Onion like smell

[CaptTrips]

I smoked my first Boston butt today and it has a faint onion smell. I smoked it between 275-300 for an hour per pound. Burned ash and wrapped it in aluminum about halfway through. It pulled nicely and tastes OK, but I smell a faint onion odor. Was my wood too old or something?

 

[rdknb]

What wood did you use? Also what rub?

 

[DRKsmoking]

Welcome from Nova Scotia

Not sure about the slight onion smell, did your butt have any smell ( that just sounds bad to ask someone )
at all before the smoke. Or did you check.
I see you used Ash for wood. And like rdknb mentioned , what did you use for a rub or seasoning.

David

 

[Marknmd]

I used ash on the latter part of a baby back ribs cook a couple weekends ago and it came out great!

I think it's the slight ammonia smell you really need to be wary of...

 

[CaptTrips]

What wood did you use? Also what rub?

Just a basic Weber pork and rib rub. Used ash wood, may be a couple years old. Had no smell really when I started preparing it. I did stray from recipe however. I used Dijon mustard as opposed to yellow mustard.

 

[BigW.]

There is dried onion in that rub. I assume you have used it before and never smelled the onion?

 

[CaptTrips]

There is dried onion in that rub. I assume you have used it before and never smelled the onion?

I've never used it before. I'd assume most rubs have some portion of dried onion among other spices, but wouldn't expect it to be so prominent. I just feared I'd either given the butt too much smoke or my wood was too old. It was my first butt, and probably too big considering my lack of experience.

 

[gmc2003]

Well, if was yankee2bbq I'd suggest it was just his breath backing up into his face, but it's not so I won't suggest that.

Did you make anything with onions that day where you prepped the butt, or recently on the grill? Onion smell can hang around for a little bit.

Chris

 

[yankee2bbq]

Well, if was yankee2bbq I'd suggest it was just his breath backing up into his face, but it's not so I won't suggest that.

Did you make anything with onions that day where you prepped the butt, or recently on the grill? Onion smell can hang around for a little bit.

Chris

Chris has 2 good points. 1. I do not brush regularly and my breath smells like a garlic/onion mixture. (What can I say…I’m afraid of vampires and my first cousin.) 2. Cooking with onion prior to your smoke can hang around a bit. I have never smoked with ash before. Did you have thin blue smoke all the way thru your smoke?

 

[bill1]

I'm no chef so take what I say with a grain of salt...but I find any mustard other than cheap yellow mustard to give hard-to-predict outcomes when cooking meat.
Even yellow mustard can give me surprising results in sauces and salads but as a glue for meat rubs it alwasy seems to do its job without any gotchas.
If the wood didn't smell and the rub didn't smell, I'd blame the mustard.

 

[CaptTrips]

Well, if was yankee2bbq I'd suggest it was just his breath backing up into his face, but it's not so I won't suggest that.

Did you make anything with onions that day where you prepped the butt, or recently on the grill? Onion smell can hang around for a little bit.

Chris

Chris has 2 good points. 1. I do not brush regularly and my breath smells like a garlic/onion mixture. (What can I say…I’m afraid of vampires and my first cousin.) 2. Cooking with onion prior to your smoke can hang around a bit. I have never smoked with ash before. Did you have thin blue smoke all the way thru your smoke?

No, haven't cooked or cut any onions lately. The smoke was thick at times, usually every time I added a chunk of wood and has to spritz the fire with water to cool it down. I'm having difficulty keeping up the temp even.it would fluctuate 20 -30° at times

 

[yankee2bbq]

Spritzing the fire with water might be the issue.

 

[Newglide]

it would fluctuate 20 -30° at times

Nor sure about the onion smell, I'd write it off as possibly the rub.
20-30 fluctuation isn't anything to worry about in a stick burner.

 

[gmc2003]

What type of smoker are you using? We may not figure out the onion smell, but we can help with fire management.

Chris

Edit: For a rub test. You could sprinkle some of the rub in a pan and slowly heat it up to see if you get the same onion smell.

 

[Bearcarver]

Was it a pre-injected Butt??
If it was in cryovac, was there visible juice in the bag with the butt?
Just throwing out guesses here!

Bear

 

[Murdy]

I can't imagine what it would be other than the rub.

 

[CaptTrips]

What type of smoker are you using? We may not figure out the onion smell, but we can help with fire management.

Chris

Edit: For a rub test. You could sprinkle some of the rub in a pan and slowly heat it up to see if you get the same onion smell.

An offset grill/smoker

 

[TNJAKE]

My vote is acrid smoke from spraying water on your fire. When you do that you introduce humidity and moisture which in turn carries the nasty smoke and settles on your food

 

[CaptTrips]

Yes, it was smoke from spraying water on fire. I've smoked another since then with same rub and methods except spraying water and it turned out perfect. Thanks for all the replies