Lookin' for a little help...

[SpikeC]

I suppose wet wood would work if you wanted to put out the fire......................

 

[PierreRodrigue]

I thought the same thing, what I have seen on the Food Network, was to mix wet with dry wood. Mostly in a gas grill. In a charcoal grill, how long is the smoke cycle?

 

[Jim]

I thought the same thing, what I have seen on the Food Network, was to mix wet with dry wood. Mostly in a gas grill. In a charcoal grill, how long is the smoke cycle?

I hate to say it-But,.... it depends on your cooker.
On a stick burner, you are burning wood the entire time you are cooking so it never really stops. Generally the meat will no longer absorb nitrates (the pink smoke ring)after it reaches 165 degrees at the surface, so starting with cold meat and lower temps can be one strategy to accomplish a good smoke ring. It also depends on the meat, on pork ribs, in a stick burner your smoke ring can go straight through the meat and meet in the middle. Sorry if its not that clear cut.

 

[mhlee]

I hate to say it-But,.... it depends on your cooker.
On a stick burner, you are burning wood the entire time you are cooking so it never really stops. Generally the meat will no longer absorb nitrates (the pink smoke ring)after it reaches 165 degrees at the surface, so starting with cold meat and lower temps can be one strategy to accomplish a good smoke ring. It also depends on the meat, on pork ribs, in a stick burner your smoke ring can go straight through the meat and meet in the middle. Sorry if its not that clear cut.

Agreed. It really depends on a number of factors, including the size of the piece of wood you are using, the temperature, location of the wood with respect to the fire, age, etc. In my experience, a 2 cubic inch piece of wood at 250 to 275, off to the side of your heat source, will give you about a good 1 to 1 1/2 hour of smoke. A small handful of wood chips will give you maybe 15 minutes of smoke when put directly on the heat source. Again, this is all based on my experience with a 22.5 Weber Performer.

Here are my wood/meat combinations: Mostly peach, some hickory for pork (apple/cherry with hickory also works well); peach for chicken; mostly oak and some hickory for beef; apple for salmon.

 

[mhlee]

In the smokeing stage of the process, is there any benifit or advantage in useing wet woodchips over dry, or even in conjunction with? Is there a wood that accentuates the meat better, whether beef or pork? What duration of smoke do you guys like to use?

The duration of smoke depends on how much smoke flavor you like in your food. That being said, for thicker pieces of meat, e.g. pork butts or shoulder, I think you can burn wood the entire cooking process - the smoke may not continue to create a deeper smoke ring, but the smoke will continue to penetrate the meat. I use 2 inch thick pieces of wood sliced (4 inch diameter) every few hours to keep a steady stream of wood going. For ribs and chicken, I've found that less is more; continuous smoke can overwhelm the flavor of the meat. I start off with a standard size chunk of wood, then gradually reduce the amount of wood I use. Chicken can taste acrid if you use too much smoke.

But try varying the amount of wood you use the first few times. I think you'll quickly get an idea as to how much smoke you like in your food. Also, as I've cooked over the years, I've definitely reduced the amount of wood I use.

 

[Lefty]

My cooker is well known as a moist one, but I add a pan with hot water just in front of the heat inlet. If I am using the weber kettle I will use a drip tray(foil pan) with water in it to catch the mess,add moisture and also hold the coals off to one side of the grill. It again comes down to experimenting and getting the most from your gear.

These are my sentiments, exactly! I use a Weber Kettle Grill and get outstanding results. I've stuck with my Weber for grilling, q'ing and smoking. It's all about learning your grill/Q!
I stick with oak for smoking, because it is such a neutral smoke flavor and aroma...it works with most anything.
Maybe I'm a weirdo, but I also have an oven thermometer in my grill to get the right temp. Once it's there, you only have to peek at it every now and then, assuming you have your coals nicely piled.
For ribs, I go indirect for about an hour and a half, wrapped with aromatics and a spice paste for another hour or hour and a half, indrect to build more bark, direct (membrane down) to finish while painting on my sauce.
Chicken depends on whether or not I'm using the hand cranked rotisserie euro grill, or my weber. Either way, I cook with the smoke. And use huge amounts of homemade piri piri sauce.
Still trying to get brisket figured out, since it's not very common around here. It's getting close!
Good luck Pierre! Have fun
Still working on my brisket technique.

 

[Kyle]

Thanks Kyle for the info. Sorry to bring this up again, but do you know where you guys bought it? Is there a California dealer that has them? I'd like to personally take a look at a new one.

Thanks again.

Michael,

Sorry I missed this question twice! We ordered it straight from Cookshack. I'm sure if you get in touch with them they can connect you to a dealer than has one in stock. It's a great cooker. I used it last night for a stuffed pork loin. I did all the prep work Sunday night and last night I was able to just throw it on the smoker for a couple hours. I didn't have to stress about temperature control after a long day at work and I still got my smoked meat fix! Highly recommended.

 

[mhlee]

Michael,

Sorry I missed this question twice! We ordered it straight from Cookshack. I'm sure if you get in touch with them they can connect you to a dealer than has one in stock. It's a great cooker. I used it last night for a stuffed pork loin. I did all the prep work Sunday night and last night I was able to just throw it on the smoker for a couple hours. I didn't have to stress about temperature control after a long day at work and I still got my smoked meat fix! Highly recommended.

Thanks Kyle. I saw that Cookshack has reduced shipping (another reason to buy it versus other cookers).

I also recalled that they had cooking classes that you could apply the cost to buy a new cooker. I didn't see it the last time I went on the website but would consider taking the class before buying to learn more tricks to tailor the cooker to get the results I want.

Nonetheless, thanks for all of the responses. I really appreciate it. It helped me get a much better idea of what it can and cannot do.

I really have to decide what I want to buy now. Barbecue season is here!

 

[Kyle]

Thanks Kyle. I saw that Cookshack has reduced shipping (another reason to buy it versus other cookers).

I also recalled that they had cooking classes that you could apply the cost to buy a new cooker. I didn't see it the last time I went on the website but would consider taking the class before buying to learn more tricks to tailor the cooker to get the results I want.

Nonetheless, thanks for all of the responses. I really appreciate it. It helped me get a much better idea of what it can and cannot do.

I really have to decide what I want to buy now. Barbecue season is here!

Are you still choosing between the Komodo and the Cookshack? If those are your choices go Cookshack. It has enough room to feed a party or cater but it's efficient enough to fire it up for a rack of ribs for the family. I'm sure the Komodo Kamado is a beautiful work of art, but I don't see how it's worth the $2000+ difference over a BGE. If you have other choices in mind then that changes things.

Good luck!

 

[mano]

Smoking Meat Forum has directions for smoking brisket that's worked for years. As you see above there are many variations to doing a brisket as there are doing butts and ribs.

Trim brisket and apply rub and let sit for an hour or longer.

Use wood chips of choice. Soaking chips makes no difference, IMO nor does using a water pan (which I use in my cheap electric Brinkman).

Smoke brisket to 170 deg.

Wrap in foil with a good splash of your spray/mop-back into the smoker until it reaches 190 deg.

Wrap in several old towels and place into a blanket lined cooler for a couple of hours to rest and redistribute the juices then slice or pull and serve.

Keep in mind that a piece of meat this size will hit a plateau and you'll think your thermo has gone south on you. DO NOT adjust your heat, Just leave it alone-It's is during this time that the heat that has built up in the muscle mass begins to break down the connective tissue which in turn will make the brisket tender. Be patient with it and it will reward you a great meal.

Also, brisket is much more finicky than pork butt, which is pretty hard to ruin.

 

[Jim]

Smoking Meat Forum has directions for smoking brisket that's worked for years. As you see above there are many variations to doing a brisket as there are doing butts and ribs.

Trim brisket and apply rub and let sit for an hour or longer.

Use wood chips of choice. Soaking chips makes no difference, IMO nor does using a water pan (which I use in my cheap electric Brinkman).

Smoke brisket to 170 deg.

Wrap in foil with a good splash of your spray/mop-back into the smoker until it reaches 190 deg.

Wrap in several old towels and place into a blanket lined cooler for a couple of hours to rest and redistribute the juices then slice or pull and serve.

Keep in mind that a piece of meat this size will hit a plateau and you'll think your thermo has gone south on you. DO NOT adjust your heat, Just leave it alone-It's is during this time that the heat that has built up in the muscle mass begins to break down the connective tissue which in turn will make the brisket tender. Be patient with it and it will reward you a great meal.

Also, brisket is much more finicky than pork butt, which is pretty hard to ruin.

The 170 degrees you mentioned is much too low in my experiance, I know you are letting the internal rise while resting, but I do not see it rising that much. I use a probe to tell me when the brisket is done. It should slide in with NO resistance.

Sometimes it's 195 and sometimes its 205. I let the meat tell me when its ready.

 

[mano]

Jim, the 170 is the temp to wrap in foil and return to heat (I put it in the oven) until it hits 190, which is close to your target temp.

 

[Jim]

Jim, the 170 is the temp to wrap in foil and return to heat (I put it in the oven) until it hits 190, which is close to your target temp.

Ahh... Indeed!

 

[mhlee]

Are you still choosing between the Komodo and the Cookshack? If those are your choices go Cookshack. It has enough room to feed a party or cater but it's efficient enough to fire it up for a rack of ribs for the family. I'm sure the Komodo Kamado is a beautiful work of art, but I don't see how it's worth the $2000+ difference over a BGE. If you have other choices in mind then that changes things.

Good luck!

Thanks Kyle. I think I'm just going to go with a BGE for the time being. They're more available, there's more support and they're $2000 less than a Cookshack or BGE.

I do eventually want to get a Cookshack because I'm hoping to open a barbecue place in the future; a pellet burner seems to offer more consistency than any other cooker simply because it uses pellets, and getting a consistent source of high quality wood can be difficult at times. I called Cookshack yesterday, got a price quote for the FEC100, found out about their classes, etc., and prices. It's like $3500 plus $100 for shipping. It's a little steep for my wallet right now, but hopefully not in the future.

Thanks again for your comments. I appreciate it.

 

[Kyle]

You're going to love the BGE. My cheap Chinese BGE knockoff kicks so much butt even though it's ugly and looks like it was assembled by toddlers. I want to sell it and upgrade to a BGE but I might just buy another knife or two instead. :biggrin:

 

[mhlee]

Barbecue stuff vs. Knife stuff. That is currently the dilemma of my life. :helpsos:

 

[PierreRodrigue]

Well today is the day. Got a nice 8 pound, 21 day aged hunk of black angus. Mixed up a rub, as per a valued forum member, let it sit 24 hours, put it on this morning at 8:00, it now 2:30, thing are looking good. Meat is soft to the touch, haven't checked internal temp yet, dont want to let out the heat. A quick question, would a BBQ sauce over do it, or would it be best to leave it to the dry spices?? Got about 4 hours till supper. Hope someone is on with some good advice!

 

[SpikeC]

I would hold off on the sauce until after tasting. I like to let the meat and rub do the talking. If it needs sauce so be it, butt taste first, is my motto!