Shoutout to the guy at the Lockhart meetup who told me my fire was too clean
I've been running a stick burner for about 3 seasons and always kept a small hot fire with dry post oak, no bark, nothing white smoking. A pitmaster named Dale at a cookoff in Lockhart looked in my firebox and said I was cooking with a fire that had no soul, his words. He had me toss in two splits that still had some moisture and let the smoke roll light blue for the first 90 minutes. My pork shoulder came out with a deeper color and a ring I could actually taste, not just see. Turns out clean heat was fine for chicken but I was leaving flavor on the table with beef and pork. Anyone else change up their fire based on what protein is going on?