Grill vs Roasting Pan

[kayshaw86]

Newbie here.
Preparing to roast a duck for Christmas.

Did a practice chicken to get a feel for timing.
I put it in a roasting pan.
It wasn’t that smokey.

Was it the roasting pan or maybe the cranberry relish that blocked the smoke?
I see instructions say place directly on grill a lot.

Thanks!

 

[Walleye Hunter]

I put everything right on the grill and give it a couple of hours on low temps first, you get more smoke at lower temps.

 

[bfletcher]

Welcome, Kay. I have an opinion about the roasting pan but that's all it is... an opinion. If there exists the production of smoke in a forced air pellet smoker then I'm inclined to believe it will find its way to and adhere to the bigger portion of your meat. Possibly of additional value would be to know at what temperature you were cooking, the wood species of your pellets, and to what you might be comparing the smoke taste, if anything. Smoke production is greater at lower temps and wood selections deliver varying degrees of flavor intensity.

 

[kayshaw86]

Thanks all. I selected smoke which seems to run at about 185F. The pan kept the cranberry relish recyclable. So I can keep picking it up to the top of the bird. I’m torn whether I should switch it up for the big day.

 

[jp9724]

Thanks all. I selected smoke which seems to run at about 185F. The pan kept the cranberry relish recyclable. So I can keep picking it up to the top of the bird. I’m torn whether I should switch it up for the big day.

I would maybe smoke it a bit before putting the relish on it. meat needs access to the smoke in order to retain the flavor, if there is a barrier between, it wont retain as much. Food for thought

 

[kayshaw86]

I would maybe smoke it a bit before putting the relish on it. meat needs access to the smoke in order to retain the flavor, if there is a barrier between, it wont retain as much. Food for thought

Nice pun.
I understand, I will let the bird(s) go au naturale for a while.
Maybe I'll put on the relish a little before I crank the heat up at the end to reach food safe temp.
Ooh and best of both worlds I can transfer the bird(s) to the roasting pan at this point and let it caramelize!

Thanks for helping me think this out all!