Wait on smoking ribs if you are a beginner Share on X

Story time on Smoking Ribs:

Let me tell you a story about my neighbor, Tom, we can all relate to.

A few years ago, Tom, a semi-trained Chef, wanted to smoke some food. So like all newbies, Tom went off to a box store, picked out a smoker ( offset), loaded a big bag of charcoal, a big plastic bag of wood chunks; next stop was at the butcher for three racks of ribs! Arriving at home he assembled the smoker, filled up the firebox with charcoal and wood, put on the rack of ribs and cooked them for hours. Finally, before dusk, he presented his charred masterpiece to the family!

Oh, he claimed to love the over-smoked taste! Politely and begrudgingly, the family told him how good the ribs tasted! Well, the smoker never was used again, went to the garage sale, the massive amount of wood went to the campfire, the charcoal lasted the summer for the kettle grill! The moral here is “wait to take on the rib”! Dr. Smoke doesn’t want this to happen to you! So, here are some suggested tips to follow!

First, go purchase the smoker/grill of your choice; next purchase a bag of quality hardwood charcoal; go home and assemble the unit. Then take some vegetable/olive oil and coat the grill! This is what is called seasoning.

Burn #1: start a charcoal fire in the unit or firebox and let it bring the unit up to temperature (250 degrees F)- do not put any food in the unit! Then let it cool down overnight!

Burn #2: start a charcoal fire in the unit or firebox, bring to around 200 to 225 degrees F. then put on some pork or beef hot dogs in the unit, then time the cook, sample the dogs for flavor, watch for hot spots and learn how to smoke- this is not charring. Learn the smoking process in your unit!

Burn #3: start a charcoal fire in the unit or firebox, bring to around 200-225 degrees F, then put on some chicken legs or thighs. No chicken breast-you need something with a bone. Time the cooking and taste the product!

Now order a SMALL number of wood chunks or chips from SmokinLicious®.

Burn #4: do the same as burn #3 only reduce the amount of charcoal and add SmokinLicious® chunks/chips to produce the smoke. Again time the cook, taste the results. Chicken is like a sponge it will absorb a lot of smoke so be careful when adding the quantity of wood.

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WOOD FIRED GRILLED AVOCADO

Oh, the wonderful, healthy, creamy, flavorful avocado. With more potassium than a banana and 18 amino acids for daily intake, you can’t go wrong with this single seed fruit.

Did you ever think to grill this fabulous fruit with a little wood to give it even more flavor? We’ll show you just how easy grilled avocado can be on the gas grill using wood chunks for your smoke infusion.

Grilled Avocado with a Wood Fired Touch

Regardless of the brand of gas grill you have, you can add wood chunks to the grill for wood fired flavor. My grill has heat shields over the burners so I use that area to add one small wood chunk under the grill grate, directly on the heat shield. No, you won’t damage your grill, as the wood combusts to ash and basically blows away.

One chunk is all it will take to get great flavor into the avocados. I keep the burner that the wood chunk is located on set to medium as well as the burner next to that one on medium. Since I have 4 burners, 2 are on and 2 are off.

Once the grill is to 300° F, this technique will take less than 20 minutes.

Simple Preparation for Wood Fired Grilled Avocado

The only preparation needed for the avocados is to cut them in half and remove the seed. The avocados are placed flesh side down on the grate only on the side with the burners off. The heat captured within the grill will spread throughout the grilling area and cook the avocado while adding wood smoke vapor. Note, it’s important that you don’t attempt to move the avocados for at least 10 minutes otherwise you will find the avocado flesh will stick to the grate and you’ll lose much of the fruit’s flesh. Wait until some of the fat renders and chars making removal so simple.

Grilled Avocado- Prep To Finish In Less Than 20 Minutes

In less than 20 minutes you will have wonderfully wood flavored, charred flesh avocados ready for your favorite recipes. Think of using this fruit in smoothies, dips, on salads, as a creamy ingredient for sauces – remember, avocado can be used to substitute the amount of butter used in most recipes. We will take some of our avocado and make a wood fired guacamole first. Our recipe will post soon so stay tuned and don’t’ forget to send us your pics of wood fired avocado.

Did you get motivated to fire up the grill with wood? Send us a comment or your avocado fired pics and don’t forget to subscribe. Bringing you fun, innovative tips, techniques and recipes on all wood fired methods for foods, beverages, spices, herbs and so much more.

Be sure to check out:

-The Top 10 Vegetables To Cook In Hot Embers

-HOW TO TURN YOUR LP/GAS GRILL INTO A SMOKER

-STEPPING UP RADISH SALAD WITH A WOOD-FIRED FLARE

Purchase products:

Wood Chunks- Double and Single Filet

GRILLED PEACH SALAD- THE PERFECT SALAD!

 

If you’ve been a follower of our recipes and techniques for a while, then you’re aware of our preference to grill, smoke, coal cook, and ember fire in-season produce. Peaches are no exception and with our Grilled Peach Salad, get your taste buds ready for a real treat!

I’ve got my two quarts of fresh peaches and a plan to grill these on the charcoal grill using charwood coals. Then I’ll use my luscious smoked peaches in a salad that features two additional seasonal ingredients – tomato and shallots.

Get your chimney starter of charwood or charcoal and meet me at the grill for this quick technique and grilled peach salad recipe.

Fire Up the Grill for Grilled Peach Salad

Whenever you use the charcoal grill, it’s always best to get it lit about 30 minutes ahead of cooking. I’m using a kettle-style grill made by Stôk that has a removable center grate for an assortment of inserts. I won’t be using any inserts for this cook as my peaches for the grilled peach salad recipe will stay in a disposable foil pan for easy cooking and removal.

Start by placing charcoal or charwood in a chimney starter. Place a Firestarter in the charcoal area of the grill and place the filled chimney starter over the starter. Lite the Firestarter and allow to remain in place until all the charwood has ignited and started to reduce to hot coals. While that’s burning, let’s prepare the peaches. Be sure you have a couple of wood chunks available to add to the coals when we are ready to grill. I like to use the single filet wood chunk size from SmokinLicious®.

Tasting Notes: there are differences in charcoal so be sure to use a natural charcoal or charwood product rather than briquets as briquets will produce more heat than you need.

Perfect Peach Bites

With our charcoal grill going, it’s time to start on the peaches. There are a few ways to remove the skin from peaches including placing them in hot water for a few minutes then removing and placing in a bowl of ice water. The skins will just peel off. I’m an old school so I use a sharp paring knife and just remove the skin.

Once the skin is removed, it’s time to cut the peach into bite-size pieces. You can easily cut around the pit and cut those slices into pieces. Place all the pieces in a foil pan in an even layer.

Tasting Notes: Try to purchase peaches that have some firmness to them if you don’t plan to grill them right away. The peaches should have no bruising and have a slight give when touched. Too soft and those peaches won’t hold their shape when exposed to the grill’s heat.

 

Smoking Process for the Perfect Grilled Peach Salad

With the peaches prepared, time to take them to the grill. Pour the chimney of hot coals into the grill’s charcoal area and add the wood chunks. Add the pan of prepared peaches and placed the lid on the grill. Be sure the outtake vent on the lid is ½ way open. The intake vent at the charcoal area should be ¼ way open. Now allow smoking for 15 minutes prior to checking. Remember, we want to add smoke without reducing the peaches to a puree.

Tasting Notes: Since peaches contain 89% water, they take in the smoke vapor extremely well. Keep that in mind when you select both the charcoal and wood. Remember, oak based charcoal tends to burn hot and has a stronger undertone to fruit.

Final Salad Prep- Grilled Peaches for the perfect salad addition!

While the peaches are absorbing all that great smoke flavor, return to the kitchen and prepare the remaining ingredients for our salad. You’ll need:

• 1 lb. tomatoes cut into 1/2’” pieces; or if using cherry or grape tomato, halved
• 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, plus additional for final drizzle
• 2 tablespoons rice vinegar
• ½ teaspoon lemon zest
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 1 shallot, sliced thin
• fresh mint leaves torn
• salt and pepper

I start by slicing my tomatoes in half, then add a teaspoon of salt to them while sitting in a colander so I can render some of the water. While the tomatoes sit, I start slicing the shallot into thin strips. At this point, you’ll want to check the peaches. They should be close to or ready to remove from the grill. I like to place them in the refrigerator for about 10 minutes to cool them down for the salad. While that’s happening, let’s prepare the vinaigrette.

I prefer to mix all the vinaigrette ingredients in a measuring cup so I can easily pour it to the salad right before serving, to keep the tomato and peach from getting too soggy. Start with the extra virgin olive oil and add the rice vinegar. Next, the lemon zest, lemon juice, salt, and fresh pepper. Whisk it all together and set aside while you combine the salad ingredients.

Tasting Notes: you can substitute cider vinegar for the rice vinegar and any color of tomato will do though I lean toward the reds and purples to give a color contrast from the orange peach.

Smoked peaches go into the serving bowl first, following by the tomatoes, and shallots. Pour the vinaigrette over the salad within an hour of serving and top with the torn mint leaves. A perfect balance of sweet, tart, smoky, and refreshing. An easy method and recipe you can have in 60 minutes. I love peaches so try our grilled peaches for the perfect salad addition for your next dish to pass! You will tantalize the guest taste buds!

SmokinLicious® products used in this blog:

Wood Chunks- Single Filet

Charwood

 

 

 

Additional reading:

-PEACHES WOOD FIRED FOR A SMOKY FLAVORFUL GAZPACHO

-WOOD FIRED GRILLED WATERMELON BECOMES A STAR

-WOOD-FIRED APPLES MAKE THE BEST CAKE

One of the most common questions asked when it comes to smoking foods on a gas grill, traditional charcoal grill or smoker is, how much wood do I need? Likely the second most common question is where does the wood go? Share on X

 

Let’s break this down by equipment and method of smoking so you have a good place to start in answering the above questions.

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THE GLOW OF WOOD EMBER COOKING!

So what exactly is wood ember cooking and why is it suddenly gaining attention as a method of cooking? Well, first, it’s most certainly not a new cooking concept. Cooking over a fire and hot coals have been around for thousands of years. Recently, some Chefs and well-known restaurants have taken to returning to this method of cooking because they know where great flavor can come from and they know how to manage the heat from hot wood embers.

An ember is a glowing, hot coal made of greatly heated wood, coal or other carbon-based material that remain after a fire. The heat radiated from hot embers can be as hot as the fire which created them. You can see this first hand, by placing new wood pieces on hot embers and watching a full fire develop. An ember is usually formed when a fire has only partially burnt a piece of fuel and there is still usable chemical energy in that piece of fuel. It continues to stay hot and does not lose its thermal energy quickly because combustion is still happening at a low level. The small yellow, orange, and red lights are often seen among the embers are actually combustions. There just is not enough combustion happening at one time to create a flame. Once the embers are completely ‘burned through’, they are not carbon as is commonly believed (carbon burns, and is not normally left behind), but rather various other oxidized minerals like calcium and phosphorus. At that point, they are commonly called ashes. But why cook on the embers versus over a live fire? Because embers radiate a more constant form of heat, as opposed to an open fire which is constantly changing along with the heat it radiates (think water trapped within the wood and you’ll understand why there is heat fluctuation).

Ember cooking techniques include placing thickly skinned food items directly into the embers (i.e. garlic, onion, peppers, eggplant, steaks, etc.), placing a cast iron skillet into the embers that can hold any food items from vegetables, meats, poultry, fish – really anything. The results produced from this method are super moist, super flavorful, and the aromas are exceptional.

 

 

 

 

INFUSING WOOD SMOKE INTO BRUSSELS SPROUTS

A favorite of the cabbage family, Brussels sprouts came to the United States via French immigration in the 18^th century. They are dominantly grown in California and available June thru January making them a Fall and holiday menu favorite. SmokinLicious® will take the flavors up a notch and add wood smoke into Brussels sprouts for two upcoming recipes. We’ll do this on the gas grill fit with wild cherry wood chunks to bring subtle smokiness to the finish sprouts. First purchase 3 lbs. of Brussels sprouts and get two cherry single filet chunks, and you’re ready to fire up the grill and get smoking.

The Easy Grill Method for Infusing Wood Smoke into Brussels Sprouts

Bringing the flavor of wood smoke into Brussels sprouts is so easy. To start, gather about 3 lbs. of Brussels sprouts, some cooking oil, butter, and a heavy-duty skillet. I prefer a nut oil like walnut or almond. For a skillet I’ll be using cast iron. I’ve trimmed the ends on about half the sprouts and for the other half, I’ve trimmed the ends and cut them in half. That’s it! Fire up the grill and get ready for a quick method of adding great wood-fired flavor.

It only takes a couple of pieces of wood chunk to bring fabulous flavor to the grill. I set up a cast iron pan on one side and place two cherry wood chunks on the heat shields of the far burner. Let the pan heat up for about 5 minutes then pour in a couple of tablespoons of oil and heat. Right before I add the Brussels sprouts, I add a couple of tablespoons of butter. In go the whole Brussels sprouts and the lid comes down. Leave untouched for about 5 minutes before turning.

Flavor Finish

As I have two recipes in mind I’m cooking two batches of Brussels sprouts: one batch whole and one batch halved. After leaving for 5 minutes, I stir them to ensure that all surfaces are infused with wood flavor. I maintain a temperature of 350-375° F which will make this a quick cooking method. The first 5 minutes, the lid is down but once stirred, you can finish the cooking with lid up. Remember, cast iron will retain heat, so you can turn the heat off and let sit for about 5 minutes.

After stirring a couple of times, both the whole and halved Brussels sprouts are ready in about 20 minutes time. I simply remove them from the heat and bring them in to be added to my favorite recipes.

I have two recipes I’ll be working on: Smoky Brussels Sprout Gratin and Tortellini with Lemon and Smoked Brussels Sprouts. These truly are the most flavorful Brussels sprouts! For those of you thinking about a holiday meal with them, well, the grill will give you that extra oven room you need. Take advantage of the long harvest season and try these mini cabbages on your grill. Check in for our recipes soon so we can get you started on how to use your prized sprouts.

Bringing you new methods of infusing wood fired flavor into seasonal items. Be sure to subscribe and follow us to gain great tips, techniques, recipes and the science behind the fire.

The Culinary Crew wants you to know…

… that the direct infusion of hardwood-fired smoke to foods, like Brussels Sprouts, is considered a flavor ingredient, much in the same way that spices, minerals and sauces enhance taste. When fired, the components of smoke vapor carry the hardwood’s distinctive flavor profile directly into meats, seafood, fruits or vegetables with pleasing results to the palate.

SmokinLicious Products used in this recipe- wood smoke into brussels sprouts:

Wood Chunks- Single Filet

Additional reading:

-WOOD GRILLING AVOCADO

-HOW TO TURN YOUR LP/GAS GRILL INTO A SMOKER

-WHAT’S IN THE SMOKINLICIOUS® WOOD CHUNK BOX?

 

 

EMBER FIRED ZUCCHINI

How to cook your zucchini on hot coals.

I love thick-skinned vegetables that come in season during Summer. They are the perfect items to light a fire and make some hot coals to ember fire flavor into them.

We’re getting ready to coal roast one of my favorite vegetables – zucchini! This is so simple to do and produces an extraordinary flavor for zucchini to be eaten on its own or to be used in your favorite recipe. Clean out the fire pit, charcoal grill or outdoor fireplace and prepare to roast “ember fired fresh zucchini” directly on the hot coals.

Building A Small Fire

Know this from the start – You do not need a large fire! A small fire is best to accomplish your cooking in about an hour’s time. For my fire, I am using ten SmokinLicious Single Filet Wood Chunks in Ash with a couple of pieces of charwood that were left over from a previous cook. Why Ash hardwood? Because it is hands down, the best hardwood to produce an even bed of coals which is what you want when you coal roast.

I stack the wood so there is quite a bit of air space between the pieces. This ensures I have good oxygen flow to produce combustion quickly. My technique is to stand the wood pieces on their end and make a circle. I try to have a couple of pieces in the center kind of tipped on to each other. Remember, you want to produce hot embers quickly so it only requires a little wood and a lot of oxygen to burn things down. I light my wood using a small butane torch. Leave the torch in place until I’m sure the wood has ignited. I keep the lid off my charcoal grill so I can push the combustion process through completion and get those ash covered, hot embers.

Red Means Hot

You will know when the coals or embers are ready for cooking when you have uniform coals and they are glowing red from the bottom and gray on top. I keep a couple of larger coals banked to the side to maintain heat and for reserved hot coals. Just in case I need to rake more to the cooking side. I like to nestle a high heat metal cooking rack on the hot coals and then place my whole zucchini on the rack. This allows for little ash to accumulate on the skin. Remember, those coals are very hot so the zucchini will take less than 20 minutes to tenderize and char.

Turn For Full Char

With the zucchini and coal rack in place, I give the embers about 8 minutes to char and cook the first side of the zucchini. After that time, I gently turn the zucchini so that each side gets an even char. Once the first 8 minutes are done, there will be less time needed for each of the other sides as the zucchini will hold heat. I’ve added one additional wood piece to my banked fire just to be sure I have enough heat in the coal area. I will not put the lid on the unit during the entire cooking process as this is open fire cooking. My total coal cooking time is approximately 16 minutes.

Perfection In Smoke & Char on Ember Fired Fresh Zucchini

After placing my ember fired fresh zucchini on hot coals for about 16 minutes total, turning several times to get an even char, this spectacular vegetable is ready for eating. You will see, there is very little coal bed left following this technique so remember, if you are cooking more than a couple of zucchini, you will need a larger coal bed.

For those of you thinking that the black, charred skin will be bitter and not appealing to eat, think again. Most of the char will rub right off but the flavor will be infused throughout the ember fired fresh zucchini. I’ve sliced mine about ¼-inch thick as I plan to make a galette of ricotta, garlic oil, and basil.

The Culinary Crew wants you to know…

… that ember roasting is ideal to boost up the bland, delicately flavored zucchini and will add a rich, wood-fired taste dimension to any dish featuring this exquisite summer squash. So, be prepared to enjoy a rich, char-smoked variation of your ratatouille, quesadillas, stuffed zucchini or soups from ember cooked zucchini!

Check in soon for our post on that recipe. Did you love this wood-fired technique? Leave a comment and subscribe as we continue to bring you new ideas, tips, techniques and recipes for all things wood-fired, smoked, and charred!

You may also enjoy reading:

-Top 10 Vegetables to Cook in Hot Embers

-EMBER FIRED ZUCCHINI & RICOTTA GALETTE

-SUCCULENT WOOD FIRED STUFFED TOMATO WITH HERB RICE

-Ember cooked Sweet Peppers

SmokinLicious® products:

Wood Chunks- Single Filet

Charwood

WHAT’S IN THE SMOKINLICIOUS® WOOD CHUNK FOR SMOKING BOX? Share on X

These two questions have been quite common for the 12+ years we’ve been in business. What does a cubic foot box of wood weigh? How many pieces do you estimate are in a cubic foot box of wood?

Due to the regulations imposed by The National Conference on Weights and Measures -Uniform Regulation for the Method of Sale of Commodities, we cannot specify weight on a wood product, even though we are a cooking wood. Instead, when asked about weight, we only provide an estimate clearly stating that wood is not sold by weight due to the variation in moisture level and density of the wood selected.

I can, however, tell you the details that a recent first-time customer posted to an online forum that had me elated!

The Specifics You’ve Asked About Wood Chunk for Smoking

This customer took a lot of time and effort to get to the details about our wood; the packaging and the weight not just of the carton, but of specific select pieces. This customer purchased the Serious Smoker Double Filet Wood Chunk which is our cubic foot carton product with the smallest chunk sizing. We offer an option to select up to 3 wood choices for this carton size, with this customer selecting our 3 most popular hardwoods: Hickory, Sugar Maple, and Wild Cherry.

First, let’s look at this customer’s overall purchase.

Wood Chunk for Smoking- It’s In The Numbers

The packaged hardwood weighed in a 32.5 lbs. A total of 139 pieces of wood were packaged. Of that total, 48 pieces were Wild Cherry, 44 pieces Sugar Maple, and 47 pieces Hickory.

Individual Weights

This customer owns equipment that references specific weight of wood needed to smoke optimally. In this case, just 2-4 ounces of wood is ideal.

Although weights for each of the 139 pieces of wood were not obtained, sufficient sampling was done. Here is what was reported:

• the lowest weight of a Wild Cherry chunk (remember, these are all double filet) was 1.5 ounces and the highest was 4.1 ounces
• lowest weight of a Sugar Maple chunk was 2 ounces and the highest at 5.7 ounces
• lowest weight of a Hickory chunk was 2.8 ounces and the highest at 6.4 ounces

For this equipment user, there was an estimate that 139 pieces of hardwood would provide for some 100 smoking events!

What I loved the most about this report is that it correlates specifically to the density of these 3 hardwoods. Hickory has the highest density of the 3 kinds of wood selected and this is reflected by the weight of the individual pieces sampled. Sugar Maple would be next in density followed by the Wild Cherry, all proven with the reported weights.

What Did You Learn?

Unquestionably, there is a lot of wood chunk pieces in a cubic foot carton! Which means you want to ensure you can use that much wood in a reasonable amount of time to maximize the freshness factor and peak level for function as a smoking wood. Individual pieces will vary in weight even if the dimensions of the pieces are relatively the same. That is the nature of a water-rich material – the water weight influences the overall piece weight.

We are indebted to this customer for taking the time to inform us all of his findings since, by law, SmokinLicious® can’t offer this detail.

We hope you liked this post. We’d love to hear from you so subscribe, comment and follow us on all social media platforms. Keep those suggestions coming for the future information you crave.

Additional reading:

–HOW MUCH WOOD TO ADD WHEN SMOKING

–BOOST UP THE FLAVOR OF YOUR SMOKER BOX!

–THE ART OF CUSTOMIZING YOUR COOKING EXPERIENCE

Our Products Discussed in this Blog:

Wood Chunks- Double Filet

For those that have followed us for years, you know we are proud that almost from the start of our Company, we were committed to providing a guide for equipment to cooking wood product match. We refer to our guide affectionately as “Match Your Cooker”.

In this article, we are covering our recommendations for smoker equipment; these are cookers that are dedicated for use as a smoker, usually hot smoking at that. As there are always new equipment lines and models released, our plan is to provide regular updates. We also encourage you to send us a message when you don’t see a manufacturer or model listed so we can add this to our listing.

For now, we introduce you to our wood master’s guide to SmokinLicious® cooking woods for specific smokers.

Barrel Smoker Logs for Food Smokers

The following Smokers list equipment/models would be suitable for the SmokinLicious® Barrel Smoker Log/ Full Cut Log:

BBQ Pits By Klose model: Commercial Indoor & Outdoor Pits; Mobile Cookers and Catering Rigs

Bubba Grills models: T3 Steam, 250 Gallon R, 250 Gallon Ribbox, 500 Gallon R, Hog/Shoulder Box, Custom Grills

Cookers and Grills.com model: Mobile Units, Hog Cookers, Pig Roasters

Horizon Smokers model: Trailer Smokers

Jambo Pits model: J-3 and J-5 Models

Kingfisher Kooker’s model: Commercial Rotisserie Cookers, Commercial Grill

Lang BBQ Smokers model: Competitive and Commercial Smokers

M Grills model: M1, M36, M48

Meadow Creek® BBQ model: Barbecue Smoker and Barbecue Smoker Trailer

Myron Mixon Smokers models: H2O Water Smoker, Gravity Feeds, H2O Rotisserie Water Smoker, Trailers

Ole Hickory Pits™ model: Convecture™ Tri Ovens

Peoria Cookers model: Mobile Units

Southern Pride BBQ Pits & Smokers model: Gas and Mobile Smokers

¼ Cut Wood Logs for Food Smokers

The following Smokers list equipment/models would be suitable for the SmokinLicious® ¼ Cut Wood Log:

American Barbecue Systems model: “The Judge”, “The Smokehouse 6042”

Backwoods Smoker: “The Gladiator”

BBQ Pits By Klose: Combination Smokers and Grills

Karubecue model KBQ C-60 BBQ Smoker Pit

Lang BBQ Smokers model: Competitive and Commercial Smokers

Ole Hickory Pits™ model: Convecture™ Tri Ovens

Pitmaker model: BBQ Edge Smoker

The Good-One™ Smokers model: The Pitboss

Tucker Cooker Co.

 

Unfileted Wood Blocks for Food Smokers

The following Smoker list equipment/models would be suitable for the SmokinLicious® Unfileted Wood Block:

BBQ Pits By Klose: Combination Smokers and Grills

Big Poppa® Smokers models: cabinet smokers

Bubba Grills models: Super Cooker, Deck Grills, Custom Grills

Cookers and Grills.com model: Mobile Units, Hog Cookers, Pig Roasters, Backyard Chef & Patio Smoker Grills

Meadow Creek® BBQ

Pitmaker model: Hitman 48, Short Sniper, Long Rifle Sniper, Magnum Sniper Smoker

The Good-One™ Smokers model: The Open Range, The Heritage, The Marshall, The Pitboss

Tucker Cooker Co.

Yoder Smokers

Single Filet Wood Chunks for Food Smokers

The following Smokers list equipment/models would be suitable for the SmokinLicious® Single Filet Wood Chunks:

American Barbecue Systems model: “All Star”, “The Pit-Boss”, “The Bar-Be-Cube”

Backwoods Smoker model: “Party”, “G2 Party”, “The Fatboy”, “G2 Fatboy”, “The Pro Junior”, “The Piglet”, “Piglet Plus”, “The Competition Hog”, “The Pro-Competition Hog”, “The Whole Hog”

Big Poppa® Smokers models: all drum smokers

Bubba Grills models: Deck Grills

Char-Broil model: Highland Offset Smoker, Longhorn Offset Smoker, Longhorn Reverse Flow Offset Smoker

Cookers and Grills.com model: Charcoal/Wood Smoker Grills

Pitmaker models: Hitman 20×32, Custom Smokers

Smoke Hollow Charcoal/Gas Grill

Stump’s Smoker models: The Baby, The XL Baby, The Junior, The Classic, The Stretch, The Monster, Platinum 4, Platinum 6, Reverse Flow models

The Good-One™ Smokers model: The Patio Jr.

Double Filet Wood Chunks for Food Smokers

The following Smokers list equipment/models would be suitable for the SmokinLicious® Double Filet Wood Chunks:

American Barbecue Systems model: “All Star”, “The Pit-Boss”, “The Bar-Be-Cube”

Backwoods Smoker model: “Chubby 3400”, “Chubby”, “G2 Chubby”

Best Choice Products model: 43” Outdoor Vertical Smoker

Brinkman models: Trailmaster 57” Vertical Smoker, Roadmaster, All-In-One Gas & Charcoal Smoker, Grill & Fryer, Smoke ‘N Pit

Broil King model: Smoke Offset, Smoke Grill, Smoke Vertical

Cabela’s 7 in 1 Cooker/Smoker

Char-Broil model: Vertical Charcoal, American Gourmet Offset Smokers, Offset Smokers, Bullet Smokers, Silver Smoker

Char-Griller Grills & Smokers models: Smokin’ Champ™ 1624 Charcoal Grill, Smokin’ Outlaw 3724 Charcoal Grill, Smokin’ Pro™ E1224, Competition Pro™ 8125 Charcoal Grill, Texas Trio

Cookshack model: SmartSmoker Commercial Smoker & Smoker Oven, Smokette Electric Smokers, SuperSmoker Electric Smoker, AmeriQue Electric Smoker

Cuisinart model: COS-244 Vertical 36” Propane Smoker, COS-118 Vertical 18” Charcoal Smoker

Dyna-Glo models: DG01176BDC-D Off-Set Smoker, DGX7080BDC-D 36” Vertical Smoker, Signature Series Vertical Smoker, DGX376BCS-D Compact Charcoal Bullet Smoker

Masterbuilt models: 7 in 1 Smoker and Grill, Dual Fuel Smoker

Master Forge Charcoal Smoker/Griller

Meco (Americana) Charcoal Combo Water Smoker

Pitmaker model: BBQ Safe Smoker

Red Box Smoker

Smokin-It®

Southern Country Models: 2 in 1 Water Smoker and Charcoal Grill, 5025 Stainless Steel Charcoal Water Smoker

Stump’s Smoker models: The Mini Stumpster, The Stumpster

Texas Pit Crafters models: PM 500S BI, PM 500U BI, PM 500 U S/S BI, PM 535U BI Smoker, PM 550S BI, PM 550 Smoker with Enclosed Front Load Firebox, PM 550 Upright Smoker/Pit with Enclosed Firebox

 

Grande Sapore® Wood Chips for Food Smokers

The following Smokers list equipment/models would be suitable for the SmokinLicious® Grande Sapore® Wood Chips:

Alto-Shaam model: Smoker Ovens

Broil King model: Smoke Offset, Smoke Grill, Smoke Vertical

Camp Chef model: Smoke Vault Smoker

Char-Broil model: Vertical Electric & Propane

Dyna-Glo model: DGU732BDE-D 30″ Digital Electric Smoker

Napoleon model: Apollo AS200K, Apollo AS300K

Pit Barrel®: any model

Minuto® Wood Chips for Food Smokers

The following Smokers list equipment/models would be suitable for the SmokinLicious® Minuto® Wood Chips:

Alto-Shaam model: Smoker Ovens

Bastra

Camp Chef model: Smoke Vault Smoker

Char-Broil model: Vertical Electric Smokers, Deluxe Digital Electric Smoker, Analog Electric Smoker, Simple Smoker

Dyna-Glo model: DGU732BDE-D 30″ Digital Electric Smoker

Fessmann

Hakka Electric Stainless Steel BBQ Smoker

Kerres

Koch Smokehouse

Landmann model: 26” Smoky Mountain Electric Smoker

Smoke Hollow model: 44” Two Door Propane Gas Smoker, 38” Propane Gas Smoker

Smokehouse Products model: Little Chief Front Load Smoker

SmokinTex model: 1100 Pro Series Electric Smoker

 

Piccolo® Wood Chips for Food Smokers

The following Smoker list equipment/models would be suitable for the SmokinLicious® Piccolo® Wood Chips:

AFOS

Alto-Shaam model: Smoker Ovens

Arcos

Camp Chef model: Smoke Vault Smoker

Jugema

Koch Smokehouse

Lambda

Maurer-Atmos

Ness

Schroter

Spomasz Wroclaw

Vemag

Voss

Smokin’ Dust® for Food Smokers

The following Smokers list equipment/models would be suitable for the SmokinLicious® Smokin’ Dust®

Alto-Shaam model: Smoker Ovens

 

 

 

SmokinLicious® products used in this blog:

Smoker Logs

Wood Blocks

Wood Chunks- Double & Single Filet

Wood Chips- Grande Sapore®, Minuto®, Piccolo®

Smokin’ Dust

 

 

-“MATCH YOUR COOKER” – CERAMIC AND KAMADO GRILL: THE WOOD MASTER’S GUIDE

-WOOD BURNING PIZZA OVENS: THE WOOD MASTER’S GUIDE

-TEMPERATURE CONTROL IS ALL IN THE AIR FLOW

-THE WATER PAN EXPLAINED FOR GRILLING & SMOKING

 

 

 

 

 

Our recap of Smoking-Grilling Wood Selling Terms

WOOD SELLING TERMS DEMYSTIFIED

 

Package labeling. It is the key to drawing attention to a product, to reduce interest in other similar products, and to make someone buy a specific product. Let’s be honest. Not everything printed on a label necessarily provides ALL the information. Use certain words and an “implied” thought will occur.

When it comes to packaging wood for smoking and grilling purposes, there are a lot of terms floating out there that certainly can be deceiving. Let’s see if I can provide clarity on what specific terms and wording mean when it comes to purchasing wood for cooking, smoking, and grilling. SMOKING-GRILLING WOOD SELLING TERMS

WOOD SELLING TERMS:

100% Natural

The intended meaning of 100% natural implies that it has not been touched by human hands. As such, with wood, this would refer to the fact that a tree is a plant designed by nature and other than cutting the tree down, it is not modified in any way.

However, we do know that trees, like flowers, can be manipulated when it comes to their genetics. Genetically modified trees are quite common in the growth of orchard woods, especially those seeking to develop dwarf varieties or specific blossom colors or hybrids. Keep in mind, genetically modified trees will have a reduction in the lignin compound which is responsible for the flavor the wood gives when it burns and gives off smoke vapor.

Currently, it is not legal to genetically modify forest trees but there is a lot of allowances when it comes to plantation and orchard/nursery trees, which often have chemicals applied to make up for the weak lignin which makes the wood susceptible to decay and pest infestation.

Kiln-Dried

Wood that is dried in a closed chamber in which the temperature and relative humidity of the circulated air can be controlled is called “kiln drying”. There are three types of Kiln Drying methods: low-temperature drying which is below 130° F, conventional electric dehumidification drying, and conventional steam-heated drying which have temperatures up to 180° F.

For the most part, when a smoking or grilling wood product lists “kiln-dried” on the packaging, it does not state the type of method being employed. Also, many that use this term do so without providing any information on what compliance record keeping is in place to attest that they are doing what they say.

There is one company who states that they adhere to the protocol designed by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) but quote a core temperature and length in minutes of the heating process that is not the standard written by the USDA. Their compliance agreement is provided by the state in which the business is located, which may have a different standard in place than the USDA.

Air-Dried

The process of drying green wood by exposure to prevailing natural atmospheric conditions outdoors or in an unheated shed is known as air drying. There are three dominate Air Drying methods: open yard, shed, and forced-air shed. The first is not held in high regard as the wood is exposed to all the elements making it the longest method of depleting moisture content from the wood. The second has the addition of a roof covering to maintain a precipitation-free environment, while the third option is mostly used by traditional lumber companies as it produces quicker results meaning products can be sold quicker.

Here’s the issue when you see “Air-Dried” on package labeling of grilling and smoking woods: you don’t know what method is used and no one is saying how long the wood was air-dried for. You don’t know how old the wood is, what method of air drying was employed, how long it took to “dry” it, and you likely won’t know what moisture content is left in the wood. Remember, dry out a piece of wood too far, and it is simply firewood designed for heat output only.

Naturally Cured

This is another term that floats out on the packaging that implies it is different from air drying techniques. It is not different.

Naturally curing wood means the wood is stacked in a manner that allows air to flow around the wood pieces usually in an outdoor setting. It may be left exposed, covered with a tarp or have a roof structure overhead. Naturally curing wood for fireplace use is recommend for 365 days but there is no benchmark for the timing used to dry the wood for the use of smoking or grilling. Some suppliers will use moisture levels of 20-30% as their benchmark but 10% is a large variable in moisture when it comes to wood.

Here is the biggest challenge with a natural curing method: dry the wood too quickly and you will find cracks, splitting, honeycombing, and/or warping. Dry too slowly and the wood will stain and suffer decay. Remember, decay attracts pests as that is what they feed on. SMOKING-GRILLING WOOD SELLING TERMS

Selecting

I won’t lie to you – there are a lot of choices out there for wood. How do you go about selecting from the limited information on the packaging?

Some decisions you’ll have to make on your own: do you want to cook with bark or do you find that bark indeed fluctuates the temperature of your equipment too much? Do you want to use a kiln-dried product even if you don’t know what temperature and for how long that product was heated? Would you want to use a product that hasn’t had any heat application applied to it meaning there may be pests, larvae, mold, and spores that haven’t been eliminated by a heat process? Do you want to use a product from a supplier that provides no information on the moisture of the wood? Do you want to go with a “natural”, “air dried” product that may have been exposed to anything that could access the wood: animal feces and urine, insects, chemical contaminants from the ground or another source?

In the end, I think the selection can be easy by simply looking at the wood for purity and cleanliness, looking at the packaging for evidence of air exchange meaning its likely not completely dried out and looking at the packaging information for claims that don’t seem to match the product that is packaged inside.

Most of all, you should be able to gain valuable information from any supplier’s website on the wood they are selling to you. If not, be cautious that they may not know anything about the manufacturing process of the wood and/or what is needed in wood to qualify it as cooking ingredient. We hope that our discussion of smoking & Grilling Wood Selling Terms adds clarity to your selection process.

 

Purchase products:

Wood Chunks- Double & Single Filet

Wood Chips- Grande Sapore®, Minuto®, Piccolo®

Additional reading:

-COOKING WITH WOOD YOU SHOULDN’T HAVE TO THINK ABOUT YOUR SAFETY

-Is It Fresh? Here’s Why You Need to Know

-WHAT WOOD TO USE FOR SMOKING: A PRIMER

-HOT TREND MAY NOT BE THE SAFEST BET

SMOKING-GRILLING WOOD SELLING TERMS