Just saw your post Traffic. Congrats! Use it often and get it nice and smokey/seasoned. It only cooks better with time. Post a pic?
You shouldn't really smoke anything with whole mesquite logs or you will get a creasote flavor on your meat. However, If you can burn the mesquite coals down and then add them as you go you can get the best wood flavor going imo. Sometimes I will throw a whole mesquite log on my fire but I open the lid to the firebox and let the logs at least catch on fire and get a good char going before shutting the lid. It seems to me the first part of the burning of the mesquite logs is where the most of the bitter flavor comes from. I will do that with oak logs too.
Great advice all around guys, thanks again. I think some ribs are definitely in order for this weekend.
I have heard of it too. That just doesn't sit well with me at all. For future reference, the terms "spritzing" and "bbq" probably shouldn't be used in the same sentence.
I'm with Flaco... Mesquite is for direct grilling, i.e. a good steak directly over it. Not for smoking. "Hot 'n Fast" is for the evil thorny one. I have had a little luck with apple smoked bacon laid over chicken (split full bird, skin up). Wondering, though; should I do the bird skin down & let the juices collect in the cavity vs. skin up & it all rolls off the side? Same query for beef ribs: curved up to collect or curved down to roll off & not get too greased up? Finally - no removing the membrane here - I gnaw the bones to bit & my family is amazed (horrified?) to see me ripping this off with only my chicklets as the weapon of choice. BTW, I have a line on a Pecan tree in South Austin if anyone wants to help me top it off safely. I have a good saw with a fresh chain; just need a 2nd for sharing in the labor & smokey fruits of our labor. Email or PM if interested in Pecan; near Ben White & Manchaca Road.
