Choosing Your Smoke Wood

I am finally able to get to my article after a week of many interruptions and setbacks.  Now, remember that this post is full of my own personal experience and opinion.  So, use what you can or want and let the rest pass you by.  Well, Way we go!

Of course there is nothing like homemade BBQ that you make for yourself. No restaurant can come close to the quality, freshness and flavor of the fantastic BBQ that you make yourself. Ok, I said it twice two different ways… Don’t make me say it again!

Authentic BBQ is cooked low and slow over charcoal and smoke wood. But then there is the inevitable question: “what wood do I use with a particular type of meat?”.

Chicken

Let’s start with the most smoke absorbant meat there is, chicken. Chicken soaks up smoke like tossing a sponge into a swimming pool. As a result, you want to be careful not to oversmoke it or there will be a fairly bitter taste to your chicken.

Chicken is best cooked with mild woods like apple, cherry, alder, pecan and oak. These woods are mild and fairly forgiving to the flavor of the chicken if you use a little too much. My personal favorite chicken is apple wood. It has a mild smokey flavor that makes for a tasty piece of meat that your family and friends will rave about.

Pork Shoulder (Butt)/Pork Ribs

Some of the best BBQ you will ever eat is pulled pork. The meat is tender, juicy and very flavorful. With the right smoke wood, you will have all kinds of people trying to sink their teeth into your butt!

Like chicken, pork loves smoke; however, a pork butt is a pretty dense cut of meat. This makes smoke penetration more difficult deep into the center of the meat. Consequently, it’s very important to use smoke wood that will impart deep rich flavor into the cut.

Two options are available but only one is really viable in my opinion. First there is mesquite. This wood is very strong and flavorful but the concentration of it over a 12 to 20 hour smoke will likely leave the crust of the butt too smokey and bitter to be really enjoyed. This is why I use hickory for pork butts. Hickory imparts a deep rich flavor without making the meat bitter due to smoking it over long periods of time. If you want to soften the flavor even more, then use a 50/50 mix of hickory and apple or cherry.

Now, the smoke will penetrate deep into the pork butt if you stick to traditional low and slow cooking techniques. This means a temperature between 220-225 degrees until the butt reaches an internal temp of 195-200 degrees. Yes, this will take time, but your pork will be the best your guests have ever had!

Use the same smoke wood advice for your pork ribs whether they are spares or baby backs.  Your ribs will be to die for and you will probably not go out for ribs again!

Beef Brisket/Beef Ribs

Brisket is my favorite BBQ meat. I like it because of it’s amazing flavor and versatility.  Good brisket can be sliced, chopped and used in all kinds of dishes after the original cook.

I have tried my brisket several kinds of wood.  The fruit woods are too mild. Alder, oak, pecan… all too mild.  Beef needs a bold smokey flavor to make the meat tasty and enjoyable.  That’s why you need either mesquite or hickory.  To me, mesquite is best because of its sweet tartness and bold overall flavor.  Hickory will do just as well, but if you want that additional beefy bite use mesquite.  An option is to soften the smokey blow is to use a 50/50 mix with either apple or cherry wood with the hickory or mesquite.

Again, low and slow is crucial to good smoke penetration and ultimate BBQ flavor.  The brisket needs to smoke at 220 to 225 degrees until it reaches 185 to 195 degrees internally.  The beef will be tender, succulent and mouth-watering for your family and friends.

Use the same smoke wood advice for your beef ribs.  Beef ribs need that deep smokey flavor in order to be great ribs.  You cannot go wrong with mesquite or hickory here!

Conclusion

Well, these are my choices for smoke wood usage and I hope they will give you something to think about. Happy smoking!

Choosing Your First Smoker

I remember being so very excited about learning what barbecue was all about. I just couldn’t wait to get my own smoker and start cooking me some pork butts! I had such a good time with my wife, freaking her out by saying things like, “Honey, pretty soon you will be smelling my butts!” and, “I can’t wait to get me some butt!”. Well, as you can imagine, the innocence of those statements was quickly masked behind the common adults inability to keep their mind out of the gutter! Man, that was mouthful wasn’t it? Anyway, I digress.

So, I set out on a mission to find the right smoker for me and I quickly ran into something I was not expecting – confusion! There were so many options available to me and I could not decide which one to pursue: Offset, upright, water smoker, log burner, charcoal fueled, gas fired or electric! So, I started asking questions online, reading all kinds of forum posts and making lots of trips to Lowes, Home Depot, Wal-Mart and Ace Hardware stores. I just could not decided.

After about 4 months of searching and doing my homework – yep, 4 months!, I decided on two smokers that I planned to choose from. The Char-Griller Smokin’ Pro offset smoker/grill or, the “CG”, and the Weber Smokey Mountain Cooker or, as it is so lovingly known by the Q community – the “WSM”. Well, I couldn’t decide so, I bought them both!

Now, I cannot begin to cover all the various smokers that are available to buy, nor cannot address just the smokers that would make a good first smoker for anyone – theres just too many. However, I can talk about the smokers I chose and the reasons why I chose them. Because one is an offset and the other is an upright water smoker, I think I will be able to give you some insight into making your own decision.

Please note, that I am not in any way advocating the purchase of either of my smokers. I don’t work for either company and I get not royalties or “kick-back” for mentioning any brands. I am just sharing with you the reason I chose the “types” of smokers I did.

Offset Smokers

The first smoker I bought is an offset smoker. It’s called an “offset” because the firebox is offset from the main cooking chamber. A smoker with this configuration allows you to build your fire in the firebox, away from the meat, so that the heat from the firebox flows into the cooking chamber and cooks the meat. If you throw some smoke wood on top of the fire, the smoke from the wood will also travel into the cooking chamber providing smoke to flavor the meat. In the picture below, you can see that the meat is in the cooking chamber and the charcoal and smoke wood is in the firebox…

Offset “Pros” and “Cons”
First the Pros. Offset smokers usually have fairly large cooking chambers and hold quite a bit of meat. Because of the size and configuration of these smokers, you can easily cook several kinds of meats at one time. Here are some pictures of my offset loaded up with meat…

Next the “Cons”. Offset smokers tend to have a harder time maintaining a consistent “low and slow” temperatures for extended periods of time. Part of this problem has something to do with the quality of the smoker; meaning, the thickness or gauge of the metal used and the air-tightness of the unit. My offset, the Char-Griller Smokin’ Pro, or CG is “OK”; however, it is fairly drafty in that it has lots of gaps and utility holes that impede its being air-tight. Also, it is made of a pretty lightweight metal that does not lend itself to high levels of insulation. Now, because of this, I have to constantly watch this smoker to make sure the temperature does not get too high or low. The temperature can get too high when oxygen seeps in and fuels the coals causing them to burn hotter. The temperature can get too low when the coals burn down quickly because of the drafts that get in and force the coals to burn up. The longest my CG has held a consistent temperature without having to tweak the dampers or manage the fire is about 4 hours. That’s not bad actually; however, I did apply a couple of tricks to make that happen. The cooking experience on an offset can be quite the roller coaster ride; however, there are those tips and tricks you can apply to make the experience much better. I will talk about those things in another post. Having said all that, an inexpensive offset smoker like the one I have is a great way to get your feet wet with “low and slow” barbecue. In fact, I recommend a less expensive smoker initially so that you don’t get in over your head.

Upright Water Smokers

My second smoker was an upright water smoker. These smokers stand vertical and have a couple of distinct features. First, the bottom tier of the smoker is where the fire is built and burns and, the smoke wood is placed on top of the coals. The next tier is typically a water pan. Now, the water pan’s purpose is basically twofold, 1) Create a barrier/baffle between the fire and the meat and, 2) Create a heat-sink or heat prohibiter to keep the smoker from getting too hot. The idea is that water boils at 212* and as a result, the heat coming up into the cooking chamber is buffered by the water pan, hopefully helping to keep the temperature of the smoker at manageable levels. In my experience it does exactly that. Then next tier of the water smoker is the cooking chamber where the meat is smoked to a mouth-watering perfection. Here are a few pictures of my water smoker in sections…

Upright Water Smoker “Pros” and “Cons”
Now, I happen to have the Weber Smokey Mountain Cooker (WSM) and the big pro is the air-tightness of the smoker. While it is not an insulated smoker, its design is extremely conducive to maintaining consistent temperatures for extended periods of time. One time, I smoked a large pork butt and a large brisket at 225* overnight for 21.5 hours in my WSM! These cuts of meat can take a long time to cook and usually, you want to cook them overnight so you can get some sleep – that’s right – sleep! I consistently put meat on in my WSM at night, get the temperature stable, then go to bed. In the morning, the temperature is rock-steady in the 225* – 250* range and the meat is almost ready to come off! I will write more about my exploits with the WSM and how you can maximize your use of it in another post.

Now the “Con”, which really is not that big a deal. The configuration/design of the WSM seemingly does not allow a lot of meat to be cooked on the unit at once. However, with a little WSM-Savvy, you can actually get quite a bit on it at once. Here are some pictures of one of my WSMs loaded up with meat…

Now, don’t let those pictures fool you. Depending on how you load the WSM, you can get up to 15 slabs of baby back ribs on it or, 6 pork butts or 2 very large briskets.

Conclusion

The purpose of this post is to give you some idea of what to look for as a brand new barbecuer. You have lots of options and I have shared a couple with you. I do think that these two smokers would serve any new barbecuer very well; however, the decision is ultimately up to you. Take your time, do your research and you will find yourself cooking with the best of them.

Barbecuing/Smoking Vs. Grilling

Four years ago in 1994, I was taking my wife on a surprise road trip to St. Louis to visit the Arch. I like to surprise her every so often, especially by going places she’s never been. She had a wonderful time and could not stop talking about the visit on the way home. We had not had anything to eat for lunch so, we were a bit hungry and decided to stop for some late lunch. We saw a burger joint – nah… fried chicken – no thanks… fish – already has some… BBQ- hmmm… let’s take a look at this place. Bandana’s BBQ was where we decided to stop and man did it smell good just outside the building – I couldn’t wait to go inside. When we went in, the smell was amazing; it smelled like… smoke!

We sat down at our table and picked up the menu; there was a highlighted note that informed us that their BBQ ribs would have a pink ring around them, but not to worry. The “Smoke Ring”, the note explained, was the natural result of the ribs having been smoked for 6-7 hours. I thought to myself, “I have got to try these ribs – they couldn’t be better than mine!”. The ribs were served in a plastic basket loaded with bones, home fries and homemade garlic bread. I tasted one of ribs and just about lost my mind! These ribs are outstanding! I have never had any ribs that tasted like that before. Very nice smoky flavor, tender but not falling off the bones (like my boiled ribs), and the biggest kicker – I did not need or want any BBQ sauce!

We wound up ordering 2 extra slabs to bring home and share with the kids, because otherwise, they would not believe it when we told them we had just eaten the best ribs we had ever had! That was my introduction to real barbecue and I have not looked back since.

After that, I set off on a quest to make barbecue like we had in St. Louis. I was convinced that I could do the same thing. So, I went out and bought me some spareribs, charcoal, hickory wood chips and a new bottle of lighter fluid – I’m ready now!

Direct Grilling

So, I pulled out my cheapie “Meco” grill and load that baby up with Kingsford briquette charcoal. I drenched the coals with enough lighter fluid to blast the space shuttle into orbit and then threw on a match… Whoooooooosh! Now that’s a fire! Finally, the fire settles down and the coals ash over pretty good. I then threw some wood chips on the coals, put the meat on the grill directly over the coals and I closed the lid.

Note:
Before I go on with my story, you should know that cooking meat directly over the coals/fire is called “Direct Grilling”. This is a style of grilling that most people call “Barbecuing”. As you will see later, barbecuing is very different from grilling. See the picture below of some direct grilling in progress…

So, I came back to check on my ribs after about 15 minutes and… things just did not smell quite right… it smelled like I was about to send up a new burnt offering! I found myself learning pretty quickly, and I decided to try something else.

Indirect Grilling

I opened the lid of the grill and sure enough… my ribs were on their way to a dark and crispy death if I did not do something fast! So being the quick thinker that I am, I put on my handy grill gloves, took the entire meat grate off the grill, shoveled the coals to one side and then put the meat back on. Only, I did not put the ribs directly over the coals, instead, I put them on the side of the grill that did not have any coals underneath the grate. I figured that I could let the ribs cool down a bit but still cook in the heat – just not quite so hot.

Note:
What I have just described above is called “Indirect Grilling”. This method of grilling allows the meat to cook in the heat generated by the coals without being directly over the coals. Depending on the amount of coals you place to one side, you can effectively control the temperature of the grill. Notice in the picture below how the coals are on the right side of the grill…

It took the ribs a bit longer than my usual 30-45 minutes to get done, but after about 2 hours they weren’t half bad. Still not good quality ribs, but definitely not the sacrificial offerings I had been accustomed to producing. I decided to go online and see if there was any information on the internet to help me with my BBQ!

Barbecuing/Smoking

While searching for information about how to cook really good barbecue, I stumbled onto my very first Q-site – HomeBBQ.com. I met some really great people on this site who helped me understand what real barbecue was.

Barbecuing, I was instructed, is the process of cooking meats over charcoal at a low temperature (between 220-250 degrees) very slowly over long periods of time – seasoning the meat all the while with some form of smoke wood – this is also the concept known as “Smoking”. In this type of cooking, the meat is totally separated from the fire. The coals and the smoke wood are in one chamber and the meat is in another. Only the heat and smoke cook the meat over long periods of time at a low temperature. Below are pictures of some rib tips and sausages that I smoked on my offset smoker. I will talk about types of smoker in another article.

Wow! I had never head of that before in my life! I then saw pictures of smoked ribs and chicken – yum! Then I saw some pictures of a couple of cuts of meat I had not heard of, “Pork Butt” and “Brisket”. I just about shorted out my keyboard because I was drooling all over it! So, I bought a smoker… actually two! Then I began practicing making real barbecue.

Conclusion

It has been four years now since I began cooking real barbecue in addition to some pretty good grilling too. In my upcoming posts, I will get into more topics about barbecuing that will help the beginner get started with at least some of the things I have learned.

My Charcoal Choice!

I have struggled with many things since I got into authentic barbecue. First, there was the issue of which smoker to buy; an offset or an upright. Then I had to decide if was going to modify the smoker I did buy or use it the way it was. Then I had to decide what wood I was going to use on which meats. Last but certainly not least, I had to decide which charcoal I was going to use.

I have found that people are very – let’s say, “passionate” about the topic of charcoal! I have seen message threads on bbq forums get extremely long because so many people have at least 2 cents to contribute on the subject. Sometimes the discussions can become very heated too!

What I want to accomplish in this post is to give you a general understanding of the various types of charcoal and why I use the one(s) I do. Ok? Great! Let’s do it.

The Three Camps

I have identified three different types of charcoal “campers” who are trying to be happy:

1. Pure Stick Burners – These are the cooks who use nothing but wood. They start off by putting some logs in the fire box, letting them burn down to coal and then throw on extra wood for flavoring the meat. Cooks who use this type of fuel typically have fairly large sized offset style smokers.
2. Lump Charcoal Burners – These are the cooks who buy and burn commercially available lump charcoal. Now, when the stick burners in camp #1 above burn their logs down to coal, lump is actually what they wind up with. The process they go through causes me to separate them into their own camp.
3. Briquette Charcoal Burners – These are the cooks who buy and burn charcoal briquettes. Briquettes are made from wood but other elements and a chemical or two have been added to complete the product. I would dare say that the majority of people who grill or barbecue use briquettes.

The Best of the Best!

If you want to know which is the best charcoal to use, just ask someone. What you will find is that everyone uses what they consider to be the “best of the best” to them! That is to say, that there is no right or wrong choice – you have to use what fits your cooking style the best.

Some people will only burn wood, some only lump, others only briquettes and yet others will use a combination for one reason or another. I am personally one who uses a combination – sometimes. That would be Kingsford briquettes for long smoking and Royal Oak lump for high heat grilling. Now, I must warn you that my preferences are very much in flux right now. I will talk about this more in the next section.

Why I Use What I Use!

Currently, I am so stuck on Kingsford that I am almost afraid to try anything else – almost! I have been experimenting with Royal Oak lump and I like the results so far.

I first started out using Kingsford briquettes in both my smokers. It burns consistently and for long periods of time. Once, I did a 21.5 hour cook on one load of Kingsford briquettes! It is a very good product and I can definitely rely on it.

On the other hand, Royal Oak lump is a winner too. It burns hotter than the briquettes (as does all lump charcoal) and; therefore, burns up faster. This is a drawback that is outweighed (in my opinion) by the “pure” flavor the meats have as opposed to meat cooked on briquettes.

So, currently I am using Royal Oak lump for everything – grilling and smoking. This is because, the flavor of the meat is impeccable compared to the meat cooked on Kingsford. I will still use Kingsford from time to time – maybe; however, I am weaning myself from the trusty first-love and am dating the new girl now!

Choose For Yourself!

The one thing to remember is you have to be happy with whatever you use. Try out different brands of briquettes and lump. Make your own decision and you will be happy with the Q you produce.

Check out the Naked Whiz website for an exhaustive review of various brands of lump charcoal!

Good luck!