"lighter Fluid" Ribs

[Fat Freddy]

To the OP...I know you said you cook on UDS and I cook on WSMs so not the same but maybe what I have learned might help somewhat anyways. Earlier this year i did a Back to back contest at the same location. Well a week before I did some brisket and butts practice cook. Didnt clean out my drip pan. Went to the contest on the weekend first day cook did briskets and butts on same cooker everything looked good and seemed ok. Next day due to heavy winds and rain i started my cook an hour earlier than normal. When time to wrap everything looked to dark. Temps were deadon but just to dark.I blamed it on starting cook an hour early. However when I got home I noticed all the grease in the drip pan. I changed drip pan foil and didnt think nothing else about it until this past week.

On Thursday my wife had a catering job where I had to cook 5 butts. By the time the job was done and everything it was getting late so I didnt clean my cooker Friday morning had to leave for a charity contest where we had to cook whole pork shoulders for Saturday. Having never cooked a whole shoulder and had 2 to cook I used 2 different WSMs. One with clean grates and drip pan foil. Other is the cooker that had the butts the day before. In the morning the clean one looked really good but the one that had the dirty drip pan looked really dark and had a taste to it that just wasnt quite right, fine for public sampling but not turn in...Both cooked a same temp both using Royal Oak Lump and both using same Mojobricks cherry.

After the cook I looked at the drip pans one had some grease but not bad but the other seemed to be half full of grease :shock: so ultimately I think it has to be because of the grease in drip pan and dirty cooker.

 

[Alexa RnQ]

Hand sanitizer can also do it. Sat with a judge that kept complaining of lighter fluid but was using hand sanitizer constantly. None of the rest of us tasted anything like lighter fluid.

:wacko:

We've used Kingsford blue for years with no issues. A clean cooker and clean fire would be the first line of inquiry.

 

[Kathy's Smokin']

Fascinating reading, thanks for all the tips. :becky:

 

[The Duke]

It's the kingsford use lump

 

[bbqczar]

I have used Kingsford Blue for long time without any problems or lighter fluid taste.I was at a contest once where a team got a comment card that said the meat tasted like,ASS,no kidding,for one I can't believe the table captain or rep let that card go out saying that,but I saw the card myself,said the meat tasted like ASS.I would like to know how the judge knew what ASS tasted like :shock::wacko:

 

[DawgPhan]

It isnt your choice of charcoal. I would also suggest that you not take BBQ advice from anyone that says it is.

 

[Kathy's Smokin']

What I've been learning about palates the last couple of years is that everyone's is different. I've been paying attention to palate sensitivity in my blood relatives and discussing my thoughts with my mother. We can trace the ability to taste well or less than well from my grandparents to my mom to my siblings and me. Mom's mom had an amazing palate that both myself and my brother share, we can taste things my mom just is not able to. I watch cooking shows where people are blindfolded and they are asked to name what they are chewing. You can tell a lot about their palate sensitivity by the answers they give. I've only seen one person in about 3 dozen that could name 4 out of 4 correctly. I've seen about half a dozen get 3 out of 4 correct and the rest got 2 or less correct. They were every day foods and some that got a food wrong they eat regularly and were shocked and embarrassed.

While I was getting a dental implant procedure done for a front tooth I wore a flipper to hold the space. It was one false tooth in a plastic plate that covered the roof of my mouth. I always took it out when I ate, even in restaurants and at a wedding reception because it made that much difference in my ability to taste the food I was eating. People who use upper dental plates to eat will not taste as well as they would without the dental plate.

I expect there is a range in palate sensitivity among the Comp judges the same as there is in a cross-section of regular people -- unless passing a palate sensitivity test must be done in order to graduate. Sommeliers make a career and a living from their sensitive palates so we absolutely know degrees of palate sensitivity exists. I've seen documentaries about this and discovered a sommelier will abstain from certain foods before and during working hours, sometimes even a whole day before a tasting. The constant use of hand sanitizer would definitely have an effect on the palate, why someone who's job it is to taste food at a BBQ competition can't figure that out is beyond me.

 

[RumRunner_1492]

It isnt your choice of charcoal. I would also suggest that you not take BBQ advice from anyone that says it is.

Well since you said it then it must be true.

The fuel you use and what is in it can and does have an impact on the taste of what you make. It is no different than using certain woods to add certain flavors. Many people have complained about a chemical taste from some charcoals such as kingsford blue. I think kingsford even realizes there is a difference in taste or why would they make a "competition" all natural briquette?

At the end of the day cook on whatever you want.

 

[BeastMode]

Not a competition cook yet but im pretty sure it's your smoke. If it's a dark dusty looking smoke then you have airflow issues. That dusty smoke imparts a soot like flavor that leaves the taste and smell that makes people think it's lighter fluid. Adjust your dampers to get that clean thin blue smoke.

 

[BeastMode]

Well since you said it then it must be true.

The fuel you use and what is in it can and does have an impact on the taste of what you make. It is no different than using certain woods to add certain flavors. Many people have complained about a chemical taste from some charcoals such as kingsford blue. I think kingsford even realizes there is a difference in taste or why would they make a "competition" all natural briquette?

At the end of the day cook on whatever you want.

Lowes will have the 20 lb 2pk on sale for $10 this week. I'll be restocking my storage with more kingsford blue bags.

 

[DawgPhan]

Well since you said it then it must be true.

The fuel you use and what is in it can and does have an impact on the taste of what you make. It is no different than using certain woods to add certain flavors. Many people have complained about a chemical taste from some charcoals such as kingsford blue. I think kingsford even realizes there is a difference in taste or why would they make a "competition" all natural briquette?

At the end of the day cook on whatever you want.

If it was the charcoal then it would happen every time someone used a bag of kingsford and it would never happen when people used something like royal oak lump.

But it happens with every type of fuel and it doesnt happen every time you use kingsford.

 

[RumRunner_1492]

Lowes will have the 20 lb 2pk on sale for $10 this week. I'll be restocking my storage with more kingsford blue bags.

Fantastic. If you like it go for it. I don't care if you use old gym shoes or anything else to cook with. To each their own. I used to use it and didn't like the flavor so I switched to limp and now Stubb's.

 

[smoke ninja]

Kingsford makes great thin blue smoke. Isn't that why they why they call it blue bag?


One cause of a taste difference could be the drippings from the drum on coals. Or maybe that judge smokes cheap cigarettes. I think you guys may be discounting the gmo kale factor too soon.

I definitely don't think platelets have anything to do with it. Blood clotting and sense of taste are not related.

 

[bignburlyman]

Kingsford makes great thin blue smoke. Isn't that why they why they call it blue bag?


One cause of a taste difference could be the drippings from the drum on coals. Or maybe that judge smokes cheap cigarettes. I think you guys may be discounting the gmo kale factor too soon.

I definitely don't think platelets have anything to do with it. Blood clotting and sense of taste are not related.

If it was a KCBS contest kale is an illegal garnish and should have been disqualified, GMO or organic. :wink::wacko:

 

[wtxsmoker]

Not to differ here

IMHO some charcoal does have a taste, period. I have done cooks on all wood and experienced a chemical taste. I believe it comes from a poorly managed fire and wood smoldering instead of burning clean.

I got carried away visiting friends camps (BEER) at a cook off and the west Texas wind changed as I walked to my pit I saw her belching a ton of white milky smoke out exhaust, doors just about every point it could.

Had to open the doors and ramp up temps then put on more ribs. Stale smoke tastes like lighter fluid to some. Can be the same with charcoal, lump or cow patties.