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Getting smoke on my food in my BGE...

Get a 1 or 2 quart cast iron Dutch Oven. Drill 3 1/8" holes in the bottom of pot.  Fill the DO with your preferred wood chunks and or flavored wood pellets and put the lid on.

Light a fire in the center of your lump pile. Once your fire is steady and sturdy place your DO right on top of your fire and close your dome. Bring your cooking temperature up to your desired temperature and allow the wood smoke to clean up to a thin blue color and then put your meat on. Easy peasy...
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Comments

  • Wouldn't it be easier to just use the Amaz-n-tube? No holes to drill
    Marshall in Beautiful Fruit Cove, FL.
    MiniMax 04/17
    Unofficial BGE MiniMax Evangelist
    Facebook Big Green Egg MiniMax Owners Group


  • yljkt
    yljkt Posts: 799
    I guess ruining a perfectly good DO is one way to do it.  
  • Or...........just put wood chunks of your choice into the coals.  :o
    South Jersey Pine Barrens. XL BGE , Assassin 24, Weber Kettle, CharBroil gasser, AMNPS 
  • Drilling cleanly through cast iron and all the effort involved vs just putting wood chunks on the coals...........Hmmmmmm :o
    South Jersey Pine Barrens. XL BGE , Assassin 24, Weber Kettle, CharBroil gasser, AMNPS 
  • yljkt
    yljkt Posts: 799
    Of course if the wood in the now sullied DO stays hot and smokes long enough it will become lump coal. So there's that...
  • Focker
    Focker Posts: 8,364
    Or just buy one of these.....

    Brandon
    Quad Cities
    "If yer gonna denigrate, familiarity with the subject is helpful."

  • Mattman3969
    Mattman3969 Posts: 10,457
    I think @Bosco is doing this and talks very highly of it.  Maybe he will chime in soon. 

    -----------------------------------------

    analyze adapt overcome

    2008 -Large BGE. 2013- Small BGE and 2015 - Mini. Henderson, Ky.
  • LKNEgg
    LKNEgg Posts: 339
    What the fock is that @Focker ?   =)
    Large BGE - 2014
    FB 200, KAB, AR - 2015
    Lake Norman area of NC
    The bitterness of poor quality remains long after the sweetness of low price is forgotten!

    Nowadays people know the price of everything and the value of nothing!

  • HogHeaven
    HogHeaven Posts: 326
    edited February 2017
    I've cooked on my large BGE for 7 years. I'm just giving you an option. I have no skin in the game. This works for me. 
  • I figure you get smoke for a longer period of time, too. Thanks for the post. Ignore the smartasses. 

    Little Rock, AR

  • bgebrent
    bgebrent Posts: 19,636
    I figure you get smoke for a longer period of time, too. Thanks for the post. Ignore the smartasses. 
    Smartass ;)
    Sandy Springs & Dawsonville Ga
  • kl8ton
    kl8ton Posts: 5,410
    I did something very similar on my gasser before I had an egg.  I used an empty soup can filled with some wood chunks.  
    Large, Medium, MiniMax, & 22, and 36" Blackstone
    Grand Rapids MI
  • bgebrent
    bgebrent Posts: 19,636
    kl8ton said:
    I did something very similar on my gasser before I had an egg.  I used an empty soup can filled with some wood chunks.  
    Unacceptable.
    Sandy Springs & Dawsonville Ga
  • bgebrent said:
    I figure you get smoke for a longer period of time, too. Thanks for the post. Ignore the smartasses. 
    Smartass ;)
    Dumbass

    Little Rock, AR

  • bgebrent
    bgebrent Posts: 19,636
     =) 
     =) 
    Sandy Springs & Dawsonville Ga
  • FATC1TY
    FATC1TY Posts: 888
    I'll just be an honest ****. 
    Waste of time if you buy qualify wood to smoke. 

    Ive been cooking 10 plus yrs. on a bge. This is overkill. 
    -FATC1TY
    Grillin' and Brewing in Atlanta
    LBGE
    MiniMax
  • onedbguru
    onedbguru Posts: 1,647
    IMnotsoHO, sounds like a waste of a good DO. Just sayin... 
  • Legume
    Legume Posts: 14,602
    I just f'd up the porcelain on an 8qt trying to do this because bigger is better, right?  Does anyone know which JB Weld to use to fix porcelain coated cast iron ?
  • Interesting idea, I use rock wood and it is too neutral for my family tastes, we don't like bitter, but we do really like the taste of meat to have a distinctly smokey flavor, we do not like a "hint" of smoke in most meats.  So I i find myself stacking whatever wood chunks in there whether it be pecan, hickory, apple, cherry, etc to try and force some smoke into the cook with mixed results, sometimes there is too much smoke, more times than not there is not enough smoke.

    What is a good lump that actually has smoke flavor?
    Egghead since November 2014, XL-BGE & ET-732
    Smobot
    Living near Indy
    36" Blackstone
  • HeavyG
    HeavyG Posts: 10,323
    Focker said:
    Or just buy one of these.....

    The whole smoke pot theory is that the smoke emanating from the pot travels thru the combusting coals which allows the smoke to be "cleansed" by the hot coals. Same theory as the Karubecue but a helluva lot cheaper.

    I'm not sure I buy into the smoke pot theory due to the nature of how the combusting area on a kamado pile of lump is not all encompassing like it is on the KBQ thus not all smoke from the pot would travel thru the hot spot of coals.

    Some people swear by the smoke pot technique tho. Some people also believe searing "seals in the juices". :)
    “Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away.” ― Philip K. Diçk




  • The_Stache
    The_Stache Posts: 1,153
    @HogHeaven, It's an interesting process.  I can see where this could come in handy.  I usually just throw the wood chunks directly onto the coals.  The challenge with that is for that meal it's great but if you plan on doing something that requires zero or less smoke the leftover lump/smoking chunks have to be cleaned out.

    I have an Amazin' Smoker, and it's OK but I prefer it for cold smoke vs cooking smoke.

    What you have is an interesting concept but from my thoughts I think I'd like something more like a Kick Ash Basket that would sit on top of the lump and hold the smoking wood and would provide an easy removal for less smokey cooks.

    Then again, used CI is CHEAP and I don't think I'd worry about drilling a few holes in it for this purpose.

    Cheers!!

    Kirkland, TN
    2 LBGE, 1 MM


  • I always just throw a few handfulls of pellets in with my lump. They ignite throughout the whole cook and never spike the temps. 
  • FATC1TY said:
    I'll just be an honest ****. 
    Waste of time if you buy qualify wood to smoke. 

    Ive been cooking 10 plus yrs. on a bge. This is overkill. 
    What is a quality lump wood that is not too neutral in flavor.  I am not especially impressed with the smoke flavor if any from the rock wood that I am using.
    Egghead since November 2014, XL-BGE & ET-732
    Smobot
    Living near Indy
    36" Blackstone
  • Egghead since November 2014, XL-BGE & ET-732
    Smobot
    Living near Indy
    36" Blackstone
  • jtcBoynton
    jtcBoynton Posts: 2,814
    Smoker317 said:
    ....

    What is a good lump that actually has smoke flavor?


    What is a quality lump wood that is not too neutral in flavor.  
    None.  The definition of quality lump charcoal is wood that has been highly carbonized.  Highly carbonized charcoal has very little smoke flavor.  The lump that has more pronounced smoke flavor is under carbonized.

    You can buy under carbonized lump to get more smoke flavor, just don't call it quality.  It will burn fine and give you some smoke flavor, but I would guess still less than you want.  You will still need to add wood chunks.  If you are up for it, an offset or upright stick burner would be more to your tastes.
    Southeast Florida - LBGE
    In cooking, often we implement steps for which we have no explanations other than ‘that’s what everybody else does’ or ‘that’s what I have been told.’  Dare to think for yourself.
     
  • I found this technique on another website about a year ago. I immediately saw the vision as an improvement over what I had been doing which was place wood chunks in or near the small fire in my lump pile. Historically some of those wood chunks would not burn during the cook. Sometimes I would get no smoke flavor and sometimes I would get to much smoke flavor. 

    As most of you probably know the smoke flavor on your meat is going to happen in the first 2 hours of your cook. Once your meat reaches about 160° the smoke particles will no longer adhere to the meat. 

    By drilling the holes in the bottom of the pot the smoke travels out of the pot directly into the red hot lump which cleanses the undesirable particles out of the smoke before it travels up to your meat... making it Thin Blue Smoke.    

    The gentleman that devised this method is an engineer and he uses a Kamodo Kamado cooker... the Rolls Royce of Kamado cookers. 

    I have a Kick Ash Basket in my BGE and after every cook using the Smoke Pot I dump the smoke pot out and I shake the Ash off of the unburned lump. I never have a left over smoke flavor on the next cook. 

    I've been using the technique for over a year now and feel I have much more control over Smoke distribution in my large BGE with this technique VS just dumping wood chunks on and/or around my small fire for long low and slow cooks.

    I'm just sharing it with you guys and girls. If you see the potential I did, use it. If you don't think it will improve your Smoke distribution in your cooker... forget you ever saw it.