The First Foundation

-Charcoal selection-

Before you even attempt to fire up your Good-One Open Range for the first time there is a couple things you need to take into consideration.

There are many different types and brands of charcoal on the market from natural hardwood lump charcoal to briquettes. We highly recommend that when using any type of smoker or grill to uselump charcoal. Not only are the favors from the woods more prevalent but it also burns hotter and you are able to reuse un-burnt charcoal which is unique to the hardwood lump charcoal. What makes lump charcoal a higher quality cook is the way it is produced. Lump charcoal is basically just burn wood that is charred to a certain point and then has the oxygen cut off to turn it into charcoal. The higher quality lump charcoal manufactures such as The Good-One lump charcoal use all natural hardwoods such as pecan, oak, and hickory from central Missouri, which helps gives your meat more of a consistent smoked flavor. While most lumps are made from natural hardwood many toss in scrap lumber, flooring, ect. You need to be very careful of the charcoal that you select a very good source to check up on the quality of the brand you are using is nakedwhiz.com. This website is a data base full of useful information and a rating system for lump charcoal throughout the US.

My suggestion for you would be to use 100% natural lump charcoal. Here are the reasons:

• Briquettes have petroleum base and are only 10 percent real wood.
• Briquettes burn at 900 degrees
• Lump charcoal burns at 1250 degrees
• Lump charcoal burns twice as long
• Lump charcoal leaves less ash
• You can reuse any lump charcoal when you are done cooking, just shut you damper and intake spinners.
• Lump charcoal leaves no creosote build up, unlike briquettes.
• You will use half as much with lump than with briquettes.
• You food will taste extremely better with 100 percent natural lump charcoal.
• Use a chimney to start your lump, it’s faster and 100 percent cleaner than lighter fluids

If you cook with natural lump for 2-3 months and go back to briquettes, you will taste the difference.

All lump charcoal is not created equal. If you want a hot fire in your fireplace to heat your house and you want it to burn as long as possible before you reload, you would more than likely use a hardwood that would burn for a long time and put out the most heat. Would you pay the same amount of money for a cord of soft maple, or pine that you would for oak or hickory? They are two different types of wood; they create different amounts of heat, and distinctly have different burn times. Well if you would not pay the same for these two cords of wood for your fireplace, why would you do it for a bag of lump charcoal that has different types of wood and expect the same results? The problem with the lump charcoal industry is that it is not regulated. Manufacturers from around the world can put anything they want in their bags, as long as it is wood. Your smoker, whether it is a Good-One or any other brand requires good quality charcoal to burn hot and long. It must also burn clean, without lot soot or other agents which would cast a bad taste on your food you are cooking which you plan to ingest into your body. Would you drink lighter fluid? Then why would you start your fire with it knowing that it is going to directly transfer into your food. So what I am saying is go to the source you trust to buy your lump charcoal. The Good- One lump charcoal is 100% Oak, hickory and pecan deep out of the heart of Missouri. These are all woods consistent with burning hot. They are dense enough to have a long burn time. Our charcoal is specifically blended for Good-One owners simply because we want them to have a pleasant and successful cooking experience. We refuse to cut corners on inferior quality wood to make a few extra bucks. Even if you don’t own a Good-One, we don’t mind sharing our premium charcoal with you to create a pleasant cooking experience for you.

Chris

TrailBoss Trialer Smoker

175 LB Whole Hog

Topeka, Kansas

TrialBoss (18) Full Pork Butts and 18 slabs of Pork Spare Ribs

Fort Dodge, Iowa

8-time American Royal Grand Champion Chris Marks gives a Porkribsmoking class at Backyard Bash BBQ Headquarters in Parkville,Missouri.

Chris teaches his classes on a Good-One Smoker/Grills which are provided by Ace of Hearts BBQ. Watch the video here

8-time American Royal Grand Champion Chris Marks gives a smoking class at Backyard Bash BBQ Headquarters in Parkville,Missouri.

Chris teaches his classes on a Good-One Smoker/Grills which are provided by Ace of Hearts BBQ. Watch the video here…

DON’T'S:

• Please don’t confuse it with Grilling – This is one of those rookie things that always separate “hard-core” barbecue enthusiasts from the uneducated public. Remember, grilling is a quick, hot fling you have with a steak, hamburger, or hot dog……..while barbecue describes the day(s)-long relationship you have with a rack of ribs, a pork shoulder, a beef brisket, etc. Much more finesse is required for barbecue, as well as a whole lotta time

• Lighter Fluid – Unless you enjoy the taste of petroleum distillates (i.e. gasoline, kerosene, paint thinner), don’t even try it. Your food is going to have a long time to get acquainted with your fuel source, and we don’t want “smoke” to be replaced by “fumes”.

• Self-lighting briquettes – these little “lazy guy” lumps are basically lighter fluid sponges….see above.

• Liquid Smoke – This stuff is made by burning “green” wood and liquefying the resulting smoke. If properly cooking barbecue over wood coals, WHY WOULD YOU EVEN CONSIDER IT? The only place I’ve seen it used, where it “might” make sense, is in “barbecue” sauce, but even that is debatable. Everywhere else, including jerky, is fraudulent. It’s like opening up a can of Spaghetti-O’s and calling it Fine Italian Pasta.

• Ovens – At NO TIME should an oven be considered as part of the barbecuing procedure. Therefore, it is IMPOSSIBLE to make “barbecued” ribs in the oven. You can make some great “oven-cooked” ribs, but please don’t call them barbecued.

• Boiling Ribs – the ultimate taboo…..Most of the taboos listed above have one or two exceptions that will keep you from getting hung, but this one……NEVER EVER EVER EVER should a rib of ANY type come into contact with boiling water unless you’re making soup. If you need to boil them to make them tender, hang it up and order take-out.

• Crock Pot w/Barbecue Sauce – Ugh, a cross between the oven taboo and the boiling ribs taboo…..need I say more? Throw some foil in the mix and you’ve just insulted the entire barbecuing community.

• Best Cooker – asking a man what the best barbecue rig is, is akin to asking him who the best ball team is. Everyone has an opinion, and everyone else disagrees. Be very wary when asking for this opinion topic, as it could easily get out of hand…..and if you use the word “ceramic” or “egg” in your question…..you better DUCK!

• Favorite Meat – very regionally sensitive discussion. Various parts of the nation have their own version of barbecue, which involves different cuts of meat from different animals. Generally speaking: east is pork ribs, southeast is pork shoulders and whole hogs, south is beef and brisket.

• Wet or Dry – “sauced” or “on the side”. Very much like meat, this preference is displayed along regional lines, with the eastern folks liking the sweet and/or vinegary sauces, and the Texans liking the spicy tomato or DRY situations.

• Lump or Briquettes – Here’s one near and dear to my heart. When I started this hobby, I had a Brinkman Offset, a pile of hickory logs, and a bag of a certain brand of charcoal briquettes (hint: they may be the “king” of charcoal briquettes). Some fine fine cooks tell me that they don’t notice anything different between fuels, but others say that there is a nasty, bitter, acrid, chemically smell/taste they find when using certain “royal” and “kingly” briquettes…..and I’m inclined to agree.

• Cooking with flaming logs or glowing coals – right off the bat, I’ll say that BOTH are right….but one is much harder and, for me, much more expensive. The traditional “purists” insist that the original barbecueing pitmasters would burn their wood all the way down to coals before adding food to the pit. Then, they would add glowing coals to the pit as the cook progressed, preburned in another area. But, when cooking with flaming wood, you must be careful to have just the right fire going or you’ll ruin your food with bitter creosoted smoke. (small hot fire with almost invisible smoke) When using preburned coals, you don’t run that risk…but you waste a lot of wood and spend a lot of time preburning and shoveling.

• Soaked or Dry – small discussion item, but both sides of the camp on this one. When using wood chunks or chips in the smaller cookers, most folks will soak the wood in water to prolong the smoldering and keep the wood from bursting into flames. The downside is that some people can smell/taste a difference in the quality of smoke produced from a soggy piece of wood. I’ve done both, and in some situations NEED to do one or the other, depending on the cooker I’m using.

• Sauces – tomato, vinegar, or mustard – this goes back to that “regional” thing again. I hate stereotypes, so forgive me if I’m doing this, but historically, different regions of the country “tend” toward the various flavors. Again, this is a discussion item. For these “regional” types though, I find the discussions less hostile and more constructive…..listen to what folks like and decide for yourself.

• Foil or No Foil – OK, here’s a hot one. Back to the traditional guys, foil was never used “back in the day”, so obviously it doesn’t belong here and now….right? Well, that’s the argument, along with the problem of food “steaming” while in foil. Again, like we said in the taboo section, you can get away with foil if you’re done cooking and keeping the food warm but be prepared for a “discussion” if you wrap the food in foil while cooking.

• Gas and Electric? – see alt.food.cakes……………all I’ll say here is that traditional barbecue does not involve alternative forms of heat. You can make food that is close, but it won’t be the same as cooking with wood and charcoal. If you’re that lazy, order take-out.

1. Being in too big of a hurry. Barbecue takes time and patience. You can’t rush it. Figure 1 to 1 1/2 hours per pound for most meats. If you’re tending a wood-burning smoker, figure on adding fuel every 30-45 minutes.
2. Opening the lid to peek too often. This lets out the heat and the smoker will be below temperature. Open the lid only when necessary to mop or move or turn the meat. The meat’s not going anywhere, so you don’t need to keep checking up on it.
3. Trying to do a brisket or spare ribs the first time you use your smoker. Start off on the road to “Perfect Q” with the simplest meat to smoke–a whole chicken or a pork picnic roast. They’re cheap and hard to ruin. Don’t fill up the smoker with meat until you’ve had some successes. Start with just one item.
4. Using lighter fluid to start your charcoal briquettes. This can give you some really awful odors and tastes in your smoked meat. Use a chimney starter for charcoal. If you must use a charcoal lighter fluid, let the coals burn for at least 30 minutes before you put on the meat.
5. In a wood burning smoker, making the fire too big and closing the inlets and exhaust dampers to control the flame. This is a no no. Open that exhaust damper all the way. Regulate the oxygen intake with the inlet damper. Be careful how you close that inlet damper–your fire can smolder and give you some nasty-tasting smoke. Best advice–keep your fire low and your dampers open. Remember, a bad-smelling smoke=bad-tasting meat.
6. Using green wood. You must use seasoned wood to get good results when you begin barbecuing. The old pros can use a mix of green and seasoned wood, but beginners should not use the green stuff until they know about fire and temperature control. Using green wood without knowing what you’re doing is the surest way to ruin the meat. You’ll get creosote and that will make bitter meat that cannot be saved.
7. Trying to adjust too many things at once. Don’t adjust everything on the smoker at once. Change one thing, see what happens, then change another.
8. Changing things too much at once. Make small changes to the smoker. Open or close the intake vent a little bit, not a lot. If you are continually making big changes, you will continually overshoot the correct temperature point. Your temperature curve will look like a giant sawtooth. Make the changes in small increments.
9. Putting cold meat into the smoker. This can lead to the condensation of creosote on the surface of the meat if you don’t have a clean-burning fire. Beginners should allow the meat to warm up on the counter, but for no more than an hour, before you put it in the smoker. Experienced smokers can put the cold meat directly into the smoker. Some say this helps smoke penetration.
10. Inviting the family, the in-laws, and the preacher and his wife over the first day you get that new smoker. Practice some, get to know your smoker on a personal basis. Do a pork picnic shoulder, some chickens, then some ribs and finally when everything’s coming together, do a brisket. Then invite the whole gang over and wow ‘em good.

A variety of sources on the Internet indicate that all the woods listed below are suitable for smoking most any type of meat, poultry, or fish. The most popular and widely available smoke woods are oak, hickory, pecan, apple, cherry, and alder. Woods to Avoid
Cedar, cypress, elm, eucalyptus, liquid amber, pine, redwood, fir, spruce, osage orange and sycamore are not suitable for smoking. When in doubt about a particular smoke wood, play it safe–don’t use it until you confirm with a reliable source that it’s OK for use in barbecuing.

Flavored Smoke Woods
Retailers sell a variety of flavored wood chunks and chips. Some are made from old wine or whiskey barrels, while others have just been soaked in wine or even Tabasco. Flavored woods add an interesting aroma to the smoke coming out of your cooker, but you’ll have to judge for yourself whether they do anything for the flavor of your barbecue.

Logs, Slabs, Chunks, Chips, And Pellets
You’ll find smoke wood available in all these forms. In retail stores you’ll most likely find chunks, chips, and pellets. Chunks will vary in size from small pieces to fist-sized pieces. Chunks burn slowly and release smoke over a long period of time, and are the choice of most Good-One users.

Chips burn hot and fast, releasing smoke in a quick burst. If you use chips, you will have to add them several times during the cooking process, whereas with chunks you can add them just once at the beginning of the process.

Should Smoke Wood Be Soaked In Water Before Use?
Some people like to soak wood chunks in water for at least an hour or as long as overnight before using them. This is not necessary, especially when using large chunks. Thanks to the vents on the Good-One Smoker/Grills, the controlled air flow into the Smokers allows the chunks to burn slowly throughout the entire cooking session. Besides, water doesn’t penetrate seasoned wood very much, anyway.

Should Bark Be Removed?
Some people are adamant about removing the bark from smoke wood, believing that it introduces an undesirable flavor to their barbecue. On the other hand, I know of one gentleman who barbecues using only the bark. I don’t bother removing bark from my smoke wood. You’ll have to try it both ways and see if you can tell any difference.

Quantity Of Smoke Wood To Use
It is possible to apply too much smoke to meat, resulting in a bitter or overpowering flavor. In general, I’ve found that the equivalent of 2-6 fist-sized chunks of wood work best for most meats in the Good-One Smoker Grills. You should experiment with using different amounts of smoke wood to determine what works best for you, depending on if you like a heavier or lighter smoke flavor.

When using a new smoke wood for the first time, I suggest using a small amount for a lighter smoke flavor. You can always increase the amount of smoke wood next time, but there’s no way to salvage a piece of meat that’s been over smoked.

Apply Smoke Wood To The Fire
Here are some of the ways that people add smoke wood to the fire.

By the way, don’t bother soaking wood chunks before use. It’s not necessary as long as you’re using decent-sized chunks, and the water doesn’t penetrate seasoned wood very much, anyway.

• Place Smoke Wood On Top Of Hot Coals
  Most commonly used when firing the cooker using The Standard Method. Distribute the chunks evenly over the fully lit charcoal after putting the meat in the cooker. This keeps you from getting blasted with smoke while adding the meat, getting the Polder thermometer setup, etc. If using The Minion Method, make sure some wood touches the hot coals to start generating smoke right away.
• Bury Smoke Wood In Unlit Charcoal
  Only possible when firing the cooker using The Minion Method. Bury wood chunks throughout the unlit fuel, followed by a few chunks on top. Distribute the hot coals evenly over the unlit fuel, making sure some wood touches the hot coals to start generating smoke right away.
• Layering Charcoal And Wood Chips
  I don’t advocate the use of wood chips, because I think chunks burn longer and more evenly. However, some people put down a layer of charcoal in the bottom of the chamber, then a layer of wood chips, a layer of charcoal, and so on, until the chamber is filled to the top.
• Choosing The Right Smoke Wood

Choosing the right type of smoke wood is an important decision you make each time you barbecue. Each wood imparts its own unique flavor to beef, pork, poultry and seafood. It’s also true that certain woods are commonly associated with and go better with certain kinds of meat.