"Only smoking is proper barbecuing." Discuss

[Pecker]

Smoked cheese is amazing!

Too right! Smoked Gruyère is delicious. I love a good cheese board, and I don't mind a bit of smoked cheese, it can indeed be very good indeed. But I couldn't imagine a cheese board full of smoked cheeses, apart from maybe as a on-off. For me it's one of those things if I want something a bit different. A bit like cheese with fruit in it (stilton & apricot, wensleydale with cranberries, and so on).

I wouldn't dream of just having cheese with fruit in, or only having smoked cheeses. In the same way I just can't understand this fetish whereby some people appear to automatically thrown wood chips on their coals, irrespective of what they're cooking.

I remember discussing burger recipes, and people were coming up with nice combinations, feta cheese in with the lamb mince, and so on. Sure enough, it wasn't long before someone popped up with a recipe with beef mince, s&p, onion, and then just added "throw a few wood chips on the fire and grill for ten minutes". It was like they felt they weren't allowed to grill without putting the wood chips on! There was no indication they'd given a second thought to the flavours the smoke would induce.

Who has ever seen 'smoked burgers' in a shop?

Steve W

[keith157]

Maybe they tried it and liked it OR thought about it, weren't sure and wanted someone else to field test it for them. As to what you get in shops the German Deli at Hyde Park couldn't get enough of their smoked chickens, it was their best non-liquid seller. I know as I tried and failed too often to get it on a regular basis

[The Social Smokers]

I would say that everything that goes in our bullet smokers is smoked. That's because in our bullet smokers we cooked either:

Pork butt
Brisket
Ribs
Whole chicken/turkey

I personally think those 4 categories of food benefit from smoke. I don't think there was anyone at the last competition i cooked in who cooked those 4 categories of food without smoke.

[Pecker]

I would say that everything that goes in our bullet smokers is smoked. That's because in our bullet smokers we cooked either:

Pork butt
Brisket
Ribs
Whole chicken/turkey

I personally think those 4 categories of food benefit from smoke.

I agree. I'd modify that to say they can benefit from smoke. They can all also benefit from chilli, garlic, cumin, a thai marinade, any number of Indian marinades, and so on. I wouldn't say they benefit from smoke and mean they're not as good without smoke, just that smoke can work as a nice flavour with them, as can any number of other flavours.

I don't think there was anyone at the last competition i cooked in who cooked those 4 categories of food without smoke.

That's very sad. If someone thinks ribs or chicken only taste good if they're smoked, they have no place calling themselves an anything master in relation to food. If someone finds it impossible to cook without smoke, that only demonstrates a lack of skill.

Finding any one of those dishes smoked is great. Being unable to find any one of them unsmoked raises a hell of a lot of questions.

If you have to smoke, it should be called a smoked food competition. If that were the case I guess there are any number of artisan kipper or gammon smokers who'd win by a mile.

Wouldn't it be nice to hear of someone at a competition producing one of those dishes without any smoke flavour.

Steve W

[The Social Smokers]

I think you will find that cooking with smoke whilst maintaining a balance between flavour of the meat an rub is in fact one of the hardest skills of BBQ. So saying that someone who finds it difficult to cook without smoke demonstrates "a lack of skill" is absurd. I think a lot of people who are interested in US style BBQ would agree.

I agree that meats don't have to have smoke, but for US STYLE BBQ, smoke is the norm for ribs, brisket, pork shoulder. You can argue this until the cows come home, it's fact.

As an experiment i think you should enter a US style BBQ competition for a laugh and turn in your ribs, chicken, pork and brisket not using smoke whatsoever and see where you place....

[RobinC]

I don't think there was anyone at the last competition i cooked in who cooked those 4 categories of food without smoke.

That's very sad. If someone thinks ribs or chicken only taste good if they're smoked, they have no place calling themselves an anything master in relation to food. If someone finds it impossible to cook without smoke, that only demonstrates a lack of skill.

Nonsense. That's got nothing to do with skill and everything to do with taste/flavour profile. It doesn't require any skill whatsovever to leave out wood chunks - I've done it by accident on occasion. It arguably does take some skill to add the right amount of wood to not overpower the meat. I would say that anyone at competition to leave out wood smoke is probably taking a big risk.

[Pecker]

I think you will find that cooking with smoke whilst maintaining a balance between flavour of the meat an rub is in fact one of the hardest skills of BBQ. So saying that someone who finds it difficult to cook without smoke demonstrates "a lack of skill" is absurd.

No, that's not quite what I meant.

I'm sure it takes a fair degree of skill to get the level of smoke right, but barbecuing should be about so much more. There's a world of tastes and dishes out there, the vast majority of which are closed off to you if you insist on using smoke.

Being a really good cook means mastering a great many techniques. If the only techniques you have are controlling the temperature and adding the right amount of wood chunks, then I suspect any semi-competent cook could master these quite quickly, if they were the only skills required.

I think I worded that poorly; I should have said "...a lack of skills".

I'm reminded of what the guitarist with Starsailor said of producer Phil Spector. They'd somehow managed to get the reclusive Spector to produce their second album. When asked what Spector was like, with his trademark 'wall of sound', the guitarist said "He's a bit of a one trick pony...but it's a really good trick, like having a talking dog".

Being able to cook low & slow on a barbecue whilst introducing just the right amount of smoke is a skill in itself, but I'd hope people who love cooking and food aspire to a far greater repertoir than that.

I think a lot of people who are interested in US style BBQ would agree.

I agree that meats don't have to have smoke, but for US STYLE BBQ, smoke is the norm for ribs, brisket, pork shoulder. You can argue this until the cows come home, it's fact.

It's certainly a fact that this is what those in adoration of the US Style of Barbecue think is the truth. I suspect, judging from the comments in this thread, a lot of others would differ. But each to their own.

As an experiment i think you should enter a US style BBQ competition for a laugh and turn in your ribs, chicken, pork and brisket not using smoke whatsoever and see where you place....

Great idea. I think I'd score poorly. I can imagine it now:

Judge: This is rubbish, I can't taste any smoke.
Me: I didn't put any wood on.
Judge: You forgot to put the wood on! In Texas they'd burn you alive for such a mistake!
Me: No, it's not a mistake. I didn't forget, I just decided not to.
Judge: Cluck-cluck-gibber-gibber- does not compute.
Me: The smoke flavour doesn't go with the marinade and sauce I made
Judge: So why didn't you use a different sauce and marinade?
Me: Cluck-cluck-gibber-gibber.



Steve W

[RobinC]

I'm sure it takes a fair degree of skill to get the level of smoke right, but barbecuing should be about so much more. There's a world of tastes and dishes out there, the vast majority of which are closed off to you if you insist on using smoke.

Being a really good cook means mastering a great many techniques. If the only techniques you have are controlling the temperature and adding the right amount of wood chunks, then I suspect any semi-competent cook could master these quite quickly, if they were the only skills required.

What barbecuing should/shouldn't be really is up to the individual. What you cook on your smoker, grill etc. is totally up to you. I pretty much take the attitude that most things that can be cooked in an oven can be done on the barbecue. Sometimes I use smoke (particularly on the low/slow stuff), sometimes I don't. I quite like baking on my grills and shock horror the occasional vegetarian dish.

Competition BBQ though is a different kettle of fish. If you want to enter that world and do well at it then you do have to expect to conform with the general norms standards. If you look at the history of US style BBQ it's very much rooted in peasant food: cooking cheap tough cuts of meat over wood. Smoke is part of its history so it stands to reason that its going to figure on the competition scene.

[RobinC]

Just realised as I typed the above that I'm sitting opposite a book shelf full of barbecue books. A quick flick through these shows that the majority of recipes certainly on the grilling side don't feature smoke at all.

[keith157]

Steve W, what you have to bear in mind is the ethos of the BBBQS is to get more people interested in BBQ Competitions and competing. The rules for these comps and the judging is KCBS (Kansas City Barbecue Society) compatible. I'm sure everyone here can cook with or without smoke, it IS their choice. To say cooking with or without smoke shows a lack of skills is patently absurd. There is great skill in combining your choice of woods, the depth and flavour of the smoke with the marinade and sauce. The judges are trained to the KCBS standard which means US STYLE BBQ which is low n slow and smoked.It's no use entering a football team for a game of rugby and expect to win, which is the ardent hope of all who enter the competitions, as well as have fun
Away from competition there is equal skill in managing to get an authentic taste profile should they decide not to smoke. However not many of us can afford a second cooking system apart from the smokers for low n slow, having only used my ProQ half a dozen times or so there is a distinct smell of smoke about it.