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In each issue of the Smoke 'N Fire Enquirer we offer you unique tidbits on all aspects of outdoor cooking. You would have to search high 'n low to collect the unique information we offer - - - all for FREE! Keep on smoking!
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Hi %CUST_1%,
The weather is warming and SPRING is here! Daylight savings time is in full force and folks are firing up their grills all across the nation.
Activity @ Barbecue'n On The Internet is increasing which means more outdoor cooks are grabbing their gear and getting after it.
We just returned from the HPBA (that stands for the Home, Hearth and Barbecue Association). There were tons of new products for 2007 and The Barbecue Store will have them for you shortly.
Stay tuned.
If you missed our last newsletter on the subject of Chicken on a Throne (or more commonly called "Beer Butt Chicken") then you'll enjoy viewing the video here. Be sure to click the link below the presentation to read and understand the video. We hope you all enjoyed!
Finally, we are in the process of updating our Barbecue'n On The Internet site with a fresh look and more great content. It will take us a few more weeks, but we think you'll really enjoy the new feel to outdoor cooking.
OK, IT'S TIME TO BE MOVING ON...
Tired of "burgers 'n dogs"? Enjoy stepping outside the box when cooking?
If so, Tiger, then this
is your place.
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Today's Topic:
| Adding Smoke Flavor To Foods |
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Also in issue we have for you ...
 Cool New Store Items & Store Sale
Old Smokey Contest Winner
Free Basting Mop Offer Goes On!
Want to hear a particular topic? Let us know!
Did you miss our last issue? Read it here!
All the best to you and Keep On Barbecue'n,
Charlie McMurrey
P.S. GO FIRE UP THE GRILL ... NOW!
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Adding Smoke Flavor To Foods
For Gas Grills or Barbecue Pits |
If there is one question we always receive, it is, How do I instill wood smoke flavor into the food I'm cooking? Well, there are about a million ways, some better than others. We will briefly go over several of the more popular methods sorted by the type of grill/pit you might be using. We will first discuss cooking on a gas grill and then on a wood burning grill/pit.
FOR USE WITH GAS AND ELECTRIC GRILLLS
Unless you use some wood products, you might just as well cook your food in the oven. Gas does not, in itself, add any distinct flavors. It's very similar to using an electric oven. We know the grease from the meats dripping onto the hot diffusers (lava rock, bricks, stainless steel rods) will add some flavor as they "sizzle" and rise back as a smokey "flavor bombs". But this is not wood smoke flavor. So, then the question is "How do I add some smoke flavor to the food?".
The only way to accomplish this is ... quite simply ... to add wood to the cooking process. Wood can be in the form of sawdust, wood chips, wood chunks, smoking pellets, logs, etc. For the gas grill, we can fairly easily eliminate the logs and wood chunks as they are most often too large and are difficult to contain and you don't want the ashes in your gas grill.
That leaves us with sawdust, wood chips and smoking pellets. Sawdust, being so small (and difficult to locate) burns quickly and thus is not very practical. That leaves us with wood chips and smoking pellets which are both easily adapted to use with the gas grill. In both cases, we suggest purchasing a smoker box or preparing an aluminum pouch to place the chips/pellets into so that the residue does not dirty the gas grill. |
Wood Chips
When using wood chips we recommend soaking the chips in apple juice or even water. If you would like additional flavors in the smoke, add some other ingredients to the soaking process such as onions and/or garlic. Let your imagination run wild. The more flavor you can get into the wood chips, the more flavor you can retrieve during the smoke generating process. The object is to keep the chips on the moist side so they do not catch fire easily and they smolder and produce the desired smoke for cooking. |
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Smoking Pellets
Smoking pellets should NEVER be soaked. Pellets are made of compressed sawdust which burns when heated. However, if you starve the wood/pellets of oxygen during the cooking process, they will offer gentle smoke rather than burning too quickly. Thus we use the aluminum pouch.
Foil pouches work great to provide smoke in most outdoor cookers - electric, gas, charcoal. To make a foil pouch, simply cut a piece of heavy duty aluminum foil 6" by 12" and fold in half making a " x 6" square. Fold the side edges at least twice, pressing each fold firmly along the entire side. Put 1/3rd of a cup of pellets in the pouch and fold the top to seal. Poke a hole in one side of the pouch with a toothpick (small). Place the pouch on top of your charcoal briquettes or above the gas flame. When the smoke starts coming out of the hole in the pouch, put your food on the cooking grate and close the cover of your cooker. Smoke should last up to 30 minutes per pouch depending on the temperature of your cooker. |
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FOR USE WITH WOOD GRILLLS AND BARBECUE PITS
 Wood burning pits and grills are totally different animals. Because they use a wood product to produce heat in the first place [charcoal, logs, etc], it often requires less additional smoke flavors for the meat flavoring, particularly if you are cooking for longer periods of time, say 5+ hours. Using too much smoke, we have found, makes the meat bitter and unpleasant. We must say, however, some folks love that very strong flavor. In discussing this matter with other certified judges, most do not enjoy tasting bitterly smoked meats.
When grilling foods quickly, such as burgers, dogs, chicken parts, steaks, chops, veggies or the like, you will probably want to increase the quantity smoke (lots of it) being applied to the food as well as increase the intensity (stronger wood flavors such as mesquite, hickory, pecan) of the smoke flavors. By doing so, you will want to impart the smoke flavor quickly because you will not be cooking for that long a period of time.
 For adding smoke flavors to a wood burning pit, we would suggest wood chips, wood chunks, smoking pellets and logs. If you are using logs to cook with, we would recommend burning the wood down to coals before adding them to the pit. If you desire more information on this, please visit Smoky's Burning Wood and Blowing Smoke article.
He covers this topic in great detail.
Wood Chips
As with gas and electric grills, we recommend soaking your wood chips. (see previous section on using wood chips wtih gas and electric grills) When utilizing wood chips for the grill, we would suggest using a smoker box for its durability and capacity. You can use the aluminum foil pouch for the same purpose; however, the wood chips tend to be irregular in shape and, as such, can place unwanted holes in the foil which allows too much air to the chips, causing them to burn too quickly. The smoker box can be preheated beforehand and then, when you are ready, you can add the wood chips and cover the lid to begin producing the desired smoke flavors almost instantly. To replace/add new wood chips, simply lift the lid and add new previously soaked wood chips. |
Wood Chips for Smoking
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larger image |
Wood Chunks
Wood chunks are probably the easiest to use since they don't require foil, boxes or other containers. Like the chips, soak the chunks for an hour or so in apple juice, water or any other desired liquids. We would recommend placing 1 or 2 chunks on the edge of the fire so that they smoke evenly over a long period of time. If you place them in the center of the fire/heat source, they will burn quicker and offer more smoke if that is your desire. Simply replace as needed. |
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Smoking Pellets
As with use in gas grills, smoking pellets should never be soaked, placed in an aluminum pouch and set near the fire/heat source. You should have an additional pouch ready when the first ceases to produce the desired smoke.
 
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Wood Pellets Smoking
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Logs
As we mentioned earlier, we would always us a burn pit to reduce the logs to embers before adding them to the pit. More and more people are relearning a verity: meat cooked in the smoke stream of burning wood gets marred with cresols and phenols and other noxious volatiles which make good wood preservatives and disinfectants but don't taste very good, even to an unskilled palate [Smoky Hale]. Click here for more information on using real wood for outdoor cooking. |
Logs for Smoking
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Our recommendation for wood burning pits
 For producing the finest heat on a wood burning pit, we strongly recommend using either 1) coals which have been burned down from logs in a separate burn pit or 2) using natural lump charcoal. With each of these methods of generating wood burning heat, we would supplement, in small quantities, smoke flavors from small quantities of wood chips, wood chunks or wood pellets. The object is to produce a gentle, light stream of smoke during the cooking process. As Smoky says in his article...
... when the grill is ready to start cooking, toss in a double handful of wood, as above, throw on the meat and close the lid. Do that once again in about 30 minutes. That is probably all the smoke flavor that you need, but if you have become hooked on creosote, you can do it one more time. Beyond that, the meat has sealed and will absorb no more smoke flavor. Smoke will, however, continue to pile up on the outside with bitter results. [Smoky Hale]
Happy cooking and keep the smoke out of your eyes! |
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Click image to check out Smoky's sage advice for the beginner to the championship cook! |
| Looking for a specific answer? More than likely you will find the answer in one of the links below. If not, send your question to Smoky and he will take a stab at getting you back on the right track! Have fun and keep on keeping on Barbecue'n and Grillin'.
Ask Smoky's - New & Improved FAQ's
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Here are just a few of our new items!
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Above are just a few of our new items for the new barbecue season 2007.
Click here to see all of the great new items! Happy Barbecuing!
Looking for Gas Grill Parts? CLICK Above
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It hardly gets any better than this! You can also try this on poultry. Here is the start of the fun: |
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 Three 1 1/2-pound pork tenderloins
2 cups apple juice
1/4 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
2 Tbs garlic salt
1 Tbs sweet Hungarian paprika
2 tsp onion salt
1 tsp celery salt
1 tsp dry mustard (I use Colman's)
1 tsp freshly ground black pepper 1. Trim the fat and silverskin from the tenderloins, place them in a zippered-top plastic bag, add the apple juice, and let marinate in the refrigerator for 2 hours.
2. Combine the remaining ingredients in a small bowl and blend well.
3. When ready to cook, prepare an indirect fire and throw 3 chunks of apple wood on the coals.
4. Remove the tenderloins from the marinade. Transfer the remaining marinade to a saucepan and bring to a boil over menium-high heat; let simmer for 5 minutes, then set aside. Sprinkle the tenderloins evenly with the sugar-and-spice mixture.
5. Set the tenderloins on the pit, cover, and smoke at 230° to 250° F for 1 1/2 to 2 hours, basting with the cooked reserved marinade after 1 hour of cooking. Baste and turn the tenderloins every 30 minutes. Tenderloins are done when an instant-read meat thermometer inserted into the center registers at least 145° F; if you like your pork more done, then aim for 155° to 165° F.
6. Let the pork tenderloins rest for 10 minutes before slicing.
Enjoy!
Old Smokey Contest Winner
 Each newsletter we give away one heck of a grill to one of our lucky readers. By far, the Old Smokey Grill is our largest selling portable charcoal grill because of its durability and ability to produce great tasting food. There is only one winner each month! The winner of this month's Old Smokey Grill - #18 is:
Mike Crane
Hey Mike, please send us the email address used when you signed up for the Smoke 'n Fire Enquirer and we'll validate your address. Congratulations! For everyone else, we'll have a new contest next month and will be drawing from the same list you are on!
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