thoughts on bbq

Since reading Franklin's barbecue book, my world view of low and slow has been completely demolished.  Franklin is dismissive of any smoker set up that uses smoldering fuel, lump or otherwise.  His view is bbq should be cooked from the indirect convective heat produced from a live flame, most often in a smoker with offset firebox.  He doesn't think the heat and smoke emanating from smoldering wood is a good means to create good barbecue.

In one part of the book, he discusses a specific offset firebox.  It's a cylinder where wood spans a lower arc of the circle leaving good airflow beneath.  The fire produced in this way creates a perfect heat source for smoking.

Wouldn't you know, the wood in a kettle grill sits in exactly the same manner.  And, with the vents and all, the airflow and movement is darn good in a kettle.  So, despite Franklin's dissatisfaction with the kettle for 'q, it can be configured quite well for this ideal heat source.

Take my Firedome for instance.  Setting a small oak fire in the kettle and affixing the Firedome lid enables the fire to stay lit, not smoldering.  Because of all the air let in by the lidded door, the heat only gets to about 200 on the center of the grate.  Pretty perfect environment to get a "clean" fire and good smoke from my oak to smoke these pieces of salt-cured salmon.

Given this ideal set up am I ready to take on the ultimate challenge, a brisket?  NO! This type of set up is a pain to maintain.  Replenishing wood every 30 minutes is too much work for an 18 hour brisket not to mention how much wood it would take! But, it does provide a good start.  Now maybe a redesign of the dome for this purpose, fuel type, ventilation scheme, etc. Fun stuff to think about.