I've had my 26" Weber kettle for a few months now. Done pulled pork, ribs, tri-tip, brisket, chicken and steaks on it. Last night we did three racks of Costco ribs again. I used B&B briquettes with a couple of small (~ 1" x 2") Weber brand apple wood chunks. I put the chunks on the bottom of the Slow N Sear, dropped in 8 lit briquettes, filled the Slow N Sear with unlit briquettes and gave the grill about an hour to settle in and stop making bad smoke. While everyone liked the ribs, my wife and I thought the smoke flavor just wasn't as good as what we get on the pellet grill. It wasn't overpowering. It wasn't bad per se. Just different and we preferred the pellet grill smoke flavor. Same on a previous rib cook. Haven't really noticed on other cooks.
One of the reasons I got the kettle was because I wanted more smoke flavor than we got from the pellet grill. We definitely get that. There's just something to the flavor of it that I'm not crazy about. I am wondering if I am doing something wrong. I have read that the charcoal itself shouldn't really add any flavor. It should just be the source of heat. I don't know if I believe that. It's not a flavor I get from my favorite local barbeque place. I assume they use stick burners. Is this just the nature of smoking with charcoal?
One of the reasons I got the kettle was because I wanted more smoke flavor than we got from the pellet grill. We definitely get that. There's just something to the flavor of it that I'm not crazy about. I am wondering if I am doing something wrong. I have read that the charcoal itself shouldn't really add any flavor. It should just be the source of heat. I don't know if I believe that. It's not a flavor I get from my favorite local barbeque place. I assume they use stick burners. Is this just the nature of smoking with charcoal?
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