Fri 15 May 2020
We discuss the pros and cons of using aluminum foil for food smoking- in particular your BBQ and how it can affect the outcome.
Sat 9 May 2020
Smokinlicious® Cooking Wood in the chimney starter!
I’m going, to be frank. When having an opportunity to search through social media photos of various foods cooked by fire and smoke and seeing a reference to the wood, I get uncomfortable. There doesn’t appear to be the same concern for the choice of wood as there is for the rub, cut of meat, quality of meat, choice of equipment, and sauce.
Why is it that the wood used to flavor the foods grilled and smoked is an afterthought?
Recently, I ran across an article in Reader’s Digest that focused on the dangers of wildfire smoke, especially for those living in areas of the United States that are hit repeatedly by these events. What struck me the most was the Environmental Protection Agency’s Air Quality Index: good, moderate, unhealthy for sensitive groups, unhealthy, very unhealthy, and hazardous. This guide is used to recommend evacuations of locations, use of HEPA filtration to allow people to remain in an affected area, and as a method of gaining valuable data post-fire on the effects, smoke has on plant life. There is considerable data available from tree bark which has long been known to absorb pollutants.
This got me thinking about hardwoods used for smoking, grilling, and overall cooking of foods. There is no regulatory agency that oversees wood used for cooking. Despite efforts to get the Food Safety and Inspection Services division to recognize the risks associated with cooking with wood, no governmental agency has stepped up to offer regulations in this area such as established inspections of equipment and wood.
As the manufacturer of all the products sold under the brand SmokinLicious®, we struggled with what steps to take that would demonstrate our commitment to only offer hardwoods that are considered safe for cooking. Although we stressed that we are bark-free (an important step to reduce the exposure to toxins locked in the bark layers), that we only manufacture from the heartwood (an area of the tree that is known to be resistant to insects and decay), and that we manufacture each cut to the wood for the end cooking product, we simply desired some validation of these steps.
Since we’ve always considered the wood another ingredient to cooking, we decided to explore the options from the food perspective. What certification could we apply for that would demonstrate that we are a food-related item? Kosher certification was the perfect place to start!
For us, the steps we’ve taken to obtain Kosher certification via VA’AD HAKASHRUS OF BUFFALO verified our commitment to keep our manufacturing facility at the highest standard possible. People are drawn to kosher food for various reasons including quality, a healthy lifestyle, food safety, and allergy security. By securing this certification, we can demonstrate to the public that our products satisfy the food quality and safety requirements they should strive for daily. As such, our customers don’t have to settle for an unregulated product that frankly, could contain pretty much anything in the package because, as pointed out, there is no system of check on wood cooking and smoking products.
Taking a page from the Environmental Protection Agency, I thought it would be helpful to develop an index to use for hardwood intended for cooking. Our grading system is based on toxicity factors of a wood, ease of lighting, sustained burn, coal formation, smoke production, and heat level. Our index is: Excellent, Good, Fair, Poor, Unhealthy.
Excellent: Alder, American Beech, Ash, Cherry, Hickory, Pecan, Maple, Apple
Good: Persimmon, Red Oak, White Oak, Mesquite
Fair: Birchwood, Chestnut, Walnut, Peach
Poor: Aspen, Basswood, Poplar, Sycamore, Butternut, Cottonwood, Elm, Willow, Dogwood
Unhealthy: Buckeye, Hackberry, Gum (Sweetgum)
We hope you will find this guide useful. Use it as a means of sorting through all the types of wood offerings to make an educated decision, to look for key information on the packaging that will confirm you are making a safe decision. After all, why take any additional risks when it comes to the health and safety of your family.
Making you an informed consumer through valuable articles like this one. Hope you enjoyed this blog about cooking with wood! Leave us a comment and subscribe for more great recipes, techniques, tips, and the science behind the flavor, that’s SmokinLicious®.
More related reading on Cooking wood, how to use and alter its great flavoring capabilities!
Dr. Smoke- Cooking wood provides great flavor in our BBQ, Smoked Bacon, Ribs and even on Vegetables!
Thu 7 May 2020
Learn why moldy hardwood is unfit for cooking and smoking food. Do not GRILL WITH MOLDY WOOD!
listen to Grill with Moldy Woods
There are many opinions out there in the BBQ world when it comes to the wood used for smoking and grilling. Some people preach it doesn’t matter where the wood comes from as long as it isn’t a treated lumber. Comments include, “don’t worry if there are bugs or bug holes – if they’re in there, they’ll just burn up”, or “fires are hot so anything on the wood just burns so you can grill with moldy wood”.
Mon 23 Mar 2020
Discussion of the 8 common wood cooking mistakes to avoid.
We are approaching that exciting time of the year when just about all of North America can start to enjoy cooking outdoors again! Make it the best outdoor cooking season yet by learning the steps to using wood for cooking and grilling successfully, avoiding the common wood cooking mistakes that can sink those outdoor meals.
Sun 8 Mar 2020
Price is NOT everything-THE TOP THINGS TO CONSIDER WHEN PURCHASING COOKING WOOD
We have your top things to consider when purchasing cooking wood! We are getting closer to peak season in North America for outdoor cooking. What a perfect time to start thinking about what you want to get out of your outdoor cooking time this year so you’ll be able to source the supplies you’ll need and feel confident in your decisions. This includes the wood used for cooking.
There are many companies who offer woods for cooking in the United States. We thought we’d assist you in determining the perfect fit for your needs based on what you’re looking for in the cooking wood as well as a match for your equipment.
Today, we are going to compare 7 popular cooking wood companies who may use the terms cooking woods, grilling woods, wood, and BBQ, or BBQ products. The comparison will include 9 key areas: Established date of the business, where the wood is harvested or sourced from, wood types offered, how the wood is sold, shipping costs, treatment process the wood is exposed to, packaging of the product, if bark is present, and primary claim made by the Company. Following this listing, I will highlight any information that you may want to question further.
Our goal is to arm the purchaser with needed information to ensure that they are getting the perfect wood for the cooking technique(s) they plan to do. Remember, there are different variables needed in a wood for different methods of wood-fired cooking which you can read about further in our blog Taste is Aroma.
Tue 3 Mar 2020
Cherry wood for smoking will bring out the sweetness in anything in the smoker!
WILL CHERRY HARDWOOD SWEETEN EVERYTHING IT TOUCHES?-Without question, Cherry is one of the most popular woods for wood-fired cooking, particularly when it comes to hot smoking using traditional smoking equipment. Despite information SmokinLicious® has provided on this hardwood species (Put a Cherry on It blog & Cherry Wood Question blog), there are still many questions posed and many misunderstandings about this wood. My intention here is to speak on the cherry varieties in North America and ensure that you can make an informed decision when selecting this hardwood for cooking.
Wed 19 Feb 2020
I see the question asked so many times and in so many ways. What is the best wood to use for smoking? What is the best wood to use for smoking (fill in the blank with your favorite food)?
I’m going to shake things up a bit by stating there is no rule book saying a specific wood must be used with a specific food. There are, however, some basic things you should know to reduce the risks of toxicity, damage to your equipment, and overall ruining your barbecue. Use the wrong hardwood and you can bitter any food you expose to that wood’s smoke.
Wed 5 Feb 2020
In the Wood Bark or Not debate, this Diagram shows the two key elements of the tree that can effect your Barbecue results. Smokinlicious® only harvests wood from the heartwood of the forest grown tree and recommends that cooking with wood bark not be done.
Tue 24 Dec 2019
Infusing cherry wood smoke into Brussels sprouts using the gas grill is simple and easy and adds a very flavorful touch to this hearty vegetable.
A favorite of the cabbage family, Brussels sprouts came to the United States via French immigration in the 18th century. They are dominantly grown in California and available June thru January making them a Fall and holiday menu favorite. SmokinLicious® will take the flavors up a notch and add wood smoke into Brussels sprouts for two upcoming recipes. We’ll do this on the gas grill fit with wild cherry wood chunks to bring subtle smokiness to the finish sprouts. First purchase 3 lbs. of Brussels sprouts and get two cherry single filet chunks, and you’re ready to fire up the grill and get smoking.
Bringing the flavor of wood smoke into Brussels sprouts is so easy. To start, gather about 3 lbs. of Brussels sprouts, some cooking oil, butter, and a heavy-duty skillet. I prefer a nut oil like walnut or almond. For a skillet I’ll be using cast iron. I’ve trimmed the ends on about half the sprouts and for the other half, I’ve trimmed the ends and cut them in half. That’s it! Fire up the grill and get ready for a quick method of adding great wood-fired flavor.
It only takes a couple of pieces of wood chunk to bring fabulous flavor to the grill. I set up a cast iron pan on one side and place two cherry wood chunks on the heat shields of the far burner. Let the pan heat up for about 5 minutes then pour in a couple of tablespoons of oil and heat. Right before I add the Brussels sprouts, I add a couple of tablespoons of butter. In go the whole Brussels sprouts and the lid comes down. Leave untouched for about 5 minutes before turning.
As I have two recipes in mind I’m cooking two batches of Brussels sprouts: one batch whole and one batch halved. After leaving for 5 minutes, I stir them to ensure that all surfaces are infused with wood flavor. I maintain a temperature of 350-375° F which will make this a quick cooking method. The first 5 minutes, the lid is down but once stirred, you can finish the cooking with lid up. Remember, cast iron will retain heat, so you can turn the heat off and let sit for about 5 minutes.
After stirring a couple of times, both the whole and halved Brussels sprouts are ready in about 20 minutes time. I simply remove them from the heat and bring them in to be added to my favorite recipes.
I have two recipes I’ll be working on: Smoky Brussels Sprout Gratin and Tortellini with Lemon and Smoked Brussels Sprouts. These truly are the most flavorful Brussels sprouts! For those of you thinking about a holiday meal with them, well, the grill will give you that extra oven room you need. Take advantage of the long harvest season and try these mini cabbages on your grill. Check in for our recipes soon so we can get you started on how to use your prized sprouts.
Bringing you new methods of infusing wood fired flavor into seasonal items. Be sure to subscribe and follow us to gain great tips, techniques, recipes and the science behind the fire.
The Culinary Crew wants you to know…
#chefbertandtom
… that the direct infusion of hardwood-fired smoke to foods, like Brussels Sprouts, is considered a flavor ingredient, much in the same way that spices, minerals and sauces enhance taste. When fired, the components of smoke vapor carry the hardwood’s distinctive flavor profile directly into meats, seafood, fruits or vegetables with pleasing results to the palate.
#singlefilet #woodchunks
More Related reading on this subject
Dr Smoke- “Soften the taste of your Brussels sprouts by adding smoke flavoring from your gas grill using Smokinlicious® cherry wood chunks.”
Fri 20 Dec 2019
Not all wood supplier is like Smokinlicious®, cutting their product from forest grown fresh harvest. Rather they use recycled material.
One of the things we do at SmokinLicious® for commercial-grade customers is take in a sample of their current smoking wood and analyze it. When you’re a Company producing a food product, you need consistency of the final product. When it comes to smoked foods, this can be a challenge as wood is a plant material that can be highly variable when put through the stages of combustion. If a mixture of woods is used in the process, combustion rate, biochar production, volatile burn off, and other parameters of the wood can be affected in a negative way.
If a price is the only factor guiding your decision on a wood supplier, then you are playing a game of roulette. Just like any other business transaction, you should be looking for authenticity of the wood. Let me give you an example:
Germany is the only country currently taking direct steps to protect woods on the endangered species list. Yes, there is such a list of 183 countries participating in some level of enforcement. The direct goal of The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) is to prevent deforestation but the challenge, as with most lofty goals, is personnel to enforce the regulation. Germany is uncovering case after case of fraudulent wood sales and finding that less expensive woods in the manufacture while invoices reflect another more expensive wood.
Now, look at smoking wood products. There are no regulations. A company can package wood product of pretty much any condition, label it as a specific species, and put it into the marketplace. There is no accounting for:
▪ how the wood was collected
▪ what the wood pieces are made from
▪ treatments conducted on the wood
▪ if the wood is 100% of a specific species
▪ the origination of the wood
▪ the age of the wood
I can’t even count how many times we’ve visited a Company’s location to view their wood supply and find that what they thought they were purchasing is not what’s present. Some suppliers have gone so far as to including softwoods in the product labeled as hardwood! This doesn’t happen with just the larger pieces of wood either. Microchips commonly used in industrial smokehouses rarely contain 100% of a said wood. Perhaps this is the reason why packaging regulations for a smokehouse bacon or ham can state it is Applewood smoked when Applewood may have only made up 10% of the wood used in the smoking process!
The budget for wood can be substantial for companies and restaurants. You have every right to demand a product’s accountability. Ask questions!
What is the origin of the wood? Remember, many smoking wood suppliers are not involved in the manufacturing process. They are the seller, not the manufacturer meaning they likely have little or no knowledge of the history of the wood.
Has the wood undergone any processes? Kiln dried? Preservation chemical added? If the wood didn’t start out for cooking, it is likely that processes used to stabilize the wood for its main purpose, say flooring, were applied. That won’t make it the best choice for a cooking method or even a safe choice.
You have every right to request a Letter of Guarantee or Letter of Authenticity. Remember, woods used for food preparation or cooking currently have no universal regulations. The only wood regulation that exists in the USA is regarding moving firewood and that is regulated primarily by the individual states.
We may not consume the wood in its natural form but we certainly consume food products cooked over or near that wood, that infuses many of the organic compounds of the wood. Not all organic compounds are good. There are many known toxicities in certain species of wood with softwoods containing the highest risk. That is the reason why you should never cook with a softwood. Other wood has the potential to cause sickness and in some cases, if a person’s system is already compromised, death.
Take the time to learn about the wood you will use in the cooking method and ask the questions that could be the difference between a successful venture and partnership with your wood supplier or a disaster you simply didn’t need.
Proving you with additional information on woods including the science behind the fire, along with tips, techniques, and recipes. That’s why you should subscribe and follow us so you don’t miss a thing.
More Related reading on this subject
Dr. Smoke- know your wood supplier “As one of the premier cooking wood manufactures in the world, always use caution on sourcing wood, especially when you’re going to cook with it- too much is being labelled “green” and it’s not fit for cooking.”
Fri 1 Nov 2019
We explore the question “is wood-tar creosote” bad for your BBQ food?
There are lots of stories out there in the BBQ world about creosote! Most have the same tone: creosote is not something you want when you cook with wood.
Unfortunately, that can never happen as creosote is always present in wood.
Likely because there is confusion with another type of creosote: coal-tar creosote, commonly used to preserve such things as railroad ties, telephone poles, bridges, etc. You know when material has been exposed to coal-tar by the black, charred appearance.
One of the primary advantages to having creosote in hardwood is its ability to act as a preservative. Long before equipment was designed for cooking, people would dig holes in the ground to produce a smokehouse for preserving game meats they hunted. It was the only method of ensuring safe consumption when refrigeration wasn’t readily available.
Wood-tar creosote is colorless to yellowish and presents as a grease or oil consistency. It is a combination of natural phenols which are the natural compounds that produce the flavors of BBQ when the wood is combusted or burned. In addition to the distinct flavor, phenols are also responsible for the aroma and color of BBQ foods.
Guaiacol is a compound derived from methyl ether and is responsible for BBQ’s smoky taste while the dimethyl ether syringol is the chemical responsible for BBQ’s smoky aroma.
Now that you know not all of creosote’s chemical composition is bad, what are the risks to a wood-tar creosote?
The biggest risk is in burning wood that is not at an ideal combustion rate. I’m sure you’ve had experience with campfires that produce an acrid aroma and literally cause a foul “taste” in the air from poor combustion rate (too slow burning). That is the challenge and risk when using wood products with food for hot smoking. Remember, hot smoking requires temperatures that are lower – generally below 275°F. To achieve a consistent low temperature, you must control air intake and damper or exhaust. If you don’t achieve a good balance, the result will be a sooty, bitter tasting and smelling food outcome.
How do you know if your crossing into risky and poor outcome territory?
By the color of the smoke. A poorly balanced combustion of wood will produce a black smoke. Repeat these conditions and you’ll stimulate creosote deposits within your equipment which can reduce the draft needed to ensure the fire gets enough air to optimally combust. Remember, creosote on its own is highly combustible which is why there are many wood stove house fires occurring due to poor maintenance/clean out of these units.
Now that your aware that phenolic compounds, specifically guaiacol and syringol are key to tasty, flavorful BBQ foods, let’s talk about these compounds in specific hardwoods.
Interestingly, Beech wood is highly prized and used in Europe for smoking particularly in meat processing facilities. This is no surprise to me since Beechwood has one of the highest percentages of guaiacol when at a high heat level (distilling). Know that the phenolic compounds present in all wood distill at variant percentage levels and usually require a combustion temperature of nearly 400°F to peak. Yet another reason why you want to keep a balance to your fire so combustion is optimal. Thus the resulting flavors and aromas are pleasant.
More Related reading on “What Wood for Smoking” and other great smoking and grilling tips and techniques
Dr Smoke- “We as chefs need to always monitor how much wood tar creosote is good for our BBQ by balancing the time of each cook versus the taste of our results.”
Wed 9 Oct 2019
Our Hickory double filet is great for most smoking or grilling equipment – So YES-HICKORY FOR FOOD SMOKING is an excellent choice!
to IS HICKORY THE WOOD TO SMOKE & Grill WITH
The question is one of the most common we hear. What is the most popular wood you sell?
Initially, our response was that there wasn’t one hardwood that was dominating the order system. That certainly has changed over the course of the past few years.
Without question, Hickory has become the most requested hardwood.
I truly believe the catalyst for the popularity of hickory particularly for smoking foods, is television and YouTube. Yes, all those cooking and food shows and YouTube channels have catapulted grilling/smoking with wood and charcoal leaning toward Hickory. As if Hickory for food smoking is the only choice for “real” barbecue.
Some of the roots of the popularity of Hickory is the generational secrets of barbecue. Hickory has been, for many decades, a commonly found hardwood in the traditional barbecue states who are credited with bringing barbecue to the limelight. North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Virginia and then advancing west to such states as Tennessee, Missouri, and Alabama. Gradually, those who wanted to duplicate the smoke flavors of the south continued to request hickory. The result: hickory for food smoking and cooking has become one of the highest demand hardwoods in North America.
Without question, those known in the world of barbecue as major players have stimulated the belief that their choice in smoking wood is the key to their success and notoriety. Here’s is the conflict: many fail to admit that there are many other factors that account for their success. Although they may have made their mark by sticking with that one wood for the entire time they cooked and gained popularity, they also committed to specific equipment, fuel product say a specific brand of charcoal, meat supplier, whether they keep the bark on the wood or remove it, and brands or recipes for rubs/sauces/marinades. ALL these items factor into the overall success of a cooking event even in barbecue.
I won’t get into the details about one brand of charcoal or briquette over another, or the influence of a wet or dry rub on the meat’s ability to absorb smoke vapor. Those discussions will be for another day. What I will stress is that the climate and soil of tree’s location is by far a key determinate in whether it will make a great smoking or grilling wood. Specifically, the more balanced the pH level of the soil the tree’s roots are bound to and the amount of precipitation the tree is exposed to in a given year, directly affect how favorable the wood will be for smoking, grilling, and cooking in general.
I’m often told by new customers who had previous experience with hickory and found it to be too strong in flavor, producing too dark a coloring to the food’s exterior, and often producing a sooty appearance to both the food and equipment, that once they tried our wood, they had the exact opposite result. Why? The easiest answer is we simply have better-growing conditions in the Northeast than other areas that grow Hickory trees. Plus, we have access to the better species of this hardwood family.
With over 20 species of Hickory in North America, they are not all equal when it comes to cooking with them. Many of these 20 species are known to produce bitter undertones when foods are exposed to their smoke vapor. That means poor results for the cook or Pitmaster who believes in hickory for their food production.
I like to compare hardwoods for cooking to extra virgin olive oil. There are hundreds if not thousands of brands of olive oil available. Yet, many producers marketing an extra virgin olive oil (EVOO) are using low-grade oils in the production rather than meet the requirements for EVOO labeling. Wood is similar. There is no obligation to label where the wood comes from, how old it is, how it was processed, what species it is from, and if it is from the raw material of the timbered tree or a by-product or waste product of another use. Just like olive oil producers using pomace or the olive residue left over from the traditional production of olive oil, hardwood can be a leftover as well and re-purposed into something it wasn’t initially intended for.
My hope is that I’ve stimulated some thinking into what makes for a great smoking wood, grilling wood, or cooking wood in general. Instead of duplicating a celebrity figure or following a current fad, blaze your own trail into what pleases you and the people you are serving your amazing grilled and smoked foods from the wood fire to. With so many factors affecting a food’s taste, appearance, and aroma, it’s time to simply experiment, keep a log, and find what pleases you. It may turn out to be one hardwood that you feel is the wood or it could simply be the food that guides you. Hope you enjoyed our blog IS HICKORY THE WOOD TO SMOKE & GRILL WITH?
The Culinary Crew wants you to know …
… that your wood cooking and food smoking experiences can offer a good variety of great tastes and awesome flavors by using the full range of acceptable hardwood species. Without a doubt, hickory commands a lot of media market attention and is a very popular choice but don’t look past other hardwoods like oak, maple, cherry, alder, beech and ash to deliver great results!
We hope this latest posting was informative. Leave a comment or suggestion as we love hearing from you, especially when it comes to what you want to learn about next. As always, subscribe and follow us so you don’t miss out on the latest information.
Additional reading the topic of wood species and other cooking ideas!
Dr. Smoke- “While hickory is the number one choice for Southern barbecue, it should not be your only choice. When asked YES-HICKORY FOR FOOD SMOKING is the most popular choice!
Fri 16 Aug 2019
Our double filet box of pristine, NO BARK, hardwood wood chunk for smoking ready for the next customer!
These two questions have been quite common for the 12+ years we’ve been in business. What does a cubic foot box of wood weigh? How many pieces do you estimate are in a cubic foot box of wood?
Due to the regulations imposed by The National Conference on Weights and Measures -Uniform Regulation for the Method of Sale of Commodities, we cannot specify weight on a wood product, even though we are a cooking wood. Instead, when asked about weight, we only provide an estimate clearly stating that wood is not sold by weight due to the variation in moisture level and density of the wood selected.
I can, however, tell you the details that a recent first-time customer posted to an online forum that had me elated!
This customer took a lot of time and effort to get to the details about our wood; the packaging and the weight not just of the carton, but of specific select pieces. This customer purchased the Serious Smoker Double Filet Wood Chunk which is our cubic foot carton product with the smallest chunk sizing. We offer an option to select up to 3 wood choices for this carton size, with this customer selecting our 3 most popular hardwoods: Hickory, Sugar Maple, and Wild Cherry.
First, let’s look at this customer’s overall purchase.
The packaged hardwood weighed in a 32.5 lbs. A total of 139 pieces of wood were packaged. Of that total, 48 pieces were Wild Cherry, 44 pieces Sugar Maple, and 47 pieces Hickory.
This customer owns equipment that references specific weight of wood needed to smoke optimally. In this case, just 2-4 ounces of wood is ideal.
Although weights for each of the 139 pieces of wood were not obtained, sufficient sampling was done. Here is what was reported:
For this equipment user, there was an estimate that 139 pieces of hardwood would provide for some 100 smoking events!
What I loved the most about this report is that it correlates specifically to the density of these 3 hardwoods. Hickory has the highest density of the 3 kinds of wood selected and this is reflected by the weight of the individual pieces sampled. Sugar Maple would be next in density followed by the Wild Cherry, all proven with the reported weights.
Unquestionably, there is a lot of wood chunk pieces in a cubic foot carton! Which means you want to ensure you can use that much wood in a reasonable amount of time to maximize the freshness factor and peak level for function as a smoking wood. Individual pieces will vary in weight even if the dimensions of the pieces are relatively the same. That is the nature of a water-rich material – the water weight influences the overall piece weight.
We are indebted to this customer for taking the time to inform us all of his findings since, by law, SmokinLicious® can’t offer this detail.
We hope you liked this post. We’d love to hear from you so subscribe, comment and follow us on all social media platforms. Keep those suggestions coming for the future information you crave.
More Related reading on “What Wood for Smoking” and other great smoking and grilling tips and techniques
Dr. Smoke- “Thank you to this great customer for analyzing our box- wood chunk for smoking.”
Fri 19 Jul 2019
Charcoal that is produce properly is a fuel and provides heat! Wood adds flavor!
There are so many methods of getting a message out rapidly given the speed of technology and the many platforms for posting opinions and marketing strategies today. In doing research for a publication, I came across a statement made by a charcoal company that made me a bit … confused.
This company claimed that their product was an ingredient, not a fuel!
Not a fuel? That statement is in direct conflict to what charcoal manufacture was designed for – heat.
I realize that when used with 100% accuracy, charcoal will produce no smoke and a consistent heat. We all know that the 100% accuracy is the kicker – pretty much no one is proficient at producing full ignition of the charcoal with stable air intake to maintain the high heat level the product was designed for. What usually occurs is that we start out with full ignition but given the need for longer cooks, we add charcoal and thus, start to fluctuate the oxygen feed. Only during those fluctuations does the production of smoke occur with charcoal.
Charcoal production is the act of carbonizing wood which means all the volatiles of the wood is burned off until what is left is pure carbon or at least a high percentage of carbon. There is no refuting that it burns cleaner, hotter, and more evenly than wood only.
Here are where differences occur though when it comes to types of charcoal.
Lump charcoal is made from various scrap wood sources like furniture manufacture, a wood packaging manufacturer, the flooring manufacturer, and building material scraps. Due to the high level of variation in these pieces, most often there is not 100% carbonization of the lump charcoal production. That’s why you can get some smoke and flavor from that product; when combustion of a non-charred piece occurs, you’ll stimulate organic compounds that produce flavor. Keep in mind, because scrap wood is used you can get other debris in the purchased bag as often this is scooped up from a site and transferred to a production facility, with the scoop gathering anything that may be in the area.
Traditional charcoal manufacture also known as briquets is also made from scrap wood, sawdust and wood chip product. It is known that some manufacturers include a percentage of softwood but for the most part, the product is derived from hardwood. Briquets do have binders added and there are some types that have accelerants added to make them extremely quick to lite. Personally, I can detect those additives and feel they do change the overall flavor when cooking foods over them but you can make that determination for yourself.
Controlled flavor only comes from wood and the best and safest flavors, from hardwood. Charcoal is a fuel, it is for heat, and the only flavor it produces is when meat/poultry drippings fall directly on the hot coals and vaporize, stimulating flavors. Never are flavors stimulated from the briquet or charcoal.
If the definition of an ingredient is a substance that contributes or makes up a mixture, then truly hardwood, regardless if it cooking wood form is in chips, chunks, logs, dust or charwood, is an ingredient in wood-fired cooking recipes as it gives off its distinct organic flavor compounds that make up the cell structures. Heat is NOT an ingredient and that is what charcoal is: HEAT! A claim to be an ingredient just holds no truth.
Did you find this post informative? Leave a comment or suggestion as we’d love to hear from you so we can bring the information you’re looking for. And don’t forget, follow us and subscribe so you don’t miss a thing!
related reading on our blog for smoking with wood.
Dr. Smoke Charcoal needs to be supplemented by Smokinlicious wood products!
Thu 20 Jun 2019
Wild cherry Wood smoking traits discussed!
What can I tell people about smoking food with wild cherry wood when they have been told there is arsenic in wild cherry wood? They want to know if it is safe. Also, what about the issue of cyanogenic compounds? Is this a concern, and if so, I assume it is a non-issue if the wood is aged a period of time?
Thank you for educating me about the SAFETY of using wild cherry wood for smoking food.
Elizabeth Andress
Elizabeth L. Andress, Ph.D.
Professor and Extension Food Safety Specialist
Department of Foods and Nutrition
The University of Georgia
