Smoking Meat

Unknown · September 2006

I have had a big green egg since November 2005 and I am not satisfied
with the results I've been getting. I have smoked the following items.
1. 14 pound Turkey (6 hours)
2. 2 Cornish hens (3 hours)
3. 1 Regular size chicken(2 hours)
4. 4 Slabs of Spare Ribs (4 hours)
I used a generous amount of hickory chips the meat turns out really
tender but I cannot taste the hickory flavor in the meat. I wish
someone would tell me what I'm doing wrong.
Bobby Shoals

gman · September 2006

We'll need a little bit more detail. A lot of factors influence smoke flavor.[p]However, I generally like to use unsoaked wood at the edge of my coals. It puts out a fair amount of smoke at the beginning of the cook that sticks to the meat. If it's a bigger piece of meat cooking for a long period of time, I may add some wood pieces about halfway.

gdenby · September 2006

Bobby Shoals,[p]I came across a statement saying that the smoke needs moisture to penetrate the meat. Perhaps mopping your meats more frequently would help, or using a mustard based rub. For myself, it seems that the most intense smoke flavor comes from dumping a big batch of chips on top of a just stabilized low heat fire.[p]gdenby

Unknown · September 2006

Bobby Shoals,
Lose the chips, they are a great marketing blitz, but unless you have an unlimited amount & want to open your egg every 15 min....get CHUNKS of your wood of choice, & put them on a relatively cool fire, preferably around the edge of the fire & you will have hours of great smoke...also, cold meat tends to absorb more smoke intially up to a temp of ~ 145 deg, according to some experts...hence the longer the time it takes you to get to 145 deg, ostensibly the more smoke you get on your meat. Good luck & let us know how it turns out w/ the chunks.

Sundown · September 2006

SkyRider,
I tend to agree with you on your post. Most of the smoke gets into the meat in the first hour or so of a long slow cook. Cold meat is better at absorbing smoke as you point out but, I use wet chips and chunks and get plenty of smoke taste. Chips for the immediate and chunks for the longer run.

Smoking Meat

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