You are what you eat. We discuss the double standards of smokehouse processing emphasizing high quality ingredients but less than quality smoking methodology.

Food & Smokehouse Processing Double Standard?

Self-disclosure here. I work for a USA cooking and smoking wood company that has earned recognition for its commitment to manufacturing quality products specifically suited for many culinary professions, trades and interests. Even though not required to do so, the company treats its entire product line as food additives. This is an important point for my following observations.

I’ve always been especially impressed how reputable food processors and manufacturers accept, follow and even exceed many of the numerous public regulations in place to provide consumers with safe and healthy food products. For the most part our nation’s food industry operates from a philosophy that maximizes consumer protection by prioritizing food safety. Clearly, we’d be in a world of hurt if it didn’t! In relation what I’ve come to understand with food involved with some smokehouse processing operations, I’m really confused.

Smokehouse Processing? Here’s my dilemma- A Double Standard?

Recently, I tuned into a very popular realty television program which showcases “dirty” jobs- I think you know the name. Maybe you’ve even seen it. Like most other episodes, this show highlighted a series of tough job tasks, performed by hardworking employees. This episode dealt with all food processing elements of a very high quality, perishable specialty deli meat item- Lebanon bologna.

It’s impressing that the company, for over 100 years, goes to great heights in sourcing only the best ingredients. Its processing methods seemed to be top notch. Except a few of the techniques shown in the latter stages of the show highlighting smokehouse operations. At first it was disturbing to see that the main source of smoking wood is wood slabs with bark on considered to be “mill waste material.” If that wasn’t enough, I couldn’t believe when a worker demonstrated their process of generating smoke in the smokehouses. Step #1- douse a rag with kerosene, light it and kick it in to the burn pit of the smokehouse. To me, the very defining aspect of this company’s high-quality food product, smoked bologna, has been denigrated with a cheap, uncleaned and potentially harmful fuel source and an ignition process that is archaic and potentially harmful.

For the life of me, I can’t truly understand why a company that has been in business since 1902 and is apparently known in large markets for having the very best ingredients to make its consumable food products would revert to a smoking operation that involves waste wood being ignited with nearly the same petrochemicals that fuel the likes of a diesel locomotive? Given the residuals of burnt petrochemicals, I’m not sure I’d ever want to eat any of their smoked deli meats.

You Are What You Eat

So, I guess the adage of you are what you eat apparently doesn’t have the same meaning with this company. It appears their smoking method hasn’t evolved much beyond the same dirty way done 100 years ago, before health risks came to the forefront. When considering that smoking methods are a big part of their overall food products, I can’t help but think that a double standard is in place with the consumer to suffer.

Purchase Products:

Smoker Logs

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

Additional reading:

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

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

-TO BARK OR NOT

Dr. Smoke- “Consistency is important with food processing and smokehouse operations.”perfect steak!

“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.

Purchase products:

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

Wood Chunks: Double & Single Filet

More Related reading on this subject

Additional reading:

-Food & Smokehouse Processing Double Standard?

-TO BARK OR NOT

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

-HOT TREND MAY NOT BE THE SAFEST BET

Dr. Smoke- As we promote a healthy diet enjoying different foods please remember “you are what you eatII” !

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®

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

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

Dr. Smoke- SMOKING-GRILLING WOOD SELLING TERMS

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!

THE HISTORY OF FIRE COOKING PART IV

THE HISTORY OF FIRE COOKING PART IV

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.

Purchase Products:

Wood Chips- Grande Sapore®

Wood Chunks- Double & Single Filet

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

Additional Reading:

-THE HISTORY OF FIRE COOKING PART III

-THE HISTORY OF FIRE COOKING PART II

-OPEN PIT COOKING FIRE BUILDING: PART I

Dr Smoke “Hope you enjoyed the variety of cultures that have roots in wood cooking.”

THE HISTORY OF FIRE COOKING PART III

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.

History of wood fired Cooking Part III

Purchase products:

Wood Chunks- Double & Single Filet

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

Additional reading:

-THE HISTORY OF FIRE COOKING PART II

-THE SMOKINLICIOUS® STORY

-GRILL-BUILDING THE PERFECT COOKING FIRE- PART II

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.”

DINING FOR SMILES 6 COURSE DINNER EVENT

DINING FOR SMILES 6 COURSE DINNER EVENT

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!

Purchase products:

Charwood

Wood Chunks- Double & Single Filet

More Related reading on this subject

Additional reading:

-DINING FOR SMILES EVENT PREPARATIONS

-WELCOME TO OUR BRAT PARTY-BRATWURST IN THE ORION SMOKER COOKER

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

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.”

The history of fire cooking part II

the fire

The history of fire cooking part II

In Part I, we covered the scientific theories on how cooking with fire began, including the scientific documentation that puts this method’s discovery approximately 2 million years ago. In The history of fire cooking part II, we will present additional information on how our bodies developed from the introduction of cooking meat as well as the evolution of the wood fire to the oven.

The History of Fire Cooking Part II- A Change in Anatomy

Our ancestors were chimp-like creatures and thought to be the most advanced animals on earth. These creatures had long arms, short legs, hand-like feet, large mouths and powerful jaws. Covered in fur, they slept in the trees. That is, until they discovered fire and learned to cook.

Once fire cooking was founded, these ape-like creatures became erect, their brains enlarged, and their jaws became smaller. Why? Because cooked foods provide a higher caloric value.

Research has shown that weight loss is guaranteed to people who consume raw-food diets only. In fact, the more raw food consumed, the more weight loss. The only problem with this diet is it takes a lot of raw food to generate a caloric level to sustain an active animal. Our primate ancestors had to graze all day to generate enough calories to keep going leaving time for nothing else.

With the discovery of fire and all its benefits, ape-men emerged. Originally covered in fur, a few thousand years following fire’s discovery, the fur disappeared. As a result, this helped to improve hunting skills as the weight of fur made ape-men faster. Also with the discovery of fire, these creatures had no need to escape to the trees at night as fire provided protection from predators. Without the climbing, long legs developed and feet that looked less like hands.

The Start of the Family Dynamic

Once animals were trapped and cooked within flames of forest fire and these creatures sampled cooked vegetation and meat; that changed everything. They began to develop skills at designing knives for hunting. This in turn developed some level of social skills and brain development, as the brain was being fed more nutrients. Flint was discovered and used to produce sparks when rubbed against rocks, allowing for control of fire.

Hunting became a daily event. The first gender structure was designed with males hunting and females cooking. It was cooking that forced early humans to live by cooperation. Both males and females relied on each other. This was the start of family, and more socialized and calmer tempers. With regular ingestion of cooked foods, the brain began to grow since cooked food takes less energy to digest, more energy defaulted to brain development. Learning to cook gave these developing humans more time which allowed for more food discoveries and time management.

The Oven

Once fire was discovered and harnessed for the betterment of life, it was a slow transition to bring cooking from the outdoors into the indoors. First, as mentioned in Part I of our series, it transitioned into cave dwellings. We know that in ancient times, the period of 60,000BC to 650AD, ancient Egyptians, Jews, and Romans all used some form of stone or brick oven cooking, fired with wood, to produce breads. In fact, that early design remains very much like the pizza/bread ovens of today.

Beehive-shaped brick ovens came about in Colonial America, the period of 1492 to 1763, and was the advent of learning to control the amount of wood to ash to regulate temperature. If you’ve ever heard of or used “the hand test” to measure temperature of a grill or outdoor cooking fire, then you know how Colonial Americans tested their ovens. Hold your hand about 5-inches from the cooking surface.

The number of seconds you can hold your hand there equals a temperature level:

High (450° to 550°F): 2 to 4 seconds

Medium (350° to 450°F): 5 to 7 seconds

Low (250° to 350°F): 8 to 10 seconds

Colonial Americans would add more wood to increase temperature or open the door to reduce it.

The invention of cast iron stoves began to replace wood hearth cooking in the 1700’s. In 1795, Count Rumford invented a version of the cast iron stove that was different from earlier versions in that it had a single fire source that could be regulated individually for different pots being used at the same time. Additionally, it could heat the entire room. Unfortunately, it was extremely large making it difficult for most kitchens to accommodate it.

With the discovery of electricity, man continued to find new uses for this source of energy. In fact, one of the keys was to incorporate it into the home and the electric stove was key to making home life easier. In 1892, an entire meal’s preparation was demonstrated at the Ottawa Windsor Hotel in Canada, paving the way for sale to future homes.

Continued Discovery in The History of Fire Cooking part II

These early discoveries are what formed our continued thirst for finding the best methods of cooking in the fastest yet most flavor means possible, while feeding our brains to keep us developing. Charcoal grills, brick and clay pizza ovens, gas grills, infrared grills, campfires were all shaped by the very first cooking event, even if the first event was by nature’s hand alone.. In conclusion, we hope you enjoyed the The History of Fire Cooking Part II. Finally, stay tuned for part III.

The history of fire cooking part II

Purchase products:

Wood Chips- Grande Sapore®

Wood Chunks- Double & Single Filet

Additional Reading:

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

-OPEN PIT COOKING FIRE BUILDING: PART I

-GRILL-BUILDING THE PERFECT COOKING FIRE- PART II

-HOW TO TURN YOUR CHARCOAL GRILL INTO A SMOKER

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

Smokinlicious is proud to be a F2C company

SMOKINLICIOUS® IS AN F2C

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.

Purchase products:

Wood Chips- Grande Sapore®

Wood Chunks- Double and Single Filet

Smoker Logs- Full & Quarter Cuty

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

Additional reading:

-SMOKIN’ DUST®: A SPICE FOR YOUR EQUIPMENT

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

-WHEN A FLOP COULD HAVE BEEN A SUCCESS!

Our primary focus is on the consumer of our products. Our culinary team provides support to all chefs!

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.

Be sure you visit Part I of this series so you can view the list of recommended tools to have when you wood-fire cook.

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.

Purchase products:

Wood Chunks- Double & Single Filet

Wood Chips- Grande Sapore®

More Related reading on this subject

Related reading:

-OPEN PIT COOKING FIRE BUILDING: PART I

-EMBER FIRED FRESH ZUCCHINI

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

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.”

The SmokinLicious® Story

THE SMOKINLICIOUS® STORY

This is the The Smokinlicious® Story and the birth of the cleanest USA manufactured hardwoods specifically for cooking.

We all have dreams. I can seriously tell you that one of mine did not include owning a cooking wood company. It just happened. The short story is, my husband and co-founder of SmokinLicious®, agreed to take over a wood products business that required a more skilled leader. For two years, I let him tackle this venture alone until his vision saw more potential.

Just a few years ahead of this, we had another dream of owning a lake property. We managed to make that dream a reality in 1999 when we lucked out finding our ideal property. It needed a lot of work. A LOT! We jumped off the cliff that year and continued working on this project for the next 12 years adding various out buildings. The fourth building to be built would turn out to be one of the most used and bring to life our cooking wood company – our outdoor kitchen.

The Outdoors Brings Clarity- The SMOKINLICIOUS® Story

We brought in larch logs to stand majestically as pillars on the countertop surround. We brought in stone from a local quarry and built a beautiful outdoor fireplace with an elevated hearth. And we outfitted the kitchen with a small refrigerator, sink, prep area, and loads of under counter cabinets. When it was done, we began cooking and creating and dreaming some more. You see, we are blessed with mountains all around us that harbor the best hardwoods for cooking. And we owned a wood company!

Here’s where life got interesting.

We would entertain friends and family, always cooking in that outdoor kitchen when we could. The questions started pouring in! “What did you do to these short ribs? I’ve never tasted anything so good! How is it possible that my 7-year old, who won’t ever eat my steaks, is asking for 3^rd helpings of yours?”

Have you ever experienced one of those moments? I call it karma.

We had plentiful hardwoods so we never paid attention to what other people had for cooking supply. Until that moment.

Make It Like No Other- The SMOKINLICIOUS® Story

We scoured the stores and online sites looking at what was available for cooking wood. We didn’t like what we saw. The packaged wood looked dry, dirty, inconsistent in sizing, loaded with bark, not something enticing to cook with. And that was our moment.

We knew we could produce a better product line then what was currently available. We made our list of issues we could see with the current product offerings. Then we launched into our plan.

If you’re like me and you understand that you control your own fortune in life, then you’ll understand that I could see what I wanted in this product, I believed I could make this product and company a reality. I just didn’t know the how. That is generally the pattern for all success in business.

Belief Becomes Reality- The SMOKINLICIOUS® Story

SmokinLicious® started business by providing a handful of products to meet the initial needs of those who wanted to smoke with hardwood. We tested our products on the competitive barbecue circuit throughout North America, we studied the equipment that most competitors and home users used, and we studied the wood. Over the past 13 years, we’ve been listening to our customer’s comments, listening to the needs of our potential and existing commercial customers, visiting commercial smokehouse operations, and analyzing what’s missing in the market. We’ve gone from one size of wood chips to over eight options, three offerings of wood chunks, five sizes of heartwood logs, and over 15 flavors of our Smokin’ Dust® product, making SmokinLicious® the most innovative cooking wood supplier who also happens to manufacture every product.

If the equipment to make our dream real didn’t exist, we made it. If writing how to guides didn’t prove enough, we offered videos. Additionally, if photos couldn’t prove the differences in our products from others, then we offered up molecular analysis.

This is The Smokinlicious® Story or at least our story to this point. There is so much more to come. Join us and experience a rebirth when it comes to wood fired cooking techniques and get the perfect partner for your needs. You can be part of the rest of The Smokinlicious® Story!

Purchase products:

Smokin’ Dust

Wood Chips- Grande Sapore®

Wood Chunks- Double and Single Filet

Smoker Logs- Full & Quarter Cut

More Related reading on this subject

Additional reading:

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

-SMOKINLICIOUS® IS AN F2C

-IT’S A MATTER OF PRIORITY! DON’T PUT US LAST!

-JOIN OUR ‘WEIRD’ CLUB AND GET RESULTS FROM YOUR WOOD CHIPS!

Doctor Smoke- The Smokinlicious® Story