How do you get a smoke ring?

[Pappy]

I never seem to get a smoke ring. I did not see a ring on the last few ribs or the brisket I cooked. I have seen it on my burgers and chicken. Does the layer of rub keep it from forming?

 

[MilitantSquatter]

need more info..

which cooker, what chamber temps, what charcoal &/or wood type ?

 

[Pappy]

UDS, 225, Hickory, Apple, Cherry, Kingsford Blue, Ran for about 45 minutes before I put the cold, rubbed meat on. Rub was some "sugar in the raw", SM Cherry & Bone Suckin Sauce rub.

Here is a pic before going in the smoker.

 

[Garyclaw]

Looks like a good start. How long on the smoker?

 

[Jethro608]

To my understanding the smoke ring forms in meat for the first 2 to 3 hrs. In my uds I have found that the fuel burns forever. So maybe your fist sized pieces are to far from heat source to long and your missing the target temps .
You also stated that you were putting the meat on cold. I have heard to always. Alow the meat to rest and come up to room temp. Witch is different for.each piece.
I don't understand the science,but I do think having meat at room temp will make a difference& and the uds pushing out sweet blue will get you the results you desire.
The sugar in the raw is what I again to understand is turbinodo (sp) and its in most rubs, so I would say between cold meat ,no blue some where lies the issue.
Any way that is my .02 cents. I'm sure this will be a great thread with a wealth of info before its buried. I'm gona subscribe now.
Good luck & may the smoke ring soon show up at your door.

 

[ccarter]

I've heard all kinds of suggestions about how to get the smoke ring to form. I've had good luck smoking between 230 and 255, not foiling, and allowing my meat to sit out for about an hour prior to going in the smoker. I'd love to hear some science on the topic. I wish I had the $ to do some experiments. At any rate, hopefully even without the smoke ring your food is tasting good!

 

[Q-Dat]

You could sprinkle a light coat of celery salt on the meat before the rub, and let it sit a while before cooking. Its made from ground celery seed which is naturally high in nitrates, which is what causes the smoke ring.

 

[Bludawg]

After the meat reaches 140 deg F the smoke ring will stop forming . To achieve the best results the colder the meat is going on the better the chance of a smoke ring. The amount of salt in your rub will also play a part in its formation as the salt breaks down the nitrates in salt react with the smoke to help it develop. Not having a smoke ring to me is not a big deal I worry about the flavor and tenderness, since it is just a cosmetic effect of a chemical reaction and is not even part of KCBS judging criteria.

What is the Smoke Ring and Why Is It There!
How to Get That Coveted Pink Ring With Your Cooking

by Joe Cordray

Slow cooked barbecue meats often exhibit a pink ring around the outside edge of the product.
This pink ring may range from 1/8 inch to 1/2 inch thick. In beef the ring is a reddish-pink and in
pork, chicken and turkey it is bright pink. This pink ring is often referred to as a “smoke ring”
and is considered a prized attribute in many barbecue meats, especially barbecue beef briskets.
Barbecue connoiseurs feel the presence of a smoke ring indicates the item was slow smoked for a
long period of time. Occasionally consumers have mistakenly felt that the pink color of the
smoke ring meant the meat was undercooked. To understand smoke ring formation you must first
understand muscle pigment.
Myoglobin is the pigment that gives muscle its color. Beef muscle has more pigment than pork
muscle thus beef has a darker color than pork. Chicken thighs have a darker color than chicken
breast thus chicken thigh muscle has more muscle pigment (myoglobin) than chicken breast
tissue. A greater myoglobin concentration yields a more intense color. When you first cut into a
muscle you expose the muscle pigment in its native state, myoglobin. In the case of beef,
myoglobin has a purplish-red color. After the myoglobin has been exposed to oxygen for a short
time, it becomes oxygenated and oxymyoglobin is formed. Oxymyoglobin is the color we
associate with fresh meat. The optimum fresh meat color in beef is bright cherry red and in pork
bright grayish pink. If a cut of meat is held under refrigeration for several days, the myoglobin
on the surface becomes oxidized. When oxymyoglobin is oxidized it becomes metmyoglobin.
Metmyoglobin has a brown color and is associated with a piece of meat that has been cut for
several days. When we produce cured products we also alter the state of the pigment myoglobin.
Cured products are defined as products to which we add sodium nitrate and/or sodium nitrite
during processing. Examples of cured products are ham, bacon, bologna and hotdogs. All of
these products have a pink color, which is typical of cured products. When sodium nitrite is
combined with meat the pigment myoglobin is converted to nitric oxide myoglobin which is a
very dark red color. This state of the pigment myoglobin is not very stable. Upon heating, nitric
oxide myoglobin is converted to nitrosylhemochrome, which is the typical pink color of cured
meats.
When a smoke ring develops in barbecue meats it is not because smoke has penetrated and
colored the muscle, but rather because gases in the smoke interact with the pigment myoglobin.
Two phenomenon provide evidence that it is not the smoke itself that causes the smoke ring.
First, it is possible to have a smoke ring develop in a product that has not been smoked and
second, it is also possible to heavily smoke a product without smoke ring development.
Most barbecuers use either wood chips or logs to generate smoke when cooking. Wood contains
large amounts of nitrogen (N). During burning the nitrogen in the logs combines with oxygen
(O) in the air to form nitrogen dioxide (NO2). Nitrogen dioxide is highly water-soluble. The pink
ring is created when NO2 is absorbed into the moist meat surface and reacts to form nitrous acid.
The nitrous acid then diffuses inward creating a pink ring via the classic meat curing reaction of
sodium nitrite. The end result is a “smoke ring” that has the pink color of cured meat. Smoke ring
also frequently develops in smokehouses and cookers that are gas-fired because NO2 is a
combustion by-product when natural gas or propane is burned.

About the Author:
Joe Cordray is the Meat Extension Specialist at Iowa State University’s nationally renowned Meat Lab, located in
Ames, IA. He has been writing for The BBQer since Fall of 2001

 

[pigdog]

So, does a heavy coat of rub inhibit the smoke ring? How about a slather of mustard or oil? Will those inhibit.

 

[thirdeye]

Here some tips for a better ring....

* Smoke rings stop forming at 140°, so start your meat off cold, and run your pit colder for the first couple of hours. Remember that the ring formation stops around 140°, you can keep piling on the smoke flavor as long as you have smoke. (In fact you can make meat so smokey you won't want to eat it).

* Flaming wood produces more nitrogen than a smoldering fire. Use correct vent settings on your cooker, and maintain good airflow in your firebox, charcoal basket etc.

* Moist meat absorbs nitrogen dioxide more easily. Use a water pan in your cooker, use a ceramic cooker (they keep meats moister than many steel pits), marinate, inject baste, or spritz your meat, or use some immature wood. Don't use all green wood, just a piece or two that is not fully cured. Soak a few chips or a chunk or two, don't soak them all or your smoke production will be limited until the wood dries out. Try putting a whole onion or two on the grate, they release moisture curing the cook and are delicious. Look close in this picture and you will see 6 or 8 onions amongst the meat, there is also a coffee can half-full of water in the other end.

* Charcoal briquettes have more nitrogen than lump charcoal. If you are a lump burner add a couple of briquettes atop your fire early on in the cook. If you are using a box style electric or propane smoker, add a briquette or two to your chip pan. Below is the list of things found in Kingsford briquettes:

Kingsford sends a form letter in response to consumers' questions about the ingredients. According to the form letter sent in August, 2000, Kingsford contains the following ingredients:

wood char (for heat)
mineral char (for heat)
mineral carbon (for heat)
limestone (for color)
starch (binder)
borax (to release from the mold)
sodium nitrate (added to help ignition)
sawdust (to speed up ignition)


* Cook larger cuts of meat and/or keep your cooker full.... More meat means more mass, more mass will retain more moisture. Select whole briskets over flats, cook two butts instead of one, don't just cook 3 thighs, buy a big pack and fill up that grate. If you have some spare room on a grate, put a fatty or two on.

* Celery Juice - Celery Seed & Celery Salt - Celery juice concentrate is a vegetable product, but has a significant amount of naturally occurring nitrate. Celery juice has very little pigment and a mild taste that does not detract from the meat's flavor. Furthermore, celery juice, celery seed, celery powder or celery salt may be listed as natural flavoring on meat product labels. Some producers sneak celery products into certain meats, sausages, bacon etc., then label it "No Nitrates Added" or "Uncured". Sneaky isn't it? It's no secret that celery seed and celery salt are popular ingredients in rubs, especially beef rubs, but we like them for flavor. I put a layer of grounnd celery seed on all my briskets. Now if you don't like eating things with nitrates in them, don't give up on celery sticks. Although there are still nitrates present, your body reacts differently to natural vs. synthetic nitrates. For example, celery salt also contains high levels of antioxidants, which help your body process the nitrates.

* Use some Tenderquick. All you do is sprinkle some on the inside face of a brisket (the side opposite the fat cap) and let it sit for 10 minutes. Rinse it off, then return the brisket to the fridge for at least 1 hour, you can let it rest in the fridge up to 8 hours. Then season and barbecue as usual. There is no additional salt flavor from the TQ, and you will not "cure" the surface of the meat. This is a TQ'd brisket.

 

[Bludawg]

I need to stop reading all posts when ThirdEye replies the porn is killin me:clap:

 

[Jethro608]

See . Great read thanks

 

[Pappy]

Looks like a good start. How long on the smoker?

Started with 3 hours at 225, foiled for 1:15, then another 1:30 without foil.

I had 5 fist size chunks of wood, nested in the top of the charcoal so that I could start getting wood smoke right away.

After the meat reaches 140 deg F the smoke ring will stop forming . To achieve the best results the colder the meat is going on the better the chance of a smoke ring. The amount of salt in your rub will also play a part in its formation as the salt breaks down the nitrates in salt react with the smoke to help it develop.

I had heard that too. That is why I put the meat on cold, so it would stay in the smoke ring zone longer. (under 140)

The ribs tasted just fine. It would also be nice to see the ring. Maybe I need to use more salt.

http://www.bbq-brethren.com/forum/showthread.php?p=2181486#post2181486

 

[mmmmeat]

Lots of times I have noticed, you won't see a smoke ring on ribs, because they are so thin the ring actually completely comes together so the entire of the meat is essentially a smoke ring, remember a brisket typically has a 1/4 to 3/8" ring. Apply that to ribs and it fills the available meat

Sent from my fancy android fone

 

[Lake Dogs]

Pappy, on the ribs, with that kind of wood you should've had a nice smoke ring. On ribs, however,you might've had nothing but smoke ring... It's easy to do on ribs. I foil ribs for a few reasons, one of them is to limit the amount of smoke and stop the smoke from penetrating all the way through (resulting in an actual smoke ring vs. pink all the way through). FYI: on ribs, 225 is probably unnecessarily low and painfully slow. Most of the better pork ribs (IMHO) are cooked in that 260-290 range.

When are you applying the rub? From the pic it looks like it's been a fairly long time. There's not much of a reason to apply the rub more than 2 hours ahead of smoke time. I usually do it right before lighting the fire, so it's been on there about 1 hour...

I dont use mustard, but the guys that do have no problem getting a nice smoke ring, so no, mustard doesn't change it much.

 

[El Ropo]

I don't use a lot of salt in my rubs for any meat, and never have a problem with ring. Put meat on cold, cook at lower temp for first hour or so, use a mix of pecan, apple, and cherry. It turns out good every time.

There's a glitch in the matrix, can't access photobucket ATM. Was gonna show another example.

** Edit ** Hmm, it was a momentary glitch. Another example of deep ring

Don't know if it make a difference, but have had great success using a zesty Italian dressing slather before putting on a light coat of rub for all meats, including poultry.

 

[Pappy]

Pappy, When are you applying the rub? From the pic it looks like it's been a fairly long time. There's not much of a reason to apply the rub more than 2 hours ahead of smoke time. I usually do it right before lighting the fire, so it's been on there about 1 hour...

I dont use mustard, but the guys that do have no problem getting a nice smoke ring, so no, mustard doesn't change it much.

I lit the UDS, Got it all set up, then went in the house and dusted the ribs, 1 1/4 hours tops.

I don't use mustard either.

 

[Shadowdog500]

I always put the meat on cold, and tend to do low and slow using kingsford and apple, cheery, or hickory, I always seem to get a ring when using these two steps no matter what else I do.

Chris

 

[Johnny_Crunch]

Is curing salt with Sodium Nitrite similar to TQ?

 

[Beentown]

Meat goes on cold. No mustard here, olive or peanut oil. Most times my ribs go pink almost all the way through with a pretty short period on with light smoke going. Here is the last set.