Posted by BBQ Doc on May 14, 1996 at 09:46:13:
In Reply to: Re: Lump Charcoal - Home Made posted by Smoky on May 14, 1996 at 08:37:45:
: Doc,
: In reply to:
: : When you burn off the wood are you able to get a wood smoked flavor, or
: : does it come out the same as 100 harcoal cooking? Some folks get the
: : same result either way. How do you ensure a good smoke flavor wit
h
: : the burn off method?
: :There is a residual odor in the charcoal that is distictive to the
: wood (or mineral coal) from which it was produced. For normal barbecuing
: there is adequate smoke flavor. For broiling, when you desire a litt
le
: more essence of smoke for the short cooking period, a half dozen,
: pencil sized, 6 long green white oak or hickory delivers all you need.
: If you desire a particular flavor in barbecuing, apple and pear are
: great flavorers. Sweet bay
, citrus, apple and alder are great for
: fish. Contrary to popular opinion, a species of alder is available
: over most of the Eastern United States and the Midwest. Called among
: other things, Hazel alder, it is a small, often multi-stalked
tree,
: resembling mulberry, (another good wood) which grows in moist lowlands.
: Sounds like you are becoming a serious student of the art.
: Congratulations,
: Smoky
:
Smoky,
Thanks for the info, it's helping. I'm having to switch f
uels because
the grocery stores around here stopped carring lump charcoal. I was
using lump charcoal for a heat source, and putting chunks of wood on
top like hickory, oak, cherry, etc. for the smoke flavor.
From past forum commentaries I
recall Mike Scrutchfield, '95 KCBS grand
champ, also doing it like that.
So now I've got a 280 gallon cooker, and I'm slow smoking at 225 to
250 degrees at the grid. I'm going to burn off the wood in a 55 gallon
drum, then add the hot coal
s to the cooker. I know other folks that
are doing this, and I've tried their BBQ, but it doesn't have enough
wood smoke flavor. I guess I'll have to put some unburned wood
chunks on top of the coals in the cooker, like I was doing before, t
o
get the full smoked flavor effect.
Any other suggestions on getting the full smoke flavor, when you burn
down the wood to charcoal?
By the way I've got a lot of different woods. Apple is good but I
like pear even more. It's hard to ove
rdo the smoke with pear because
it's so mild.
-BBQ Doc