Looking for Advice...

[rip1877]

Lately when grilling veggies on my Weber kettle the wife says they taste like cigarettes. No one in the family smokes (except for food). At first it was just onions and bell peppers, and I thought maybe the spices were bad. But now it is green beans and mushrooms with a different mixture. I scrape the grill grates everytime before and after. I am wondering if it is the coals or the creosoot (sp?) from the dome or something else. I am guessing the first option is to pressure wash the grill down and remove all possible seasoning on it and the grates as well.

Charcoal is the weber blue bags ( i know I should probably change it out but it is what I have for now).
The other food burgers, steaks, fajita's, fish all come out without the smoke tase so I am not sure what I am looking for.

[LA Pork Butt]

I really have no idea, but this a stab in the dark. Could it be that the strong taste of meats (fish would be the exception) overpowers the taste that the veggies doesn’t? I think a through cleaning of your grill and a fresh run on vegetables is the place to start.

[STEbbq]

I agree with LA Pork Butt . The other thought that comes to mind is the temperature of the veggies when placed on the smoker. Cold attracts smoke. If you are tossing on frozen veggies that will attract a lot more smoke flavor than a 35-40 degree steak from the fridge or a 130 degree steak coming out of the sous vide container.

[Old Glory]

Are you letting the charcoal fully ash up? The smoke from partially lit charcoal can cause off flavors.

[Mosca]

This is the first thing I thought, as well. I did a batch of roasted peppers that I had to toss because the coals weren’t fully ashed, and the peppers had “that taste”.

[HawkerXP]

+2

[shify]

My thought as well. Make sure you let the coal get nice and lit (and hope you use a chimney or a firestarter).

[rip1877]

Thank you all for chiming in on this. One of the reasons I have been a member for so long just lurking in the shadows soaking up the knowledge.

As for the veggie temps, they are room temp. I normally have them out on the counter before I go start the coals up. I tend to cook the veggies first. I have a mesh basket I have used for a few years that takes up space so I don't have much room for anything else at the same time.

As for the coals. I use a chimney to get them started but always throw extra down on the side of the kettle. I make sure the chimney coals are red hot and ashy before throwing them on top of the unlit coals. I normally wait about 10 minutes or so after that with the lid on before I add any food to start cooking. My thoughts were I do this in the smoker and have done it for a long time this way. I also use indirect cooking method for everything.

I will move forward with a deep clean for starters, but the coals makes me wonder if I really need to add the extra on the side and dump the hot over them....

Thoughts?

[Mosca]

That is exactly how I ruined that batch of red Hatch chiles, dumping properly ashed over coals on top of unlit coals, waiting 10 minutes, and proceeding. I had been using my gasser and the tank emptied; I switched to the kettle, but was losing daylight and wanted to speed things up.