On 6/22/13 8:06 PM, Califbill wrote:
"Earl" wrote in message
...

wrote:
On Fri, 21 Jun 2013 08:46:37 -0700, "Califbill"
wrote:

We bbq mostly chicken, pork and fish. If you have a wood burning grill,
then you will get more flavor. Gas, you might as well use the
broiler. We
have an electric skillet with a broiler lid, so not even a lot of
mess to
clean up.
That is why I throw hickory chips in there.
I have a spare "floater" from my spa that I drop in a bucket of water
with a handful of chips and let them soak an hour or so and they smoke
up real good.
For chicken or ribs I sometimes use charcoal. Put the charcoal in,
fire up the gas and when the charcoal is good and hot, turn off the
gas. Just be sure to use pure charcoal, not that chemical laced "match
light" stuff.
I use my smoker about once a month. There is no need to soak the
smoking wood. It's actually better to get as much early smoke as
possible. When the meat is "sealed" from the heat it can't absorb much
more smoke. I learned this many years ago but started with the same
theory as you - to provide constant smoke by soaking the wood.
-------

Not soaking the chips get flames and little smoke in my experience.



I remember reading some connection between smokers and carcinogens, so I
googled it...lots of hits. Here's one:

The carcinogen (cancer-causing agent) is mainly benzo[a]pyrene
(structure is shown), though other polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons
(PAHs) and heterocyclic amines (HCAs) are present and can cause cancer,
too. PAHs are in smoke from incomplete combustion, so if you can taste
smoke on your food, expect it contains those chemicals. Most of the PAHs
are associated with smoke or char, so you can scrape them off of your
food and reduce your risk from them (though that kind of defeats the
point of a toasted marshmallow). HCAs, on the other hand, are produced
by a chemical reaction between meat and high or prolonged heat. You'll
find these chemicals in fried meat as well as barbeque. You can't cut or
scrape away this class of carcinogens, but you can limit the amount that
is produced by cooking your meat just until it's done, not blackening it
into oblivion.

Just how dangerous are these chemicals? The truth is, it's very hard to
quantify the risk. There is no established 'this amount will cause
cancer' limit because the genetic damage that leads to cancer is complex
and affected by many other factors. For example, if you drink alcohol
with your char, you further increase your risk, since alcohol, though it
doesn't cause cancer, acts as a promoter. This means it increases the
likelihood a carcinogen will be able to induce cancer. Similarly, other
foods may lessen your risk. What is known is PAH's and HCA's
definitively cause cancer in humans, but they are also a part of
everyday life, so your body has mechanisms for detoxifying them. What
you want to do is try to limit your exposure. I guess that means you
should take the time to toast the perfect marshmallow rather than go for
the quick sugary fireball, but that's just so hard...


http://chemistry.about.com/b/2013/05...arcinogens.htm

Eat up, boys, and pass around those beers!