so what's on the grill tonight?

propane or charcoal

  • propane

    Votes: 26 34.7%

  • charcoal/ lump wood

    Votes: 49 65.3%
  • Total voters
    75
rockcity said:
Nice. You like the pecan smoke? I did it earlier this year and quickly tossed the food and the chips after. For us it was overpowering and IMO ruined the flavor of the meat. I love smoking with different woods but pecan is just one that the first time was the last. :(

I'm glad someone else likes it as we as a family didn't.
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tlucier said:
I've never used pecan. My go-to's are hickory & cherry. I like white oak with red meat. I use orange wood for an orange citrus chicken I make. I usually go with splits or chunks as chips just burn up too quick in my smoker.
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Do ya'll soak your chips or chunks? dry wood smoke gives a strong bitter taste. Soak the chips an hour or 2, chunks/splits overnight and you'll get a nice sweet mellow smoke taste w about any type of wood. I also often add wine,whiskey or apple/orange/grape juice etc. to the water for more flavor. I drain the wood chips and dry 1/2 hr. or more/ chunks and splits a few hours and they will burn slowly while giving damp smoke for a long time. Try some fresh cut wild grape vine chunks or thick chips sliced off w a sharp knife and soaked in water or red wine/grape juice for beef, it's very good.
 
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I've soaked mine and not, and seem to not really get much difference other than little smoke on the soaked chips and less flavor.
 
mommucked said:
Do ya'll soak your chips or chunks? dry wood smoke gives a strong bitter taste. Soak the chips an hour or 2, chunks/splits overnight and you'll get a nice sweet mellow smoke taste w about any type of wood. I also often add wine,whiskey or apple/orange/grape juice etc. to the water for more flavor. I drain the wood chips and dry 1/2 hr. or more/ chunks and splits a few hours and they will burn slowly while giving damp smoke for a long time. Try some fresh cut wild grape vine chunks or thick chips sliced off w a sharp knife and soaked in water or red wine/grape juice for beef, it's very good.
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I'd love to try some dry grape vine chunks! I haven't soaked the smoke wood. I've found too much dry wood will impart a bitter taste. Just enough wood so you get light smoke out the exhaust chute always seems to work for me.
 
mommucked said:
Do ya'll soak your chips or chunks? dry wood smoke gives a strong bitter taste. Soak the chips an hour or 2, chunks/splits overnight and you'll get a nice sweet mellow smoke taste w about any type of wood. I also often add wine,whiskey or apple/orange/grape juice etc. to the water for more flavor. I drain the wood chips and dry 1/2 hr. or more/ chunks and splits a few hours and they will burn slowly while giving damp smoke for a long time.
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There is some deep science thats been done on this you can read up on Amazing ribs.

Essentially if you are cooking low and slow 200-230 the ONLY thing water does is delay smoke production from starting. Wet wood doesnt combust or smoke, so first all the water evaps out then the smoke starts. You arent prolonging the combustion just delaying it starting.

One little oddity I like to do, and the reason I use my gas to smoke on occasionally is I made drip funnel to run my dripping into my wood chips which vaporizes the fat and adds flavor to the bark...
 
rockcity said:
Nice. You like the pecan smoke? I did it earlier this year and quickly tossed the food and the chips after. For us it was overpowering and IMO ruined the flavor of the meat. I love smoking with different woods but pecan is just one that the first time was the last. :(

I'm glad someone else likes it as we as a family didn't.
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Ive never used pecan before. I used chips right at the beginning of the cook so it was not too much smoke.

I use cherry often because it grows on trees at my house. Apple grows at my neighbors. I always look for small hickory trees when i cut firewood and try to keep that in stock. I much prefer real chuncks over purchased chips especially if I want the flavor of the smoke.
 
Ron said:
There is some deep science thats been done on this you can read up on Amazing ribs.

Essentially if you are cooking low and slow 200-230 the ONLY thing water does is delay smoke production from starting. Wet wood doesnt combust or smoke, so first all the water evaps out then the smoke starts. You arent prolonging the combustion just delaying it starting.

One little oddity I like to do, and the reason I use my gas to smoke on occasionally is I made drip funnel to run my dripping into my wood chips which vaporizes the fat and adds flavor to the bark...
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I should have clarified damp chips/chunks/splits if you are putting them on hot coals like a an Egg. When using gas smokers the damp stuff takes forever to produce smoke, a pile of very small dry chips works better or only soaking larger chips about 30 mins. and let them dry 30 mins. or more. Most peeps I know use a cast iron pan/box over the gas burner to keep the dry chips from just burning up in a tin pan, a water/marinade pan below the meat will also help make the dry wood smoke more mellow and keep the meat moist.
 
I just roll it up like a loose doobie and leave the ends open...
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What I do on my current gas grill, I take a mid sized disposable aluminum pan and fill it half full of large chips. Cover the whole thing in foil and poke 8-10 holes. Remove the grates and place the pan directly on the heat deflectors. I can get 4-5 uses out of the $1 pans.
 
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That's the way I learned to do it growing up in Charleston. Oysters on the grill, clams in the microwave. :smokin:
This is how I do it now. All natural oak and cherry.
 
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Pork tenderloin. Depends on how my fishing trip goes today I'll be cooking version tomorrow. My next door neighbor and I trade all the time. He deer hunts, I fish. I'll bring him 10-30 lbs of filets and he'll give me any cut of deer I want. Perks to being neighbors for 60 years.
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rockcity said:
I thought clams went in the trash???
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I'm not a huge fan of them usually but they can be great. In shellfish farms they grow and then categorize clams in sizes 1-4. A 3 or 4 is around 1.25-1.75 across its widest point. Those are the best eating size. If you take a Tupperware dish, fill it with about 1/2" of water and throw in a chunk of butter and a few lemon slices and load up around 15-25 #3 or 4 and cook on high in the microwave until all open, it will be a very pleasant treat.
 
I used to go clamming for a couple weeks every summer up around Montauk an East Hampton when I was a kid with my aunt and uncle. It was a lot of fun. We ate clams everyday! It was great then. But, as I have gotten older, my stomach doesn't tolerate clams anymore and I quit eating them and tossing them in the trash! Better then in the trash can than my head hurling up an hour later.

I love the taste and eating them, but my stomach disagrees! :lol:
 
Its a good thing you are a flat lander or I be headed your direction.

Thats oyster eatting mahem right there. Them suckers probably open up in less than a minute. Id be filthy and full eating them that fast... I like your style.
 
frankenyoter said:
Its a good thing you are a flat lander or I be headed your direction.

Thats oyster eatting mahem right there. Them suckers probably open up in less than a minute. Id be filthy and full eating them that fast... I like your style.
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That's the only way to eat em, hey I've got half a bushel left be up to 1 or so come on.
 
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