Emissions from Low n Slow Cooking

[DogFaced PonySoldier]

Stuey1515 is right, we are ALL victims of information overload and the 24-hour news cycle and the perpetual internet presence people have to generate content, no matter how obscure, how unlikely, how deep they have to dig - all in order to maintain a presence and justify their own salaries.

This is a case of looking for fire where there's not even any smoke. No pun intended.

I work in healthcare and I'll tell you, the things you are asking about aren't even worth another thought. The fearmongering of the media these days get some people legitimately worried, and I'm not saying I blame you, I'm just trying to reassure you - don't sweat it, mate. Smoke on, live your life, enjoy yourself!

[Stuey1515]

Preach brother!!!

[Mosca]

Hi Team, I am a kamado owner, and I found an article of yours on the web regarding charcoals. In slow 'n low cooking, some charcoals are unlit, and during the smoldering combustion, they become lit. When transitioning from unlit to lit, they emit emissions, such as CO, CO2, and PAHs, but is this safe? Are these emissions less during the first combustion stage (flaming)? Will all the emissions be absorbed by the meat?

I’ve thought about this as well. I think there may be more than one question in your wording.

1) Is this bad for the environment? Well, probably, in aggregate. But until there is a definitive answer on how much hydrocarbon combustion is the right amount for the planet, I’m going to count cooking outdoors with charcoal as less than negligible.

2) Is it bad for my food, and for the people eating it? In a kamado, where temperatures are controlled by restricting air flow, think of the boundary between lit and unlit as a flame front. The small part that is burning, and maintaining that 250°, is hot enough to provide complete combustion of all the bad stuff (assuming you’ve let everything come up to temp and all the gray smoke to clear). It just moves at that air flow restricted pace through the fuel, until the fuel expires. That is actually the beauty of the efficiency of kamados.

[Midwest Economist]

I’m not a doctor and definitely should be the last person who should be consulted for medical advice.

Speaking only for myself, it is my belief that we, as humans, generally tend to be our own worst enemy as we introduce additives and processing during the production process as we seek to improve upon or recreate what we find available in naturally occurring products. Thus, I stick to fuel sources that are as close to natural as possible and try to ignite them as naturally as possible.

I’m not saying all processing or additives introduced by humans are bad, but nature tends to have a better track record. I would be more concerned about emissions from a heavily processed fuel source with human additives/binders than emissions from a fuel source that leans towards naturally occurring and ignited with a naturally occurring ingredient.

[Finster]

so, Kingsford match light is out then? 😂

[Midwest Economist]

Now the economist in me comes out (oh great; here he goes again 🙄). The great thing about capitalism: it allows us an abundance of choice…fuel types/sources, ignition sources, monitoring technologies….beverages to accompany us as we monitor the cook…there is a perfect combination available for everybody. I love this country!

[Duanessmokedmeats]

Welcome!
Just hold your breath near the cooking apparatus...

[CaptainMike]

It's only a problem in California.

[Spinaker]

Apparently it's a problem in MN too, but I choose to not GAF. I'd rather die from the black lung with a perfectly good ribeye in my gut, than die with a microwaved piece of tofu in its place.

[SheilaAnn]

Spinaker preach!!!

[Troutman]

True dat 😂😂

[BlackrazorNZ]

For context - if you operated a charcoal smoker as inefficiently as possible, and ran it for about 10 hours, you'd emit about 100 pounds of CO2.

Annually, wild fires release into the atmosphere over 12 billion tonnes of CO2, not counting that released from decomoposition.

Which means that you would need to run a smoker for 10 hours 264.5 billion times to release the same CO2, CO, and PAH into the atmosphere each year that wild fires naturally do.

You would have had to been smoking continuously since the Devonian era 300 million years ago to do that.

I once accidentally left a brisket on for long enough to come close to that, but as long as you're not hotboxing in your garage, you won't injure yourself OR the climate.

[Spinaker]

Man, you Kiwis and your numbers. LOL

[fzxdoc]

I'm loving this post.

[Finster]

please tell us simple folk that you at least used a calculator to do that math... 😂

[Troutman]

I’ve been cooking with charcoal briquettes, lump, wood splits, pellets, propane and natural gas for 50+ years. Been sucking gases and fumes I can’t even pronounce in that time as well. I’m still here and kickin’. Take that as your answer.

[Finster]

sounds like good clean livin' to me 👍