As a bit of background, I have been smoking meat (mostly pork shoulders, some legs of lamb and the odd spatchcock chicken) for a couple of years now. I don't have a dedicated smoker, instead a large barbecue with a lid which seems to do the trick fine.
Here's a pic if anyone's interested.
My questions are about the lumpwood charcoal that I'm using to cook. I really should have been asking these questions 2 years ago before I started but hey ho.
Up until last week every batch of lumpwood I've had has been that stuff in the light blue bag. This stuff:
The way I do it is to get my charcoal burning, stick the meat on and every couple of hours or so chuck a few more bits of charcoal on to keep the temperature around 225 degrees.
My latest batch of charcoal has been this stuff from Makro.
I have noticed that for 10-20 minutes after topping up the bbq with charcoal there is a thin blueish smoke being produced. I found this slightly concerning and wondered whether or not I should be starting the charcoal off in a chimney or another bbq before adding it to the main cooking chamber. I have read that some people do this, and others don't. Is the thin blueish smoke something I should be worried about?
And just for good measure, here's a pic of today's pork shoulder. It should be finished about 7pm, having gone on at 8am this morning. I'm hoping that coal smoke hasn't tainted the flavour too much.
Cheers
