How much smoke is the right amount?

dpgllg wrote:
I attempted to smoke just one rack of ribs and I definitely used too much smoke. The ribs were cooked to perfection but WOW the smoke was so strong it made it very hard to try and eat them.

How much smoke should be applied and how do you control it?

Thanks!

Dave

Meat will only take so much smoke. After that point, the smoke layers on the outside of the meat and just tastes foul. Getting the right amount of smoke takes a good bit of trial and error.

Unless I am burning wood instead of charcoal, I generally only smoke for a few hours, then whatever I am smoking gets covered in foil for the rest of the cook time. Your cooker should not spew smoke like you just dowsed your camp fire with a bucket of water. It should be a slow steady stream of thin smoke.

If you are buying your wood chunks, then you should only use 2 to 3 chunks at a time. If you are lucky enough to have the wood in your backyard, a small chunk or two will be good. We have hickory and oak in our backyard. I like to cut it so it is like a fat hockey puck. It will smoke slower and will be less likely to burn. If you are cutting your own wood, don't use any oil lubricated saw. It will make its way into your meat.

The chunks should not burn, they should just smolder and smoke. I only soak chips, but the only time I use chips is for short duration smokes like boneless country style ribs or thick porterhouse cut pork chops.

For a meaty rack of St. Louis cut spare ribs, I usually smoke for about 2 hours and then foil each rack individually for another 2 to 3 hours. Less meaty racks maybe 90 minutes to 2 hours before wrapping in foil. If I'm saucing the ribs, unwrap, sauce them and cook for about 20 minutes more.

-Michael