Too Much Smoke?

[pokey]

I had an unwanted fire in the smoker while I was smoking several items. Smoke came out of the thing like I'd never seen before, maybe for more than five minutes before I got it under control. I pulled everything off, but it all got a pile of smoke there for a while. Did I ruin what was in the smoker at the time? I was doing some sausages that I planned to cook late rin the week, so I just pulled them and put them in the fridge. The roast I just put in the oven. It had reached about 160 internal temp and I was going to foil anyway.

Thanks in advance for any advice.

 

[dave54]

if you pulled everything out,I' d say nothing was hurt

so how did things turn out 

 

[pokey]

Thanks for asking (and for the bump on the other question!) Not bad, pretty good, actually. I don't know if a beef rump roast is something one should cook to rare, if that's the way you like beef, or to a pulled kind of result, but the latter is what I did. I made a salt/garlic powder/onio powder/paprika/pepper rub and used it on the outside and injected the rub mixed with red wine. After about five hours in the smoker at 250 and then the fire, it reached an internal temp of almost 160. I put it in the oven foiled with more red wine and veggies at 250 for another 3 hours. Very tender, and, if you put the juices that were in the foil back on it, juicy.

 

[pokey]

Actually, I think there may be such a thing as too much smoke. We ate some of the sausages last night. They had an acrid taste and the smoke flavor was too strong, or maybe it seemed that way because of the bitterness. When I tasted it, I recognized that the roast had the same bitterness to it. Maybe because there is so much more to the roast in the way of thickness, it didn't seem to bad, but with the much thinner sausages it was dominant. I hate to admit it, but I'm kinda put off the taste of smoke for a little while, and I've got ore sausage and leftover roast sitting in the fridge. Maybe I should find some homeless to give it to!

The wood was pecan, BTW. The Traeger pellets aren't 100%, as I understand it. I believe they are mostly a hard wood with some of the nominal wood for flavor.

 

[richoso1]

Actually, I think there may be such a thing as too much smoke. We ate some of the sausages last night. They had an acrid taste and the smoke flavor was too strong, or maybe it seemed that way because of the bitterness. When I tasted it, I recognized that the roast had the same bitterness to it. Maybe because there is so much more to the roast in the way of thickness, it didn't seem to bad, but with the much thinner sausages it was dominant. I hate to admit it, but I'm kinda put off the taste of smoke for a little while, and I've got ore sausage and leftover roast sitting in the fridge. Maybe I should find some homeless to give it to!

The wood was pecan, BTW. The Traeger pellets aren't 100%, as I understand it. I believe they are mostly a hard wood with some of the nominal wood for flavor.

It sounds like too much smoke at one time may have created creosote, that can produce a bitter taste in the foods that were smoked. I would not eat any food that has a bitter taste after seeing it exposed to too much smoke. If the smoke looks like rolling clouds coming out of the smoker, it's too much smoke. Most of us try to maintain a TBS. I understand that this was not intentional, but don't eat that bitter tasting food..

 

[que-ball]

Sounds to me like creosote from your fire is on your sausages.  You could try peeling the casing off some of them.  Chances are the fire may have sealed up the casing enough where the creosote didn't penetrate into the meat.  If you're eating casing and all you will get the creosote taste, but without casing youmay be OK.  They should hold together to boil or grill up the rest of the way done, and if not try biscuits and gravy.

 

[richoso1]

Maybe this link will provide more information on creosote http://bbq.about.com/od/barbecuehelp/f/f062904a.htm

At the least, it is informative reading.

 

[pokey]

Thanks. I also followed up on whether creosote is carcinogenic, which in high enough doses it probably is accordig to skin test studies by The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) . According to the Journal of Occupational Medicine, there was no evidence of increased risk of cancer in folks who work with creosote in the workplace. One gov't study said, "The largest health effect of creosote is deaths caused by residential fires." A mixed bag.