# Smoking with an aluminum pan



## dtoneill72 (Mar 22, 2017)

What is everybody's opinion on using an aluminum pan inside the smoker?   I have a 22" Weber Smokey Mountain and have always cooked my meats directly on the grill.   Someone once told me that I should put the meat (in this case a pork butt) inside of an aluminum pan instead of directly on the grill to help on some of the cleanup afterwards.   Will using an aluminum pan inside of the smoker affect the amount of smoke the butts will actually absorb?   Last thing I want to do is lose some of that great smokey flavor just to make cleanup a bit easier.   what say you experts out there?

Thanks,

Darren


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## chipmanbbq (Mar 22, 2017)

The only downfall that I can think of would be the side touching the bottom of the pan wouldn't have much bark.

I personally haven't used pans when cooking shoulders, but I think I am going to start with the next cook that I have. Cleanup would be easier, but I mainly want to have all those delicious juices to use as a "finishing" sauce.


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## tropics (Mar 22, 2017)

I use pans most of the time,I like to keep the meat off the bottom with a rack.

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/259336/beef-ribs-my-turn

Richie


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## gr0uch0 (Mar 22, 2017)

Put the pan under the rack that's holding the meat--don't put the meat inside the pan, as the results aren't nearly as good.  Cleanup is cleanup--why compromise the quality of the food to save yourself a couple of minutes scrubbing things down?


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## chipmanbbq (Mar 22, 2017)

@gr0uch0

 How do pans affect the quality of the meat?


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## gr0uch0 (Mar 22, 2017)

chipmanbbq said:


> @gr0uch0
> 
> How do pans affect the quality of the meat?


As you described, Chip:  meats sitting down in the pan, fat's not fully rendering out, meat on the bottom is boiling/braising/stewing and not smoking, soggy, no bark, etc.  By putting the pan below the grate, you can get the full smoke effect all the way around the meat, doesn't get soggy, you collect the juices that you want, and it does help (somewhat) with cleanup.


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## chipmanbbq (Mar 22, 2017)

Gotcha. The braising/stewing thing makes sense. Thanks.


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## dtoneill72 (Mar 23, 2017)

I think I'l try putting the pan on the bottom rack, thank you for the feedback!


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## volsfan846 (Mar 23, 2017)

I always smoke things in a pan with a rack to keep the meat off the bottom. Makes it easy to collect the juices, makes clean up a breeze and makes it very easy to foil to help through the stall. Just my two cents worth....

I just use an inexpensive cookie cooling rack for most things. Buy the full size aluminum pans at Sam's.


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## sauced (Mar 23, 2017)

gr0uch0 said:


> As you described, Chip:  meats sitting down in the pan, fat's not fully rendering out, meat on the bottom is boiling/braising/stewing and not smoking, soggy, no bark, etc.  By putting the pan below the grate, you can get the full smoke effect all the way around the meat, doesn't get soggy, you collect the juices that you want, and it does help (somewhat) with cleanup.


Yes...that is what I do. Put the pan below the grate, collect the juices, make great bark. Add juices back when pulling the pork.


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## gr0uch0 (Mar 23, 2017)

Sauced said:


> Yes...that is what I do. Put the pan below the grate, collect the juices, make great bark. Add juices back when pulling the pork.


Pour up the drippings into a fat/gravy separator:  makes it all the easier to carve out as much of the fat as you want, yet have all the juice.













full-gravysep-700x700.jpg



__ gr0uch0
__ Mar 23, 2017


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