Wood fuel for smoking

Many gourmets prefer to use products that have been processed with wood smoke using the smoked method. After such processing, food acquires a special taste, pleasant aroma. Smoke preserves delicacies during smoking, this is facilitated by carbon monoxide (carbon monoxide), killing bacteria and preventing them from multiplying.

This type of food is low in cholesterol, which is beneficial for the human body. The cooking result depends on many factors, among which the woodfuel used for smoking is important. In this article, Wood.ua, he will talk about what types of wood fuel are and how to prepare it for the smoking process. Also here you will learn about the combinations of products with wood species and how to get smoked meats.

Types of wood fuels used in smokehouses

According to the technology, shavings, sawdust, wood chips and firewood in the form of thin twigs are used as wood for smoking food products. This material does not burn strongly, but smolders, forming smoke. Fuel selection is challenging.

Sawdust for home smokers is not very suitable. They are recommended in smokehouses with indirect heating.

Wood shavings are suitable for home smokehouses. This simple device is used in the domestic environment for hot smoking.

The best options for wood fuel for smoking are wood chips. It is suitable for both hot and cold smoking. As a result of smoking with wood chips, you can get products with good taste. You can read about what types of wood chips are, about its advantages and areas of application here.

The wood species from which the fuel is made plays an important role in the smoking process. The best delicacies can be obtained by using fuels from fruit trees. Beech, oak, ash wood is often used.

Wood fuel for smoking must be natural only. Woodworking materials, such as plywood, fiberboard, are unacceptable. They contain various chemical additives.

Smoking methods

There are two types of food smoking, each with its own differences:

1. Cold smoking. Food processing with this method is carried out with cold smoke, the temperature should be at the level of 20-25 degrees. The working process lasts from two to seven days, but the dish can be stored for quite a long time.

2. Hot smoking. Most of all at home they use the hot method of smoking. For him, in addition to smoke, a high temperature is needed, which should not be lower than 50 degrees. The high temperature does not allow dehydration of raw materials, as a result, the finished product is fatty. When smoked in a hot way, meat and fish acquire a peculiar aroma, a peculiar taste, but they are stored for a very short time, compared to the same meat or fish cooked in a cold way.

Combination of products with wood species used for smoking

Each type of wood has its own special substances that give the product a specific flavor. When choosing fuel for smoking, you should decide what type of product will be smoked:

• If it is lard, fish or poultry, wood chips will do. For example, you can use solid apple fuel to smoke a chicken. For meat and game, it is better to take chips of hardwood.

• Aspen and alder fragments give good results during hot smoking, in which they will not adversely affect the taste of the product. Alder is effectively used for smoking fish.

• To smoke game or fish with a specific smell, oak chips are suitable, because they exclude strong aromatization.

• Wood fuel from maple makes smoked products in the form of meat, cheese, fruits, poultry sweetish in taste. It is suitable for hot smoking.

Fuel preparation methods

The smoke density in the smokehouse should be uniform throughout the entire cycle. If sawdust is used as fuel, they should be taken in medium size. The small fraction is unable to provide the required smoke.

Wood fuel for smoking is taken of medium dryness. Raw firewood burns poorly, smokes heavily with harmful smoke, and dry firewood burns very quickly and does not give the required amount of smoke. When preparing wood chips, the main task is to make it optimally moist and preserve it in this form until use.

Before using in smokehouses, wood fuel requires preliminary moistening. The process is not complicated:

1. We put the fuel into the water.

2. After waiting for it to get wet, take it out.

3. Fold out thinly, recommended on a fabric backing to dry slightly.

The ideal percentage of moisture in the wood chips is 50-60%.

Interesting Facts:

• Conifers with a high resin content (pine, spruce) can also be used successfully in smokehouses, but only in certain cases. All due to the fact that the specified wood gives a coniferous smell and a bitter taste. These qualities are successfully used by French chefs when preparing branded smoked sausages on spruce twigs. And in Charente, mussels are smoked on pine needles. Pine sawdust and even cones are also used to prepare many exclusive dishes.

• It is a mistake to think that only meat and fish products are suitable for smoking. They also smoke different types of cheese, pepper, salt, malt for beer production, nuts and even tea.

The smoking process is not complicated, the main thing is to know the recipes, as well as to choose the right wood fuel.