How To Fix Over Smoked Meat (3 Ways You Can Follow)

Struggling with over smoked meat? Don’t we all sometimes? Today we’ll learn how to fix over smoked meat to make the best out of the worst situation. 

When you are a beginner at smoking meat, it’s one of the most common occurrences to over smoked your meat. The reason is as apparent as it gets. There are multiple aspects to take care of when it comes to smoking meat with perfection.

It becomes hard to coordinate all the essential elements that result in the best-smoked meat as a beginner. However, you don’t have to throw away the meat if you’ve gone a little too far. You can still make amends. 

Let’s see how.

What If The Meat Is Slightly Over Smoked? Fix It Now

The less you go over the necessary level, the easier it will be to fix it. There are one or two convenient ways to fix the meat you over smoked. 

• Stir-frying your meat can reduce its smokiness. 
• Use some olive oil. It helps. Take a pan and add the oil. 
• When the oil becomes hot, fry the meat on low heat. 
• Wait for about 10 minutes before you can get rid of the extra smoky flavor.

Another Way Is Bay Leaf

• Bay leaf comes with a strong flavor that can overpower the smoky flavor of your meat. 
• There aren’t many tasks to do about this process. 
• You simply temper the bay leaf and infuse the oil on the meat. 
• Wait for a few minutes to get rid of that over smoked flavor from the meat. 
• Star anise also works the same way that bay leaf does. 
• You can find these ingredients in powder too. 

Spice Blend The Meat

Take a bay leaf, green cardamoms, black cardamoms, black pepper, cumin seeds, coriander seeds, and cloves, roast them on a pan using low heat, and blend them together. 

The measurement will depend on your preference and the meat size. Heat some oil, add the spices, and smoke your meat in it using low heat. These spices have intense flavors that can overpower unwanted smokiness. 

If The Meat Is Medium Over Smoked You Can Fix It Following This Way

Gone a little too far? No worries, also fixable. So come on, keep up. 

• Stew

Turning your smoky meat into a stew dish is an excellently effective way of fixing your mistake. Go innovative and add your favorite veggies, stock, and spices. 

Let it stew for one hour, and you’ve got yourself a successful dish.

• Slow Cook Your Meat

Use a pressure cooker for cooking your meat using low heat. Take your time. Add your favorite spices. It takes time, but it works. You’ll definitely have your meat without that over smokiness. 

• Veggies

Veggies like onion and carrot help a lot if you want to remove smokiness from meat. Cut the meat into small pieces along with the onions and the carrots. 

Boil the veggies on a pan for about an hour, then add the pieces of meat. After that, cook the dish for another hour with the lid closed. If you want, you can add your preferred spices to it.

What If The Meat Is Highly Over Smoked? Here Is The Solution

When you notice creosote over the meat, you’ll know you’ve gone too far. It’s almost impossible to recover this type of over smoked meat. 

But, like I said, almost impossible. So, as long as you know your way around, you can salvage the meat. 

Take a fork to insert inside the meat. What do you notice? Is it easy to insert without any effort? If yes, your meat doesn’t need any salvation. It’s perfectly cooked. 

On the contrary, if the meat has become chewy and you can’t insert the fork inside with ease, it’s highly over smoked, and it’s time to move to the next step. 

• Now, carefully cut off all the burnt parts and keep the meat without any creosote. 
• After you’ve removed the burnt meat from the top, you’ll get yourself a medium over smoked meat. 
• So, you can apply any one of the methods I’ve mentioned above. 
• Cut the meat into pieces and season them with your preferred spices. 
• Keep the meat soaked with spices for about twenty minutes. 
• It will let the meat absorb all the flavors from the spices. 
• Now, sauté the meat in the pan for about five minutes. 
• Don’t overdo it because it’ll make the meat chewier.

Also Read: Best BBQ Sauce For Burnt Ends (Top 6 Pick)

How To Tell If Your Meat Is Over Smoked

Taste the meat to determine whether it’s over smoked or not. Take a bite. What does it taste like? Is the smokiness overpowering the meat’s original flavor? If so, you’ve over smoked it. 

You have to bite a piece if you want to be sure. Unfortunately, there are no other ways to be sure about the meat’s smokiness. However, sometimes you can also guess by looking at the meat. For example, it can look burnt if you’ve over smoked it. 

If the meat turns black, it’s almost sure that you’ve smoked it for too long. There will be creosote on the meat. Tasting the meat is the best way to be sure before taking any further steps.

Related: How To Tell When Ribs Are Done Without A Thermometer

Why Your Meat Becomes Over Smoked – Reasons Behind The Scene

Believe it or not, over smoked meat is the result of the slightest mistake you make. If you can take care of a few minor issues, you can avoid them. 

I’ve discussed the things you should do in the next section. For now, let’s stick to the mistakes. 

Temperature Control: Smoking meat takes time and patience. You need a low and consistent temperature to make perfectly smoked meat. Sometimes when you rush with the meat, it gets burnt due to the high heat. 

If you are a big green egg user, you can follow these temperature controlling tips to smoke meat to get the best result while smoking meat. 

Creating Too Much Smoke: Many newbies think that more smoke means tastier meat. That’s a myth and a disappointing misconception. Using too much smoke ruins the meat’s original taste and wastes your effort. 

Not Maintaining Consistency: Sometimes when flare-ups happen, and you open the lid, the temperature can get messed up. That’s one of the reasons to over-smoke your meat. 

The same happens when you frequently open the lid to check on the meat. It’s a good idea to control your curiosity a bit when you want your dish to be perfect. 

Trusting The Smoker Thermometer: Most of the time, there will be a built-in thermometer in your smoker. However, trusting this thermometer is not always the best decision to make. 

So save yourself some trouble and purchase a good quality meat thermometer to make sure you never over-smoke your meat. 

Wrong Wood Type: Did you know that the wood you’re using also has an impact on the smokiness of your meat? Smoking wood types like pine, cedar, fir, or Cyprus can alter the flavor you want in your meat. So yes, you can go wrong with the wood.

How To Avoid Over Smoking Meat

To simply state, fix the mistakes you made the last time when smoking meat. To be more specific, I’ve already pointed out the probable mistakes you can make when smoking. Now, it’s time we got to the solution. 

Precise Temperature Control

Be patient with the process. Keep the temperature low and consistent to make the perfect smoky meat. Avoid lifting the lid frequently because it lets heat escape and messes up with the meat’s internal temperature. 

Make sure to get a meat thermometer to check the internal temperature. It’s better not to put your trust solely on the built-in smoker thermometer because it doesn’t always provide you with accurate readings. 

Proper Wood Type

As I’ve mentioned before, choosing the right type of wood matters in the flavor. You already know what wood to avoid. Now, let’s see what you can use.

The safest options to go with are fruitwoods. You can use cherry or apple-wood, for example. However, if you want to experiment, you can also try mesquite, hickory, oak, etc. 

Avoid Creating Too Much Smoke

A lot of smoke is not necessarily a good sign. People assume that the more smoke there is, the tastier the meat will be. It’s a widespread misconception among barbeque lovers. You want to create a smoky flavor but not ruin the original flavors of the meat. 

Monitor The Whole Process

Keep the meat in check. People sometimes forget to monitor the whole process and end up over-smoking their meat. If you forget to check up on the cooking progress, you can use smartphone apps specifically designed for maintaining barbeque procedures. 

These apps come with alarms and other functions to make your cooking process more manageable. If you can follow these simple instructions, the chances of over smoking the meat will decrease drastically. 

Tips For Smoking Meat

Some simple yet effective tips will make your smoking a lot better. Even if you’re not a beginner, chances are these tips will come in handy to make your cooking experience better. 

• Avoid lifting the lid in between the process to avoid altering the temperature. 
• Keep the temperature consistent and low. Don’t smoke the meat using high heat. Smoking is not something you rush. 
• It’s always a good idea to pre-plan the whole thing, especially the timing. When you create a map inside your mind about the whole smoking process, you can easily differentiate the deviation and adjust it accordingly. The more prepared you are, the more perfect your cooking procedure and the results will be. 
• Spritz the meat in between to keep it moist. It’s an excellent idea when you want to avoid drying the meat. Dry meat tends to burn more quickly. 
• Keep the cooking area clean and organized. It may seem unnecessary, but you’ll notice a drastic change when you cook in an organized environment. You can find everything you need instantly, and the timing won’t be interrupted by a mess. 
• Avoid creating too much smoke. 
• Use proper equipment to ease the process. The more relaxed you are while cooking, the better your meat will smoke. 

How Do You Avoid Creosote When Smoking Meat

If you want to avoid creosote, always clean your smoker before using it. A dirty smoker can create creosote even if you don’t over-smoke the meat. 

Next, ensure adequate airflow to the meat when necessary. Finally, don’t let the smoke build up inside the smoker. Instead, use the vents to let the smoke escape. 

And the obvious thing to do is not to over smoke the meat. Over smoking is one of the primary reasons for your meat developing creosote. 

So, follow everything I’ve mentioned to avoid over smoking the smoke, thus creating creosote. 

Why Does My Smoked Meat Taste Sour

If your meat develops creosote, it can taste bitter or sour. Not only that, this substance can leave a funky aftertaste in your mouth. Over-smoking the meat causes the meat to become chewy and makes it bitter or sour. 

So, if the meat tastes sour, prevent creosote the next time you start smoking. Like I mentioned, keep the smoker clean, avoid over-smoking the meat, and provide enough airflow to avoid creosote. 

Final Words

Even when you’ve become a pro at smoking meat, you can accidentally over smoke your meat. But that isn’t the end of the world. You can create a perfectly delicious dish if you know how to fix over smoked meat. As for beginners, the first thing you should do is stop panicking every time you mess up. As long as you stay calm, you can fix everything. When it comes to smoking meat, you can almost always salvage a ruined dish unless you’ve turned it into coal by burning it. So, gear up, and save that meat you over smoked.