I have my rectec so I've never tried smoking anything on my kamado. I've seen pictures of guys putting a chunk of wood on top of the coals, can someone explain this technique to me? I decided to reverse sear some chops this way, to get a little smoke flavor I put a chunk of hickory on the coal on one side of the grill, but it's producing a ton of thick smoke, I'm afraid to put the pork chops on and get a bitter creosote tasting result. Any quick tips?
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For grilling steak or chops, I'd use chips in a smoke box. Depending on the chunk, you might get a clean burn or a lot of white smoke...I just don't trust them for smaller cuts... -
When I reverse sear, I use 1 chunk of wood. Make sure the wood is dry. I place the wood on top of my ashed over coals, cover the grill, and adjust the vents and let it heat up for several minutes to let the clean smoke develop. I’m a huge fan of adding smoke to my steaks and burgers.
I just realized you posted this last night. Hope the pork chops were good!Comment
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For low and slow the technique is to place wood chunks directly on the coals, let the smoke die down as you dial the cooker temp to 225-250, then put food in the cooker.
For reverse searing steaks or chops, which is a relatively short cook, try a few chips on the coals. Chunks are too much. I stopped using any wood for steaks and chops. Even the smoke from chips overwhelmed the smaller cuts. That is my personal taste, though. You ma not mind the smoke.
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I put the chunks on after lighting the coals for low temps. By the time the Kamado reaches the desired temperature the wood is on fire, so it doesn’t take long for the smoke to stop billowing thick. For higher temperatures you can let it heat up then open the lid and add chunks and keep the lid open so the fire kicks up a bit lighting the cuunks, then close the lid and close off the vents to snuff the flames then reopen them to allow temps to stabilize. It doesn’t take long.
Either case you have to wait a bit for the smoke to calm down. But it will.
For the searing part of the reverse sear I wouldn’t worry about smoke. Too much trouble for very minimal results. The smoke should be on the reverse part, where you slowly bring the steak up to temp before the quick finishing sear.
I did grill carne asada (Central American style strip steak) on my Kamado and it was excellent. It was done on a hot flat iron over the grates. Cooking time is somewhat short, but I did add wood chunks (mesquite because short time so no need to go mellow). It was great. The slight touch of smoke really set it apart from when I would use the gas grill.Comment
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Personally maybe the smoke is thick because the air flow in the Kamado is choked down? Otherwise, this should not be much different from when I use my SNS in my Weber kettle with wood chunks on top of the charcoal. They catch fire as the charcoal burns across, and smoke will go up and down, but I sure never got creosote in my meat off the Weber + SNS. Creosote is most prevalent in soft sappy woods, and wood that is green, versus well seasoned fruit and nut woods like the hickory you added. I would not worry about it.Comment
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I'll frequently through a chunk or two of hickory (or some such wood) on the BGE coals for a quick cook such as burgers, steaks or chops. I add the wood when I dump hot coals in to start. In the 10 minutes or so that it takes for the coals to get rolling, the chunk is on fire (which goes out when the lid closes). Cooks are typically well under 10 minutes total so smoke flavor is there but not too much, at least for us. When finished, and fire is choked down, there is usually a fresh chunk or two of "hickory charcoal" left to start the next cook.Comment
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Thanks for all the advice guys! The smoke definitely died down and they ended up delicious. I cooked to about 135 IT, with the kamado hovering around 300*. Used the BBQ dragon and chimney to get a blazing hot tower of inferno and put a smaller grate right on top of that to sear them individually. May have been one of the best renditions of chops I've made! The grate I put on top of the chimney actually got red hot!Comment
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I’ve been cooking on Kamado, BGE for many years trying to get just the right amount of smoke. I even recently tried the cast iron pot, filled with wood, that is detailed here. Everything I ever tried produced too much smoke, and often bitter, at least for my taste. The only thing I tried that worked OK was the use of an Amazing Tube, filled with pellets.
I’ve recently come to the conclusion that a Kamado, because it’s so air tight, just doesn’t need anymore than plain ole charcoal. It gives enough flavor, for me.Comment
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Out of curiosity, what wood(s) were you using? I've found that hickory & mesquite are more likely to give me that result with longer smokes in the BGE. Not so bad for a quick cook. Fruitwoods (apple, cherry, mulberry) or oak seem less likely to overpower in a longer smoke.
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Honestly I’m not sure, tried many different ones over the years. I’m of the belief that the type of wood is far less important than the the quality of smoke. I personally find that a pellet smoker provides plenty of smoke flavor, so that should explain my taste and why I find smoke in the Kamado is overpowering. That said, I am sure I have not achieved "good" smoke in the BGE very often.
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With that Engelbrecht you can just smoke with that! Those are beautiful pieces of gearComment
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Absulutly! Although Using a stick burner is a whole new skill I need to learn.Comment
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Take the wood chunk and bury it in the lit coals. You want that wood to burn as hot as possible to create good, clean smoke for your cook.Comment
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Is it just me or am I really noticing a huge difference in aroma? I've used my rectec for over 3 years for reverse sear with various flavors of wood, always mesquite with steak, I'm using a mesquite chunk in the charcoal right now for a New York steak and the smells coming off are insanely different than what I would normally get with pellets in the amazentube. I guess add another check to the KBQ column. Can there truly be that much difference between pellet wood flavors and whole wood flavors?Comment
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for short cooks and for the initial smoke on a long cook I've always poured lit coals over the top of a chunk. by the time the grill is to temp the billowing smoke is long gone, if it appears at all.Comment
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