ARMOURY KITCHEN
Cooking with smoke
HOW TO USE A SMOKER BOX
Charcoal/briquette grills Soak the woodchips in clean, cold water for a minimum of 30 minutes (and ideally about an hour). To stop the wood from floating on the surface, use two old saucepans of concentric sizes. Put the woodchips in the bottom of the larger pan, add water, then place the smaller pan on top. Fill the smaller pan with water to weigh it down Ð this will keep the woodchips on the bottom of the larger pan. Keep a bucket handy to drain the water when the chips are ready. You can use this water later for cooling hot racks and other tasks. Next pile the unlit charcoal or briquettes around the smoker
box and light as normal. If youÕ re using a charcoal starter soak the woodchips while youÕ re heating up the charcoal, then place the box with the damp woodchips in the centre of the cold fire pan, add the hot charcoal, and use your rake or tongs to pile the heated coals around it. Once the woodchips start to smoulder and smoke, place the food on the grill, and Ð a lid Ð
if your barbecue has
adjust the ventilators to ensure smoke circulates freely. If you smoke food in an unventilated grill it will absorb the
foul tasting by-products produced by burning. You can also open and close the lid to regulate how much the food is exposed to the smoke, thus creating different intensities of flavour.
Gas grills Soak the woodchips in water as before and place them in the smoker box. Before you light/preheat the barbecue, remove the grill rack and place the smoker box over the burner. The box should sit clear of the gas jets below and the grill rack above; often the best place for it is on the vaporiser bars (if fitted). After replacing the grill rack, turn on the heat and close the lid for the cooking area to preheat. When the chips begin to smoke the grill is ready and you can place the food inside. Again, if your gas grill has a lid, use it to regulate the amount of exposure the food has to the smoke.
Cooking with woodchips or pellets Besides a smoker box, the other essential ingredient in smoking food is the woodchips, but you canÕ t use just any wood. Pine and other softwoods contain high levels of resin, which turns to bitter-tasting creosote when burned. Instead you need non- resinous hardwoods. In Britain and Europe oak, alder or apple are the traditional woods for smoking, but an increasing number of modern barbecuers favour American hickory.
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HICKORY There are 19 species of hickory tree native to the south-eastern states of the USA, and once upon a time frontiersmen used hickory-handled axes to chop hickory logs for their campfires. Thus hickory became an important ingredient in the distinctive taste of Southern Style barbecue. Nowadays pre-packed bags
Tips
COOKING WITH WOODCHIPS
l Smoking can add a distinct pink circle around the inner edge of smoked meats, called the smoke ring, which makes it difficult to tell if food is completely cooked. Novice smokers should therefore use a food thermometer to check that everything is thoroughly done.
l Even pre-soaked woodchips will burn away after around 15 minutes in a hot smoke box, so check the supply every quarter of an hour.
l If you have just one sort of wood available you can vary the flavour by soaking the woodchips in apple juice, wine, brandy, whisky or any other liquid, but don’t use your best 25-year-old single malt unless you want to treat your guests to something really special.
l Remember to use gloves and tongs when handling hot coals, racks and smoker boxes. Though wood smoke has anti-bacterial and preservative properties it’s of absolutely no help in treating burns!
of chipped hickory are readily available from good garden centres, supermarkets and DIY stores. If you still canÕ t find hickory wood the taste can be replicated by using hickory- flavoured marinades and rubs, but nothing beats the real thing.
MESQUITE Hickory trees become less common west of the Mississippi, so Texan, Arizonan and Californian barbecuers traditionally use wood from the mesquite tree, a thorny, drought- resistant semi-desert plant. Ranchers regard mesquite as a
troublesome weed, which is perhaps why they started burning mesquite wood on their campfires. Luckily for hungry cowboys mesquite makes fantastic firewood, as it burns slowly with a lot of heat. For barbecuers wanting to recreate the Texas brand of Southern barbecue a smoker box of mesquite wood is a must. You can use it to add its characteristic nutty flavour to steaks, chicken, pork, many types of fish and even vegetables.
OTHER WOODS Oak, apple and beech are all popular; try blending various ones to make your own Ô recipeÕ .
PELLETS Natural wood is compacted into small pellets, giving more heat and flavour for their volume. TheyÕ re available in many Ô flavoursÕ .
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