This might be the reason why your BBQ isn't tasting as good as it could

Have you ever wondered why sometimes BBQ tastes freaking amazing and the other times it's not doing it? Especially if you had great BBQ before and you know what it tastes like and you absolutely love it. And then another time it's just... If you know you know. It's not the seasoning. It is not the meat. And it's not the smokewood either. Or even the charcoal. No. It is airflow. So I'm going to show you how airflow actually works inside a BBQ and how we can actually fix the airflow. And it's kind of cool because we got something new here. You know this one? Yeah. It's a beast. If you've been watching BBQ videos and doing BBQ for a long time and I'm talking probably 9 to 10 years ago. That thing right there was one of the main stars in every good BBQ video. It wasn't an offset smoker because back then nobody had offset smokers. No. It was the water smoker. Or in this case the Apollo smoker. And guess what? Napoleon brought it back. And I'm freaking ecstatic about it. Come on. Because it doesn't only bring back memories. This also brings back great BBQ. Because this is the beast of airflow. And I'm not the only one super excited. Because guess what BBQ teams need? They need mobility. They need perfect results every time. And they need reliability. Reproduction of the same thing every single time. That they also need to transport it. And guess if you're taking a whole offset smoker that's a big deal. That's why they either use drum smokers or water smokers. But why do they want offset smokers, barrel smokers and water smokers? Well it has to do with that airflow. And I think probably the best way to show you is to take this BBQ apart and see how it's built up. This BBQ is built up out of a base section that has legs with wheels under it. And that's great for mobility. And in that sits the charcoal grates. And most likely you will be using briquettes in this smoker. Then we have two sets of rings. And basically they're called stacks. Because you can stack them up creating distance between the food and the fire. This is a large pan that you can fill with water. And if the water pan is filled with water it will stable out the temperature inside the smoker. This smoker in itself is unique because it has another ring. And that ring is for the rotisserie. We don't need that for competition BBQ. But you must admit it's a lot of fun. Especially during holiday seasons and if you're cooking for family. And then we also have the lids from which you can actually hang meat. So if you like to hang your ribs or fish you can do that too. On the side we have clamps that hold the whole thing together. So it makes for easy transportation and makes sure everything is well connected. You got holes to put wire thermometers through. And doors to open up to take a look inside, add water, add smokewood or whatever you need to do inside the BBQ. Of course I selected a beautiful piece of meat to actually demonstrate the airflow and how important it is for this piece of meat. Now this is a pork neck from the Iberico pocket. And look at the amount of intermuscular fat. This is absolutely insane. It's going to be perfect for my pulled pork and I'm going to season it with a little bit of Pepmaster X pork seasoning. Let's sprinkle this on. And for the structure of the bark I'm also going to use a little bit of Pepmaster X Texas seasoning. And that is going to make this pulled pork look even better. I'm going to let this sit on the countertop so the flavors of the seasoning can actually connect with the meat. Some of it is going to penetrate into the meat and the other part is going to get connected to the outside. I'm going to put a lot of briquettes on the bottom of this charcoal grate. But I'm only going to start a fire in the center of these briquettes and that is called the Minion method. It will slowly burn from the inside to the outside, not consuming all of the charcoal all at once. I'm also going to place a couple of chunks of smokewood and that will slowly burn up during the cooking process while adding flavor to the meat. And I've got all the bottom vent all the way closed and only the top vent is all the way open. The way that I have this set up right now is that I have my briquettes at the bottom, I'm using the Minion method and basically there's nothing in between. I took out the pan, there is no water. It's just the thing empty, completely empty. Only a grill grate at top level. And that is where the pork is going to go. Look, it's ready. I'm just going to place it in the center, put the lid on and connect the clamps. And I'm actually a big fan of letting the barbecue do its job. It's designed to do one thing and that is make really great barbecue. And it does that by using airflow, unrestricted airflow. Because as you can see, even though I've got all the valves closed at the bottom, it's still letting air pass through. This barbecue is designed to have this amount of airflow. It has gaps and it has openings everywhere. So yeah, of course air is going to flow through. And by keeping the top open, we're getting rid of all the dirty smoke and all the buildup of moisture and we're getting dry, clean, smoky air. And if you compare that to modern barbecues, they're all about reducing the amount of charcoal that you use and being as efficient as possible. But what we're forgetting here is that that's not what barbecue is about. Barbecue is about making great barbecue. And if you need less efficiency to have better barbecue, well, honestly, that's a good trade-off. You want good barbecue. So you're going to need lots of airflow. And if you have insulated barbecues, well, basically they don't need much airflow to get to the heat point that you're looking for. And the build of this barbecue makes it kind of a fuel hog. You put lots and lots of fuel in, you get lots of airflow. And that is the contradiction to modern barbecues, where they become more and more efficient. And by being efficient, they're locking the heat, but they also lock in the airflow. There is very little airflow in modern barbecues. I've been smoking now for one and a half hours and we got to take a look at this bark. The development of this bark is insane. But as you might expect, this is a water smoker and the water is there for a reason. And the reason is to stabilize the temperature. So as you might expect, the temperature is running out of control. Nothing to worry about, but something to keep your eye on because you don't want to burn the meat, of course. We got killer color. We got beautiful mahogany red and we already have that dark bark setting up. I'm going to take my chef's stamp and you can see that we're only at 68 degrees Celsius. So normally we would be closer to 70. Bark is basically already set. It is really, really awesome. But sadly we have to intervene right now to make sure that the temperature doesn't rise any further and we're not getting into trouble and having too much of a bark because there is such a thing. But the solution is very easy. Just take it off, put the water pan in, add hot water and be careful. You don't want that hot water on the coals because steam, it's not your friend. Now the stack goes back on and the lid goes back on. And this is basically the same technique that I use for my offset smoker because with the offset smoker, I also add a water bath after the bark sets. Now I've got to open the top lid again to let that smoke go out. So now you see what airflow does. Just in one and a half hours, your bark is way more developed than any other barbecue can give you because, there it is, high airflow. And if you don't have high airflow, it is ruining your bark. You think, water, why? Why is the water so important? Well, of course, it balances out the temperature, but at the same time, it adds humidity to the barbecue. Currently, it's really dry out. We don't have much humidity, but humidity also transfers heat really well into the food. And as a matter of fact, Myron Mixon, he is the self-proclaimed person of winning the most barbecue, well, whatever he says, but he adds steam to his smokers. He has a steam wand to add moisture to his smokers. And this is the thing where barbecue competition really has a point on making every little detail count. Well, that is what we're doing right here. We're making every little detail count. This is where the difference becomes. We set the bark first with high velocity air, and then we add a little bit of moisture to start up the cooking process, keep developing the bark. We'll check back in about another hour or two to see how it's doing. Ta-da! Look at the insane amount of bark that we build up during the two hours of cook. The roast still is moist and juicy, and that mahogany red is just shining through the bark, and you know it's going to be good. And all of that took only three and a half hours to develop. Imagine, if we would leave it on, it would get a lot more darker, and it happens really quick, and that's because of the high airflow. Airflow, airflow, airflow. I can't mention it enough. If you've got bark problems, airflow is going to fix it. Normally, I would like to add a little bit of butter or something to a piece of barbecue to help it kind of like, well, develop, but this is Iberico, man. You can't add anything to it. It has so much moisture. It's got so much of the right fat that adding anything to it would be just a shame. So all you need to do is just roll it up in some aluminum foil, put it back on the barbecue, and close the lid. After six hours, I finally have a core temperature of 98 degrees Celsius, so it's time to take it off. Ooh, nice little package. Of course, I'm going to open it up and take a look inside, put it in a tray, and then I can already start pulling it apart, because pulled pork is the only type of meat you don't have to rest. Now, if that doesn't look good, I don't know what does, but it also tells you the story that in pulled pork, the bark is super important. On the inside, it's just gray pork meat, and of course, sure, it's juicy and it's tender, but the flavor mostly sits on the outside, on the bark side, and that is why you want that good bark. That is why you need high airflow. Thank you guys for watching. Hope to see you in another video. Until then, eet smakelijk and keep on grilling. Oh, oh my. If you can ever get your hands on Iberico, it's only going to cost you two euros extra per kilogram. It's not that much, and it's worth it.