4. Tell
me about barbecue
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[What is the best way to learn how to barbecue?]
Put the engineering books away. This is cooking meat here. There is far more art than
science, more alchemy than chemistry. Get some wood, matches, and meat and go to it. You
will learn far more by building a fire and watching the results than anyone here can teach
you. There is no instruction book on making good barbecue.
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[Will the smoke preserve my food?]
There are two types of smoking, cold and hot. Cold smoking is a method of preserving
meat. First the meat or fish is soaked in a brine solution, then smoked cold at
temperatures of 100F or so. Bacon is done this way. Hot smoking is really smoke cooking.
It is done at temperatures in the 225F range and will not add any preservation to the
foods. This FAQ is devoted to smoke cooking.
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[What meats are used?]
Beef briskets are favored in Texas, pork shoulders in North Carolina, ribs in Kansas,
chicken in Louisiana. Much of the regional favoritism is due to the type of animals raised
in the area. Turkey, seafood, lamb, goat and venison can also be smoked in this manner.
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[Why cook the meat so long?]
Barbecue is an evolution of cooking technique that involves using the tough, cheaper
cuts of meat and cooking them until they are tender. Brisket comes from the breast area of
a steer that does a lot of work and tends to be very tough. This is also true for pork
shoulders (the forelegs of the pig). These cuts of meat have a lot of fat and collagen,
the material that holds the muscle together. Long slow cooking transforms the collagen
from a tough material to a gelatin that dissolves. This can take hours at a temperature of
about 160F.
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[What is a rub?]
Often meats are seasoned before cooking by application of a dry rub. It is a blend of
spices and herbs rubbed onto the meat to enhance flavor. There are many variations. Most
recipes include: salt, paprika, chili powder, garlic and onion powders, black and red
peppers. There is no limit to the imaginative use of spice combinations.
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[What is this 'Mr. Brown' I read about?]
The brown crust that forms on the outside of the barbecued meat is referred to by some
barbecuers as 'Mr. Brown'. This dark tasty layer is also called 'the crust'. There is also
a commercial dry rub with the trade name of "Mr. Brown". It is available at
barbecue specialty stores.
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[What's the best kind of smoker for me to buy and what will it cost?]
You can spend as little as $30 for a bullet water smoker or tens of thousands of
dollars for a custom-built rig. Most of us spend less than $500. Keep in mind that
equipment is only part of the story. A good pit-master can turn out good barbecue on
simple homemade units costing a few dollars. Starting out, consider the Brinkmann Cook'N
Cajun Charcoal Smoker or similar unit at around $50, or an off-set firebox smoker that
runs about $200. Once you have mastered those, you will know better what suits your needs.
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[Are all smokers wood-fired? Can I use my gas grill to barbecue?]
It is the wood that is used to generate the smoke. That is the common denominator of
all barbecue pits. For a heat source, some use charcoal, wood, gas, wood pellets, even
electricity. Traditionalists use wood as a fuel, but many of the newer units work well
with charcoal. A gas or electric smoker with wood chips for the smoke can do a very good
job of making barbecue and be much less labor intensive in keeping the fire at a steady
temperature.
The common backyard gas grills are not air tight enough to do proper smoking, but you
can still get some flavor by using the wood chips in a pan over the lava rock. Use one
burner and keep it as low as possible and put the meat on the other side of the grill,
elevated if you have a top rack.
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[I've seen some inexpensive bullet water smokers. Are these smokers any good?]
There are two main types of barbecue smokers, horizontal and vertical. The horizontal
smokers usually have a firebox off-set to the side to provide the heat and smoke. I highly
recommend the vertical water smokers to the beginner, especially if you are not sure if
this is the way of life for you. They are very capable cookers and can turn out
prize-winning food.
There are three basic types of vertical water smokers, segregated by the fuel they use:
wood or charcoal, gas, or electricity. All can give the beginner very good barbecue.
Vertical smokers are more compact and can be cheaper to build. A good example is the
$30 Brinkmann Sportsman Smoker, the better $50 Brinkmann Cook N' Cajun and The H2O Smoker
from Char-Broil. Weber makes the best charcoal bullet smoker, The Smoky Mountain Cooker,
around $170 . What they have in common is a water pan. This is what differentiates the
smoking process over indirect heat from grilling over direct heat. The water pan is a
buffer between the heat source and the meat. It also acts as a heat sink and thermal mass,
lessening the temperature spikes often seen while adding fuel to the fire.
The original Brinkmann had two pans, one for water, one with a hole in it for the
charcoal. Due to someone burning down his deck, they no longer provide the hole in the
bottom pan. This restricts the airflow and makes it more difficult to use. See Section
7.2.1 for information on how to modify your bullet smoker to make it work more efficiently
and to give you better barbecue.
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[Can you help me get started on my first time with a water smoker?]
Start the coals with a chimney starter and let them burn until a white ash covers the
coals. Put the water pan in place. To make clean-up easier, spray it with Pam first and
put in a foil liner. Pour in some hot water. I suggest hot (almost boiling) because it
will get the food cooking faster instead of wasting the heat output to bring the water up
to temperature. To add water during the cooking session, use a long-nose water can or
similar item. Open the door, not the lid, and pour. If you are using an electric or
gas-fired water smoker, lift the dome lid and pour the water past the meat into the lower
water pan. DO BE CAREFUL WHEN YOU MOVE OR POUR HOT WATER, AS SERIOUS INJURY CAN RESULT
FROM UNSAFE HANDLING. FOLLOW THE MANUFACTURER'S SAFETY GUIDELINES FOR YOUR SMOKER.
It is best to pre-start coals if you must add more than a few. This can be done in a
bucket or other pan. Use tongs to transfer the coals to the smoker. If the temperature
drops, give the coals a stir with a metal rod. Re-bar and old Studebaker lug wrenches work
well for this job.
After you use the smoker a few times, you can experiment. Instead of water, leave the
pan empty, but cover it with foil, much as if you were making it into a drum. You will
still have the buffer, but the smoker will now operate at a higher temperature. If you
have a hole in the center, or place an aluminum pan on the top, it will still catch the
drippings from the meat.
You may want to add a more accurate thermometer to your smoker to supplement or replace
the simple thermometer that came installed in the dome of your smoker. Most important is
knowing your smoker. Note the needle position of the factory gauge and the actual number
will not matter; after a few tries, you will know if the temperature is running too hot or
too cold. The end result is what counts.
Resist the temptation to peek. You release a lot of heat and smoke every time you lift
the lid. You can use wood chips, pellets, or chunks to get the smoke you want. Just put
them on top of the burning coals, the gas plate or on/near the electric element. Chunks
should be soaked in water for an hour or two before hand so they do not burn up too fast.
It only takes a few chunks to turn out good smoked food. You want a light white smoke, not
a dense white smoke. More here is not better.
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[How do I maintain an even temperature inside the smoker?]
Regulate the amount of fuel in the fire. Dampening down the burning wood can make the
fire smolder and make a heavy, bitter smoke. It is better to use less fuel burning at a
high temperature, rather than a lot of fuel burning at a low temperature. If the
temperature gets too high, open the door to release the heat. Short temperature spikes and
drops are normal and will not affect the end result.
There are two approaches here. One is the Lazy-Q way, letting an electric or gas-fired
system make your life easy. The other way is to have a traditional wood-burning smoker.
The Lazy-Q'ers are often at odds with the wood purists. Have to say though, the wood
burners work harder and develop more skills to make good barbecue. It is more challenging,
both mentally and physically to keep a fire in a narrow, low temperature range for a long
period of time.
You have to learn to think ahead, not for what the thermometer says now. You have to
anticipate. Using a baseball analogy, the batter starts his swing long before the ball is
over the plate. He has to figure out where it is going to be and has to be there to meet
it. Same with wood; you have to know how long the coals will be hot, how long for the next
log to catch, what the wind will be doing, what effect the sun or lack of it will have on
the smoker. What works at 2 p.m. in the afternoon is not going to work at 2 a.m. the next
morning when that brisket is still going.
The sun affects the heat of the smoker. On a 90F day, you have a differential of 135F
from optimum cooking temperature. Later that night, you have a 175F differential. At night
you'll have no heat absorption of the sun's heat, and a slight breeze may carry off lots
of BTUs from the surface of the smoker and you'll have a stronger draft in the flue.
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[What's the best kind of wood to burn and do the different kinds of smoking woods
'taste' different?]
The southwest uses a lot of mesquite, the south uses mostly hickory, the northeast has
maple. The main reason is because these woods are plentiful in those areas. Any wood from
a nut or fruit bearing tree can be used. Do NOT use any softwood. The resin in conifer
wood (pine, fir, spruce, etc.) will ruin the meat and can make you very sick. There is
more information regarding woods for smoking in Section 8.
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[Can you make good barbecue with briquettes and what's the difference between lump
charcoal and charcoal briquettes?]
Charcoal is made by burning wood in very low oxygen levels. This leaves mostly carbon.
In this form, it is known as natural or lump charcoal. It will be of irregularly-shaped
pieces of broken-up wood. If you shake the bag, it sounds like the tinkle of broken glass.
Briquettes are different. The charcoal is ground into a powder and then additives are
introduced. The additives can include starches, coal dust, oil products and other binders.
Under high pressure, the ground charcoal and additives are formed to the regular shapes
that are familiar to us. The advantage touted by the manufacturers of briquettes is the
consistency of the product in heat output and burn rates. Lump charcoal has a higher BTU
rating per pound and is preferred by many barbecuers. Never use the easy-light type
charcoals for slow cooking. They have additives that must be burned off at high heat and
if used in a smoker will give your barbecued meat nasty flavors.
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[My door mounted thermometer read 220F the whole time but it took a lot longer than I
expected for the meat to get done. Why is this?]
The thermometer on the door is giving you the temperature at the door. Cooking
temperatures are defined as the temperature at the rack where the food is. All smokers
have hot and cold spots as well as temperature stratification. Heat rises so the readings
at the top can be 50 or more degrees F hotter than at the rack. Use an oven thermometer on
the rack to find the difference in your smoker. Keep in mind, the temperature can vary
depending to how the smoker is loaded with meat, so you will want to try this several
times. Once the difference is known, you can make the adjustment by knowing that you have
to keep the door thermometer at a certain temperature so the meat cooks at 225F or so.
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[What is a smoke ring?]
Smoke rings are produced by a chemical reaction between the meat and the penetration of
the smoke. You will see a smoke ring on meat barbecued over a wood fire. It is a pink
color that extends from the outside surface into the meat. It's thickness is dependent on
several factors, such as the type of smoke and the duration of smoking. See the following
two questions for a better understanding of the chemical reactions involved.
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[Why is my barbecued chicken pink? Is it still raw?]
No, the smoke has a reaction with the chemicals in the bone and meat. The meat turns a
pink color even though it is thoroughly cooked. Ash is loaded with potassium and sodium
nitrates. This reacts with oxymethyglobin to form nitrosaminoglobulins and gives us the
pink color of hams, lunch meats, hot dogs, and smoke rings.
Man has known this for a long time and has been using salt to preserve meat. It was
found that nitrates are a natural impurity in salt. This was isolated and used to
chemically cure meat. (Saltpeter)
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[When do you use a dry rub and a marinade?]
Much depends on your personal choice. A marinade can flavor and moisten the meat. A rub
only adds flavor. Many barbecuers use a marinade followed by a dry rub.
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[Can you give me a few recipes for dry rubs?]
Dry rubs contain some salt along with other spices. Many have sugar in them to take the
bite out of the spices. Experiment to find what you like.
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