[Bob in St. Louis]

If you like to cook food outside using fire as the means of heat, you should read this.
I challenge you to find >> THIS ARTICLE << a waste of your time.

If you're the type to soak your wood chips/chunks in water before putting them on the fire, this should be of particular interest. 

Here are a few snippets that I found interesting and might just pique your interest:

- Smoke includes as many as 100 compounds in the form of microscopic solids including char, creosote, ash, as well as combustion gases that include carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, nitrogen oxides, polymers, and liquids such as water vapor, and phenols. When they contact food they can stick to the surface and flavor it. Most of the flavor comes from the gases, not the smoke.
(read that sentence again, slower this time)

- Don't soak the wood. It does no good. Water can't penetrate it. That's why they make boats from wood.

- ...there is no guarantee that the wood in the bag is the wood on the label. Coffee, olive oil, and fish markets are regularly rocked by scandals of fraudulent labeling. Is it a stretch to wonder if a wood chopper in Arkansas throws oak in bags to fill a large order for hickory from a hardware chain when he runs out of the read deal? Do athletes take steroids? There is no government inspector checking wood suppliers...

If nothing else, skim the article. I have no doubt you'll find something interesting.

Make good food. Eat good food. Impress your friends with your new-found knowledge. yum.   Thank me later.

[TrungT]

Bob. 
Thanks for posting. 

[S Clark]

Interesting read.  I learned something new about the color of smoke... I've seen those differences, but it didn't register.
However, some of Meatheads ideas I don't agree with.  He doesn't use mesquite, thinks it too bitter.  He needs to strip the bark first, as it makes a difference.  I have abundant mesquite, grape, and oak on my place, and I never smoke with oak and seldom with grape.  He also says to cook with a small fire without damping the oxygen--- I don't know anyone, amateur or pro, in Texas that does it that way ( and we are egotistical enough to think that we know our BBQ).  He also says that using logs to cook with is for "expert pitmasters"...  I use logs; I don't consider myself a pitmaster, but I am the master of my particular pit.  And I think that is the key to good bbq. KNOW YOUR PIT.  Mine's been around for about 30 years, rebuilt it twice, and I've got a pretty good handle on how it behaves and misbehaves.

I think the best advice is to simply get outside, fire up your pit, and use it and use it and use it.  Have a brew, create some sauce, put something on the fire.   
Here's the top of my pit/grill showing an alternative use of mesquite.


 

[TrungT]

Nice Mesquite face plate. 

[ton1313]

Good Stuff

[Bob in St. Louis]

Thanks fellas. 

Scott, I've read almost as many articles on BBQ/smoking food as I have audio. Suffice it to say that there are many "experts" in cooking as there are in music. I can poke holes in theory and rules with the foodies even more so than I can with the audiophiles. If a "noob foodie" followed that guys advice he would probably do fine. But as time goes by, he'll probably come to learn that there's a bigger world out there and his little world, as nice is it may be, isn't necessarily right or wrong, just different.  Just like music, there are a lot of ways to make a good final product.

Good stuff. 

[S Clark]

Thanks fellas. 

Scott, I've read almost as many articles on BBQ/smoking food as I have audio. Suffice it to say that there are many "experts" in cooking as there are in music. I can poke holes in theory and rules with the foodies even more so than I can with the audiophiles. If a "noob foodie" followed that guys advice he would probably do fine. But as time goes by, he'll probably come to learn that there's a bigger world out there and his little world, as nice is it may be, isn't necessarily right or wrong, just different.  Just like music, there are a lot of ways to make a good final product.

Good stuff. 

Absolutely.  That article has some good stuff in it, but sorta like you said and is constantly repeated in audiophooldom, YMMV.  Sooo much depends on the pit.   

[Mitsuman]

The wood on boats is sealed. Pressure treated lumber? Railroad ties that never wear out? Whaddya mean water can't penetrate wood? 

[Bob in St. Louis]

....... Whaddya mean water can't penetrate wood? 

Well...not in the couple hours most folks try to soak their wood it doesn't.
As an experiment, I soaked a large fist sized hunk of smoking wood for a couple hours.
Then I cut it in half with my chop saw. The water didn't even penetrate 1/8".

[SoCalWJS]

...from the bolded portion of the original post:

Most of the flavor comes from the gases, not the smoke


Ummmmm... isn't smoke a gas? 

[Bob in St. Louis]

Umm....read that part again.

[SoCalWJS]

Umm....read that part again.

Did you miss the smiley? 

[Bob in St. Louis]

Understood. 

[Mitsuman]

Well...not in the couple hours most folks try to soak their wood it doesn't.
As an experiment, I soaked a large fist sized hunk of smoking wood for a couple hours.
Then I cut it in half with my chop saw. The water didn't even penetrate 1/8".

I use hickory or apple wood chips, and I soak them for a least 24 hours. If I'm using mesquite chunks for turkey, I soak them for at least 24 hours but yeah, they aren't soaked all the way through that's for sure. 

[Bob in St. Louis]

If you're soaking chips for 24 hours, then you'll get much more accomplished that if you're soaking chunks[/i]. So yea, you're in good shape.
But after reading time and time again, I've give up soaking altogether. In fact, I pre-heat mine and try to dry them out as much as I can. 

[Rob Babcock]

Only reason I can see to soak chips is if you're having problems with them bursting into flames.  You don't want the chips to burn!

[durangobo]

Great read Bob, thanks for posting.  This website is one of my favorites in reference to all things BBQ.

For those who are interested, here's an excellent article on smoking brisket from the same site http://www.amazingribs.com/recipes/beef/texas_brisket.html.  Enjoy!

[Bob in St. Louis]

That's a great site, thank you! 

[ratso]

that guy has been my sole guidance since i started this smoking thing. he does a great job of debunking a lot of myths involved with bbq that pretty much everybody believes in (like resting your meat). great reading.

[Bob in St. Louis]

....... he does a great job of debunking a lot of myths involved with bbq that pretty much everybody believes in (like resting your meat). great reading.

Almost halfway down, he mentions resting meat. Look for #7 next to the pan covered in foil.