We hear, all the time, How can I achieve that great smoke flavor if I dont have a smoker? Well, let me tell you, the good news is, you dont have to own a full blown smoker in order to get the smoke flavor on your food. You need to start by deciding what flavor smoke you want. Hardwoods, like oak, hickory, and mesquite and fruit woods, like cherry, apple or even pecan are the most desirable for making smoke. To add extra smoke to your grilling start by placing your hardwood chucks in water. The wood should be saturated with water but not dripping wet when you add it to the fire so once you remove it from the water, let it drain until it stops dripping. If you are using a charcoal grill you can add the wood directly to the coals once the fire has died down. Always add smoking wood when you are ready to cook. There’s no point making smoke for the sake of smoke. If you are adding smoking wood to a gas grill then you need to arrange to keep the wood isolated from the fire. You don’t want the wood to burn too fast and you dont want the ash to collect in your gas grill. There are several devices on the market for holding smoking wood chips in your gas grill; the most common is a cast iron box that fits under the cooking grate and above the burners. However the easiest and cheapest unit is a sheet of foil. Take your soaked wood and place in on a piece of foil, fold to enclose it and then punch a couple holes through the foil to let the smoke through. This method works great and all you have to do is throw out the foil packet once its cooled down. The great thing about cooking with smoke is all the experimentation it allows you to do. There all kinds of different woods you can use in different combinations. I suggest you start with it’s oak or apple; they are both good mild wood that won’t overpower your cooking and will get you started on the journey of cooking with smoke. Good luck!
Posted on: Thu, 04 Sep 2014 10:40:06 +0000
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015