Pre-Heat or not ?

[FLBentRider]

I usually pre-heat my OBS before I put the goods in. However, I was reading some thread (here) that stated that the meat only "takes smoke" up to a certain temperature. If that is the case, then would not you get more smoke "in the meat" by putting cold meat in a cold smoker (Pre heat the puck burner, which will add some heat to the box) and then turning on the heat ?

Or are we messing with the keeping the food in the "Danger Zone" longer ?

Bear in mind my ambient temps are usually in the 70's.

The target food in this case is Canadian Bacon.

[KyNola]

Rider,
I'm going to yield to the experts here but I would preheat the OBS.  When it is said meat will only take smoke to a certain degree, it is talking about the internal temp of the meat, not the tower.  Preheat the tower because you're going to open the door to the tower and lose a lot of heat plus the cold meat is going to knock the heat down in the tower.  When I did my last canadian bacon, I preheated the tower to 250 knowing that it would drop like a stone once I opened the door to put loins in. Granted your ambient temp is going to help somewhat but your tower temp is going to fall for a while.  You can always adjust the temp  in your OBS afterward.

Assuming you're married, the uncertainty of the temp is a perfect opportunity to explain to your wife that you MUST pay close attention to the OBS while holding an adult beverage in hand just in case the OBS bursts into flames and you have to douse the flames with that adult beverage.

OK arcs, adult beverage has been posted, 3.....2.....1.....

Rider, have a great time, you're doing fine.  Please let us know.

KyNola

[Arcs_n_Sparks]

OK arcs, adult beverage has been posted, 3.....2.....1.....

So that makes six drinks?   :D

[KyNola]

Sparkey,
What can I say?  You are without a doubt the best I have ever seen.  Since I can't get to you for those 6 drinks, I will be most proud to dedicate my next 6 Coors Light to you in your honor.

Gotta love a Master,
KyNola

[Gizmo]

IMHO you would be staying in the danger zone longer but I also don't think there would be a problem with it either.  That said, the magic number for smoke is around 140 deg and from my non-scientific casual observation, with the normal preheat, the meat typically is just getting up to the 140 mark at around the 4 hour mark which is when the smoke on my roll stops.  So by doing the preheat, everything typically times out just right and the box isn't struggling to make up the temperature as long. 

[Habanero Smoker]

I have not seen anything that is absolute about the 140°F theory, but if you look at the characteristics of meat and temperature; according to Harold McGee (food scientist) at the 140°F mark is the point when the meat begins to lose its resilience, begins to shrink, and released juices. So this theory may be true. If this applies to smoke penetration then you would have to consider that temperature pertains to the meat surface. On the other hand smoke only penetrate less than 1/8", and it will continue to adhere to the meat surface during the smoking time. However as the surface gets hotter, the rate of adhesion reduces.

The Canadian bacon is cured, and with the smoke there is little danger in keeping that product in the danger zone longer, if you wish to do so. Doing so will extend the overall cooking time, and with a lean product it may produce a dry end product. Smoke is like any other flavoring, you don't want it to overpower the other flavors. If your target food is Canadian bacon, my experience is that you don't want too much smoke for Canadian bacon.

[kiyotei]

I posted that comment about the 140 temp point for smoke absorbing.  I forget which BBQ guru's book I got that from.  I have no opinion on preheating.  I always do it.  I do put my meats in cold mainly because I'm often forget to take it out of the fridge to warm it up, but I also figure the longer smoking time can't hurt it.  I would worry about a cold smoker for keeping the meat in the danger zone too long.

[MoSmoke]

I have yet to pre heat my OBS.
My thought, the inside of the OBS is aluminum and OBS is pretty well insulated so there isn't much mass to  retain the heat. By the time you open the door and get the meat in and set up the thermometers you have pretty well lot any stored heat you had. Some time back I had posted data (Arcs posted it for me ) an Excel plot showing the plateau times for pork butts. On that data I plotted the OBS temp for one of the smokes. Starting with a cold smoker, (cold being relative) 84 degrees and the pork butts were at 40 degrees. It shows a pretty steep climb in smoker temps until it nears the set temp. I don't think that pre heating the box would have had much of an effect the temp outcome especially with a OBS full of meat. We put bricks and other heated mass in the box to try to improve heat retention. The next time I smoke a pair of pork butts I'll track and plot the data starting with a preheated OBS. The plot Arcs posted for me is in this disussion from September last year. http://forum.bradleysmoker.com/index.php?topic=5813.msg56574#msg56574
You will probably have to copy and paste it.

[Habanero Smoker]

MoSmoke;

That would be interesting data to compare. When preheating you should preheat at least 50°F higher then you plan to smoke/cook at. My experience with preheating, if you load at a reasonable rate, with meat that has be left at room temperature for an hour or two; I generally will have a 25% - 35% heat loss.

[MoSmoke]

Habs,
To try to keep the data consistent I'll do one at a preheat temp of around 260 with the butts more or less just out of the fridge and another pair at 260 with the butts more or less at room temp.
It may be a while before I need that much pulled pork unless I have a huge party.
I'll post it when it's done.

[Habanero Smoker]

There is no rush. I would be interested in seeing the posted data when you get around to it.

Thanks!

[iceman]

That would be some nice info to have to add to my time schedule section I use in my recipe book.

[LilSmoker]

Imo, it all depends on what's being smoked, and how big it is?

The majority of my smoking is done with a pre-heat, and i've never noticed any lack of smoke penetration, so i'm happy to pre-heat.

I would be interested to know any experiment results though  ;)

LilSmoker

[Stickbowcrafter]

Years ago, I would always take meat from the fridge directly to the smoker or grill. A few years back, I read a BBQ book that recommended bringing the meat, except poultry of course, to room temperature before smoking/grilling. The flavor of all my products went way up, even things as simple as steaks. I still have a lot of respect for the "danger zone" but I'm not as paranoid about it as I use to be and have learned what I can safely get away with.

As far as pre-heating the smoker, I'm of the opinion to do so. Things seem to get done quicker and more consistent with a pre-heated smoker or grill for that matter. Of course these are all just my personal preferences with absolutely no scientific experiments or results.

-Brian