Hello fellow pelleters
Wanted to revive this convo: anyone else frustrated by the lack of smoke flavor in your done product? Tried everything:
- low temp smoke for hours before cranking up temp
-smoke tube
-vacuuming firebox and auger before each smoke
Still not what I’m looking for…
Anyone figure out a method to improve this?
Equipment: rec-teq RT-700, target pellets
by cheesephilly
13 Comments
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Pellet smokers dude that’s why I do a lot of smoking now on a Weber kettle lol
Target Pellets is probably your culprit. I noticed a jump in smoke flavor when I switched to Lumberjack (I’m sure there are other good ones too). Be sure not to use the apple or cherry or other fruit woods for pellets, too light a flavor except maybe on chicken. I really like their competition blend, I’ve had some sensitive people complain it was too smokey.
If you’re using a smoke tube already then your pellets are definitely the issue.
But in general, smoke flavor will always be the challenge of pellets. A smoke tube should definitely fix that though if you have good wood in it.
Edit those are beautiful ribs!
You need better pellets. Don’t cheap out on pellets if you want good flavor.
I just did St Louis pork ribs on my Recteq 700 yesterday
Smoked with blend of Kirkland pellets and 100% hickory pellets no smoke tube. Great smoke flavor. Did some top sirloins the day before with amazing smoke flavor.
For ribs I did modified 3/2/1 to 3/1.5/.5. Smoke uncovered at 225 for 3 hrs wrapped with butcher paper butter/brown sugar for 1.5 hrs at 225 then uncovered half hour. My best so far.
Use 1 or 2 soke tubes with your favorite wood chips. Mix with some pellets and it works like a charm.
pellet grills are not smokers. they are wood pellet fired, convection ovens. they can get some smoke flavor, but if you want to really smoke anything, get a smoker.
we use a pellet grill, weber kettles, and an electric smoker at our house, and have for years. i’m 57 and cook outdoors almost every day of the summer, it is a passion.
go to any pellet grill forum and you will see countless threads about “not enough smoke flavor”. it’s not the pellets, it’s the grill.
i get downvoted every time i post this, and dgaf. it’s the plane truth.
For when it matters, I like [Cookin’ Pellets](https://cookinpellets.com) – zero filler wood/100% of what the bag says.
For when it doesn’t, I like Costco’s Kirkland blend made by Pit Boss.
CP will ship by the pallet (50 x 40# bags) – you pick the flavors. I like their black cherry, as well as their hard maple pellets. For mesquite, I very much like their Longhorn blend.
Plenty of “smoke flavor” every time. No smoke tube necessary.
Just finished a brisket and ribs. Now moving on to salmon and cold smoking some provolone and maybe some nuts.
Ironically, there’s almost too much smoke for the cheese. I slice a 6# log into 2# blocks, and then let the blocks mellow in the fridge for a week before using them.
I’ve done well over 100 cooks on my RT-700. Never had an issue with smoke flavor. I have almost exclusively used Bear Mountain pellets. Oak, cherry and blend mostly.
Lots of comments about which pellets so no need for me to cover that.
What are you using as rub binder? Never use plant based oils (canola, olive, etc) as binders as they can specifically block the meat absorbing smoke flavor. If you use a binder you want animal fat (lard, tallow, duck) or water based (hot sauce).
I picked up a trick of moving small wood chips into the pellet tube and also putting a few small chunks in top of the tube. Also depending on the smoker cooking in the top rack might get the meat more in the smoke than otherwise.
If you really want more smoke flavor take a look at smoke daddy, they’re not just for cold smoking but you will have the benefit of both.
https://smokedaddyinc.com/product-category/cold-smokers/
Part of the problem is the PID controllers. All the “fancy” pellet enthusiasts talk shit about how some of the cheaper smokers fluctuate temperatures. The thing is, that’s where you get the smoke. When the temps are going down, the pellets can smoke/smolder, then it reheats to give you an average cooking temperature. Smokers with a PID controller give very consistent temps, at the cost of producing as much smoke.
I upgraded my Grilla Silverbac a few years ago to their controller that has a PID option, and I never use it. I’d rather see the temps fluctuate a little and smoke being produced
I use wood chunks mixed with pellets in my pellet tubes. I usually use 2 tubes. Controversially, I also do the first hour as a cold smoke with just the smoke tubes then I turn on my smoker hot smoke it low and slow. I use bear mountain pellets and either lump charcoal or wood chips in the pellet tube mixed with pellets.