Cold Smoke First

[Hiram]

Does anyone here subscribe to the theory if you cold smoke first then heat, the meat absorbs more of the smoke. I've heard this several times over the years but I've never been able to test the theory on all the wood fired smokers I've had. Any fact to it or just myth?

[DTAggie]

Interesting.  Can't wait to hear the opinions of the experts.

[KevinG]

Smoking first cold or hot will absorb more smoke in the meat, once the skin forms you wont get much more penetration. Moisture also plays an important role in smoke abosrption, too much moisture or too dry and not much smoke absorbtion.

[classicrockgriller]

"They" say meat doesn't absorb smoke after an IT of 150*

Cold Smoking for later Grilling has to be a plan, not a thought.

You have to be careful.

[drewpatton]

What does that even mean?

"Cold Smoking for later Grilling has to be a plan, not a thought."

[classicrockgriller]

What does that even mean?

"Cold Smoking for later Grilling has to be a plan, not a thought."

Just like you would cold smoke cheese, you can cold smoke a steak, re-fridge it and grill it later.

Caribou did a great cold smoke on ribeyes.

[drewpatton]

Well yeah, I know that. The "needing to be a plan, not a thought" thing kinda sounded like...I dunno, nevermind

[classicrockgriller]

drew, all I was referring to was that if you are cold smoking for later

grilling is that you have to be careful with how high your temps get.

You don't want food in the bad zone and then refridge with stuff growin.

If you cold smoke and grill right then, that is different.

I knew you knew that.

[Habanero Smoker]

I agree with most of what Kevin states, but I believe that smoke interacts and reacts best with the meat proteins when the meat is cooler. Having said that, if the ambient temperature is too cool, the opposite effect happens. I feel the ideal temperature is around 70°F - 90°F. At around 140°F (at the surface of the meat) the meat properties change (a skin forms) and smoke penetration stops, but smoke adhesion continues. I also feel there is a difference in the smoke taste between smoke penetration, in which the chemical composition of the smoke is change when it interacts with the meat, as to smoke adhesion, which the smoke is just deposited on the surface.

[BuyLowSellHigh]

Smoke is the pyrolysis product of combustion and that is some of the most complex chemistry around. I'm going to try to keep this simple rather than launch into a long winded chemistry explanation ( which I am prone to).   

As the temperature of the fire increases the combustion process is more complete and there is reduction in the amount of those desired flavor components produced – think high temperature grill.  Second, the desirable flavor components in smoke are volatile compounds.  They condense and deposit on cooler surfaces, like meat, cheese, fish, etc.   As the surfaces of meat or whatever gets hotter there is less condensation .   So higher temps means cleaner smoke (less of the flavorful stuff) and less condensation and deposition of the more volatile flavoring components in the smoke.

And then there is the nature and chemistry of the surface on which the "smoke" deposits.  Once the desired flavoring components condense you want to keep them there, rather than have them run off in some liquid or re-volatilize as temperatures increase during the cooking process.  We have learned that a somewhat dry surface helps (avoids condensation in liquid that runs off)  and that high concentrations of small proteins on that surface (as in a pellicle layer)  also helps as those proteins tend to bind smoke particles and their components.

So as temperatures increase and cooking proceeds you reach a point where it is difficult to condense and deposit more of smoke's volatile components  and the surface is also less conducive to holding smokes flavorful components. 

[Hiram]

I've been told by grisled old timers and local good old boy BBQ'ers here in the south basically what Habenero Smoker and Buy Low Sell High said but more in a good ole boy format. Soooo, what we are going to do today is put a rack of BBacks inthe OBS with just  smoke for 3 hrs. then we'll turn the heat on and cook them normally. They were cold when they went in ( as per the myth or fact states they absorb more smoke cold) and the cabinet is at 100 deg. with the just the smoke on. I assume   the cabinet temp will rise to 125Deg. as the meat warms.
Keep ya posted.

[BuyLowSellHigh]

One of the variables that you can't control doing that is surface moisture.  If the meat is cold it will be condensing water from the air until it warms above the dewpoint. The point is, it's more than just temperature.

[EZ Smoker]

I tried something like this Monday before last.   When I took the pork loin out of the fridge, and got ready to preheat the smoker, the wife said, "Why don't you just throw it in the smoker now with no heat, and kick the heat on in an hour or so?"

So I threw it in the smoker with no heat for about an hour, then kicked the heat on (still applying smoke) and cooked it at 200 F to 147 IT.  (Well, that was the plan; I actually got it to 153, but that wasn't on purpose.)   The cooking process took about three hours (not including the hour without heat... so that's 4 hours of smoke total).

That's a lot of smoke for a pork loin.  And I can tell you it was very smoky.   But I liked it a lot, and my wife loved it.   Made sandwiches from leftovers a few days later, and the smoke seemed even stronger.  I don't recall ever tasting more smoke flavor in a piece of meat.  But the sandwiches were good.

[Tommy3Putts]

I have not cold smoked and then refrigerated for later grilling yet, because I did not have a cold smoke adapter and was worried about to high IT temps, especially with the warmer Virginia days.  However, I have cold smoked steaks by not turning on the element and just using the regular smoking chamber.  I have used hickory for one hour and twenty minutes and then put them directly on the grill.  They have been outstanding!  I've been careful to keep the IT of the chamber below 90 degrees, bowls of ice helps. I've found that while NY/KC strips are great, ribeyes seem to do better.  I think the higher fat content helps maintain the smoke.  At any rate I cook the steaks rare to medium-rare and they have been consistently awesome.  My wife insists they are the best she's ever had.

I now have a cold smoke adapter and plan on trying the suggested  smoking and refrigerating for later use.  You can't have enough smoke flavor to suit me ;D

[Habanero Smoker]

I've been told by grisled old timers and local good old boy BBQ'ers here in the south basically what Habenero Smoker and Buy Low Sell High said but more in a good ole boy format. Soooo, what we are going to do today is put a rack of BBacks inthe OBS with just  smoke for 3 hrs. then we'll turn the heat on and cook them normally. They were cold when they went in ( as per the myth or fact states they absorb more smoke cold) and the cabinet is at 100 deg. with the just the smoke on. I assume   the cabinet temp will rise to 125Deg. as the meat warms.
Keep ya posted.

Don't overlook Kevin's input. Kevin and my views are the same with the exception that I feel that heat does play a factor. One source I've come across stated that cold smoking can increase the deposit and accumulation of some on the surface as much as seven times the rate. This is because in an unheated chamber the meats surface is relatively unaffected.