BBQ Time once more

It's a Saturday and I'm not on call. You know what that means.

A reader and fellow BBQ fan had stated that he had a hard time getting any kind of significant smoke ring to show up when smokin a fatty (bulk sausage roll). He seemed incredulous when I mentioned I had no problems getting .25 to .5 inches of smoke ring on mine. I think it has more to do with what you put on them before you smoke. Having rolled a few in black pepper it has become clear that the black pepper coating acts as a barrier which reduces the penetration of the smoke. Here is a picture of some slices of the first one I pulled off the heat today. The first to hit 160. The smoke ring penetrates a bit over .25 inches towards the center of the meat.

The three I cooked today were completely untreated and put on the BBQ fresh out of the packaging as an experiment to see if any kind of rub or seasoning is really needed. It isn't. From this day forward I think I'll just throw them on unseasoned. It leaves the application window open a little wider. I chopped up half of one of these bad boys and added it to some chili I made. It was excellent.