TIL how a pitmaster makes sure smoke gets all around the meat on a charcoal grill.

Trying it out last weekend made my pork shoulder turn out amazing.

3 comments

3 Comments

Oh man, that's the real secret right there. A lot of folks just pile on the charcoal and wood, but they forget about the airflow. You gotta manage the vents to steer that smoke all around the meat, not just past it. I always set up my coals on one side and make sure the top vent is directly over the meat on the other side. It pulls that smoke right across it for hours. It turns good barbecue into something special.

henderson.mila1mo ago

How do you manage the bottom vent with that one-side coal setup? I've used that method before, but if the bottom vent is off, the fire either chokes out or spikes too high. The top vent guides the smoke, but the bottom vent controls the heat source. Do you open it all the way or tweak it as the cook goes on? Keeping a constant temp for hours is my biggest headache because the airflow gets tricky. Mess up that balance and your barbecue is done for.

elizabeth_wells1mo ago

My buddy Greg in Tennessee struggled with that exact vent issue last summer. He started opening the bottom vent just a hair, maybe an eighth of an inch, after the first hour. It kept his temperature rock steady for the whole pork shoulder cook.