I’m going to first relate the information on why the risks in North America are not the same as developing countries and then I will highlight the top six (6) potential reactions we face when using specific woods for cooking. This will be generalized reactions to wood compounds and not the direct result of a specific cooking technique.
Developing countries generally use very primitive equipment for cooking the daily meals needed to sustain families. The simplest method is with three large stones to contain the fire with a pot or other metal container placed on top for the cooking. The fires are fueled by solid materials like coal, wood, dung, and crop waste. All these materials release harmful particles into the air as they burn. Here’s the issue: they employ this cooking set up INDOORS, where they live which generally is in homes constructed from thatch, mud, and/or animal skins. Chimneys may not be present or if present, have no flue to draw the contaminated air out.
Follow our 6 tips for a healthy outdoor cooking season in 2018!
Tips for Safe Outdoor Cooking- “6 TIPS FOR A HEALTHY SEASON”
Everyone seems to be so much happier during the seasons that allow for outdoor cooking and entertaining. Whether it’s a planned cooking event or spur of the moment decision, these cooking events turn into an opportunity to relax, kick back and truly enjoy life.
There are steps you should take to ensure that the foods you enjoy outdoors remain safe. What follows are the top tips for safe outdoor cooking that will make for the best outdoor cooking season ever, no matter what you elect to cook.
Tips for Safe Outdoor Cooking
Tip #1
There are times when you want to marinate meats and poultry before cooking on your grill or smoker. Know that foods will only remain safe if you marinate in the refrigerator in a covered container, not with the marinated foods laying out on the kitchen counter. Also, if you plan to incorporate some of the marinades into a sauce, be sure to reserve some before it is applied to the raw foods. If there is marinade leftover from the raw food marination, be sure you boil it before using as anything that has contact with the raw food can carry bacteria.
Tip #2
You can grill a variety of foods on the same equipment but to know when everything is cooked, you will need to have thermometers. It’s best to use a different thermometer, marked by color, for each type of food: beef, pork, chicken, fish. The thermometer should be placed in the thickest part of the meat or poultry to get an accurate internal temperature reading. Here is a guide on temperatures:
Beef, Pork, Lamb, & Veal (steaks, roasts, and chops): 145°F/62°C
Remember, thicker cut meats and poultry will need to be placed closer to the fire or heat. Utilize the upper grill grate for those items that are more fragile like thinner fillets of fish, vegetables, fruit, or for heating sauces.
Tip #3
You cannot partially cook meats and poultry by parboiling or microwaving and then placing in the refrigerator for grilling the next day. Although you may think this will lessen the cooking time on the grill, what you’re doing is introducing the potential for everyone to become sick. The reason? Partial cooking does not eliminate all bacteria growth. The reality is, you would be allowing bacteria to continue to grow.
Tip #4
Take the time to properly clean your grill or smoker at the start of the outdoor cooking season. It’s common to close vents on the grill or smoker when you cover it up for the winter season but these aides in stimulating mold growth on the grill grate and/or inside cover and walls. For that reason, it’s important to scrub down the interior of the grill or smoker using a cleaning mixture; 1 part vinegar to 3 parts water or a bleach to water blend if you’re not opposed to the more toxic bleach.
Tip #5
Be sure you start with a hot grill or to cooking temperature smoker. That means, preheat. Preheat your grill 15 to 25 minutes before you start cooking to make sure it reaches the right temperature to ensure all bacteria is killed. Your grill should be 400-450°F for high, 350-400°F for medium-high, 300-350°F for medium and 250-300°F for low heat. By having a properly heated grill, you will guarantee a moist outcome for your meat and poultry.
Tip #6
There are many of us we prefer a good charcoal grill versus gas. It is important that you understand that there are many more influencers to altering the flavor of what you’re cooking when you cook over charcoal. Be sure to use an additive-free lump charcoal, which is charred wood. Conventional briquettes, which are easy to find, may contain wood scraps and sawdust as well as coal dust, sodium nitrate, borax and additives like paraffin or lighter fluid. As for lighter fluid, NO! Lighter fluid can release volatile organic compounds (VOCs) into the air, leave an unpleasant flavor to foods, and pose a serious danger if used improperly. Skip it altogether.
Without question, our 6 TIPS FOR A HEALTHY OUTDOOR COOKING SEASON should help you on your way to a healthy, memorable outdoor cooking season. Likely, the best ever!
Well, before you ask that question, you should want to know “What woods are safe to use for smoking?”
Hardwood vs. Softwood for Cooking- Softwoods:
Softwoods or coniferous woods should never be used for cooking because they have elevated sap levels and more air in their cell structure. This causes the wood to burn fast, hot, produce lots of sparks, and produce unpleasant flavors not ideal for flavoring foods. Let’s be clear on what a softwood is: pine, redwood, cedar, fir, spruce, hemlock, larch, cypress. These are all no-no’s!
Hardwood vs. Softwood for Cooking- Hardwoods:
Known as deciduous trees that produce broad leaves, produce a fruit or a nut, and generally go dormant in the winter, hardwoods are the woods to use for cooking and makeup roughly 40 percent of all trees in the United States.
Hardwoods are made up of mostly three materials: cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin. Cellulose and hemicellulose are the basic material of the wood cells; lignin acts as a kind of cell-bonding glue but it is the primary material need for flavoring in barbecue. Lignin contains phenols or hydroxyl groups which are alcohols. As these compounds work together, they produce a preservative action on the food which is antibacterial in nature. Lignin modifies the surface of the smoked food as the wood burns making the food scrumptious!
Hardwood vs. Softwood for Cooking- The Lignin Compound
Although all woods contain compounds which act as a preservative providing both antioxidants and reduction in bacterial growth, there are compounds that are more toxic to people, including compounds like formaldehyde and acetic acid which provide for an overall pH level in wood. Hotter wood fires produce a higher pH level. A good example is mesquite, which produces twice the level of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, or PAHs, meaning it has a pH level almost threetimes the level of cooler burning hardwoods like Sugar Maple and Oak. Remember, it’s PAHs that are of concern when you grill or smoke and why foods cooked by these methods can get a bad rap.
Hardwood vs. Softwood for Cooking- Orchard Woods
Don’t forget a point about orchard woods which are a hardwood.
Woods like apple, peach, and pecan are traditionally raised for their fruit and nut production meaning they are commonly sprayed with pesticides in order to ensure a productive tree. Unfortunately, these pesticides are absorbed by the tree and released when burned. That means, you release them into the cooking equipment every time you use them for grilling and smoking.
Ask questions about the wood you want to purchase, read wood packaging and look for hardwoods that are known to be ideal for wood-fired cooking like cherry, alder, ash, hickory, maple, oak, and beech. Great food memories at the grill or smoker are made when you start with the perfect smoking wood! Don’t settle for anything less.
I love the idea of making your own dry rubs for a variety of reasons, but primarily to allow the cook to control the amount of salt and sugar, two ingredients that are in high ratios for many jarred rubs.
This guide is intended to provide tips to achieve a balance of flavors in the ingredients selected. I’m also going to provide listings of ideal ingredients for specific proteins to help stimulate your creative juices.
Dry Rubs Made Easy- Percentage of Water
Before we begin with the actual ingredients for dry rubs , let’s discuss the composition of meat and poultry and why you need to be aware of water content.
Although you may not think of water this way, water is a chemical and it is the dominate one in meat, followed by protein and then fat. For a less active, mature, “fat” animal, water can be 45% of the composition but for a younger, leaner animal it can be as much as 72% moisture. Remember, fat cannot hold water. Texture, color and flavor are affected by the amount of water in the muscle tissue. Water that is retained during forces of pressure and temperature is referred to as “bound water” while water that is lost is called “free water”. You can change the capacity of the muscle to hold the water by disrupting the muscle structure. Examples would be grinding, freezing, chopping, thawing, and salting meat.
Dry Rubs- Salt and Sugar
Hopefully, you are aware of the ingredient rule that states the first few ingredients listed on a nutritional label are the highest percentages of that item. That means, when you see salt and sugar listed in the top three ingredients, note that those dominate the rub .
Research has shown that higher salt content works very well with cuts of beef, fish, and wild game. Pork tends to do well with rubs that contain higher sugar levels. However, I tend to avoid putting salt into my rubs, preferring to add by hand when the food is ready.
Let’s breakdown the types of salt and sugar so you know how to incorporate them.
Table or Refined Salt: a fine grade salt that is made by dissolving in water which removes everything but sodium chloride. These usually have an additive to prevent them from caking in dispensers and may also contain an iodine additive.
Kosher Salt: a coarse grain that may have an anticaking additive, it is slower to dissolve on food surfaces.
Sea Salt: most are refined producing just over 99% sodium chloride but the grain size can vary from brand to brand.
Pickling Salt: contains no iodine or anticaking additive and dissolves well in water making it ideal for brine recipes
Seasoned Salts: a refined salt that contains a flavor ingredient such as garlic, onion, celery
Curing Salts: these should never be used as an ingredient in a rub as they are designed to preserve meats, which means they include nitrite and possibly nitrate.
White Sugar: this is a highly refined cane or beet sugar that can scorch at higher temperatures
Brown Sugar: this is white sugar combined with molasses so it tends to add more flavor
Dry Rubs- Pepper
It’s important to have some level of heat in your rub to balance the sweet and savory ingredients but you need to have a tempered hand to ensure that you don’t add to much. Let’s look at the pepper options:
White Pepper: considered the gentle pepper, it’s light in color and flavor with just a warm heat undertone.
Black Pepper: this can be fine or coarse and has much higher heat level than white and some cayenne peppers.
Cayenne: although I’m listing this separately due to its popularity, cayenne is a chile powder known as ground red pepper, the heat level is front of the line which means you need to add small quantities and taste before adding more.
Chile Pepper: these are the peppers that have a wide variety of heat levels. Common names include: Ancho, Chipotle, Pasilla, New Mexican, Guajillo, Habanero, Jalapeno, Bhut Jolokia, Aji Amarillo.
The Smokinlicious® Test Kitchen had an opportunity to use the Technique® Cast Iron Pan and Smoker which many of you purchased via QVC. Here are some preliminary findings by our Culinary Team:
➝Use caution when selecting cuts of meat with this cast iron pan! We had purchased a 10 lb. pork shoulder and struggled to get the cover tightly on the pan. Right now, it appears that cuts less than 8 lbs. would be ideal for cooking/smoking/roasting/grilling.
➝I’m sure we were not the only purchasers to be disappointed to read in the Technique® brochure that you should “not try to smoke in the oven” with this unit. Rest assured, Dr. Smoke will see if there is a means of actually smoking in a conventional oven by using low temperature and LiquidInfusedWoodChips /Smokin’ Dust®. /WoodChunks with this smoker unit (more on these findings as they become available).
➝ We cooked both a bone-in pork shoulder and bone-in chicken breast. Both cooks revealed great moisture to the meat. We used the recommended medium heat setting on our gas range but found that the cast iron pan radiates a significant amount of heat. Thus, we recommend reducing the heat setting to a low-medium (“3″ if you have a digital setting) on gas units. We also turned the heat off our cast iron pan approximately 20 minutes prior to completing the cooking time in order to benefit from the pan’s ability to generate further heat on its own. Remember, all meat should rest prior to cutting.
➝ There was considerable “rendering” out of the fat drippings into the drip pan. There is significant staining on the stainless steel drip pan so you may want to consider lining the pan with foil or even parchment paper to reduce metal staining.
➝ Smokin’ Dust® Usage: although the dust will render black in this pan, it did give off a tremendous amount of aroma. We used the Smokin’ Dust® dry, about 2 Tablespoons worth, in the center of the smoking pan. This appears to be the correct amount although we did not feel it produced as much flavor to the meat as a conventional smoker.
➝ WoodChips: we used Wild Cherry WoodChips (standard grind) in the smoker pan while cooking a bone-in chicken breast on the gas stovetop. The chips also produced significant aroma in the air but we found that they produce much more flavor to the meat. Keep in mind, our chicken breast was just over 2lbs so it fit easily in the grill pan with the cover tightly on. The fact that more flavor was infused in the chicken could be the result of less air leakage than the pork shoulder and the fact the chicken is much more porous allowing for ease in accepting smoke. We used the WoodChips pre-soaked for 15 minutes in water, then allowed to drip dry before placing in the smoker pan. We used approximately 1 handful and spread them in the smoking pan to allow the drip pan to fit easily in place. Once our chicken was finished, we noted that the wood chips also blackened during the cooking process, much like the Smokin’ Dust®.
At this stage in our testing of the Technique® Cast Iron Pan and Smoker, we feel it is comparable to other stovetop units that we’ve tested. One important difference is the fact that there is no built in thermometer, so you must check the meat with a handheld or wireless thermometer to ensure you remove the food at the proper cooking temperature. Here are some other points worthy of mention:
➝ this is a heavy cast iron pan and all parts of it become very hot ➝ the pan can use some additional seasoning as there is some food sticking occurring with the grill pan ➝ it does take some effort to clean but if you re-season and continue to use the cast iron pan, I would anticipate this to become less of an issue ➝ there is a significant convection occurrence when cooking which produces a very moist product but as mentioned above, you must time the cooking process to ensure no over-cooking
Stay tuned for additional posting regarding this cookware. Our plans are to try the Smokin’ Dust®. mixed with liquid as well as to try our Woodscuit®Flavor-Infused products.
Till then, “Bon-Bar-B-Q!”
Donna G
Dr. Smoke- The Technique® Cast Iron Pan & Smoker passes the Smokinlicious® kitchen test with flying colors when using our sized hardwood smoking chips!
For more related reading on stove top smoking, check out these articles:
“You are what you eat” is a saying that is truer today than it was years ago!
‘YOU ARE WHAT YOU EAT’ APPLIES TO WOOD COOKING
Summary of You Are What you Eat
Healthy eating recipes, eat smart with Bark free cooking wood, cooking wood as a food ingredient is a clean eating basic. Responsibly sourced wood and only using heartwood Hardwoods avoids what woods are toxic to humans. Please remember you are what you eat when it comes to smoke flavor in food and your sourced wood.
We’ve all heard it, likely from our mothers. You are what you eat. If you truly understand the meaning of the statement, you know that we extract necessary nutrients from the foods we ingest to energize and stabilize our bodies. The nutritional content of what we eat determines the composition of our cell membranes, bone marrow, blood, and hormones. Every day we lose cells which is why the foods we consume are so vital to our body’s health.
Like Any Other Food Choice
If you’ve been a follower of my writings then you are aware of the stress I put on recognizing the wood used to cook foods is just as important an ingredient as the cut of meat, choice of spices, quality of oil, etc. There has been a lot of focus on the origin of food and how important it is to source locally both as a means of supporting local business and to control what you’re putting in your body. From our perspective, you want to know that the wood used for cooking is sourced close to the growing area. This ensures that there is knowledge about how the wood is processed before it gets to you and it assures the freshest product.
Minimal Processing
Just as with the clean food concept which focuses on minimally processed foods and as direct from nature as possible, SmokinLicious® holds to the same approach. Sourcing wood from forest regions (direct from nature) that are in close proximity to our manufacturing facility, provides us with the unique advantage to process into the various cooking products the hardwoods harvested that meet our strict criteria: 100% bark-free (we don’t allow any bark-on product to cross our threshold), 100% heartwood (no outer cores of the tree cross our threshold), harvested hardwood that is less than 6 months of age (ensures this is still a “green” product), chemical-free (no pesticide or growth enhancement techniques employed), and in raw state to allow us to process it into a suitable cooking wood size.
The Risks
If you love foods that are cooked with wood, then you should know a few specifics to keep you on the path to health and long life.
Hardwoods only!
Softwoods or coniferous woods should never be used for cooking as they have elevated sap levels and more air in their cell structure. This causes them to burn fast, produce lots of sparks, and unpleasant flavors that are not ideal for flavoring foods. These include pine, redwood, cedar, fir, spruce, hemlock, larch, cypress.
Toxicity Risks:
There are many known toxicities in certain species of wood with softwoods containing the highest risk. Other woods have the potential to cause sickness and in some cases death if a person’s system is already compromised. Most of the risks are associated with the cooking process rather than the ingestion of the actual wood-fired food. But know that if a balance of the wood-tar creosote is not found, then the ingestible risks of the food heighten. One of the best means of obtaining a balance is by starting with hardwoods that are considered safe for cooking, are clean, are bark-free, and derive from the inner cores rather than outer of the wood, where more impurities lurk.
Cooking Technique Influence Risk:
At some point, I’m sure you’ve read about heterocyclic amines (HCAs) and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). These are the chemicals that form when meats, poultry, and fish are cooked using higher temperature methods like grilling. Why does this pose a health risk? Because these chemicals cause changes in DNA and when you change DNA and they are metabolized by specific enzymes in the body, you can increase the risk of cancer associated with these compounds. There is no definitive link between HCA and PAH exposure from cooked meats and cancer in humans. There is no way to differentiate between other exposures to the chemicals from the food exposure.
HCAs are found to only be associated with meat cooked at high temperatures. While PAHs can be found in other smoked foods. Remember, PAHs are also in cigarette smoke and fumes from car exhaust. A recommendation is to remove any charred portions of meat, continuously turning meat over the high heat source, and avoiding direct exposure of meat to the open flame to reduce exposure. Here’s a tip that can also reduce the risk of forming HCAs – marinate your foods for at least 10 minutes.
In THE HISTORY OF FIRE COOKING PART IV, we examine how wood fired cooking has evolved around the world, focusing on those countries who still rely solely or in great part on wood fired cooking for sustenance.
Many Still Rely on Fire
The numbers can be staggering when you take a close look. In developing countries, some 2.5 billion people rely on biomass to meet their energy needs for cooking. For many, these resources account for over 90% of the household energy consumption. Biomass includes charcoal (derived from wood), fuel wood, agricultural waste, and animal dung. As area populations increase, the number of people relying on biomass for cooking also grows. By the year 2030, it is estimated that 2.7 billion people will relay on biomass for cooking! The immediate concerns are that biomass will be used without sustaining harvests and that technologies for energy conversion will not be used properly. In fact, 1.3 million people, the majority of whom are women and children, die because of exposure to indoor air pollutants from biomass. Slowly, the goal for switching to modern cooking fuels and/or promoting more efficient and sustainable use of traditional biomass is under way. For now, there are millions who wood fire foods for their family’s nutrition using traditional methods and recipes.
The History of Fire Cooking Part IV- The Many Methods and Meals of Fire Cooking
Without question, the continent of Africa houses most of the countries who are reliant on wood fires for cooking. The top 12 countries using wood fires for cooking are: Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Rwanda, Burundi, Liberia, Madagascar, Sierra Leone, South Sudan, Guinea, Laos, Ethiopia, and Central African Republic. However, there are many other countries that carry generations of wood fired cooking recipes into today, making them a family gathering special occasion. Let’s examine some of those countries and what they cook.
Morocco
Moroccans cook in earthen ovens called tagine, a conical shaped terra-cotta lid that sits on a flat terra cotta bottom. It sits on a base called a majmar, an unglazed brazier full of hot coals that cooks the tagine slowly. In the market place, tagines are lined up with various foods like fish & potatoes, chicken & olives and lemon, or lamb with prunes. They also use small elevated grills in the port areas to cook various fish.
Laos
Although the people of Laos do grill some items, including water beetles, they mostly make soup in large pots set over an open wood fire. This is much like the American style of cowboy cooking. Vegetables, sprouts, and noodles are often added to the broth to make the traditional Laotian daily dish.
Guatemala
Guatemalans use a method of wood cooking known as three stone cooking. A fire is started between 3 fire proof materials, usually stones that are used to support pots placed over the fire. Pepian, the national dish of Guatemala, is a mouth-watering chicken stew made with different types of native chilis, seeds, and vegetables. In addition to hand-crafted tortillas, it takes 3-4 hours to make this recipe traditionally over a fire.
Argentina
Here they call barbecue asado and it is certainly about the meat. Vegetables, calamari, bread, and other foods are introduced to fire and heated either on heavy grates or iron pans.
India
One of the biggest misconceptions is that tandoori is a recipe from India. That couldn’t be further from the truth. Tandoori is a technique of grilling meat over fire in a tandoor, a clay oven. The tandoor is buried. Heat escapes from the top. Tandoori is very hot! Skewered meat or fish is inserted into the tandoor vertically to cook. The traditional bread, Naan, is placed along the sides of the clay vessel.
Korea
Koreans use a very unique method of wood fire cooking while at the same time utilizing the heat from that fire to heat their homes. They are one of the earliest users of radiant heat. Outside the home, a fire proof container is hung over the fire area. A series of flues travel horizontally under the house. Ondol is a layer of flat stone located directly beneath the house floor.A chimney flue is located on the opposite side of the house from the fire source preventing any smoke from entering the actual home. As the smoke travels through the underground flue system, it acts as a preservative to the wood house by preventing insects, mold, and bacteria from developing.
Don’t Think All Wood-Fired Cooking is BBQ
The variety of foods and techniques noted are not considered BBQ but have traditions that originate in every corner of the world. Through trial and error, sourcing material that was available in each country, and incorporating foods and other edible items into recipes to feed families, fire cooking has advanced in some countries, while others still have seen little change.
Now we see the essence of barbecue by other names in other countries. Asado in Argentina, braai in South Africa, lechon in Philippines, mezze in Lebanon, and parrilla in Uruguay. Without question, the days of fire cooking are far from over as our innate nature seeks the flavors only provide by flame and smoke. Hope you enjoyed THE HISTORY OF FIRE COOKING PART IV, the final installment of the fire history series.
In Part I, we covered scientific theories on how cooking with fire began approximately 2 million years ago.
Part II, we presented information on how our bodies developed from the introduction of cooking meat. THE HISTORY OF FIRE COOKING PART III, we delve into the early risks of cooking with fire and gender roles.the history of fire cooking part III
The History of Fire Cooking Part III- It May Not Have All Been Good
Although we’ve discussed the benefits of the discovery of fire for cooking, including the higher caloric content needed for survivability, there are other effects to fire cooking that aren’t so positive. This is a relatively new focus in research concerning fire cooking and human evolution.
A USA study suggests that a genetic mutation may be present in modern humans that allows certain toxins, including those found in smoke, to be metabolized at a safe rate. This genetic mutation was not found in other primates like the Neanderthals or hominins. Breathing toxins found in smoke can increase the risk of respiratory infections, suppress one’s immune system, and even cause disruption in the reproductive system. It is possible that by having this genetic mutation, the tolerance to smoke toxins was a needed adaption that gave early humans the ability to survive in this very toxic environment.
Closeness Brings Disease
We also know that fire allowed for not only cooking but warmth, light, and protection. To gain the positives of fire, early humans would gather together in close proximity to one another. A 2016 study suggests that with the advancement of fire’s uses, people remained in huddled groups for long periods of time, suffered persistent coughing resulting from the smoke toxins, and subsequently damaged the lungs. This may be what spurred the spread of tuberculosis which some scientists believe emerged 70,000 years ago. In fact, most scientists believe that fire was regularly used around 400,000 years ago, thus supporting the advent of tuberculosis.
Other scientists believe the use of controlled fire introduced additional airborne diseases. Plus, many opine that the early days of exposure to inhaling smoke from open fires stimulated our discovery of smoking tobacco. Without question, these believers feel that climate changes resulted from the ongoing burning of carbon. For them, biological and environmental changes co-mingle.
Gender Identities
It is amazing that in those early years of fire discovery the establishment of gender roles occurred and seems to have held in general theory. As tools developed and cooking with fire expanded, men did the hunting and women stayed with the fire, maintaining it and cooking previously hunted and foraged foods on/over it.
Although today both males and females hunt, the number of men still outweighs the woman. Despite the number of male chefs outnumbering the women, women still dominate as the primary cook in the home. Yet, males still barbecue and grill in a greater number.
It seems clear that there are other influences on the roles men and women play when it comes to fire cooking around the world. Finally, in Part IV of our series, we’ll explore the variations in method and technique from around the world. Finally, we hope you enjoyed THE HISTORY OF FIRE COOKING PART III blog.
Dr Smoke- “Part III of our ongoing series on the history of fire cooking focuses on the early risks and how they shaped today’s food cooking practices.”
Alliance For Smiles began in 2004 with the mission to repair cleft palate and lip deformities in under-served areas of the world. In fact, over the years, various fund-raising concepts were instituted to offset the costs for highly expensive missions. Most missions are easily over the $300,000 level in donated surgical and treatment protocols.
Why Portville, NY
Chef Carl Vahl, Board of Directors member for Alliance For Smiles, brought attention to his local community of the efforts for this organization by presenting the Dining For Smiles event, an event which featured a six course gourmet dinner for 18 privileged guests. SmokinLicious® had the honor of preparing many of the components of the meal over a wood fire.
When hosting an intimate event like the Dining For Smiles dinner, organization and assignment of duties are key. As such, Chef Vahl utilized the full volunteer staff regardless if the members had experience in a kitchen or not. The event featured a wonderful six course dining experience with the following featured:
Tuna Crudo- Course One
Butternut Squash Soup- Course Two
Seasonal Salad- Course Three
Handmade Lobster Ravioli with Brown Butter Sage Sauce- Course Four
Wood Fired Lamb & Canadian Salmon served with Jasmine Rice and Wood Fired Brussels Sprouts- Course Five
Panna Cotta with Fresh Mango- Course Six
Additionally, wine pairings were presented with each course revealing an assortment of sparkling, rosé, red and white wines.
The Courses
As the 18 guests arrived and were seated at one of two tables, the first course is served – a Tuna Crudo featuring Sushi-grade tuna nestled in a Wasabi avocado cream, topped with pickled onion and finished with candied lemon peel. This course was served in a martini glass and accompanied by Prosecco, an Italian sparkling wine considered the Italian champagne.
The second course of the Dining For Smiles dinner featured roasted organic butternut squash with the subtle flavor of nutmeg and topped with a crisped sage leave and touch of maple syrup. My favorite part of this dish was its serving bowl – a charred mini white gourd. By retaining the top of the gourd, you can ensure that the soup stays hot until its placed in front of the guest. Each gourd was hand cut and charred to ensure no off flavors transferred from the gourd to the soup. Just a perfect vessel for this scrumptious soup.
Following the first two courses of Tuna Crudo and Butternut Squash Soup, the third course was the salad course featuring mixed greens of green and red leaf lettuce, spinach, and frisee; apple slices; candied walnuts; ember cooked red pepper slices; and a fresh vinaigrette. This course helped to balance the stomach in preparation for the upcoming courses that would be richer and more substantial. Paired with our salad course was a full-bodied chardonnay.
Chef prepared homemade lobster ravioli for the fourth course. This was a decadently rich dish featuring a brown butter sage sauce and fresh grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese on top. This course was paired with a beautiful Rosé, with both items being well received. As a matter of fact, I don’t recall a plate coming back to the kitchen that wasn’t completely clean!
Main Course for the DINING FOR SMILES 6 COURSE DINNER EVENT
Now, it’s time for the main course – course number five! First came the proteins. We produced a wood-fired leg of lamb and lamb rib loins cooked over charwood, ash, sugar maple, and wild cherry wood chunks. The wood-fired cooking offered a fabulous color to the meat.
Our Canadian salmon enjoyed cooking over charwood and sugar maple and wild cherry wood chunks. A combination of orange butter, olive oil, and smoke vapor produced that beautiful golden skin. After resting a while, the lamb and salmon were sliced in preparation for full plating.
We start with Jasmine rice topped with wood-fired brussels sprouts and carrot. Next to the plate, a slice of wood-fired lamb and a filet of salmon. Served with a custom mixed wine of Sangiovese and Syrah. Simply a perfect course!
Finally, we’ve reached the end of a fabulous meal – the final course – dessert. Panna cotta with fresh mango, served with a German Reisling, the perfect end to a fantastic evening.
A Meal that Stays in Memory
Chef Vahl’s vision for a flavorful, entertaining evening proved to be a realty as these 18 guests can attest to. We are so thankful and honored to have been a part of it.
If you want to donate to the Alliance For Smiles mission, visit www.allianceforsmiles.org and view all the lives that have been touched by the commitment of so many. Always remember to help others in need in any way you or your company can, just as SmokinLicious® was able to do with this Dining For Smiles event!
Glad we could share our DINING FOR SMILES 6 COURSE DINNER EVENT!
Dr Smoke- “This charity event was wonderful to do because it’s such a great cause and makes a tremendous difference in people’s lives around the world.”
For thousands of years, it was the only way to cook. Many believe that this discovery separated man from the other animals. Fire.
Estimated to have been discovered some 2 million years ago, the discovery of fire and more importantly, the discovery of how to tame fire, resulted in man’s brain development, value of food, changes in our body, and social structure. It gave us survivability. It extended our life by improving daily calories and nutritional needs by allowing us to cook poisonous plants and meats.
So how did fire cooking get discovered? That is the million dollar question. Here are some of the hypotheses out there regarding the discovery of fire for cooking:
The History of Fire Cooking Part I- Nature Provides Ignition
There are some scientists who believe that fire cooking was found by accident. A lightning strike or grass fires that sprung up due to the excessive dry conditions exposed to the hot sun. Many don’t feel man did anything to “discover” fire other than observe the characteristics of fire: it produces abundant heat, light, and when it traps an animal within its flames, it produced a more tender meat, easier to digest food source, and more pleasing aroma to the meat.
Tool Construction
There are others who believe that early humans realized the importance of tools. By sharpening stones to produce spears, cutting tools, etc., these early beings observed spark. Either through intention or perhaps with Mother Nature’s assistance, these sparks caught twigs, brush, fruit, and/or grains on fire. Remember, early human life did not involve a developed brain. A discovery of fire, however, would help advance not only our brains, but our bodies into the erect beings we are today.
The Earliest Cave Cooking
In South Africa’s Northern Cape province, a dwelling known as Wonderwerk Cave, contains the earliest evidence that our ancestors and apelike ancestors were using fire. Compacted dirt showed evidence of ashes, carbonized leaf and twig fragments, and burnt bits of animal bones. Scientists were then able to analyze this material and determine that the fragments were heated between 750 and 1300°F, which is the heat level of a small fire made of twigs and grasses.
If indeed our earlier species learned to harness fire for cooking, this would account for the advancement of our brains and our ability to become erect beings walking on two legs. Cooking on fire allowed for easier chewing and digestion and produced extra calories to fuel our brains. Fire also warded off nighttime predators, allowing for sleep on the ground or in caves rather than in the trees.
It’s All About Energy
Raw food diets have been popularized as a method of losing weight and of being healthier. However, only a fraction of the calories in raw starch and protein are absorbed by the body via the small intestine. As a result, the remainder passes into the large bowel, where it is broken down by the organ’s high population of microbes, which consume the majority for themselves. However, cooked food is mostly digested by the time it enters the colon. For the same amount of calories ingested, the body gets roughly 30 percent more energy from cooked oat, wheat or potato starch as compared to raw, and as much as 78 percent from the protein in an egg. In experiments, animals given cooked food gain more weight than animals fed the same amount of raw food.
Cooking breaks down collagen (connective tissue in meat) & softens the plants’ cell walls to release their storage of starch & fat. The calories to fuel the bigger brains of successive species of hominids came at the expense of the energy-intensive tissue in the gut, which was shrinking at the same time. If you look at early imagery of apes, you’ll see how we morphed into narrow-waisted Homo sapiens.– the history of fire cooking part I
Coming up in The History of Fire Cooking: Part II, learn more about why cooking foods by fire made us who we are today. In conclusion, did we provide you with new information you didn’t know? Additionally, leave us a comment and subscribe as we bring recipes, tips, techniques, and the science behind the fire and smoke.
In today’s age of selling products and services, there are acronyms that are common to marketing and sales strategies. First, there is B2B which refers to business to business relationships. This means that a product or a service is sold from one business to another. An example of each would be windshield wiper fluid being sold to gas stations and attorney services to large corporations.
B2C is shorthand for business to consumer. This is selling a product or service directly to a customer that is not necessarily a business.
Now, you may automatically assume that SmokinLicious® would fall under both these sales types, and you would be right. But there is another acronym you likely aren’t familiar with: F2C.
F2C- Making a Better Connection
F2C refers to factory to consumer or more specifically, manufacturer to consumer. There are many reasons why this is a plus to both businesses and consumers doing business with a specific manufacturer. Let’s examine the major advantages from the perspective of doing business with SmokinLicious®:
Advantage #1 Details
As the manufacturer of all the products sold under the brand SmokinLicious®, we can provide the specifics on where the hardwood comes from, the age of the wood, the handling of the product, the treatment the wood is exposed to, and the details on packaging. You don’t have to wait on answers to your product questions like with a supplier who is simply a re-seller of the wood. We give answers immediately!
Advantage #2 Intimate Knowledge
When you are committed to manufacturing a specific product, you tend to know that product thoroughly. For SmokinLicious®, that equates to us knowing not only about wood fired cooking techniques like hot smoking, ember cooking, and cold smoking but we know the science behind hardwood; molecular biology of the wood as well as for combustion. We know why smoke gives flavor and how to respect and control it.
Advantage #3 Availability
We aren’t simply selling a product to move it out of inventory. As a manufacturer, we are committed to answering questions whether on email, via phone, or social media platforms. No, we don’t operate the phones 24/7. But we do get back to anyone who contacts us, usually within 24 hours. We are available to everyone!
Advantage #4 Passion
Sometimes I feel the word “passion” is overused but that word really does describe the people who make up the SmokinLicious® Team. We are passionate about cooking with fire and the smoke it produces. We simply love to offer our perspective on cooking with wood. Remember, just because someone sells a specific product doesn’t mean it was a dream of theirs. It simply may be the “thing” to do with no real commitment. Who wants to commit to that type of supplier!
Advantage #5 Skilled
We have a test kitchen/patio and we use it – all the time! That’s the only way you can know all the different applications for the product we manufacture and sell. We possess the skills to guide you on what might be causing bitter flavors, poor color, equipment failures, and so much more. Plus, we offer daily postings on recipes, tips, techniques, and the science behind cooking with fire and smoke.
Advantage #6 Global
We can be everywhere because we know our commodity and the regulations that relate to our products. We don’t cut corners because we are as concerned about our environment and forests as the agricultural agencies around the world. You won’t ever need to worry about having your supply cut off because a regulation or law wasn’t followed.
Advantage #7 Exclusivity
You’re purchasing smoking wood to cook with. That means, food is exposed to the wood’s components. Don’t you want assurance that it’s clean? We only sell hardwoods for cooking and culinary use! That’s it! We don’t take waste product from some other wood process and sell it off under a new label or brand. We don’t buy woods from anyone who can’t document on paper where the smoker wood is from and if exposure to chemicals is possible. SmokinLicious® is exclusively a culinary wood product!
These are just some of the advantages to working directly with and purchasing directly from a manufacturer, or F2C. When you want assurances that any question you have can be answered, that any product need can be met, that your equipment will be protected, then seek a direct manufacturer first and eliminate a middle man that may only be in it for dollars and cents. Or one day you could simply find they’re no longer in business or they no longer can ship product throughout North America or other continents, leaving your Company with a big problem.
Building the perfect fire for cooking! Our chimney starter full of flaming hot charcoal being poured into our kettle grill.
In Part I of our series on lighting an outdoor fire for cooking, I addressed fire production for the outdoor fireplace or fire pit cook, known as open fire appliances. In Part II, I’ll address the needs for kettle, drum and box grills’ fire set up.
The Wood-Fired Environment
There are many choices in equipment for working with a wood fire but each has different material components that determines how much work would be involved to cook on the unit. Here is the primary point when you’re selecting equipment for live fire: how will you cook on that equipment?
If your plans are to always do indirect cooking whereby the source of heat (fire, coals) will be on one side and you will cook on the non-heat side (in my opinion, the preferred method for all cooking), then know that most any equipment selected will work. However, the time for the equipment to heat up may play a factor, as the heating time is directly related to the insulation of the grill. Plus the amount of radiant heat it can hold.
If a unit is manufactured from heavy metal, brick, clay, or ceramic housing, then it will perform exceptionally by giving radiant and retained heat. Why is that important? Because producing retained and radiant heat means less fuel consumption and even cooking results.
The Kettle Grill
For thinner material grills like the traditional kettle grill which are very popular, low cost, and preferred
by many, you can compensate for the potential heat loss and improve efficiency by adding fire bricks to the walls and floor of the grill. You will simply start your live fire directly on the fire bricks rather than the charcoal grate. Fire bricks will work well in any grill that could improve on its insulation.
Drum/Barrel Grill
The overall cooking space in a drum/barrel grill is larger than that of a kettle grill. However, just like any metal material, there are different grades so quality can be variable. Same rule applies to these grills: if the insulation is not great, add fire brick to improve the performance.
Box Grills
These units are traditionally made of high heat metal with a deep, metal charcoal pan that includes grid and vents. A grilling grate is suspended above and there often is a lid to the unit.
Fire Set Up
As I’ve stressed before, a good fire needs 3 elements: fuel (wood, charcoal), oxygen (air intake vents), and heat. As with any fire cooking, a small, hot fire is ideal.
Double Filet Wood Chunk
To start your fire in one of these pieces of equipment, first open the air intake vents at the base of the charcoal firebox area. This will ensure that oxygen can stimulate the start of the fire. Since this is an enclosed firebox area, the size of the wood pieces may need to be adjusted from what you would commonly use in a fireplace or fire pit/fire ring.
I like to use the log cabin method of starting a fire with this equipment. Lay 2 longer pieces of hardwood parallel to each other with about 3 inches of air space between them. Lay 2 more hardwood pieces on top perpendicular to the first pieces. Place the last 2 in position to match the base woods’ alignment. In the center, add a pile of tinder which can be hardwood chips, pine cones, even newspaper if need. Again, I like to use wood in its natural form as much as possible. Pile some kindling size wood pieces on top of the tinder pile. You can drizzle vegetable oil on top of the kindling and tinder to assist with ignition which proves helpful if you plan to light with a long wooden match. I prefer to lite my fire using a MAP torch.
Don’t Rush It
It is imperative that you allow the fire to go through the full stages of combustion before you introduce foods to the cooking grate. Too much flame and smoke will ruin the foods. The ideal is to wait until the fire burns down to glowing embers. If your equipment has the room in the firebox, rake or shovel some of the hot embers to one side and add just a small quantity of additional hardwood to keep the heat steady. The rest of the hot embers are what will be used to cook with.
Position the foods based on the heat needed for the cooking. Meats will require more of the heat while vegetables and one pot dishes will take the medium to low heat. An infrared thermometer will aide with knowing heat levels in your equipment or you can use the hand test: hold your hand over the coals the distance your foods will be. If you can only hold your hand for a count of 2 seconds before you need to pull it away, that is high heat. 3-4 seconds is medium-high, 5-6 seconds is medium and 7-8 seconds is low heat.
I hope you gained some new information on lighting a fire. Whether you plan to cook over/in your kettle, barrel or box grill. Leave us a comment and subscribe so you don’t miss anything concerning wood fired cooking, flavors, and the science behind the fire.
Dr Smoke- “The key to any success in grilling and smoking outdoors is building the fire with the proper materials and patience to develop the right base before you attempt to cook the food.”
Cooking steak on the grill or in the grill pan is a universal question. Read more below to understand some of the techniques for cooking the perfect steak.
A GUIDE FOR COOKING THE PERFECT STEAK
Being able to successfully cook a steak is a skill that most people aspire to have. Pay attention to these details and you’ll see that it’s not that difficult to pull off.
To begin, you need to understand the basics of the different cuts of beef and how to choose the right one. From there, we’ll get into how to cook it to your desired level of doneness.
Choosing a Steak
Examining the butcher shop cases can be overwhelming. There are so many different cuts available—big steaks, skinny steaks, huge roasts, small roasts, and more. If your goal is to cook a good steak at home, I recommend sticking with the rib-eye, T-bone, New York strip, or Filet Mignon. These are the most expensive cuts, but in steaks, you get what you pay for and these are the most tender when grilled or pan-fried. The differences in tenderness come from the cow having stability muscles (think the lower back), which are less powerful and thus tender, and load-bearing muscles, which are tough. Price is directly correlated to these qualities. A tender steak will cost a lot more than a tough steak (though with the right treatment, you can successfully turn a tough cut like brisket into a tender, flavorful meal).
If the sheer volume of beef cuts still overwhelms you, check out our easy-to-read guide to steaks and their tenderness, price, and ideal preparation.
The seasoning requirements differ based on the cut. A tougher steak requires more seasoning because your eating experience is mostly about tasting the seasoning, rather than enjoying the tenderness of the cut. For example, you can get away with simple salt and pepper on a perfectly cooked filet mignon, while a flank steak used for fajitas should have some sort of spicy rub all over.
Tips for Cooking the Perfect Steak
So, you’ve purchased steaks that fall on the tender side and you’re ready to cook them. First, let them rest at room temperature for about 30 minutes to take the chill off. This results in more even cooking. Pro tip: If you are cooking for someone who likes a well-done steak and you like yours rare, leave yours in the fridge until the absolute last minute; your steak will cook less than your guest’s in a similar amount of time.
If you’ll be cooking on the stovetop, a cast iron or stainless-steel pan will work best. Nonstick coating can’t handle the high heat required for cooking a steak. Before you place the skillet over high heat, lightly season the steaks with a mild rub or just salt and pepper. While the skillet is warming, pour in a few tablespoons of peanut, canola, or other high-smoke-point oil. When the oil is shimmering and the pan is hot, place the steaks in the pan and loosely cover it with foil to prevent oil from splattering. Now is also the time to turn on any kitchen fans, as this will generate some smoke. If your steak is less than 1 inch thick, you can plan on cooking it in the pan the entire time. If your steak is thicker than an inch, do the searing on the stovetop and then move the entire pan to a preheated, 400-degree oven to finish cooking it without overly charring it.
When the steak hits the hot pan, start your timer. In general, 2 to 5 minutes per side is sufficient for medium doneness on a hot skillet. This range is flexible because, among other variables, everyone’s heat is slightly different, as is the steak’s starting temperature (depending, for example, on when you pull it from the fridge). For a thickness of an inch or less, I like to sear for about 3 minutes on each side, after which you should let it rest. If you have a thicker steak, you would put it in the preheated oven after the two 3-minute turns and let it cook for another 2 to 5 minutes until you achieve the desired doneness.
When you are finished cooking the steak, add a tablespoon of salted butter on top and a fresh herb – thyme works well – to get that expensive steakhouse-style flavor pop.
You have two methods for determining doneness. One is to use an accurate digital cooking thermometer. If you are aiming for a rare steak, you’ll need to pull it off the heat when the internal temperature is between 120 and 130 degrees F. On the opposite end of the spectrum, if you want a well-done steak, you should pull it off the heat when the internal temperature is between 160 and 170 degrees. The illustration below shows varying levels of doneness. The steaks will continue to cook slightly while resting, so take that into account as well.
Is this all a bit much to remember? Bookmark our illustrated guide to steak doneness and keep those temperatures in mind next time you’re trying to achieve the perfect level of doneness.
Don’t have a fancy digital cooking thermometer? No problem—you can use your hand! By positioning your thumb and fingers in various ways, you can mimic what a steak should feel like at various levels of doneness. The tenderness of a steak will roughly correlate to the feeling of the thick part of your palm, below the thumb, when your thumb sequentially touches the index, middle, ring, and pinky finger. Touch that part of your hand with the index finger of your other hand while moving your fingers from index to pinky, and you’ll feel that part of your palm getting firmer. If this seems daunting at first, simply use both methods. Get used to using a thermometer and at the same time touch the steak and see what it feels like. Don’t understand what we mean? Check out this guide to using your fingers to check a steak for doneness.
Is this all a bit much to remember? Bookmark our illustrated guide to steak doneness and keep those temperatures in mind next time you’re trying to achieve the perfect level of doneness. Also practice touching the meat, as we show below, and learn to feel your way to the perfect steak using your touch and chef’s intuition.
Grilling Tips for Cooking the Perfect Steak
Would you rather cook your steaks on the grill? You can easily apply most of the above methods to a hot grill, cooking the steaks directly on the grate. The same searing times apply, and if you have a steak that is thicker than 1 inch, simply finish cooking it over indirect heat (so in an area with no charcoal or with the gas burner turned off). You should get the same great results, but with the added bonus of grilled, smoky flavor.
To sum up, successfully preparing a steak is all about cut selection and cooking time. If you stick with a tender cut of beef and cook on high heat, then you can confidently start with the 2 to 5 minutes of sear time on each side and then finish it off in the oven.
Remember to hit it with a little bit of butter and a fresh herb, and you’ll find that you can easily prepare a fancy steakhouse-quality dinner at home.
Customizing your cooking experience with our diverse selection of Smokinlicious Smoking Wood Products that Make a Difference with Equipment Efficiency and Taste
THE ART OF CUSTOMIZING YOUR COOKING EXPERIENCE
Why Not Build Your Own Wood-fired Ingredient Box?
I remember the days when purchasing a new car was very limited in terms of customizing. You didn’t get the opportunity to choose much more than the exterior color and even those choices were limited to a few! Today, you can go online and literally build your own car from the type of engine and fuel it will use, to the color, texture, and material of your interior and everything in between. This got me thinking about customizing when it comes to the wood-fired cooking experience. Why should cooking woods be any different than the car industry? Why not build your own wood-fired ingredient box when it comes to the smoking wood?
Since SmokinLicious®’ inception, we have offered a level of customization to the user purchasing our products that has been unmatched by any other company. We provide options that empower the user to combine various products as you would the ingredients to a homemade stew.
Why is this option of value and importance?
There are times that you need different products on hand to simply do specific functions. For instance, Grande Sapore® Wood Chips are a means of bringing the temperature of some equipment up quickly. Smokin’ Dust® provides for a sudden burst of smoke vapor due to its lower moisture level. Double filet smoker wood chunks tend to be the ideal sizing to place on diffusers/flavor bars of LP grills and achieve smoke vapor around foods being cooked.
I think one of the primary reasons that smoking wood should have a level of customer choice is that most of us don’t own just one piece of equipment. I think I’m safe to assume that all of us have a conventional stove top. That gives the opportunity to do stove top smoking. Many of us have newer models of LP grills that allow for the placement of woods chunks and/or wood chips. Then there are those that have the conventional stove top, the LP grill, the charcoal grill, and a dedicated smoker. Wouldn’t it be great to source all the products need for these different types of equipment from one supplier and even get the chance to purchase a combination of products for one price?
And the icing on the cake – Now that’s customization at its best!! That’s SmokinLicious®!
So now it’s time to make your wood-fired cooking experiences uniquely your own by starting withSmokinLicious®and our wide array of species and flavor options just waiting for your hand and imagination to take your wood-fired cooking memories to new heights! We hope you enjoyed the article- Customizing your Cooking Experience
Dr Smoke- “Don’t limit your cooking experience to one product; mixing and matching can only enhance your culinary flavoring. That’s why we provide a very diverse product base.”
Attention Women Chefs: The Woman’s guide to manning the grill!
Part one of the Audio:
Part two of the Audio:
It’s long been the equipment associated with the guys. Perhaps it’s due to the primal start of cooking over the live fire which initially was a man’s skill. Hunt the animal and cook it on fire and hot coals.
Recently, the trend has begun to turn around in favor of more women chefs cooking components of a meal on the grill. In fact, it’s not just the traditional LP/gas grill but charcoal grills as well, as women chefs take their new recipe and technique finds out of the traditional indoor kitchen and to the outdoors.
Just Because It’s Outside Doesn’t Change The Purpose
There is no question that outdoor grilling equipment has evolved into something of a fantasy. We now have choices beyond the standard LP, natural gas, charcoal, and electric grills. Many brands are now featuring dual fuel cooking, meaning they may have gas or electric assist but use wood and/or charcoal for heat and flavor!
What does this mean for the ladies who want to do the more outdoor cooking on the grill?
Versatility! It is so easy to cook an entire meal on the grill without it taking several hours or more.
Accessorize!
The key to ensuring that an entire meal can be cooked on the grill is to have the right tools and that includes some accessory items. Let’s look at each recommended item and answer the question why it’s important to the woman’s full meal grill event.
#1 Grill Grate Accessories:
First up, the grill pan, grill basket or grill topper. These are perfect for vegetables and fruits making it so easy to ensure that the food doesn’t stick to the grill grates and that every piece gets cooked evenly. Plus, since many grills are now sold with a side burner, you can always steam or parboil tougher vegetables first, then transfer to the grill pan/basket/topper. Or, use that side burner to make rice for a healthy starch side. Don’t have a side burner on your grill or are using a charcoal grill? Then buy a butane burner! These are so inexpensive yet give you another cooking option to get everything ready at the same time.
#2 Easy Charcoal Lighting:
If you don’t know what a chimney starter is, time to learn. The charcoal chimney starter is the best way to light a charcoal fire. Although these traditionally use newspaper at the bottom (for ignition) and load charcoal chunks (can be briquettes or lump) into the body of the unit, I take a simple method of lighting my chimney. I load with my favorite charcoal and use a butane torch under the unit to light – no newspaper needed. This allows me to leave the butane on auto fire for a few minutes to ensure the lower coals are lit. Simply pull the torch out, shake the chimney while wearing fire gloves, and return to a heat safe surface until the top coals turn white-gray. Oh, and you can always light the chimney off that side burner too!
#3 Purchase 2 Thermometers
Stop guessing at when things are done! You need to invest in 2 quality thermometers; one for the grill/smoker and one instant-read for the food. Be sure the thermometers you invest in can take a reading in 5 seconds or less, have at least a 4-inch probe for thicker cuts of meat, and have cables that are durable (if you don’t go with a wireless), especially for equipment thermometers that are placed through venting holes or under lids.
#4 Silicone
Anything made from silicone will become a lifesaver at the grill. Silicone pot handles covers, spatulas, heat resistant tongs – you get the idea. This material can handle the high heat of grills so stock up on those items you’ll need and use the most. Suggestions? Tongs, pot handle covers, spatulas, spoons, mat.
Diversify!
Grilling does not necessarily mean you must put all foods on the grill grates. Use high heat cookware to help you out. Think cast iron or high heat clay and enamels meant for the grill. These are perfect for starting one-pot wonders like legumes, pasta dishes, even sauces. With a roomy enough grill, you can fit many different items – grill pan/basket, Dutch oven, and rib racks. Don’t forget most grills come equipped with a lower and upper grill rack so more fragile items that need less heat can go to the top. Here are some tips on food to cooking equipment match:
Tip #1: Cast Iron and Charcoal
Cast iron is, without question, the best material for cooking directly in the coals. Here’s a tip – if you have an outdoor fireplace or even a fire pit that uses wood, you can do this method of cooking by placing your cast iron skillet or Dutch oven directly in the coals. Keep in mind, I said coals, not flame. Coals have a very high BTU rating and can cook foods within cast iron as if they are in the oven. Just be sure to pack the hot coals around the cast iron after placing the pan in the coal bed. Perfect items to try: vegetable medley, roasted potato, curry dishes, au gratin dishes.
Tip #2: Cast Iron and LP/Gas Grill
Just like having the side burner on a grill, cast iron on the grill is like having an extra pot on the stove. Cast iron comes in lots of sizes and cookware type: saucepan, skillet, Dutch oven. Anything you would traditionally make in cookware on the stove can be done on the grill. The key is to ensure that you have this on a section of the grill that isn’t set to “high”, as cast iron holds heat.
Tip #3: The Upper Grill Rack
Though small in overall size, the upper grill rack is designed for those fragile items or for items that require simple warming. Think melting butter for vegetables, heating sauces, warming bread and rolls. Use it! It can be of great value to keep you from needing anything indoors.
Tip #4: The Rotisserie
If you have a grill with a rotisserie, use it! Keep in mind, as that item turns on that rod, the meat or poultry renders some fantastic juices. Catch them! Put a high heat pan under the food item with some great vegetables and use the drippings to add superb flavor to the cooking process.
Women Chefs- “Flavor It Up!”
Now, let’s be clear! Unless you’ve invested in a dual fuel or hybrid grill, one that allows you to use charcoal and/or smoking wood, most standard LP grills are just that: grills not smokers. If you don’t have a hybrid but want to get some smoking woods flavoring to your foods, then start thinking of adding charcoal and wood chunks! Yes, you heard me right. WoodChunks vs. woodchips which was the product of choice for years with LP grills.
Why Smoking Wood Chunks?
Most grills today are designed with covers for the gas burners to diffuse the heat more evenly. They go by a lot of names: heat distributors, flame tamers, heat plates, burner shields, flavorizer bars. The addition to the traditional LP grill is the reason why you can use smoking wood chunks. Simply place a few small wood chunks under the grill grate right on top of the heat diffuser. Be sure you only put chunks on a burner you will ignite. Replace the grill grate and you’re ready to go! And, yes, you will get real wood smoke vapor to flavor whatever you’re cooking on the grill. I promise!
Final Points Especially for Our Women Chefs
“Manning” the grill is no different than planning a meal in your conventional kitchen. Pick out the components of the meal and decide what needs to cook were on the grill: directly on the grate, on the rotisserie, in cast iron, on the coals. If doing a meat, be sure to marinate 6 hours or best, overnight, to ensure a moist outcome and to reduce cooking time.
Have everything prepped including the grilling tools you will need and this is a walk in the park for all women chefs planning daily meals for the family. The best part, you can enjoy more of those great warm days and not sweat in the confines of the hot summer kitchen!
For our women chefs, check out these articles for more reading on grilling and food smoking tips & techniques:
Dr. Smoke- “More and more, women chefs are taking up the art and science of grilling and smoking food! We’ve developed this specially prepared guide to offer helpful tips to the ladies!”
nutmeg and topped with a crisped sage leave and touch of maple syrup. My favorite part of this dish was its serving bowl – a charred mini white gourd. By retaining the top of the gourd, you can ensure that the soup stays hot until its placed in front of the guest. Each gourd was hand cut and charred to ensure no off flavors transferred from the gourd to the soup. Just a perfect vessel for this scrumptious soup.
Now, it’s time for the main course – course number five! First came the proteins. We produced a wood-fired leg of lamb and lamb rib loins cooked over charwood, ash, sugar maple, and wild cherry wood chunks. The wood-fired cooking offered a fabulous color to the meat.
the perfect end to a fantastic evening.
The Kettle Grill
