Interestingly, there is a lack of smoke ring seen in either these ribs seen above or the beef brisket shown below. At first it was not clear why this occurred but Nathan Myhrvold gave the following explanation on the eGullet site. The link to this conversation can be found here. Nathan also included a number of links in his post which contain further information on the formation of smoke rings in smoked meats.
If Nathan or eGullet object to the use of this post on my blog, please contact me and I will alter or remove it accordingly. Please note however that this is a not for profit website and I referenced the work where appropriate as the writing of Nathan Myhrvold and the source as www.egullet.com
Smokers like Doc-G are using use small wood chips which are burned on a hot plate smoke generator. Generally they smolder at fairly low temperature (under 600F) and do not produce enough nitric oxide to create a smoke ring. In order to get a smoke ring you need to burn at a higher temperature – either with solid wood, or pellets or another source which is really burning (600F to 750F usually). Note that I am talking about the temperature of the actual combustion, not the temperature of the air around the meat! Air temperature in smokers is usually below 225F.
The high combustion temperature produces nitrogen dioxide gas that penetrates the meat and creates the smoke ring. It works best if the meat surface is moist, and as a result happens early in the cooking process. Here is an explanation by a meat scientist at Iowa State University.
There are two points of view you can take on the lack of the smoke ring. On one hand, the smoke ring is traditionally used to judge the quality of the smoking in barbeque contests and the like. So from that standpoint a smoker that does not produce a smoke ring may seem inferior.
On the other hand it is not clear to me that it is really necessary for flavor – I am not sure you could tell the difference if you tasted blindfolded. It would be interesting to find out in a carefully controlled test.
It is possible that you can taste the smoke ring in the final product, but I think it is equally possible that the smoke ring is more of a by-product that is diagnostic of good barbeque technique rather than something you can taste. Unfortunately one aspect of the barbeque world is that peolpe often seem to have strong opinions about what is true and false, but don’t always have strong evidence to back it up.
This site by the “Dr of BBQ” claims that it is purely aesthetic.
Propane or gas fired grills can produce a smoke ring without any wood whatsoever, because nitrogen dioxide can be formed in propane combustion. This tends to argue that it is not as important as people think.
Note that I have both kinds of smokers – one that produces a smoke ring, and one that does not. I have cooked on competition barbeque teams, and I am very familiar with what barbeque is supposed to taste like.
The red smoke ring in the meat is similar chemically to the red color in meat cured with sodium nitrite or sodium nitrate (also known as prague powder, tender quick, curing salt, pink salt). These curing salts do produce a pronounced taste in fully cured meat – the taste of cured meat (i.e. ham versus pork, summer sausage versus fresh sausage). However is not clear to me from what I have read whether the cured taste of curing salts is related to color change – i.e. nitrogen dioxide gas and curing salt both create the color, but the cured meat taste has more to do with the concentration of the curing salt itself and its interaction with the meat proteins, not the chemical reaction that causes color change.
You can use curing salts to create a smoke-ring like effect, and many people do that for barbeque. Purists regard this as a “fake smoke ring”.
