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[edit] Texas Side Draft (Horizontal) Barbecue (Barbeque)

Barbecue in the Texas style is done in horizontal or side-draft BBQ smokers.

[edit] Wood

Traditional Texas BBQ is with Mesquite wood - sometimes Pecan. The best smoked bacon I've tasted was smoked with apple wood. It appears that 40 minutes at 400deg works well. The taste of the wood is effected if it isn't all already burning - could be the bark makes it taste bad. I'm filling the wood box full and letting it burn for a while before loading the meat. The smoke should not be white and all the wood should be on fire before adding the meat. It appears that you should either remove the bark or burn it all off first. Most likely the tannic acid in the bark. For slower BBQ where you need to add wood - it needs to be without the bark.

[edit] Crazy Ideas

I've thought of building a Texas style side-draft smoker with some automation built in. Propane wood igniter sees like a good idea. The I thought of the O2 automotive sensors that are not to expensive and a temperature sensor. It seems that part of the result is cooking in a reductive atmosphere - I wonder if O² is controlled if it could make a better steak? Running a little servo to control the air intake seems quite straight forward. So a little controller with a temperature card and sensor and O² sensor? I need to find the output of the wide-band zirconia sensors - I think they are in millivolts for automotive applications.

I also wonder if the exhaust smoke stack could be taller and start near the bottom of the cooking chamber to better circulate the gases?

Perhaps not - I've been thinking about what makes the side draft smokers work so well -- I think the hottest gases go to the top and bypass the meat. Somewhat cooler and different composition gases would contact the meat. The reductive atmosphere would tend to prevent burning like one gets on a gas or charcoal grill.

To make this really crazy, I've thought of getting some 16" stainless steel pipe and 1/4" plate to weld it up with. Or should I make it out of Titanium? I could get some Titanium at Boeing surplus - it wouldn't need to be as thick - make a lighter grill. Looks like Ti burns at too low a temp.

[edit] Servo System

I've been thinking more about a servo system for the air damper. The temperature drops like a rock if you open to turn the meat - I would program it to see such a rapid drop as the lid opening and a fast rise as the lid closing and to not update the damper setting ifthe lid was open.

My attempts at keeping a constant 400F have show that it is possible to get an operator induced oscillation. The fire itself can perturb the temperature setting as wood falls and stirs it self up.

I'm going to extend the exhaust stack to about 8' and it looks like I could add some flanging to really seal the fire-box so when I turn it off so the wood doesn't keep on smoldering.

[edit] Click on pictures for larger size

Texas side Draft BBQ

Drip collector

Thermometer

Mystery feature on fire box

[edit] Size

• 16" mini diakmeter
• 32" long main
• 18" long fire box
• stack 3.5" - most are not tall enough to keep the smoke out of your eyes.

[edit] Next thoughts

I tried smoking with a water pan near the fire - seems like it makes a _LOT_ of drip condensation. Next time, I'm not going to use the water. I am controlling the intake air to maintain 400°F.

Tim mentioned that you can wrap in tin foil and slow cook to avoid over smoking. I also read about using charcoal to produce less smoke. I think it would be just as good to do the slow cook in the oven and bring it out for a final smoke?

[edit] Smoke stack

I'm going to buy some pipe and weld it in to make the top of the smoke stack about 8'. When I get too much smoke on me, by the time I eat, my sense of smell has been burned out so much that I can hardly tase the BBQ. The taller stack should help and might make starting the fire easier.

[edit] Servo

Seems like a servo would be a good idea here to set the temperature. The problem is how to do it without exposing the servo to too much heat and protecting it from rain. Need to stare at this for a while and figure a good idea - might even be salable.

[edit] Seasoning

For steaks after trying several

wash steaks and wipe with olive oil
sprinkle with whole or very course black pepper
sprinkle with seasoning

let sit several hours.  Must be room temp before going on bbq

then with wood fire, let it die down to steady state - use a slow burn wood like oak

regular grocery store steaks are okay - thicker way better than thinner 
- bone in better than bone out 
- ribeye better than tbone or other cuts.  Later you could try some USDA prime just for kicks.  

try to get 1.5 inchers if possible and watch for good marbling patterns the fat is the flavoring

using indirect heat, 4 minutes each side - for the really thick ones do 2 sets.  
On turning them over, the opposite end should face the fire

The seasoning applied earlier soaked in - even the black pepper.  
So at this point apply seasoning and more pepper sprinkles to flavor the crust, the outside of the thing

seasoning I use is from Bolner's meat market.  

[edit] Low Carbohydrate Recipes