cooking in an egg

I got this egg smoker knock off from rural king several years ago and have had success smoking ribs, chicken, pork roast, ect. by staring off with bed of charcoal and when its all white throwing in a few cookie cuts of hickory that smokes for hours, 5 or 6 on my best cooks.
today I try something new, smoking ribs and sausages with using only wood. ive got some seasoned dry hickory and red oak the plan is once there is a big bed of coals to add some not so seasoned hickory and cherry.
anyone else have one of these ceramic egg like cookers?

I've had a BGE for around 20 yrs. I use lump charcoal with pieces of oak or hickory on top to cook all things slow cooked. I know people do, but I don't "grill" on mine. A lot of people run these at very low temps (225ish) but I don't. I think the cooker "breathes" better when the fire is hotter and I cook around 275-300. The food tastes better too. It's very easy to control temps on these cookers.

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Originally Posted by farmbif

I got this egg smoker knock off from rural king several years ago and have had success smoking ribs, chicken, pork roast, ect. by staring off with bed of charcoal and when its all white throwing in a few cookie cuts of hickory that smokes for hours, 5 or 6 on my best cooks.
today I try something new, smoking ribs and sausages with using only wood. ive got some seasoned dry hickory and red oak the plan is once there is a big bed of coals to add some not so seasoned hickory and cherry.
anyone else have one of these ceramic egg like cookers?

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A friend of a son had one of these, and regularly asked of me some hardwood scraps to use. Interestingly, he maintained that he SOAKED the wood in water overnight; took it out to drip-dry a bit in morn; and then used this still quite damp wood in his Egg for smoking. He claimed using dry wood both had a tendency for it to ignite and claimed the smoke affect was (his term) "acrid". Wet wood provided a much more palatable smoked flavour.

Fruit woods can make for interesting flavors. Peach is a good one. I prefer pecan over hickory, more mellow.

I don't think that dry, seasoned wood has as big a tendency to ignite in these cookers because of the tightly controlled air flow for these lower temps. I used to soak my wood for my Weber kettle grill and did for a while for my BGE. I stopped soaking wood for the BGE and I can't tell a difference except that it starts producing smoke a little earlier I think. I will still find some unburned pieces just like I did when I was soaking.

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Originally Posted by georgerkahn

A friend of a son had one of these, and regularly asked of me some hardwood scraps to use. Interestingly, he maintained that he SOAKED the wood in water overnight; took it out to drip-dry a bit in morn; and then used this still quite damp wood in his Egg for smoking. He claimed using dry wood both had a tendency for it to ignite and claimed the smoke affect was (his term) "acrid". Wet wood provided a much more palatable smoked flavour.

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Tell him the bitterness is caused by the bark, not the wood. I have a regular firebox smoker and have been smoking meat for over 20 years. Yes, fruitwood is a good, light wood especially appropriate for chicken and fish. I like plum wood when I can get it. Pecan is lighter than hickory and oak is about the same.

Oh, when you soak the wood you are just adding steam to the mix. Necessary if you don't have another source of steam, though.

What Wayne said is gospel, using wood with the bark on it adds bitter. I dry my wood in the barn then use a hatchet to scalp the bark off. Pecan and Hickory for pork with a bit of Mequite for steak, apple for fish. I need to make a new chopping block, come to think of it, have some 36" diameter pine logs to cut 24-30" high and flat. Use those for trimming and splitting.
My BGE of about 20 years, got it right after the Ex Large came out. It cooks just about everything with lump charcoal and a bit of prepped wood. That stainless steel door is for the Cook Shack electric smoker, station is wired, with a switch on the side.

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Originally Posted by georgerkahn

A friend of a son had one of these, and regularly asked of me some hardwood scraps to use. Interestingly, he maintained that he SOAKED the wood in water overnight; took it out to drip-dry a bit in morn; and then used this still quite damp wood in his Egg for smoking. He claimed using dry wood both had a tendency for it to ignite and claimed the smoke affect was (his term) "acrid". Wet wood provided a much more palatable smoked flavour.

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NEVER use wet wood to smoke with! Aside from steaming instead of smoking the smoke when it does start is a harsh white nasty smoke. If you look close at the smoke coming out of the upright on my old mobile pit you will see a thin blue smoke, it smells sweet, has no acrid creosote bite wet wood gives...

https://i.imgur.com/Vqk5U7Q.jpg

well it came out ok. not perfect, after I had a big bed of coals I threw in a big chunk of cherry, 4-5" square and about the same size chunk of hickory., closed the lid and smoke was very good. I had to wait a long time to get the temp down to 250. I think the bed of coals was a bit large. and yes after the temp came down and ribs were ready to turn when I opened the lid the big chunks caught fire but went out when I closed the lid. ive still got a good stack of trees to cut and split and in future will cut my smoking wood when I'm ready to use it instead of using seasoned cherry or hickory. what I did notice is the cherry made the ribs a deep mahogany color. tasted great. I need to build a smoker like Mary has. ive got an old 100 gal propane tank ive been thinking of using and scrounge some flat steel sheet to make a fire box.

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Originally Posted by farmbif

well it came out ok. not perfect, after I had a big bed of coals I threw in a big chunk of cherry, 4-5" square and about the same size chunk of hickory., closed the lid and smoke was very good. I had to wait a long time to get the temp down to 250. I think the bed of coals was a bit large. and yes after the temp came down and ribs were ready to turn when I opened the lid the big chunks caught fire but went out when I closed the lid. ive still got a good stack of trees to cut and split and in future will cut my smoking wood when I'm ready to use it instead of using seasoned cherry or hickory. what I did notice is the cherry made the ribs a deep mahogany color. tasted great. I need to build a smoker like Mary has. ive got an old 100 gal propane tank ive been thinking of using and scrounge some flat steel sheet to make a fire box.

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You want wood seasoned at least 1 year and no more than 3(old wood imparts a musty taste...). Wet just cut wood will produce bitter creosote smoke and taste.

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Originally Posted by MaryB

NEVER use wet wood to smoke with! Aside from steaming instead of smoking the smoke when it does start is a harsh white nasty smoke. If you look close at the smoke coming out of the upright on my old mobile pit you will see a thin blue smoke, it smells sweet, has no acrid creosote bite wet wood gives...

https://i.imgur.com/Vqk5U7Q.jpg

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I only partially agree with this. For my stick burner I always use dry wood. Thats just common sense.
For my masterbuilt smoker I use soaked wood all the time and the food always comes out better than any restaurant Ive eaten at.
Even alotta pro cookers use a water pan for moisture. Of course this is my opinion but we've had many many guests tell us this

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Originally Posted by reloader28

I only partially agree with this. For my stick burner I always use dry wood. Thats just common sense.
For my masterbuilt smoker I use soaked wood all the time and the food always comes out better than any restaurant Ive eaten at.
Even alotta pro cookers use a water pan for moisture. Of course this is my opinion but we've had many many guests tell us this

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A water pan is different than dirty burning wet wood...