Lesson Learned.......The hard way!

[Grampy]

This is a follow up to a post I made a few days ago regarding my 1st attempt at smoking a ham in my new SI #2. In my original post I questioned why my ham turned out very bitter tasting despite following the same recipe I have used numerous times with other smokers. There was a consensus among all of the responses that I received.......too much wood/smoke. I did not use a scale to weigh my wood before smoking. I just put 3 good sized chunks of hickory that would fit nicely into my SI #2 wood box and let it rip for 4 hours. The general consensus among responses was that I should have used 2.5-3 oz of wood. Well today I went out and bought me a digital scale and weighed 3 of the hickory chunks that were very similar in size to what I used. Any body care to guess the result? 10.75 ounces! Almost 3 times the amount of wood that I should have used. No wonder my ham came out bitter.

Lesson learned. Everybody do yourself a favor and purchase yourself a digital scale and weigh your wood for your cooks. Also, thanks to everybody that responded and offered advice and encouragement to keep trying. I think I am going to love my new SI #2 once I get used to it.

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[gregbooras]

Jimmy,

We all make mistakes and missteps in cooking, grilling and smoking. I am sorry it had to be on your first smoke, but you now are ready for a great smoke.

I like to cook a large range of foods, but the one lesson I learned is, never to experiment when I am having guests....

Did this once and had to order pizza, still good, but not what I was planning.

Greg

[NDKoze]

Yep, that is a LOT of wood. But, on the bright side, I bet you won't do that again.

I think 6 ounces is the most I would ever use for any amount of meat. Outside of Boston Butts and Briskets that I use 5-6 ounces, my typical wood weight runs from 2-4 ounces.

[DivotMaker]

Glad you figured it out, Jimmy!  Less is definitely more, in these smokers!  WPS!

[SuperDave]

Being the rebel that I am, the digital scale came in real handy for my first several smokes, because 3 ounces is a whole lot different than 10.7 ounces.  However, an ounce either way hasn't hurt me yet as now I just eyeball everything after knowing what the correct amount "should" look like.  With wood densities being a variable, my margin of error seems to still produce great smoked food.  But no way to know until one has done it a few times with the scale. 

[Limey]

+1 on Dave's observations. It's a bit like coming off the thruway having been cruising at 70 mph for a few hours-you better get on the speedo to figure out the exit ramp!