Wednesday 7 March 2012

Wood Chips For Smoking Food

wood chips
Assorted Wood Chips
Oh gosh, I love them! A tablespoon and a half of this stuff and it's like magic, so much flavour and juiciness. I've not been that experimental really, just pork ribs, pork belly strips and chicken breasts so far but oh my, they've all been so good.

Actually, I have been a bit more experimental than that, but not on a large scale. I smoked a mushroom, some gouda and also halloumi. The gouda worked the best but I don't recall which flavour wood chips were used, the mushroom was just plain weird.

I'm going to attempt to make a smoked onion soup at some stage, no idea what it's going to turn out like but if you read often you'll know that I do like an experiement!

The following wood chips have been used: Alder, Bourbon Soaked Oak, Hickory, Pecan, Cherry and Mesquite.

I'd read a lot about Mesquite and I thought it was going to be a really strong flavour but for me it wasn't. It was lovely and made ribs taste gorgeous but it wasn't as strong as some of the others which surprised me. It's got kind of a tangy flavour but other than that I really don't quite know how to describe it.

I'd say out of those six flavours, the strongest is Bourbon Soaked Oak. It has a slight bitterness to it and is very smokey. I think that's what I may have smoked the mushroom with, no wonder it tasted odd.

I really like all the ones that I've tried but I think my personal favourite right now is Pecan. It's nutty and delicate but you can definitely taste it. I'm really looking forward to doing some more wood chip combinations, which could prove interesting!

I love this way of cooking and you don't have to use a dedicated stove top smoker to do it, but I just think it's easier. If you want to experiement with wood chips (US) wood chips (UK) have a look at what's available, there's lots of different flavours and they are really low cost when you consider that you only need one and a half tablespoons for each smoking session.

I'm absolutely hooked on this way of cooking, for me it brings yet more variety to the gluten free diet and that's important. If you compare how much it costs to buy pre-smoked foods against smoking your own you'll find out that you will make huge savings, that's always a bonus. Great smoked food at home for a fraction of the cost. Love it!

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