by Ira » Thu Nov 23, 2006 9:11 am
For meats, I use just the chunks 99% of the time--not the coal plus chips--because I find it easier to regulate the temp with just chunks. I know this sounds nuts since chunks burn so hot, but here's my theory:
If I'm using coal and get it to my maximum temp for smoking, say 250, it doesn't STAY at maximum temp for that long, even playing with the vents. Or I'm constantly opening and closing the vents and I have to add coal anyway.
And since we smoke our meats for a really long time, it's a real pain--a juggling act between maintaining the temp and adding chips. It takes away from drinking beer time.
With the chunks, I start the fire with a few, get it to temp, throw my meat in there, and just throw like ONE chunk in there now and then to bring it back to max temp when needed. I don't care if I'm on my 10th Budweiser and forget and go a lot below temp--because that doesn't really hurt anything. Plus, no chips to think about--the smoke is in the chunks.
Thank God for smoking and grilling:
If we were talking about souffles, and doing it 25 years ago, we would be invited over to Liberace's house.
Here we go again!
