J
JacksonsDad
Guest
OK, on my road to becoming a Smoke Master (insert silly chinese background sounds here..) There are some small tips I have either read about on this site, or experienced myself...I thought we could all post some here. Also, feel free to dispute or comment on these or any other listed herein...
1) Unless you really know every inch of your smoke chamber, keep rotating your meat to avoid 1 piece sitting in a hot spot too long.
2) Feel free to finish off in the oven (Hey, this secret was only revealed to me recently) And, if I remeber correctly, I read that meat only takes smoke under 140 degress...is this true?
3) More oven tips...a water bath helps, but consider how long it will be in...1" of water in a shallow pan may be all gone by morning.
4) More oven tips...keep a large drip pan under your meats, they will drip and cleaning ovens can be a bitch!
5) If possible, try to monitor chamber AND internal meat temps.
6) If using wood, keep it warm by placing on top of your firebox prior to inserting it. Wood ignites once it reaches a certain temperature, the hotter it is when you put it in, the quicker it will ignite and the less temperature drop you will have.
7) Back to that oven thing...when finishing overnight, keep it really really low, or set an alarm, better to wake up and have to wait for it to finish than to have it already done several hours ago.
and a coule of questions for you Masters...
1) for smaller cooks, are wood chips worth a sh!t? I had a friend tell me he soaks them in water before putting them on the fire? Thoughts?
2) How much fat cap do you leave? I know thoughts on this vary...but what are the reasonings?
3) I use a piece of expanded metal shaped into a box and placed on the first shelf in the firebox for my coals and wood (moded firebox mod). The coals and wood still seem to clog the airflow. I had considered stating 1 fire on the floor of the firebox, then later drop the shelf and moded firebox over the coals and drop fresh charcoal and wood on there...the coals below would ignite the fuel on top. Thoughts?
1) Unless you really know every inch of your smoke chamber, keep rotating your meat to avoid 1 piece sitting in a hot spot too long.
2) Feel free to finish off in the oven (Hey, this secret was only revealed to me recently) And, if I remeber correctly, I read that meat only takes smoke under 140 degress...is this true?
3) More oven tips...a water bath helps, but consider how long it will be in...1" of water in a shallow pan may be all gone by morning.
4) More oven tips...keep a large drip pan under your meats, they will drip and cleaning ovens can be a bitch!
5) If possible, try to monitor chamber AND internal meat temps.
6) If using wood, keep it warm by placing on top of your firebox prior to inserting it. Wood ignites once it reaches a certain temperature, the hotter it is when you put it in, the quicker it will ignite and the less temperature drop you will have.
7) Back to that oven thing...when finishing overnight, keep it really really low, or set an alarm, better to wake up and have to wait for it to finish than to have it already done several hours ago.
and a coule of questions for you Masters...
1) for smaller cooks, are wood chips worth a sh!t? I had a friend tell me he soaks them in water before putting them on the fire? Thoughts?
2) How much fat cap do you leave? I know thoughts on this vary...but what are the reasonings?
3) I use a piece of expanded metal shaped into a box and placed on the first shelf in the firebox for my coals and wood (moded firebox mod). The coals and wood still seem to clog the airflow. I had considered stating 1 fire on the floor of the firebox, then later drop the shelf and moded firebox over the coals and drop fresh charcoal and wood on there...the coals below would ignite the fuel on top. Thoughts?