The following report was received by email yesterday, from a newsletter put out by TXBBQRUB. I found it to be an interesting read so here it is my fellow forum-ites:
What is the Best Temperature to Cook on in a BBQ Smoker?
Great question and one of the most important fundamentals you need to learn for your BBQ to be moist, tender, and flavorful versus burned up, dried out and having absolutely no flavor. I am going to share my thoughts and reasons with you about what is a great temperature range for you to use to accomplish your ultimate goals around the BBQ pit or grill. This report does not address high temperature (above 300 degrees) cooking but the fundamentals are basically the same.
So here is the question most people will ask -What temperature do you think is the best temperature to cook at? And most people will throw out a temperature of say 225 degrees or whatever their favorite cooking temperature happens to be. They should be saying something like I like to cook 225 degrees but my acceptable range for the pit is 210 to 240 degrees. And for you to think in terms of a range it makes cooking easier and takes away some of the mental strain of just thinking about one temperature. It is impossible to maintain one temperature during an entire cook. So think in terms of a range but keep the range within 30 degrees from top to bottom and work on achieving that cooking range. As you get more familiar with the way your pit or grill cooks and how much fuel you are going to need at various intervals during the cooking process you may change your range to say a 20 degree range of the target cooking temperature.
The range of 30 degrees will allow for the variations that are natural in cooking on the smoker or grill over an extended period of time. Using a range of temperatures you will find that when adding fuel to the fire you may reach the top of the range for a few minutes and then the pit will slowly begin to go back down in temperature and when you get near the lower temperatures of the range you will know it is time to add more fuel and you will learn how much to add. Having a range and not one temperature just makes it easier for you over a long cooking period. Small fluctuations will not hurt the meat you are cooking and will allow for a nice average consistent temperature to cook the meat. You should not even think you can maintain one temperature over an entire cook again think in terms of a range.
For our discussion we are going to use 225 degrees as our desired average temperature. I think this is a great temperature to use in cooking on the pit or smoker or even on a grill that is set up for indirect style of cooking. You therefore have a range of 15 degrees (30 degree total range divided by two) above and below your ideal target temperature of 225 degrees. Thus 210 degrees to 240 degrees is going to be your target range.
I don't care if you are cooking brisket, pork butts, pork ribs, or chicken 225 degrees will work and work well for cooking outstanding finished meats. And that gives you a temperature range is 210 to 240 degrees. If you are just learning to cook or have a new smoker don't get excited and over react if the temperature gets out of that range for a few minutes. It is not going to hurt anything over the short period of time the smoker will be above or below your desired range.
And the reasons for cooking at these temperatures are as follows:
1. If you are cooking brisket or a pork butt those big pieces of meat needs time for the collagen inside of the piece of meat to break down. This will give you a tender finished product once you cook the meat to the target finished internal temperature. Collagen breaks down in a brisket and in pork butt at an internal meat temperature range of 150 to about 170 degrees. Every brisket or pork butt is a bit different so there is no exact temperature that we can pinpoint to know when the collagen is beginning to break down and when it has finished breaking down. If you keep a nice low temperature while cooking through that internal meat range you will get the collagen actually changing from a tough connective tissue to a melt in your mouth gelatin substance and that is where the great taste and tenderness will come from. But remember for the brisket or pork butt to be really tender you are going to need to keep cooking until you reach an internal temperature of about 200 to 205 degrees.
2. We all know that water boils at 212 degrees. What does that have to do with cooking meat you might be asking? Well since meat is made up of mostly water it has a lot to do with cooking meat. If you constantly keep the temperature of a pit running at say 250 degrees then you have a tendency to be actually boiling out of the meat some of the water that is inside the meat and thus making it dry out. So to keep the most moisture inside the meat keep the temperature running at the 210-240 degree range and avoid this issue.
3. A longer cook time at lower temperatures allows the meat to open up and absorb the great rub spices that you have put on the meat. Don't let the meat "close up" and not take on both the smoke flavor and the flavor of the rubs you are using.
4. And perhaps the greatest benefit from cooking at lower temperatures is what I call "The Ultimate Done Window (UDW)" that will last for a longer period of time and keep you from overcooking a piece of meat. What do I mean by the "Ultimate Done Window"? Well when you cook on the pit there is a time when the meat is at its finest and ready to be taken off the pit. And that is why you have spent all of that time standing by and working your pit to get the best meat off of that pit you can. So there is a window of time that I call the "Ultimate Done Window" when the meat is absolutely the best it is going to be. Cooking longer or shorter does not get you that perfect meat, so you are looking for the UDW. And it is a short period of time, perhaps only a few minutes, when each piece of meat will be perfect.
If you are cooking at temperatures above the 240 degree range you will find that the "ultimate done window" is a much shorter period of time. That means any distraction you may get could ruin your chance for a perfectly done piece of meat.
I know it has happened to me and it has probably happened to everyone that cooks for friends and family. Let's assume you are cooking at 275 degrees or more. You have some friends over to eat your barbecue and everyone is standing around and you get involved in the discussion. Next thing you know, 30 minutes has passed and those ribs that were just about perfect when everyone showed up are now overcooked. But if you are cooking inside your 225 degree range your ribs will still be great even if they cooked that extra 30 minutes. It happens and this is a way to avoid the overcooking when people are around and talking. So keep this in mind when you are cooking.
Here are a couple of action steps you need to do this weekend that will make your cooking easier. Do these and you will begin to see how your pit is working and cooking.
1. Choose your ideal target temperature for cooking. For the example above it was 225 degrees.
2. Next calculate the cooking range you want to maintain during cooking. I think I would start with 30 degrees for those just starting out or if you have a new smoker you are still learning. If you are more experienced then you may choose a 20 degree range.
3. Write down the temperature range you want to stay in when you fire up your smoker.
4. This weekend fire up the smoker and first let it settle down in temperature. Start the fire and let it burn for 30 minutes or so to get out of the initial temperature spike of starting the fire.
5. Work on controlling the temperature range by watching the temperatures of the smoker for at least one hour. Add some fuel and watch what the temperatures do and note how much fuel you added and note what the temperature was and noting the swing back up in temperature when the fuel was added. You should write this down in a notebook so you can look at it and study it later and also have it for the next time you cook. This will save you a lot of frustration the next time you cook and have to make adjustments to the fire.
6. Now get a piece of meat and cook it and again make notations of how the temperatures varied one the meat was added. Remember also every time you open the smoker lid you are losing all of that temperature. It not only slows down the cooking of the meat but it also makes the temperature variations go crazy.
7. Enjoy the meat you cooked and share it with family and friends.
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