Thu 30 Jan 2020
Our double filet wood chunks can fit where size matters for your smoker or cooker unit
I’m sure you’ve had the experience of going into a store and locating the limited supply of wood chips and/or chunks offered, then look closer at the clear plastic bag and ask: Is this it?
It’s always interesting to realize what we are willing to accept versus what we really want.
Wed 22 Jan 2020
We are cooking on a chimney starter with a grill pan to nicely char our head of Cauliflower for this recipe!
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A cousin to broccoli, #cauliflower is one of those vegetables that can be eaten raw or cooked and converted to so many different textures. Best yet, cauliflower is one of those super cancer-fighting foods as it contains sulforaphane known to kill cancer stem cells.
I’ll be taking my head of cauliflower and introducing it to hot coals, first, direct heat using a #chimneystarter for the actual cooking and then directly on the hot coals to give it the perfect “meat” char. No matter what color you enjoy – white, yellow, purple – grab a head and get your chimney starter ready, as I show you how to use a chimney starter as an actual grill.
There are times when you really don’t need to fire up a full charcoal area of coals on the charcoal grill. I have the perfect solution when you’re doing just a small quantity of a food, like our head of cauliflower. Use your chimney starter
To start, I place a mesh screen on the charcoal grill grate to help retain the small, hot coals for cooking. I have a collection of micro charcoal pieces that work perfectly for this type of cooking.
After lighting a Firestarter, I place the charcoal filled chimney starter on top of the Firestarter and allow the coals to burn down to hot embers. Hot embers are what I will be using to cook my fresh cauliflower, first, directly on the chimney starter, then on the mesh screen once I dump the hot embers from the chimney starter.
Sat 11 Jan 2020
Smokinlicious® Custom Process for Sized Cooking Wood Chips
The conversation always ends the same when we inquire about the size chip product needed. “It’s the size of a penny”, or sometimes they say a nickel, dime or quarter. That is the only reference we are provided with to produce a wood chip product quote! With all due respect, coin currency is not the same from country to country including the penny which is now obsolete in Canada!
A great deal of commercial brand equipment, especially industrial smokehouses, are manufactured in Europe and Canada. These countries use the metric system, a concept that is all but lost on most American companies since it is not a commonly used practice.
This is not the case for SmokinLicious® which currently tracks 9 sizes in our manufacturing process so we can assure consistent product manufacture. And yes, we reference the metric system in our sizing!
Taking a page from the “Dummies” guide book concept, we found that most companies producing a wood chip product screen for two common sizes. In fact, they often sell the two sizes by reference to packaging bag color. We at SmokinLicious® screen for 9 different screened sizes! Why? Because for food manufacturing companies to be cost effective while gaining optimal level of flavour infusion to their food product(s); correct wood product selection matters!
If you comprehend that an incorrect size chip product in your commercial equipment will compromise the overall flavour profile due to variability in combustion of the product. Then you would be ready to maximize not only the budget for the smokehouse operation but likely preserve more capital that would have gone to equipment breakdown expenses caused by inappropriate sized wood product clogging smoke regulators.
We know what the various equipment manufacturers recommend; well, to be honest, we know what they think is best for their equipment. But let’s face it – their goal is to produce a state of the art, mass volume producing, time efficient smoke house with the hope that it will be efficient with the wood product material selected by the user. They do not commonly source the wood product material to go with the equipment once sold and they certainly don’t know the intricacies of hardwood. That’s where SmokinLicious® will step in. Our Team has the expertise to make the perfect size match that will produce ideal combustion rate which in turn results in ideal flavour infusion, color infusion, and function of the smoke house. Plus, we dial in the suitable moisture level to generate that perfect combustion rate that produces consistent results every time the smoke house operates.
Join Us for Sized Cooking Wood Chips
Once you join us, you’ll come to appreciate our “weird” names like Grande Sapore® (our larger screen chip sizing), Minuto® (covering 4 mid-screen sizes) and Piccolo (are smallest screen production that includes 3 micro sizes). We’re confident that you will come to understand and appreciate that our “weird” names provide assurance that we know what we’re talking about, we know what will work with your specific equipment, and that each order will have consistent particle sizing. No “two color” bag option that contains whatever scrap wood happened to be available that day for processing.
We don’t complicate things. By offering more options in wood chip/sawdust product, we can give our customers the flavour outcome they never imagined and cost efficiency they only dreamed about. Let’s find out what your favorite “weird name” will be and make you a member of our “club”!
Dr. Smoke- we have any chip size to fit your needs!
Wed 8 Jan 2020
Our Char-wood is produced by Direct firing our North American hardwood blocks until the right amount of Carbonization is achieved!
Binchotan charcoal is made from the Japanese direct fire method of making charcoal with Kiln! Japanese charcoal making has been around for centuries and burns longer than lump hardwood charcoal! We have replicated their process and make our Char-wood from our North American hardwood blocks! Carbonization is key to Char!
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Frankly, the term “charwood” may be a new one for you. Although its function is like charcoal, the benefits clearly outweigh those of charcoal. Let’s examine the key reasons why charwood may be the better option for outdoor cooking over standard charcoal.
Hopefully, if you’ve been engaging in outdoor grilling and/or smoking for some time. You’ve understood the need for a fuel material that burns evenly and hot. You’ve likely also heard the controversy that’s brewed for years about what is the best product to use for the fuel. Products range from briquets, lump hardwood charcoal, specialty wood charcoal, and compressed woods like pellets and compressed wood blocks. The key is to understand that some of these products could contain binding agents as well as accelerants to make for easy lighting.
Carbonization is the conversion of an organic matter into carbon. Carbon is an element that forms when the organic matter is heated to a high level without oxygen, burning off the volatile gases, leaving the pure carbon behind. Although commercial material production, whether briquet, hardwood charcoal, or standard charcoal have different percentages of carbonization in the outcome, most are above 90%. That high level of carbonization is what allows for heat to be produced for outdoor cooking.
When you use straight charcoal briquets, you are getting heat only with no flavor as that is a fully carbonized or charred product. Many prefer to use briquets because they are uniform in size and give the same outcome every time they are used. Fill a chimney starter with briquets, and you’ll have the same number of briquets fit in the chimney every time.
When you use lump hardwood charcoal, you will get variation in sizing from small, chip-like pieces to half-log size pieces. Here’s information you need to know. Although the label may read “hardwood”, there is no information on where that hardwood derived from. Often, manufacturers of lump hardwood charcoal produce their product from recycled materials such as old pallets, lumber scraps from flooring, cabinet, and furniture makers. They may take in scraps from lumber mills. When this material is carbonized, it will do so at various levels due to the variation in material sizing.
That means when you cook with it or for that matter when you lite it, expect great variation from use to use due to all the inconsistency in sizing. The inconsistency will produce a lower percentage of carbonized material than briquets. So know you may get some minimal flavor from lump hardwood due to poorly carbonized larger pieces of product. This is the reason there is more ash production with lump hardwood charcoals.
Specialty charcoals, generally made in other countries, are a particularly hard substance, light in weight product, that can be a challenge to lite. Once they are ignited, however, they produce a lot of heat – often more than the standard briquet. Very little ash is produced and there is no flavor from this product.
When SmokinLicious® made the decision to manufacture a charwood product, we researched extensively why the Japanese binchotan charcoal, also called white charcoal, was so popular and expensive. We found that though it could be a challenge to lite, it burned extremely hot, clean, leaving little to no ash, produced no smoke and no flavor. We produced a similar set up to the Japanese direct-fire method with our charwood production. Instead of using miniature branches, we use consistently sized wood blocks. Unlike the binchotan, we do not do a complete carbonization. The result is you get the ease of lighting like a lump hardwood charcoal, the flavor of premium hardwood. Plus, the reduced ash production of a briquet, and reduced smoke output than burning wood alone. We see this as the best of all the options out there.
Now, instead of viewing your charcoal as just a heat generator, when you use SmokinLicious® charwood you have one product that can be used as fuel for temperature while the reduced carbonized center portion produces the flavor. A premium product that gives premium results!
What is Japanese charcoal?
Binchotan charcoal is made from the Japanese direct fire method of making charcoal with a kiln that has been around for centuries. Japanese charcoal is very expensive and burns longer than lump hardwood charcoal!
Is charcoal made from wood?
Charcoal briquets and lump charcoal are made from recycled materials such as old pallets, lumber scraps from flooring, cabinet, and furniture makers. Some charcoal products may contain binding agents as well as accelerants to make for easy lighting.
Is wood better than charcoal?
Cooking wood can offer an ease of lighting and flavor to your foods while its fuel performance is more consistent than that of many carbonized charcoal products. Plus, wood produces less ash than lump charcoal or briquettes.
More Related reading on this subject
Dr. Smoke- Your will love using our Char-wood!
Thu 2 Jan 2020
Marinating our Riblets in Zip Lock bag
Marinating-At one time or another, I’m sure you’ve either purchased a prepared marinade or constructed your own to use with some type of animal protein. Likely, your goal was to either add flavor or tenderize or both. But, let me ask you: Do you really know what marinades do for specific foods and do you know how to use them?
Our intention is to debunk the myths, get at the truth of what marinades can do and provide a guide on marinade amounts and ideal marinating times for specific foods.
Let’s get started!
One of my favorite myths is that of the depth that marinades penetrate in meat. The tale is that once a meat is exposed to a marinade, it will get completely thru but this is far from the truth.
Marinades are a surface to few millimeters below surface benefit no matter what the content of the soaking liquid. The oil, herbs, seasonings and spices only add flavor to the exterior of the food with no ingredient ever penetrating to the center of the meat.
We all look for ways to cut corners and one of the myths out there is that bottled dressings work just fine as a substitute marinade. The truth, however, is bottled dressings have high levels of acidity which when exposed to meat protein tend to break down the meat molecules too far resulting in a mushy texture. Additionally, bottled dressings are loaded with unwanted ingredients like sweeteners (sugar), gums, and stabilizers and lack ingredients that give any real flavor.
As mentioned above, since marinades don’t penetrate deeply into meat, a longer marinating time doesn’t mean more tender or flavorful meat. In fact, the opposite becomes true. Marinating too long will allow the protein bonds in the meat to weaken resulting in a mushy exterior which can prevent the meat from holding on to moisture. That means you end up with a dry piece of meat.
When you’re looking to tenderize meat what you are really doing is breaking down connective tissue in the meat which is what produces tough cuts. Connective tissue is made up of collagen and fiber which can be weakened by an acidic ingredient like vinegar, wine, citrus juice, etc. The problem again is this affect is surface only and cannot penetrate to the core of the meat. Best advise is to use these ingredients sparingly and for shorter marinating times.
Since you’ve learned that marinades benefit the surface of the meat only, it is best for them to be used with thinner cuts of meat, like chicken breasts, cutlets, chunked meats, steak, and chops. Larger cuts of meat do best with a wet rub or spice paste.
Tip #1 Flavorings and Seasonings: Use a lot of these ingredients in marinades and be sure to watch the salt or it will inhibit the absorption of other herbs, spices, and seasonings.
Tip #2 Score the Meat: To achieve as much penetration as possible, score the meat’s surface with a knife or prick the surface with a fork.
Tip #3 Reactivating the Marinade: I personally like to marinate in a storage bag but you can use chaffing dishes or other similar large baking dishes covered with plastic wrap. When using a storage bag, ensure that all the air is out of the bag before sealing. Halfway through the marinating time, flip the storage bag or stir the meat in a dish to ensure everything is getting even soaking time.
Tip #4 Refrigeration: One risk with marinating is the development of microorganisms since you are dealing with raw meat. You can reduce this risk but getting your marinated meat in the refrigerator as quickly as possible to avoid the temperature danger zone of 40-140°F when bacteria can spread rapidly.
Tip #5 Wipe Off Excess and Discard Leftover: Remember, you’ve just marinated raw meat so never keep used marinade. It needs to be discarded immediately. If you feel you want to offer some of the marinade to go on the cooked food, simply keep a small amount separate from the marinating meat. Also, so you don’t get excessive flare-up on the grill, wipe off excess marinade from the meat before grilling.
This guide is intended to provide a starting point for specific foods on the quantity of marinade needed and the timing of the marinating process.
By following these tips and guidelines, you’ll be sure to keep your foods moist, flavorful and promote a great mouth-food experience texture-wise.
Do you have favorite marinade ingredients? Leave us a comment to opine. Making you an informed consumer through valuable articles like this one. Leave us a comment and follow us or subscribe for more great recipes, techniques, tips, and the science behind the flavor and fire. That’s SmokinLicious®.
For related reading on marinating, be sure to check out our directory of previous blogs on smoking & grilling tips and techniques.
Dr, Smoke- Marinating adds great flavor to your food!
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