Big Poppa
Administrator
OK one of the first things that happens to a pellet cooker is that they become temp freaks. Obsessed with pit temp. Unlike the old days of smoking where there wasn't even a temp dial we now have digital readouts, secondary digital pit probes with remotes,Taylor oven thermometers to give a third opinion... at that point and only at that point can they possibly cook good bbq. It's so hard to explain that the readouts on most pellet cookers use an algorithm to give you an average or monitor one spot of the pit and report that.
That being said they have lived their life with an oven at home that has swings that are crazy.... They just never knew it because Mom or whomever cooked was busy with food and not thermometers. It is the nature of heating a small box to sometimes ten times the outdoor ambient temp...even with insulation the heat has to drop to bring the temp up....Think about it...if you set your oven to 325 and added heat you would be hotter than 325. Heat is as hot as the source...your oven doesn't make 325 degree heat. The temp has to drop to kick in the new heat. Now lets take a smoker....you have add fuel to create smoke...either by adding pellets or controlling your draft and constantly burning a larger fuel source (logs, charcoal, and all that stuff)
Many of you either started on Traegers or still cook on them. Their temp swings are legendary. They still turn out great food though. MAK and Memphis and others have much, much smaller temp swings but they are a fact of heating a small box. Also remember to make smoke you have to make fire. This isn't a cop out...read the article below.
The moral to the story.... The most important temp is the temp of your product on the smoker/grill. As long as during a long cook you are averaging your desired cooking temp. The great cooks feel the food...smell, look, touch, sound...this is also why I always suggest to know your pit. The biscuit test is the best still. If you are still unsure please use a thermometer for the food...that is the only one you should be concerned with...I can cook without a thermometer in the food but I always use one...why not follow what your food is doing and take the guess work out of it?
Tom Colicchio the great chef in his first book explains cooking on a stove top with a skillet that one should listen to his/her pan... generally speaking it shouldn't be whispering...nor yelling. That was the best advice I ever learned after 25 years of cooking. Obviously a simmer is a whisper, frying is yelling.
I found this article on Slate....it explains it brilliantly
Bake at 350 degrees? Oven temperature is uncontrollable, and we should stop trying to micromanage it. - Slate Magazine
That being said they have lived their life with an oven at home that has swings that are crazy.... They just never knew it because Mom or whomever cooked was busy with food and not thermometers. It is the nature of heating a small box to sometimes ten times the outdoor ambient temp...even with insulation the heat has to drop to bring the temp up....Think about it...if you set your oven to 325 and added heat you would be hotter than 325. Heat is as hot as the source...your oven doesn't make 325 degree heat. The temp has to drop to kick in the new heat. Now lets take a smoker....you have add fuel to create smoke...either by adding pellets or controlling your draft and constantly burning a larger fuel source (logs, charcoal, and all that stuff)
Many of you either started on Traegers or still cook on them. Their temp swings are legendary. They still turn out great food though. MAK and Memphis and others have much, much smaller temp swings but they are a fact of heating a small box. Also remember to make smoke you have to make fire. This isn't a cop out...read the article below.
The moral to the story.... The most important temp is the temp of your product on the smoker/grill. As long as during a long cook you are averaging your desired cooking temp. The great cooks feel the food...smell, look, touch, sound...this is also why I always suggest to know your pit. The biscuit test is the best still. If you are still unsure please use a thermometer for the food...that is the only one you should be concerned with...I can cook without a thermometer in the food but I always use one...why not follow what your food is doing and take the guess work out of it?
Tom Colicchio the great chef in his first book explains cooking on a stove top with a skillet that one should listen to his/her pan... generally speaking it shouldn't be whispering...nor yelling. That was the best advice I ever learned after 25 years of cooking. Obviously a simmer is a whisper, frying is yelling.
I found this article on Slate....it explains it brilliantly
Bake at 350 degrees? Oven temperature is uncontrollable, and we should stop trying to micromanage it. - Slate Magazine