Over Smoked?

[new2this1898]

Aside from a failed attempt at jerk, smoking a full chicken was my first real attempt at smoking. I cooked a whole chicken @250 degrees for about 4:45 minutes on a masterbuilt electric smoker. I took it out to sit at just about 160 degrees.

When I ate a piece, the chicken itself was very good and juicy, but was a little over whelmed with the smokey taste (applewood).

So, my question is, how long do you add wood chips into your smoker for? The duration of the cook? Less?

I pretty much had smoke the entire cook. I would think applying smoke less would lessen that strong smoke taste, but I figured I'd ask here to see if there is any rule of thumb or is it just trial and error?

Thanks in advance

 

[chef jimmyj]

You can always go less time. Try 2 hours. Our taste for smoke varies. My family wanted a light smoke St first and 20 years later I smoke everything with smoke rolling start to finish. Look at surface area as well. Chicken has a large surface area compared to the amount of meat. Less smoke is needed than a Butt that has a small surface area with a lot of meat. You need a lot of smoke to taste it after pulled and mixed. ..JJ

 

[cal1956]

some guys here will say that there is no such thing as " over smoked "
i beg to differ
95 % of the time i only have a heavy smoke for the 1st and last hour
i get good smoke flavor , get a great color to everything from chicken to ribs
i NEVER put BBQ sauce on anything while its smoking or cooking

 

[new2this1898]

2 hours is exactly what I was thinking when I thinking of how to do it differently. I'm glad you mentioned the pork butt because I believe that is going to be my next experiment.

 

[dcecil]

You can always go less time. Try 2 hours. Our taste for smoke varies. My family wanted a light smoke St first and 20 years later I smoke everything with smoke rolling start to finish. Look at surface area as well. Chicken has a large surface area compared to the amount of meat. Less smoke is needed than a Butt that has a small surface area with a lot of meat. You need a lot of smoke to taste it after pulled and mixed. ..JJ

Thats an excellent point, I never looked at it like that. Thanks for sharing chef

 

[chef jimmyj]

Heavy smoke has it's uses, a 30 minute seafood smoke. But, your goal is Thin Blue Smoke or even whisps of smoke that smell amazing. Heavy smoke or white smoke longer than a hour will be bitter, make your tongue tingle and generally taste like a forest or house fire smells...JJ

 

[Rings Я Us]

I think bird takes on smoke well. I would say a light smoke for the first hour..
Beef can go longer and doesn't get as strong so fast. Thin beef jerky does get smoked fast though.

 

[ksblazer]

For whole chicken i usually smoke around 2.5hs.

Seems to have plenty of smoke flavor. But not oversmoked.

 

[foamheart]

Just because its called smoking, doesn't mean you have to continuously smoke the meat while cooking. There is a sweet spot for all meats to take on smoke, generally its considered to be 90 to 150 it. Why? Well, below 90 generally the meat is still wet and the pores are not yet open. Above 150 IT again generally, the meat has taken the as much as it can hold. I am not saying that you can not apply more smoke, but its thought to be of a diminished capacity.

What I normally do is either charcoal or electric these days, but I wait 30 to 45 mins. after adding the meat to start smoking. Then its generally just a couple of hours. Of course brisket and butts can accept more. But if you stay within the sweet spot range for smoke I think you'll be happier.

Another thing to realize is the smoke itself. I see wood as hard smoke, Oak, Mesquite and Hickory, mild smoke which is generally your fruits and nuts, Pecan and walnut being the top of the midrange and probably apple or corn cob being the mildest.

You know if you have a well seasoned pit, you can smoke with no wood? Seriously! Forever I have used pecan shells for my normal smokes. Once upon a time I forgot I was out of pecan shells and in a moment of desperation threw the bird in without any smoke. I figured I could get away with it saying I wanted to do it really mild since I didn't know about how the ladies liked theirs quite yet. It can out great! Yes It was a little light but, there was most definitely a real smoke taste there.

I don't know what you are smoking on, it makes a difference. But I always recommend to a new smoker that they start with a nekkid chicken with very little smoke. you can double that amount the next smoke if it pleases you, or triple the smoke, the next attempt. Its the nice thing about smoking you can always claim you need to smoke more to perfect a certain meat. Once you are happy, attempt another meat. It will never end, thank goodness.....LOL Its really a lot of fun. Hey and some damn fine meals.

 

[mike5051]

I do chickens at 300-325, and they are done in about 2 hours. Faster cook, less time in the smoke. I find that chicken absorbs the smoke flavor more at lower temps.

Mike

 

[KrisUpInSmoke]

some guys here will say that there is no such thing as " over smoked "
i beg to differ
95 % of the time i only have a heavy smoke for the 1st and last hour
i get good smoke flavor , get a great color to everything from chicken to ribs
i NEVER put BBQ sauce on anything while its smoking or cooking

Why do you smoke the first and last hour instead of the first two hours while the meat is just beginning to cook?

 

[cal1956]

think about this : if you take you finger and wipe the inside o your smoke stack you get soot right ?
well if you leave meat in smoke for hours and hours
it can and will get a thin coating of that same soot on the outside of the meat
thats why a short smoke time will give you the smoke flavor your looking for plus your not wasting money burning wood unnecessarily

 

[cal1956]

Why do you smoke the first and last hour instead of the first two hours while the meat is just beginning to cook?

good question !!!
the truth is it was the way i was taught by an older gentleman that owned a very large BBQ business many years ago and i just got in the habit of doing it that way , the man must have been doing something right he smoked about 70 slabs of ribs on a normal day , i just kinda became his helper and learned from him about 35 years ago and been doing it that way ever since

 

[KrisUpInSmoke]

think about this : if you take you finger and wipe the inside o your smoke stack you get soot right ?
well if you leave meat in smoke for hours and hours
it can and will get a thin coating of that same soot on the outside of the meat
thats why a short smoke time will give you the smoke flavor your looking for plus your not wasting money burning wood unnecessarily

Yes, but why do you like to run smoke specifically in the first and last hour of cooking, instead of in the first two hours while the meat is just beginning to cook?

 

[cal1956]

lol i think we are getting our posts outa time ..haha

 

[KrisUpInSmoke]

good question !!!
the truth is it was the way i was taught by an older gentleman that owned a very large BBQ business many years ago and i just got in the habit of doing it that way , the man must have been doing something right he smoked about 70 slabs of ribs on a normal day , i just kinda became his helper and learned from him about 35 years ago and been doing it that way ever since

I thought that a pit (especially commercial, which is what it sounds like you're taking about), burning wood for both smoke and heat, didn't really have the option to stop the smoke other than wrapping. How did he produce heat to cook without smoke?

 

[cal1956]

he had a custom built smoker that used a gas flame right above a small size log that gave the smoke and then he would turn it off and the heat would come from a 2nd gas burner all the meat revolved on a giant Farris wheel while cooking .... i have never seen another set up exactly like the one he had ...but man what a smoker it was !!!!

 

[KrisUpInSmoke]

That smoker does sound like something special! Did he ever say why he preferred that smoke schedule, first and last hour?

 

[cal1956]

if he did i simply don't remember , its been 35 or more years , he was actually a neighbor and i just kinda started hanging around with him and ended up helping when they needed it and he was gracious enough to teach a young friend

 

[KrisUpInSmoke]

What luck you had that he was your neighbour! That's really cool.