Too much smoke?

[culpepersmoke]

Is there such a thing as too much smoke

I’ve always been the kind of guy that approached things as if a little was good a lot was better. I have a vertical gas Brinkman smoker and I generally fire it up, fill the wood bowl or tray as full as I can with wood chunks approx 2 x 2 x 2”. Once I have it at the temp I wanted I toss in the meat. Generally the smoke is so thick that my eyes water.
I read on a post last night where someone said if you can just smell the smoke you have plenty. My wife who BTW isn’t necessarily the biggest BBQ fan out there, usually complains the meat is too Smokey, especially when I use hickory or red oak and I must admit it does have a rich smoke flavor. It got me thinking that maybe there is such a thing as too much smoke and I should maybe back off with only a few pieces of wood? Am I over doing it?
Thanks all

 

[rbranstner]

Yes there is a issue with too much smoke. Thick white smoke is bad. Your meat will taste like licking a burnt stick if you smoke it in that the whole time. Yep the TBS is what you want. As I have heard people explain before you don't necessarily need to see the smoke coming out as long as you can smell it. I would say less smoke is way better than thick white rolling smoke. I smoked a few things back when I first started that tasted really bad because I had to much thick white smoke. Not good tasting.
__________________

 

[eman]

NUFF SAID!

 

[mballi3011]

Yes you can apply too much smoke. That's where we got the thin blue from. You want to smell it and see some but not the thick white smoke. You want to have some smoke going out of the vents. Now you will have a good amount when the wood first gets to smoking but then it will die down pretty quick. Now you also have to be careful with some woods like hickory and mesquite for they are some really strong woods and use them sparingly for the flavor.

 

[realtorterry]

The smoke should just kiss the meat, not dominate it. The meat should sing it's own song. There are times when you may not even see the smoke, but still smell it.

 

[ellymae]

Oh yes - I have had some VERY smoky Q and did not enjoy it. I am a fan of just a little smoke - the kind that adds to the flavor, not the only thing you can taste.

 

[pike]

Your problem might just be in the choice of wood, Try the sweeter woods like Pecon,peach,apple,cherry, and youll fnd something that both you and the wife can agree on.

 

[meat hunter]

Yes, you can have too much smoke, especially a strong wood like Mesquite, Hickory. Red Oak is a great wood to use, mild, as is Maple. The old rule of "if a little is good, then allot is better" does not apply to smoking meats unless your doing a specialized meat. We try to adhere to the TBS, thin blue smoke, where if you can barely see it or just see the heat waves coming out the chimney stack, your doing well. If you have a good supply or Red Oak, thats a good start and a little will go a long ways. One thing is that you want to make sure your wood is seasoned (dry). Green wood will give you quite a bit of white billowing smoke and will impart a heavy, sometimes bitter taste to the meat. When smoking meats, keep the smoke mellow and you won't go wrong.

 

[pike]

or start from the bottem of the wood list and do a smoke with just white oak as it has the mildest flavor and go from there.

 

[etcher1]

Yes you can smoke too much. I used a smoke generator in a small box to smoke some cheese, after an hour or so the 5 lbs block of cheese was so smokey I had to cut the outside edges off. They inside came out good. I was using hickory chips. I think pecan or apple would have been better.

 

[ddave]

Oh yeah, there is such a thing as too much smoke. The smoke should enhance the flavor, not BE the flavor.

Don't know that that's a good motto when it comes to smoke and meat. Especially if you're significant other doesn't like it.

Maybe a better motto would be from the Brylcream commercial -- "A little dab'll do ya!"

Dave

 

[williamzanzinger]

I remember when I got my first ecb(first smoker alltogether), Had family over to try my new bbq skills haha, brisket it was to be. I just couldnt understand why it tasted like crap. Bitter, bitter oh so bitter. This site was the root of everything I now know. The compliments just roll in now. My stuff beats any bbq shack in town. Thin blue smoke it is.

 

[eaglewing]

YES TOTALLY AGREED.

You have to consider the stronger woods as a 'seasoning' and NOT as the fuel.
Too much 'Seasoning' can ruin any food.

 

[eaglewing]

I thought there was a 'Rule of Thumb' about how much smoking wood time to season your meat....

I read somewhere (wish I could remember) that it was like for every hour you actually smoked 1/3 the time. I'm not saying I remember that correctly, I just know it's out there somewhere and I can't remember where...

 

[rdknb]

Yep what every one has said. I have the same smoker your and I never have more the a handfull of chips in it at any given time.

 

[eaglewing]

That's probably the safest description yet...

 

[badfrog]

well said (and nicely poetic!)
TBS is where its at...