when you smoke flavored food too much and how to correct!

I’m going to start this by stating smoke is a lot like salt. You can add more of it but if you add too much to smoke flavored food, it’s hard to correct. All is not lost though. I’m going to provide a tip that could save a smoke flavored food item that has been over smoked.

It’s All in the Ingredients

You’ve made the mistake of either using too much wood material to smoke or you smoked for too long. Either way, the outcome appears to be a disaster. Take a breath and a step back and assess the ingredients you used.

Often, you can correct the smoke level by adding an ingredient that was not included in the recipe. For instance, if your smoke flavored food involved a vegetable for a soup, find an ingredient in the soup recipe that has not been used. This may be cream, sugar or vinegar. Additionally, by adding the ingredient that was smoked in a non-smoked fashion, you can reduce the smoke flavor intensity. If you infused too much smoke in the broccoli for your broccoli cream soup, think about steaming some additional raw broccoli and adding with the smoked base. That will diffuse the smokiness.

SMOKE IS A GAS- Prime Factor for Smoke Flavored Food Items

Smoke is a vapor or gas. That means it is readily absorbed by the food product especially if moisture is present. This is one of the reasons why a water pan is used in a smoker.

Certain foods are more apt to be over smoked. Items like vegetables, fruits, dough item like breads, pies and tarts, and dairy items like egg-based recipes. Wood choice, amount of wood and length of the smoking process all play a part in how much essence comes from the wood.

Remember, smoke flavored food like a cut of meat can taste bitter with too much smoke vapor. This results from using wood that is too wet or using a wood that is not ideal for food.

But even a bitter smoked meat item can be saved by blending the meat with a sauce or glaze, especially one that contains a balance of sweet and heat.

In the end, you may find a smoke flavored food destined for the trash becomes a star dish when you know how to balance the smokiness with another flavor.

Smokinlicious® Products:

Wood Chunks- Double & Single Filet

Wood Chips- Grande Sapore®

Smoker Logs

More Related reading on “What Wood for Smoking” and other great smoking and grilling tips and techniques

Related reading:

BBQ SMOKE COLOR

SMOKING COLOR

Dr. Smoke sometimes you over smoke food, we have tips on how to correct

Our team developing traditional family recipes for the “Passing it on” series

If you have been a follower of our blog, you’re likely aware that we often feature a Guest Blogger. It’s great to get other ideas on outdoor cooking, recipes, and tips on anything to do with cooking and the outdoors. Many of our blogs offer a sharing of cooking styles and cherished traditional family recipes.

Recently, I had the opportunity to become another platform’s guest blogger. Or rather, guest cook!

Hello South Africa!

In 2019, we had the good fortune to begin offering our wood chip products in South Africa. This would not have been possible if it wasn’t for the help of some great South Africans. Who could have known that a pandemic would strike in 2020 and force a change in our business plan.

But here’s something great that came out of this! SmokinLicious® had the honor of meeting Clinton Phillay. Clinton has a passion for ensuring that traditional family recipes get passed on to others in order to keep the spirit of family cooking alive.

What a great goal and a needed purpose. SmokinLicious® was happy and honored to participate. Plus, the timing was perfect. SmokinLicious® is about to release our new YouTube channels featuring our step-by-step recipes as well as a channel just for business customers.

While you wait to see the first episode featuring our Smoked Dry Rubbed Chicken Drumsticks, check out the Passing It On channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/PassingItOn

This is a recipe source you’ll want to subscribe to and hit the notify button so you can begin a great collection of traditional family recipes.

Coming soon their TikTok account will feature these same recipes. Watch for it soon and subscribe!

Smokinlicious® Products:

Wood Chunks- Double & Single Filet

Wood Chips- Grande Sapore®

Smoker Logs

More Related reading and other great smoking and grilling tips and techniques

Related reading:

-TOP 10 FOODS TO BULK GRILL WHILE WORKING FROM HOME

-SMOKEY HUNGARIAN PEPPERS ON THE KETTLE GRILL!

-WHY TWO-ZONE COOKING METHOD LET’S YOU WALK AWAY FROM THE GRILL

Dr. Smoke and team passing on traditional family recipes!

Adding salt choices has a purpose and why

SALT CHOICES- HOW MUCH AND WHAT KIND?

This article was born from a question which was recently forwarded to SmokinLicious® to answer. “Why salt choices are necessary in food despite adding different ingredients even for sweet dish need(ing) salt”.

I realized just how important salt is to the style of cooking known as barbecue.

Salt Choices- Why the Need to Salt?

Salt is a mineral found in crystalline form that is used as a seasoning for food. Simply put, salt brings out the flavor or natural essence of food. Salt choices draw out the natural juices in raw meat and dissolves with the liquid forming a brine that gets reabsorbed by the meat. This results in the meat’s ability to hold on to more of its own natural juices during cooking.

Salt Choices- Types

Over the past 5 years, salt choices have become a very hot commodity in the food industry. There are hundreds of kinds of salts but for simplicity sake, I will discuss those that are commonly found in grocery and food specialty stores.

Table Salt:

Decades ago, this was simply known as iodized salt. This is the most refined salt that is known to have a metallic taste due to the grinding process and high-heat process to produce it. It is almost pure sodium chloride and has the highest per-granule sodium content of all salts. When used in cooking, the cook generally will use too much due to this refined grind size. I recommend you never cook with standard table salt.

Sea Salt:

This salt type is made by the evaporation of seawater which results in the retainment of natural micronutrients. Unlike table salt which uses a high-heat process, sea salt provides minerals of iodine, magnesium, calcium, potassium and bromide. There are many different grind levels in sea salt and each of those, affect the taste, color, and mouthfeel of the salt itself.

Kosher Salt:

Known for its ability to distribute evenly on the surface of food, kosher salt is harvested by mining dried up ocean and sea beds. It has a much coarser grind than table salt, which is considered flaky (For cooks, it is reliable, consistent, inexpensive, and pure).

Finishing Salt:

Just as the name implies, this type of salt is used only when a dish is finished, for instance, sliced tomato with mozzarella and basil, grilled to perfection steak, and even watermelon. Therefore, it is considered a very light tasting salt.

Tamari and Soy Sauce:

I am including tamari and soy sauce as these are very common substitutes for salts in sauces used for barbecue. Sometimes, soy sauce is used in addition to salt or garlic and onion salt for these items, making them much higher in overall sodium content. On average tamari has 700mg sodium per serving while soy sauce comes in at a whopping 1000mg per serving.

Salt Choices in Relation to BBQ Rubs & Seasonings

Hopefully, you’ve learned how to read an ingredient list on any label. The first ingredients listed make up the largest amount of the contents, while the last few ingredients make up the least. I looked at five (5) popular BBQ rubs and seasonings sold on Amazon.com to see what ingredients made up the bulk of these items and where salt rated on the ingredient list. Here are my findings:

McCormick Grill Mates Montreal Steak Seasoning – coarse salt, spices, garlic

17^th Street Magic Dust All-Purpose Seasoning & Rub – salt, sugar, dextrose

Killer Hogs The BBQ Rub – brown sugar, sugar, salt

Stubb’s Beef Spice Rub – sea salt, spices, cane sugar

John Wayne Rubs – salt, garlic, sugar

As you can see, salt is a primary ingredient of commercially marketed rubs/seasonings for barbecue. Therefore, I always recommend that you give some consideration to making your own rub or seasoning. When produced in large quantity, you can keep these in the refrigerator for up to a month in an air tight container. Best of all, you’ll have the peace of mind knowing you can control the level of sodium in your meal.

We hope you found this article informative and valuable. We’d love your comments! Don’t forget to subscribe to and follow us so you don’t miss a thing. We’ll continue to bring you tips, techniques, recipes, and the science behind all things wood-fired!

More Related reading on “What Wood for Smoking” and other great smoking and grilling tips and techniques

Related reading:

-10 THINGS YOU DIDN’T KNOW YOU COULD SMOKE

-SMOKING FOODS IN FOIL: PROS & CONS

-JUST BECAUSE YOUR SMOKING (FOOD THAT IS!) DOESN’T MAKE IT ALL BAD!

Purchase products:

Smoking Wood Chunks- Double and Single Filet

Wood Chips- Grande Sapore®

Wood Chips- Minuto® and Piccolo®

Dr Smoke- “Making the right salt choices. This is the hardest part of cooking- too little or too much are both bad.”

Tom and Chef Burt discuss the Fun Things to Smoke other than Meat!

Fun things to smoke beside Meat! Share on X

We are going beyond the obvious and the traditional when it comes to items that you can smoke. It’s time to up your skills and menu items with the top things you would never think of to smoke.

Keep in mind, we are not just referring to hot smoking. We’re including the quick technique of handheld food smoking as well as stove top smoking in a pan.

Let’s get to it!

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The foil pan for smoking is the handiest and, we believe, the indispensable part in all the stages necessary for cooking, functionality and sanitary purposes.

The foil pan for smoking is indispensible and why! Share on X

Many people have their favorite tool when it comes to outdoor cooking. It might be a wireless thermometer, specific grill grate, awesome fire safe gloves, or the go-to chimney starter. For me, it’s likely the least expensive item you can think of – the disposable foil pan. I’m going to list for you my top 6 uses for a simple and inexpensive foil pan.

(more…)

JUST BECAUSE YOUR SMOKING FOOD (THAT IS!) DOESN’T MAKE IT ALL BAD!

listen to JUST BECAUSE YOUR SMOKING FOOD

Recently, I received a very interesting question regarding the safety of ingesting foods and beverages that have been exposed to smoke vapor using hand-held food smokers. Specifically, the question consisted of whether you need to be 18 years of age for items that have been infused with smoke using these gadgets.

#handheldsmoker

This got me thinking:

• does the word “smoke” automatically give off the bad vibe response?
• why do people only inquire about the smoke without needing to know more about the plant source that produces that smoke?

There is a lot of data out there on carcinogenic effect to high heat grilled foods like burgers, chicken, and steaks, even data on hot smoking foods at lower temperatures. Really, what it all boils down to is, if you grill meats to the point where you blacken them, that increases the risk for the carcinogens. Even if you cook to the blacken state, eating these foods in moderation will halt any real risk over an average person’s lifetime.

So why the question on legality to consume smoked foods and beverages?

If you understand that the tobacco industry had to start putting warning labels on tobacco packaging back in 1966, and smokeless tobacco products in 2010, then you comprehend that smoke vapor does contain toxins. Everything regarding the level of toxicity with cooking is related to the type of food, method of cooking, cooking temperature, and length of cooking time.

Let’s examine those parameters from the handheld food smoking perspective.

You are not cooking the food by this method, merely infusing it with the smoke flavonoids, so there is no temperature (cold smoking technique). You are not exposing the food to smoke vapor for hours – it really comes down to minutes. Most importantly, you are not directly attempting to inhale the smoke vapor into your lungs. Yes, if your standing near the container that is holding the cold smoke when you open it, you will have some exposure but not like the person that takes a drag directly from a tobacco product or is chewing on a tobacco product!

Like anything else in our world, there are risks to everything we do, experience, sense, taste, explore, desire. Hot smoking is another name for roasting just at a lower temperature and usually with cheaper cuts of meat.

SmokinLicious® Double Filet wood chunks

What should never be compromised is the plant material – the wood – that is used to extract these flavors.

I believe it is time to start asking more questions about the hardwood products being used for the smoking process rather than focusing on the process itself. Share on X Perhaps the risks associated with dirty, moldy, contaminated wood are too high to ignore anymore.

SmokinLicious® products:

Wood Chunks- Double & Single Filet

Dust- Smoking Dust

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

More related reading on the art of smoking food and cooking wood

More blog topics like this one:

-APPLEWOOD – WHY WE DON’T USE IT! – HERE’S WHY

-SHOULD YOU GRILL WITH MOLDY WOODS?

-BEYOND PRICING: THE TOP THINGS TO CONSIDER WHEN PURCHASING COOKING WOOD

-SMOKING-GRILLING WOOD SELLING TERMS DEMYSTIFIED

Dr. Smoke hopes you enjoyed-JUST BECAUSE YOUR SMOKING FOOD (THAT IS!) DOESN’T MAKE IT ALL BAD!

Barbecue basics- charcoal, wood, cooking temperature and fun time

Barbecue basics is what you need Share on X

It’s time I go there. I’ve fielded way too many questions to ignore it. Now is the perfect time for me to opine on this highly controversial topic: when it’s called barbecue.

How do you define “true” barbecue?

I have three parameters to cooking that I’d like to address that should help explain my justification for what qualifies as barbecue basics.

(more…)

FOOD LABELING TREND MAY NOT BE THE SAFEST BET

Recently, I came across a great article on the new hot trends in cold cuts and smoked meats. The article stressed how the $200 million in sales was the result of companies offering such things as chorizo, pepperoni, salami, and smoked bacon with bolder flavors and cleaner ingredients. So, why do I have a problem with this and how does it relate to food labeling?

What About the Smoke

The article went on to explain that the No. 1 trend in smoked and processed meats is products that are “uncured” or “no-nitrates added”, stating that this is due to the new health-conscious consumer. This got me thinking about smoked products in general. No one seems to be asking about the smoking process used to get that bacon hickory smoked!

If people are so sensitive to the ingredients in their foods, why haven’t we become concerned about the smoke component used for the actual process?

Food Labeling- Demand Label Changes

There are so many companies investing in the repackaging of their products to include such labels as “no-sugar-added”, “dairy-free”, and “gluten-free”. Consumers are label readers and keenly interested in how products are made, how animals are raised, how products are preserved, and the percentage of fat in the processing.

One factor in food preparation that doesn’t seem to have been included in food labeling is the actual smoking process for food products like smoked bacon, fish, or beef jerky.

Why doesn’t anyone seem concerned enough to ask what are they smoking with? Is it actual wood or the wood-flavored vapor that is used to make liquid smoke, hardly an ingredient that would be considered chemical-free?

Food Labeling- Wood Should Be a Food Ingredient

Let’s examine why wood should be looked at as a food ingredient when used for hot or cold smoking or wood-fired cooking in general.

First, not all companies selling wood products under the guise of smoking, identify what components of the tree are manufactured in the product. Nor do they give any indication if the wood used in the manufacture of products started for only the purpose of food application. To clarify this point, let’s review one common seller of wood products found on Amazon.com.

This popular choice in wood chips started as a hickory and mesquite manufacturer of log products by a single owner back in 1986. Originally, they sold logs to locals around their area. Eventually, they branched out to wood chips and wood chunks in retail packaging when BBQ became so popular.

The company was sold to a fire log company who uses recycled wood sawdust and agricultural fibers to produce fireplace log products. With the change in ownership, the company began selling other woods; pecan, post oak, and mesquite that are native to their home state of Texas, and the rest of the offerings which are brought in from other suppliers and locations. There is no bark removal, there is no separation of wood layers. Much of the product lies in open areas on the ground exposed to the southwestern sun as well as to anything else that may make contact. The product is left uncovered in outdoor areas awaiting packaging, even after it has been kiln dried which is the only reference made to any preparation of the wood.

Here is one concern with the current ownership – keep in mind, with a primary business of manufacturing charcoal and fire log products, this business was originally connected to a cedar and basswood pencil business. For those who don’t know woods, cedar and basswood are both softwoods, something that can be toxic if used for cooking food.

No Wood Regulations

There are no regulations that specifically state that you must guarantee that the wood packaged is clean, pure, and 100% of what it says it is on the label. Just about anyone can start to package wood, whether hardwood or softwood or a combination of both, as a “cooking”, “grilling”, “smoking” or “BBQ” wood. There are no regulations that it must be kiln dried or heat treated. It is a free-for-all with regard to food labeling!

There may be claims that we are label readers, but it appears when it comes to wood used for cooking, we don’t have a clue. This may be the oldest method of cooking in existence, but it certainly doesn’t have to contain the same risks as what the earliest homo sapiens endured.

The next time you see packaging that bacon, jerky, deli meat is of a smoked variety, look at the label and ask the question, “How was this smoked?” You will be amazed that little or no answers are provided. I hope you enjoyed our topic “Hot Trend” and the argument for better food labeling!

Purchase products:

Wood Chunks- Double & Single Filet

Wood Chips- Grande Sapore®

More Related reading on “What Wood for Smoking” and other great smoking and grilling tips and techniques

Additional reading:

-THE SMOKINLICIOUS® STORY

-WOOD SUPPLIER- ARE YOU GETTING WHAT YOU PAID FOR?

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

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

Dr. Smoke- Food labeling is important for health and food safety. It should apply to all smoked foods!