Welcome to the EGGhead Forum - a great place to visit and packed with tips and EGGspert advice! You can also join the conversation and get more information and amazing kamado recipes by following Big Green Egg to Experience our World of Flavor™ at:
Facebook  |  Twitter  |  Instagram  |  Pinterest  |  Youtube  |  Vimeo
Share your photos by tagging us and using the hashtag #BigGreenEgg.

Want to see how the EGG is made? Click to Watch

Ribs and Wood

Unknown
edited November -1 in EggHead Forum
Wife surprised me with a large egg for Christmas, I know best woman ever! I have grilled on it several times and baked a pizza. I plan on smoking some ribs this weekend but need input on incorporating wood chunks in the egg. I have a vast supply of seasoned hickory and cherry. Do I strategically place the chunks in my lump or should I burn down to reduce the creosote? Also, how much do I need to use?

Comments

  • Little Steven
    Little Steven Posts: 28,817
    OMG,

    We need a welshman here like another Scot! Seriously, watch how much smoking wood you use cause a little goes a long way and it's easy to over do it. One or two fist sized chunks is more than enough.

    Steve

    Steve 

    Caledon, ON

     

  • Angela
    Angela Posts: 543
    What little Steven said. 1 or 2 depending on size. Never noticed it mattering as far as burying vs on top, never burned them down first either.
    Egging on two larges + 36" Blackstone griddle
  • Thanks for the tip I would have used 10xs that amount of wood
  • You took the words right out of my mouth. I am doing some ribs I hope this weekend for one of the playoff games.

    I have cherry chips left over from my gas grill and I have oak hickory, and some other trees around.

    Another questions is how to add chips after cooking for a few hours?
    Dave Montgomery at Wheeling West Virgina
  • Jeffersonian
    Jeffersonian Posts: 4,244
    The best way to keep smoke on your ribs - if you're so inclined - is to mix the smoking wood into the lump all the way down to the grate. But you're not going to get much smoke penetration after the first couple of hours, so it may be for naught. Better to put your chunks/chips near the top to smoke the ribs straight off.
  • Hungry Joe
    Hungry Joe Posts: 1,566
    I agree also. Especially the hickory. I've used it on pork loins and was surprised how much flavor made it in to the meat.
  • Fidel
    Fidel Posts: 10,172
    Yea, but you have really tiny fists Steve, so that point of reference may not work for those of normal sizes.
  • Fidel
    Fidel Posts: 10,172
    I disagree. Smoke can flavor the meat at any point during the cook. It does not ever absorb smoke, nor does it stop taking on smoke flavor after any amount of time or after it achieves a certain temperature. This is a myth derived from the smoke ring, which will cease to form after the meat reaches approximately 140° - but the smoke ring has no effect whatsoever on smoke flavor. The smoke flavor is cause by smoke particulate landing on and bonding to the exterior surface of the meat being cooked.

    You can theoretically cook over a flavorless heat source and add a smoking source the last few minutes. The ribs will still taste of smoke. Likewise you could theoretically take a piece of meat that has been heavily smoked for a few hours, and if you could extract a core sample without somehow tainting it with smoke particulate from the exterior of the meat, you would be unable to detect any smoke flavor.

    The short story is smoke is on the outside and lands on there whenever there is smoke in the cooking chamber.
  • that all sounds familiar..... hahahah

    next time put quotes around it, or i will sue for infringement :laugh:
  • sound that p!ssy when i write it out like that too?
    hahahaaha
    i KILL me!

    essexco and wife are here tonight for some dinner. he's bringing the roast. i lucked out
  • Fidel
    Fidel Posts: 10,172
    It's usually much worse coming from you. Much more pompous.
  • hahahaha
    i'll agree that "tone" does not telegraph well if at all.
  • Jeffersonian
    Jeffersonian Posts: 4,244
    I stand corrected on the mechanism, but I'm not sure how much more marginal flavor will be imparted to the meat in hour x after x-1 hours of smoking. There is surely a point of negligible (or even harmful) smoking, no?
  • Fidel
    Fidel Posts: 10,172
    I would agree completely that at some point it becomes impossible to taste any additional smoke, almost like a saturation. Begs the question of how much is too much. With ribs especially I keep the smoke toned down...only like to use fruit woods.
  • Jeffersonian
    Jeffersonian Posts: 4,244
    Agreed, though I'm so hooked on cherry that I can't bring myself to try apple or, like Myron Mixon, peach.
  • Fidel
    Fidel Posts: 10,172
    Peach is great. So is fig (thanks Kim).

    I had a bag of sweetwood blend that was awesome on ribs, but ran out. It was apple, pear, and cherry I think.