Question about smoking

Roger Tulk

Member
Messages
3,018
Location
St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada
When I cooked my ribs, I replenished the chip pan about four times during the six hours. I'm wondering if this was really necessary, as the ribs were very, very black, although delicious. I would have expected a lighter, more reddish meat colour.

Any advice much appreciated.
 
Six hours of continuous smoke can be a bit heavy and result in a dark bark. Sugar in the rub can make it dark, too. I don't usually smoke for the whole cook, since meat doesn't absorb much more smoke after reaching a surface temp of 140°F. I wrap 'em in a foil boat about half way through the cook. Mine still come out a bit dark because use a sugar rub but nowhere near black. That's my brisket.
 
Thanks, guys. As it happens, I googled the 3-2-1 method and used it for the ribs. I think next time I might stop making smoke once I wrap the meat in foil. If that doesn't work, I'll try something else next time.

I'm also wondering if I can use shavings from my lathe for smoking, as long as the wood is untreated.
 
Last edited:
I'm a little late to this party, but here goes.

I user the 3-2-1 method making sure I have plenty of smoke going the first two hours, then let it dwindle in the third hour. At the end of the third hour, I wrap in foil after sprinkling the ribs with turbinado sugar, squeezing on some butter and spritzing with apple juice. I don't add wood chips because the foil will block most of the smoke anyway. After two hours in foil, I add chips to the pan, unwrap the ribs, sprinkle a little more rub mix on them and place them back on the racks for another hour. Then, I pull them and place them in hotel pans to rest a few minutes, then cut them and serve them.

As to shop shavings, I use cherry, oak and maple routinely.
 
Last edited:
If your doing baby backs 3-2-1 is a bit long. I usually do BB for 2-2-1 or a bit less, when I foil wrap I put squeeze butter, honey and dark brown sugar wrap meat side down, usually for an hour and a half or so, then unwrap and back in the smoker meat size up and mop with Sweet baby rays BBQ sauce for 45 min to an hour. Keep in mind the longer they are foil wrapped the more fall off the bone they come out (reason I cut back to 1 1/2 hours) they only get smoke for the first two hours. Ribs come out very well like this....I also usually smoke at 240 degrees as opposed to the standard 225...doing prep I always use honey mustard as a base to get my rub to stick better, always remove the membrane or at least score it....oops almost forgot, during the first two hours I spritz with apple juice every 20 to 30 mins, hope that helps
 
If your doing baby backs 3-2-1 is a bit long. I usually do BB for 2-2-1 or a bit less ...

Good point, Mark! I rarely do baby backs; we like the flavor of spares better. I do BBs on more of a 2.5-1.5-1 at 225, keeping an eye on the bone exposure in the first phase and cutting it shorter, if necessary.
 
I'm also wondering if I can use shavings from my lathe for smoking, as long as the wood is untreated.

As too the shavings, my knee jerk reaction is NO, some woods are poison like pine, fir, cedar etc...mostly what we use in the shop. Took me a min to fine this chart, have had it for several years, great advice on woods and flavor, pay special attention to the last page, "Other woods" it list most poisonous woods. It's in pdf format, let me know if you need it converted. Not quite sure how to make this viewable as oppose to downloadable...sorry
 

Attachments

  • SmokingFlavorChart.pdf
    56.4 KB · Views: 25
Last edited:
...I'm also wondering if I can use shavings from my lathe for smoking, as long as the wood is untreated.

I've used mesquite shavings with good results. :thumb: When I moved to NM, I ended up throwing away several paper grocery bags full of mesquite shavings. It just seemed silly to pay to move and store them, but part of me regrets the decision. ;)
 
As too the shavings, my knee jerk reaction is NO, some woods are poison like pine, fir, cedar etc...mostly what we use in the shop...

Good advice in general, but most of us turners avoid turning pine, fir, or cedar. We're more likely to turn maple and cherry, and in my case, mesquite. I've turned several of the other woods listed in the smoking chart you posted, too. (Great chart, by the way.)
 
meat doesn't absorb much more smoke after reaching a surface temp of 140°F.

I've noticed the same thing when the temp is to low while cold smoking, although I haven't really tried to quantify it..

Good advice in general, but most of us turners avoid turning pine, fir, or cedar. We're more likely to turn maple and cherry, and in my case, mesquite. I've turned several of the other woods listed in the smoking chart you posted, too. (Great chart, by the way.)

If you're unsure about the specific wood I'd also suggest avoiding including bark in the smoker chips. Not sure on maple although I suspect its probably ok. I know most willow bark has an incredibly foul smoke, although the wood is fantastic (even more for grilling than smoking makes really nice hot coals). Apple and pear bark seemed fine, about the same as the wood. Oak was a bit harsh and was work de-barking first.
 
Temp of the smoker is more of a contribution to the type of smoke. You want a "blue" smoke coming out, not a white smoke, the white smoke is usually a low temp smoke and will leave more creosote deposit (black) deposit on the meat, a clear/blue smoke will be a cleaner smoke and you get it with the chamber being up in the 225F - 250F range. If you're getting too hot, sugars in the rub will blacken also, usually in the 300F - 350F range.

Also, I usually smoke for the first 2 - 3 hours, after that I'm usually wrapping things up and letting them just cook.
 
I smoke meats and depending on the variety and cut go different times. While I do sometimes use "smoking chunks" it is not entirely true to norm. Because I use an attached wood fired stove for heat. So what I do is keep an eye on the outside of the meat and wrap it when it reaches a desired color. I don't particularly like a real black crust. Because I usually do a rub that has lots of spices, I don't want the spices to get real burnt, they lose to much flavor. The size of my stove allows me to have a hot fire and yet not have the stove cooking area too hot. Brisket requires this and lots of attendance and several beers to go the distance. Long and slow is the game. Some day I'm going to throw a hog on this grill and will need to recruit some help to keep me awake.
 
Top