Skunkwood?

[WayneT]

I did a SVQ chuck over the last 2 days preceding and can only describe it as an unmitigated disaster. I won't even talk about the piece of meat itself, it's not the cow's fault and I'll take the blame for how it turned out except for the flavor. I want some feedback on the smoke flavor that came out of this though.

The words I use to describe it are, strong, overpowering and bitter. This chuck was on the kettle for only 1.5 hours and the smoke flavor in the meat would make you think it had smoked for days. I used one large chunk of wood out of an OK Joe's bag labeled as hickory. I've used several chunks on other cooks from that same bag with no problems. Here's a mental checklist I went through to try to figure this out.

My kettle is clean! There is no creosote build up in it.

The temps were pretty much spot on, ranging 230-260F once I got it dialed in. Took about 30 mins. and I didn't have to make very many adjustments.

I used Kingsford charcoal, which I've used before from the same bag with no issues.

Only water was in the reservoir of the SNS insert.

The grill grate was scrubbed clean before use.

Chicken wings were the previous cook on the kettle, the night before.

Ashes were all dumped from beneath the grate and the ash catcher before I started.

I did remember this morning while thinking through this that a couple of times when I lifted the kettle lid and got a face full of smoke, it stung my eyes like nothing else before. It was awful! I thought I was going to have to come in and wash my eyes. My clothes also had an extremely strong smoke smell on them...after only about 1.5 hours with that piece of wood on there!

What's going on fellow pitmasters?

PS: The saving grace was that after that piece of skunkwood (my name for it) finally burned up, the coals were still nice and hot so we made smores.

[holehogg]

Nothing makes scents to me. Hope you figure it out.

[DTro]

"strong, overpowering and bitter" --- Did you have clean smoke?

[CandySueQ]

Sometimes you just get bad wood! If I smell something not right, I've found the best thing to do is get that wood out of my cooker!

[Donw]

I personally wouldn’t be surprised to find that a chunk of wood from a different species found its way into the bag, or in the extreme, a piece of processed or treated wood. Wood processing lots are not always very careful with the scraps being used to make sawdust or chunks.

[Panhead John]

Just curious, how did you light your coals and how many briquettes were burning before adding the meat? Did you let the wood chunk start burning first before adding the meat? It sounds like it was just smoldering on the coals possibly. I’m thinking along the same lines as DTro .

[Allon]

Sounds like some kind of contamination...
The mostly likely suspect is the wood.

Stinging eyes is troublesome. Unless you're using some type of cleaner on the grill, there's not much left to choose from...

Please advise.

[Old Glory]

I agree with PHJ I think it was dirty smoke from the chunk smoldering rather than burning cleanly.

Could it have been wet? Was it larger than usual? Was it placed directly on the fully lit charcoal?

Just my thoughts

[WayneT]

I'm trying to objectively think back on this cook to answer your questions.

DTro There was a lot of smoke so I'm guessing that one piece was smoldering rather than burning cleanly.

Panhead John I started about a dozen briquettes in the corner of the insert, lit them, then placed the remaining briquettes next to the lit ones. The SNS was about 3/4 full of briquettes. Only after the unlit briquettes caught fire and started to burn did I start monitoring the temp to dial it in. It took about 30 minutes and after that I had about 1/4 of the charcoal in the SNS burning. That's when I put the wood chunk on, put the lid back on to monitor temp again and maybe 5 mins. later put the chuck on.

Old Glory Yes, this piece of wood was far larger than any of the other pieces in the bag. I distinctly remember taking it from the bag and thinking it was huge, and it had some bark still attached. Hmmmm, could that be it? It looked like a hickory bark but I didn't examine it real closely.

Allon Yeah, I was real concerned about how badly this smoke stung my eyes. It's like nothing I ever experienced before.

This morning I attempted to redeem that piece of meat by braising it to tender and the kitchen immediately filled with a strong smoke smell. Mari Jo and I tasted it again and decided it was irredeemable. My pup, Truffles, liked it but I'm not sure I'll give her any more of it.

So, with a chuckle, you could say a chunk caused me to chuck a chuck.

[Panhead John]

Thanks Wayne, did you put the wood chunk directly on the lit coals and let it start burning before adding the meat?

[WayneT]

Absolutely!

[CHNeal]

WayneT
My experience with hickory bark was about as bad as the one you describe! The bark gets my vote. I bought a bag of hickory chunks at a local hardware store a few years ago that was full of pieces that had a lot of bark still attached.
I lost 3 racks of ribs that first cook and tossed the rest of the bag. It was as you mentioned. It was worse then too much mesquite smoke!

[WayneT]

Thanks CHNeal Oddly enough, I just recently started experimenting with mesquite pellets in my pellet pooper and have grown really fond of that taste, especially on some spicy foods like jerk pork or chicken. When I tasted this chuck last night, it immediately reminded me of mesquite, but on steroids! I'll certainly inspect every chunk of wood I put on from this point forward.

[rlozinak]

Yes I would say it was the bark

[Jerod Broussard]

Carya mephitis

[WayneT]

I had to look it up and it was worth the trouble. I hope you had as much fun putting that together. (You have too much time on your hands.)

[Jerod Broussard]

WayneT ex did a report on striped skunks and they are an honorary member of the Tautonym naming system.....and me know but a few trees and that wasn't one