Interesting experience yesterday -- thought i'd share

[jasonwilliams14]

Was not sure where to put this, but figure since I was on a kettle, maybe this is the best channel.

Yesterday, I was planning on doing some ribs on my kettle with my slow n sear.
I got the kettle prepped, ready to go with some B&B briquettes. I set her up, then went inside to prep the ribs.

Part 1:
I bought the ribs earlier this week from Costco
I opened up the rib pack to start trimming and putting rib on and to my horror, they smelled REALLY bad. They were obviously spoiled (they left a lingering smell in my nostrils which was not good).
I had also bought a pork loin on the same trip. I decided to quickly check on that meat. Sure enough, it had the same bad small. I was shocked to be honest.
I was able to return the meat for a refund, but did not have time to run in a replace sadly.

Part 2
Once I realized there would be no rib smoking yesterday, I closed down the kettle and extinguish the briquettes.
This part was weird to me. There was a distinct, weird smell from my kettle that I have not smelled before. My gut tells me it is something with the briquettes themselves (B&B orange bag). I decided today to clean out the kettle a bit, put in some different briquettes and "burn off" any residue smell.
Has anyone ever experienced something like this before? The smell was very noticeable to me.

I am always learning something new, which is part of the fun, but this was definitely new one for me!

Cheers,

Jason

[bbqLuv]

At least you got a refund.

[jasonwilliams14]

yea, I will be honest. I was not sure when I was returning the item.

[Draznnl]

Any chance what you thought of as the kettle smell was residual from the spoiled meat? I’m assuming you shut down the fire before leaving for Costco.

[Draznnl]

I don’t know, jasonwilliams14 good question.

[smokenoob]

I was thinking the bad small was still in his nose.

[N227GB]

I think it was just residual from the meat, too. 🤢

[scottingaround]

What a bummer to start working on a cook to find out the product is no good. I assume both were vacuum packed from the source rather than repackaged by Costco? The ones I've seen are in the cryopak. Any rotting meat stinks but I think pork is the worst.

[jasonwilliams14]

yea, both were vacuum packed which I assume is from the source.. It was weird.

[jfmorris]

I had a bad Boston butt or two over the years, and maybe one bad pack of ribs. Nothing worse than the smell of spoiled meat to ruin your sense of smell!

I've tested many types of charcoal in my kettle + SNS, and B&B are one that I've never had any off putting aroma from. KBB on the other hand have a chemical smell when being lit, versus a more woody smell from B&B, Royal Oak, and other briquettes I've used.

[jasonwilliams14]

The smell really caught me off guard. I did not expect it to be that bad, but it was.
KBB Is Kingsford blue bag?
Right now, I am really liking jealous devil. Seems to be a very efficient, clean burning briquette and lump....i try to grab it when it is on sale.

[jfmorris]

jasonwilliams14 yes KBB = Kingsford blue bag (i.e. Kingsford Original).

[jgreen]

I have had that bad meat experience a few times as well. Not fun!. Dinner often becomes burgers or hotdogs or something I can make quickly.

[jasonwilliams14]

the smell was rough....i could smell it for hours still (like stuck in my nostrils)

[Smoker_Boy]

Just try to imagine what a coroner goes through every day...

[jasonwilliams14]

O wow....yikes......i cant even imagine.

[Bkhuna]

We would put VIcks Vapor Rub in our nostrils when doing autopsies to negate that smell. Vaporu is good for everything.

[Mosca]

I had this happen once. I, too, returned the meat and got refunded. But it turns out this is common, and usually isn’t the meat.

[Smoker_Boy]

The meat market I used to buy from got their ribs vacuumed packed, 3 to a pack.
One time, we got the ones that didn't get sealed very well.
Nasty.
They gave us a brand new, unopened pack.

Then, about 3 months later, we ended up getting a pre-wrapped whole chicken that was nasty.
We stopped going to that place after that.

[Troutman]

Bad meat, bad charcoal, bad day. Bummer all the way around dude. Good you at least got your money back.

[synodog]

My wife had this happen with chicken. As soon as she took it out of the fridge you could tell it was rancid.
I left ribs in the fridge too long (forgot about them actually) and they were bad. Hate it when that happens.

[FireMan]

In my Holmesian training of expert sleuthing, I wonder if Troutman was inadvertently on to something . Bad smell from the meat, bad smell from the briquettes, one wonders if the sniffer isn’t the culprit. Maybe, just maybe, you need to check yer nose, yessir.

[SandPiper]

Good point FireMan. People who temporarily loose their sense of smell from COVID, often notice putrid smells as the nerves recover.

[Mosca]

SandPiper that happened to our daughter. Red wine and coffee smelled like horse manure. It took a year and a half for her to recover.

[SandPiper]

Mosca that sounds miserable - Not being able to enjoy two good vices for a year and a half. I hope she is fine now and able to make up the wine she missed.

[Mosca]

She’s doing great, thanks! When it came back, she called me, crying… from Santiago Chile.

[xaugievike]

a few years ago we went on a camping trip with a group of our friends. I got a bunch of ribs (also from Costco) to make for us for one of our dinners (each camper rotated a dinner on a given night).

opened several of the ribs up to prep and noticed a similar, just awful, smell. Tossed those and my dinner contribution on the trip was a run into town for pizzas.

[Huskee]

I've had that happen with a 3-pack of ribs from Sam's once, it was a big disappointment, but they refunded me too. I didn't have the receipt but I did have the stinky wrapper, that was enough!

As far as B&B goes, I think B&B stinks anyway, lit or dying. I am used to Kingsford, and I've had others tell me it is the other way around but I'm pretty sure B&B is the stinky one.