BBQ Smoke – good vs bad
Hi Bill –
I am a subscriber to your email newsletter and really enjoy it. I appreciate all the work you put into it for what is essentially a good will gesture on your part. You are really educating the masses!
You mentioned sometime back about “good smoke vs. bad smoke”. I had never heard that concept before, and I assumed from your pictures that bad smoke is the heavy white smoke that comes when you first put the wood on, and good smoke is the clear smoke that you get after the wood has been burning for awhile. I’m guessing the bad smoke leaves a bitter taste if the meat is exposed to it early on.
Here’s my issue: When I am doing a long, slow smoke, I use a Big Green Egg, and I use lump charcoal as the base of my fire with large chunks of soaked hardwood (usually hickory) on top. The wood chunks smoke very heavily for hours after I put it on the fire and I’m not sure if I wouldn’t burn up most of my lump waiting on the hardwood to quit smoking. I have not noticed an acrid taste in the bark of my pork butts, but maybe I don’t know what I’m missing!
Is the white smoke really that bad? If so, do you have any creative ideas I might consider to wait for it to go clear without burning off too much of the lump?
Again, many thanks for all your efforts. They are much appreciated and much enjoyed!
Best Regards,
Jack
Atlanta
One Response to “BBQ Smoke – good vs bad”
Jack:
Usually bad smoke is created when the fire is smothered. This could be due to not enough ventilation or throwing too much new wood or charcoal on at one time. So… first make sure you have a good fire going to start with so you don’t run into a “not enough heat” problem. Not enough heat will cause smoldering. Your smokestack or lid damper should be all the way open and you should control your heat in the cooking chamber with the vents on the firebox. Once you have a good fire going, just do not throw too much wood on at the same time. One chunk of smoke wood or one handful of soaked chips will do until it burns up. Then add some more (while keeping your heat source going too). The bigger chunks can be soaked or not soaked – it does not make much difference. If you are using all wood for your heat, then just do not add too much wood at one time. Try to keep your smoke a light clear blue in color – not a billowing white smoke. See http://www.go2barbecue.com/ for more info on BBQ woods and how to use them.
Thanks,
Bill