dealm9
is one Smokin' Farker
I have been very busy at college so this is my first post in awhile. Since I am at college, I do not have my smoker and have to use an oven or stove top to do all my cooking. I also have a crock pot. It's amazing how I feel very comfortable using a smoker which is, for most people, more complicated than an oven where you can just turn a dial. Basically, I am trying to get the hang of using an oven, but my meat just never holds up to my expectations since I became an avid user of my UDS about 3 years back. I try to make most of my meals on the stove top with my CI skillet. However, I would really like to start using my oven to replicate as close as possible, the tender, juicy meat I get from my UDS.
I understand that I will never be able to replicate the smokey flavor of a UDS. However, it seems to me that there are so many other desirable qualities that I get from my meat in my UDS that I cannot achieve in an oven, such as tender, juicy meat inside an barky exterior. I am sure there are valid reasons to this. One guess I would have is that achieving tender meat in an oven, in my experience, usually involves basting or braising it which results in a soggy exterior. However, the heart of the problem for me, I guess, is that I just don't understand (and would very much like to) why other than the smokey flavor, the smoker and the oven produce such different results. How to's would be great, but I would really like someone with knowledge on the science behind the two cookers to explain or make reference to some literature which would explain the differences between the two cookers and why they cook the way they do. I have googled it extensively and have not found much in the way of what I am looking for. I the very least I would like to just learn more of the two cookers and maybe come up with some ideas to best replicated "UDS meals" in my oven.
As a disclaimer I am a HUGE amateur when it comes to oven cooking so it may be that others do not have the problems I do and I just don't even know the very basics of good oven cooking. I am sure, however, that there are many who cannot cook in an oven and achieve results that could somewhat live up to those of good bbq. It may just be a naive dream of someone bbq deprived and missing his UDS very much
I understand that I will never be able to replicate the smokey flavor of a UDS. However, it seems to me that there are so many other desirable qualities that I get from my meat in my UDS that I cannot achieve in an oven, such as tender, juicy meat inside an barky exterior. I am sure there are valid reasons to this. One guess I would have is that achieving tender meat in an oven, in my experience, usually involves basting or braising it which results in a soggy exterior. However, the heart of the problem for me, I guess, is that I just don't understand (and would very much like to) why other than the smokey flavor, the smoker and the oven produce such different results. How to's would be great, but I would really like someone with knowledge on the science behind the two cookers to explain or make reference to some literature which would explain the differences between the two cookers and why they cook the way they do. I have googled it extensively and have not found much in the way of what I am looking for. I the very least I would like to just learn more of the two cookers and maybe come up with some ideas to best replicated "UDS meals" in my oven.
As a disclaimer I am a HUGE amateur when it comes to oven cooking so it may be that others do not have the problems I do and I just don't even know the very basics of good oven cooking. I am sure, however, that there are many who cannot cook in an oven and achieve results that could somewhat live up to those of good bbq. It may just be a naive dream of someone bbq deprived and missing his UDS very much
