING that only forms in the first hour or so. and the smoke ring is color, not flavor. so don't worry about when smoke kicks in. if you like a lot, add a lot of chips or chunks.
chunks vs. chips is the same as "ford vs. chevy". much ado about nothing.
oh, as for high temp cooks. i like to toss a couple chips in sometimes when a steak is finishing. did it last night, actually. and again, no worry about flames. i tossed the wood in, shut the lid, and got some decent smoke. only when the lid was opened did it catch fire. i flipped the steak, then shut the dome, and the chips went out. that's nice to know. flames are actually bad for steak. they look pretty, but flamed is less desirable than direct heat from the lump. flame isn't as hot, either.
And with regard to smoke-the smoke ring only forms when the meat temp is below around 140*F (so cold start the better if the appearance thing is of importance) but the smoke will adhere as long as there is smoke.
Louisville; Rolling smoke in the neighbourhood. # 38 for the win. Life is too short for light/lite beer! Seems I'm livin in a transitional period. -
Just tried this for a rib cook that I have going. Egg is set at ~350 for indirect and I put the chips right on the plate setter. So far seems to be working like a champ. I think next time I will put the ribs on the second shelf and put a drip pan under so the chips stay dry.
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You should be fine as long as you mix wood (chunks or chips) in throughout the lump, top to bottom.
Knoxville, TN
Nibble Me This -
I'm very appreciative to all. You've saved me from going through a lot of the learning curve. Now I'm chompin' at the bit to get out and cook!
LBGE - July 2012
Valencia, CA -
jfarley dont forget the pix. ;D
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jfarley dont forget the pix. ;D
As requested Rich_ie. My first cook was baby back ribs yesterday. I've pretty much follow the Dr. BBQ recipe for years on my previous cookers, and did so here as well. As suggested I used chunks without soaking and it worked very well. I'd been told but was still amazed how easy it was to maintain between 270 and 280 degrees with very minor adjustments. Total cook was about 4 1/2 hours. The picture of the ribs was taken just before I finished them with barbecue sauce. I'm already loving this Q! Today perhaps I'll do beer can chicken...
LBGE - July 2012
Valencia, CA -
re: "Not sure of the science, but a lot of posters say that after 140 degrees IT the meat does not absorb any more smoke. "
smoke adds smoke flavor at any time. smoke isn't absorbed by the meat in any significant way. it lands ON the meat. and it'll do it no matter when you add smoke. the smoke ring is what forms earlier in the cook. but it is not indicative of smoke flavor.
ed egli avea del cul fatto trombetta -Dante
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