Tips, Tricks & Just Good Advice! > Cooking Equipment - Tips

FACTORS AFFECTING THE COOK....

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teesquare:
I saw hal4uk post the following under the "Ribs and Sauce" thread. I thought it deserved it's own thread. There are a lot of things to consider - and many of us may just take them for granted. But there will be folks that could benefit from the discussion.


--- Quote from: hal4uk on December 17, 2011, 03:33:58 AM ---Ribs can come out drastically different, using the exact same methods, from one smoker to the next.
Ya just gotta figure out what works best with your smoker.

--- End quote ---

Really good point!!
We know that there are a number of things that affect the outcome our cooks when we try to duplicate them and especially on different equipment. Foregoing differences in the individual pieces of meat

EXTERNAL FACTORS
1. Weather - Humidity, wind ( and chill factor thereof), actual temp, barometric pressure (according to a friend that works for the forest svc.)

INTERNAL FACTORS
2. Airflow characteristics: each design and type of cooker differs in this department!  Too much airflow thru the cooking chamber may lead to drier meat - too little, saggy bark or rubbery chicken skin..What else?

3.Heat distribution: Even across the grates - or hot side/cool side? What do you prefer? This is a result of design of the cooker.

I just wanted to start this as a topic - please add to it, and offer your experience and opinion to round out the discussion, and knowledge base for all to share.

smokeasaurus:
Great thread T..now you are gonna get us thinking!!! :o

I dealt with heat distribution last night. I discovered on my new pit that I had a hot spot along with a medium spot and on the far left side of the pit it was lower than the right side. I covered the pit from left to right thinking I was going to get even heat distribution. Wrong!! I had the wings way undercooked and some darn near burned. I am gonna have to adjust the way I cook on this pit where I start on the hot spot and then move over to the cooler sections to rest while the other meat cooks. So uneven heat distribution might not be a bad thing after all!!

Weather also played a factor last night as well. When the charcoal was in the starters it was partly sunny. In no time at all it got windy,clouds moved in and it was dark and cold and pouring rain during the cook. I have a patio light but it got so dark so quick it was hard to see in the grill even with the lid up.

hal4uk:

--- Quote from: teesquare on December 18, 2011, 10:10:36 AM ---What else?

--- End quote ---
Internal Humidity is also a huge factor which is affected by type of smoker (is it a water smoker?), the size of the load in relation to the size of the cooker as well as (already mentioned) relative humidity.  The effect of internal humidity is particularly pronounced with ribs.  In a dry cooker, a method like 3-2-1 might be crucial to good results, while that same method is pretty much nonsense with a water smoker.

teesquare:
Good points smoke and Hal! I will bet there are some more things we can think of.....

Hub:
All good points but perhaps the biggest factor will always be between the ears of the cook.  Looking back on the few times I've really turned out something I wasn't proud of at best, or at worst something inedible, the problem wasn't my equipment.  It was a cranial-rectal inversion on my part.

Hub

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