![]() That means you need to get the maximum NO contact before you get to 140F, or else there won’t be much pink left to preserve. Intriguingly, starting with cool meat gives you a better chance at forming a ring.Īccording to smart people who figure these things out, the permanent browning process of myoglobin starts at about 140F. Spread it a bit thinner if you want to be in the pink. If you thoroughly coat your meat with a seasoning crust, you won’t get good smoke penetration. Don’t overdo it, though - fat still equals flavor! Expose the Surfaceĭoes your cut have a fat cap? Carve away excess fat to expose the meat to make it easier for the nitric oxide to seep in. This will allow the NO to stick to the surface, and then penetrate to create the ring. Spritz your meat during cooking, or mop it with sauce, to keep the surface damp. You’ll find that NO adheres better to a wet or tacky surface. If you want to try this trick, we have a guide to the best charcoal briquettes available today. You’ll have to switch out if you’re after the ring. Sorry, lump charcoal aficionados - there isn’t much nitrogen in the best hardwood lump charcoal, it’s almost entirely carbon. Adding some of these to your fire should definitely increase your chances of an Instagram-able smoke ring. Yes, I know briquettes are the Devil in disguise to many smokers, but they have their uses! For instance, they are chock-full of nitrogen. Minimize sawdust use for the maximum ring. Unfortunately, it doesn’t burn much before it starts smoking, so it doesn’t release a lot of NO. Sawdust is popularly used to add smoke flavor to a charcoal-fueled fire. Therefore, burning bark should lead to prodigious NO output. Greg Blonder, noted scientist and barbecue expert (he’s like the Bill Nye of grilling - Grill Nye if you will), there is more nitrogen locked up in bark than in the heart of the wood. However, be very sparing as it also produces creosote and can add an unpleasant taste to food.Īccording to Dr. For maximum smoke output, you could use a small piece of fresh cut wood in your firebox. Seasoned wood burns more easily, but smokes less. Give them a try and see how it goes! Choose the Right WoodĪs you’ve probably noticed, green wood puts out a lot of smoke. There are a few simple tricks that will increase your chances of coming away from smoking with a lovely ring. Since it can’t penetrate all the way through a thick cut, the innermost portions of the meat turn brown, leaving the signature shape of the ring behind. The more the smoke gets in, the thicker the ring. Where it does, it may join forces with the myoglobin to create a lovely pink ring. As it envelops the meat, it penetrates the surface, though not all the way. This prevents oxidation and preserves the pink color. The same goes for carbon monoxide (CO), which is also present. Without getting crazy specific on the science, any Nitric Oxide (NO) in the area binds to the iron atoms. There is, however, a way for the myoglobin to stay red (or pink). This explains why fresh meat is red but turns brown after it sits out for a while. When the animal is dead, and the meat is exposed to the air, the iron oxidizes and loses the red hue. In cows, there’s less myoglobin (they don’t swim an awful lot), so the meat is more of a deep red. ![]() Myoglobin has within it pigments called hemes containing iron that color the muscle, and the more there is, the darker the meat. Animals with a lot of it can hold their breath for a long time. The purpose of myoglobin is to hold oxygen in muscle cells. Inside the bodies of most living vertebrates, you’ll find a protein called myoglobin. What’s going on here is not magic, but it’s a pretty cool chemical reaction. Let’s get scientific for a minute, shall we? The phenomenon is merely a natural by-product of the smoking process. Well, we hate to burst your bubble, but having a smoke ring doesn’t mean it’s going to be tasty! It has absolutely no effect on the flavor of the food whatsoever, so it’s presence, or absence has no impact on the taste and quality of the food in any way. The notion that it does, probably seems comical to anyone who “knows” it indicates a perfectly cooked piece of meat. The presence of a smoke ring does not mean the meat has gone bad, or that it’s undercooked. I guess some folks were complaining that their meat wasn’t cooked enough because it was still pink, or that there was something wrong with it. Is a Smoke Ring Good or Bad?Ī local BBQ joint near my place has included a small blurb about the smoke ring on their menu. The most common place to find it is probably on a slice of brisket, but it’s by no means exclusive to pectoral cut.Ī classic ring is about ¼ inch thick but may be thinner or thicker, depending on conditions. If you’ve ever cut into a beautiful piece of meat and found a ring of pink around the interior of the cut just below the surface, you’ve come face-to-face with the smoke ring. ![]()
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