Lamb (breast) ribs

[Pecker]

1.5 hours un foiled, 1 hour foiled, 30 minutes un-foiled with honey & mustard marinade.





Can anyone explain this? I got what appeared to be a smoke ring, despite not using any smoke! No smoky flavour, but the top and bottom (not the centre) definitely pink - that darker, almost purple-y pink you get with a smoke ring.

Strange.

Steve W

[keith157]

Daft question, had you smoked in that bbq before? Even when grilling there is a smokey smell from our Weber. Mind you did a butterflied leg of lamb & chicken kievs this afternoon........Very Nice

[RobinC]

Carbon monoxide would have still been present and I believe that is one of the causes/contributors of smoke rings. You can get pinkish tinges to meat cooked in an oven - I've certainly seen that with chicken.

[Pecker]

Yes, I've smoked in the Weber before, but not an awful lot.

And as I say, no smoke flavour that I could detect at all.

Steve W

[derekmiller]

Steve.

Found this on amazing ribs, not sure if it helps....

A faux smoke ring can also develop without smoke if you cook low 'n' slow. When meat is cooked fast, the proteins in the muscle and myoglobin denature at the same time and combine to turn brown. When cooked slowly, the muscle proteins finish denaturing before the naturally pink myoglobin denatures and so the meat remains pink. You can occasionally see this phenomenon in braised meat like a beef stew. It may have been cooked for hours in a liquid at low temps, yet the meat will still be slightly pink inside.

Also found this on playing with fire and smoke:

Smoke rings are one of the most misunderstood and one of the most sought after things in barbecue. For starters, a smoke ring is NOT caused from smoke that has penetrated and colored the meat. Smoke rings are formed when gases in the smoke interact with myoglobin. "My what??" one guy exclaimed during a discussion about smoke rings at a local tavern. Myoglobin is the pigment that gives muscle its color. Beef muscle has more pigment than pork muscle so beef has a darker color than pork. Pork loin is lighter in color than a pork shank or picnic. Chicken thighs have a darker color than chicken breasts. This is all because of the amount of myoglobin in each muscle.
Okay, here is the deal.... Most of us use wood in the forms of chips, pellets, chunks or even logs to generate smoke when cooking. Wood contains large amounts of nitrogen. When wood burns, the nitrogen combines with oxygen in the air to form nitrogen dioxide. Nitrogen dioxide is highly water-soluble and early in the cook, it's absorbed into the surface of the meat and forms nitrous acid. The nitrous acid travels inward and creates a colored smoke ring. Smoke rings are usually pink, but the myoglobin in the meat can produce a darker red ring. Have you ever wondered why ham, bacon or corned beef has a different color than fresh muscle meat? That's because the chemicals sodium nitrate and sodium nitrite are added to salt and used to cure those products. In the old days we used potassium nitrate (aka saltpeter) to cure and preserve meats. So, should we really call them nitrogen rings? Let's not go that far, but at least we know how a smoke ring is formed.

[Pecker]

Thanks for that - interesting read, and probably answers the questions.

Steve W