more smoke flavor

I agree that by the nature of the beast,thick cuts will be difficult to get deep smoke penetration.

Butts can be deboned for more smoke/bark surface,and some folks cut point from flat when cooking packers.

I'm sure there are some restaurants/vendor/caterers out there that use liquid smoke ,or smoked salt,or Charcrust,or sauces with additives.

Most judges and cooks ,that I know, can taste it pretty quickly and have a pretty strong aversion to the flavor.

Pure flavor wood pellets can increase some of the flavors,but the FEC burns so clean/ efficiently that heavy smoke is unusual.

CandySue makes some smoke sticks that some folks may place on the firebox.

Most of us adjust pretty quickly to the cleaner taste and the judges sure don't seem to have a problem with it.

Hope this helps a little.

Tom

What are you basing the comments on? Your own taste preferences or friends.

Not enough smoke is pretty much subjective. If you're cooking at 170 and they're saying that, I think they're used to creosote as a flavor. When I hear people say that, I've found they're used to oversmoked foods.

Wanna prove it? Do some blind taste testing with them. Give them three different samples and ask them to tell you differences between them. Don't cook them any different, just blind fold them so they only use their taste buds and their eyes.

What pellets (brand and flavor) are you using?

There will actually be people, so used to over smoked foods, that will find it VERY hard to replicate that. The FE doesn't oversmoke very easy.

thanks for the feedback. i use traeger mesquite and hickory and blend them. i think you may be right because up north here people are use to processed bbq like austin blues or fake additives. i'll keep on smokin thanks again to all. bob

Are the traegers from the NW or down south. There IS a difference. The NW are alder based and the South are Oak based (depends on where you order from)

If you really want to experiment; get some from Candy Sue. Go with a stronger smoke (say the mesquite) and see if that trips your trigger.

Like Smokin' alludes to,many good chili/bbq cooks wouldn't open a restaurant and provide good quality,because the patrons are so used to bad.

Keep in mind that Macdonalds is the best selling, fine food in the country.

Then,you have to decide where you want to be.

I have the same problem as Bob and I don't think it is due to myself and those who have eaten my BBQ being used to oversmoked food. We don't have many BBQ restaurants and the ones we do have, tend to have less smoke flavor than what I get.

If the Cookshack smokers burn so clean is it better to use larger chuncks of wood, or chips rather than the typical small chuncks used in Cookshacks?

I have also wondered about trying to catch some of the drippings, defatting it, then adding some of back into the pulled pork or sliced brisket. Has anyone had any experience doing this?

I have read some post where people say they cut the bark into small pieces and mix it with the pulled pork. Are they actually cutting off the entire exterior and cutting that into small pieces and mixing it into the pulled pork?

Thanks.

Brett

This is the FEC forum. So the cooker being mentioned is a pellet cooker and not a traditional cookshack.

But, I'll answer ya anyway.

I like to use a single chunk that weighs in where I want my smoke to be. Be it 1,2,3 and up to 8 oz(not often do I or anybody I know want that much smoke). I just cut my seasoned wood into chunks that fit the smoke box. I make a big batch of 1,2 and 6 oz pieces. That covers me from chicken to pork butt. I make them long and about 1/2 to 3/4 inch thick so I can stack a 1 oz and 2 oz to make a 3 that burns slower than a 1 and 2 laying flat.


And yes. Some people cut all the bark off after it comes off the smoker. They chop it up and add it back to the pork after it's pulled. It also gives them the option to leave it separate and having a lightly smoked pulled pork sammich since there's quite a few peeps that heavy smoke tears their stomach up something fierce.

Crony, are we talking about an FEC100 here? You put wood chunks into the smoke box of an FEC100? Thanks!
Charlie

B.Tatton is talking about the Electric series of CS that use chunks of wood. Let's move that discussion to a new thread over in those forums.

This post is about getting more smoke in an FE 100, using pellets.

Sorry Smokin. I knew I was off topic, but figured I could nip the question in the bud and move on.

It was a bad assumption.



Anyway, back on topic.

Didn't I read somewhere that Freddie puts a little wood over his fire box of his fec to give a little more smoke? Or was he doing that on a 500?



Oh, and sorry for confusing you Charlie. I was answering a question about a traditional cookshack from an earlier post. I'm bad to post what's in my head as if I was making face to face coversation........and folks have told me for years that IN PERSON I'm hard to follow.

Sorry about posting to this forum, I responded from the recent forum topics section and I didn't realize it was in the FEC forum.

Brett

quote:

Originally posted by B.Tatton:
Sorry about posting to this forum, I responded from the recent forum topics section and I didn't realize it was in the FEC forum.

Brett

No worries. Get you and FEC then you'll be in all of them.

Happens to me too, trying to remember which smoker I'm talking about.

Over smoked food, come on guys! I cooked on a log burner for 30 years before switching to pellets. There is no such thing as over smoked food unless you are choking off the air or are using green wood. It’s sad that we are to a point that people are using a handful of wood chips and call their food barbecue. The smoke is what creates real authentic barbecue, the way it used to be cooked. I think a little history lesson is in order here.

Grew up in Lexington, worked in a few Q joints in the 50's. We burned our wood in an outside pit and added the hot coals to the BBQ pit. The pork never really saw a lot of smoke. Especially since cardboard was between the meat and the coals. Can't say the same for the offsets as folks no longer use a burn pit at most events.

What folks call Q now is so oversmoked, your lips and tongue start to tingle and you can't really taste anything else.

I'll stick with the FEC100

I had the same problem. My fec100 is in a small building behind my restaurant. Since the smoker is out of the weather, I removed the side panel and left it off, have not had a problem since. I did speak to Bill at CS about leaving the panel off, and he said that was not a problem.

Sorry about above post. Wrong discussion.