Wood Smoke Advice

When it comes to using wood to create smoke to flavor food in your backyard barbecue, there are some important points you should remember.

Use only HARDWOOD, never softwoods, which contain pitch, resin, and oils, which will coat your food with soot and creosote---not appetizing at all!

Strive for BALANCE when using wood to smoke flavor your meat or fish. You want the smoke to compliment-not compete with the flavor of the meat, spices you are using or the sauce or marinade you are using. You want to accentuate, not bury the flavor of what you’re cooking.

It’s better to have a little wood smoke than too much. Keep this in mind when using more pungent woods like Hickory, Pecan, Oak, Hazelnut, which can turn meat bitter if you over smoke using these woods.

Allow the meat to warm up first before adding wood smoke to your cooking process. As the meat fibers relax more, the smoke will more deeply penetrate the meat.

Use teakettle hot water to soak your wood chips, chunks in. Like the meat, when the wood fibers open up in the hot water, the wood will absorb more water, helping the chips to smolder longer, rather than just burn up.

Green wood Vs seasoned wood? I prefer seasoned wood. Green wood contains a lot of moisture in the wood, which takes energy away from the fire (BTUs). Green wood also produces dense smoke-which contains creosote and can ruin the flavor of your food. Dry wood tends to smolder more evenly and doesn’t take as much BTU energy to create smoke. Experiment with each and decide which is best for you.

Does it matter which type of wood to use Vs the food you are cooking? Many barbecuers maintain that less than 5% of the world’s chefs could distinguish between nut wood and fruit wood. I think you can tell the difference, but then that’s one of the great barbecue controversies.

Can you smoke on a gas grill? Not really. That misnomer has been floated around by gas grill manufacturers for years. I don’t know of any gas grill owner who can honestly say they can get true smoke flavor from their grill.

Use wood chunks on charcoal or let the wood burn down to embers? For grilling and cooking whole hogs, I suggest allowing the wood to burn down into embers, then transfer it to your "pit." The smoke from the embers should be enough to impart enough smoke flavor to satisfy your taste buds.
Some exotic woods you might want to try include:
Dogwood, Sassafras, Madrone, Almond, Beech. Another source for creating smoke is using nut shells, such as pecan, walnut and hazelnut.
I do not recommend sprinkling herbs or spices onto your coals or burners in order to obtain the "flavor" of the herb or spice on your food. Instead, place the seasonings on the food before cooking

Dispelling The Myth: Fall Off The Bone Tender

Dispelling The Myth of Falling Off The Bone Tender

I hear from people all the time who want to know about the mystique of "fall off the bone tender." They tell me, "Yeah, they keep talking about this on television, and at cooking contests. How do I achieve that?"

I’m here to tell you, that this notion is patently WRONG! Whoever began proglamating this concept should be tarred and feathered!

Here’s why I believe the way I do. This concept is most often associated with barbecuing ribs. If you’re cooking them to the point where the meat literally falls off the bone, then in my learned opinion, you’ve overcooked the meat and compromised its integrity. Even the Kansas City Barbecue Society agrees with me. When you attend one of their Certified Judges classes, you learn that rib meat-if properly cooked-will come cleanly off the rib bone with a gentle tug of the teeth.

If the meat "falls" off the bone-it’s been overcooked. Rib meat should be tender, no doubt about that. In order to accomplish this feat, the ribs must be bathed in a consistent, constant heat, which allows the meat fibers to break down or tenderize. Rib meat should not be
overly chewy. Nor should it be mushy. You should be able to pull the meat off the rib bone in one piece equal to the length of the rib bone.

I don’t know who started this fallacy. All I know is that it is WRONG, WRONG, WRONG information. If you’re cooking ribs in a competition setting, I can guarantee you that Certified Judges will give you LOW SCORES if your rib meat falls off the bone. It should easily dislodge from the rib bone with a gentle tug of the teeth. That’s the sign of a properly cooked rib.

STEAKS!

Steaks! Great Food On and Off The Grill!

Steak Basics:
There are three major grades of beef, Prime-the very best, Choice and Select. The difference between the grades of steak meat is dependent upon the amount of fat or marbling in the meat. The more ribbons of fat in the meat, the more highly prized it is.
Fat is important in meat. It provides flavor, moisture and in big cuts, helps to draw the spices more deeply into the meat as the fat melts and drains through the meat fibers. If you’re fat sesnsitive, I recommend cutting the fat off AFTER COOKING the meat. This way you’ll at least get the benefit of its flavoring.
Look for a good balance of meat to fat to bone. You want bright red color. However, don’t overlook the brownish colored steaks—the change in color is what happens when oxygen gets into the meat package. It starts to break down the "bloom". Expensive steak houses use this process-under highly controlled conditions—to age meat—allowing the oxygen to break down the meat fibers and resulting in a far more tender, flavorful steak.
The King of Steaks:
For the money, it’s my opinion that you cannot beat a bone-in Ribeye. Also known as a "Delmonico", this steak is produced when you slice a Prime Rib apart into steaks.
Man oh man! Nicely marbled, that bad boy is just a delicious eating experience. I save the bone section for last, sucking and knawing off the meat along that rib bone-it has such fabulous flavor. And don’t forget that little bit of bone marrow—a nice little flavor treat all its own!
Other types of steak:
A little further back on the beef you find the "saddle" area. This portion is where Porterhouse, T-Bone, Club, NY Strip and Filet Mignon cuts come from.
Behind the "saddle" section is the Sirloin section of the beef. This is the area that produces the flat, pin and wedge bone sirloin steak.
From the shoulder section comes the chuck steak and from the rump area the top and bottom round steaks. While these may be inexpensive cuts compared to the above mentioned steaks, when cooked slowly over in-direct fire, they can cook up to be as tender as a newborn’s bottom!
Seasoning:
Most chefs and steak aficianodos agree, good ole salt and pepper are the best spices to use. You could rub on some Rosemary and a little garlic powder-if that’s to your liking. Some chefs also prefer to add a pat of butter to the top of a steak right after its been pulled off the grill. Garlic butter would be just great. It adds flavor and a little bit of fat, which adds some additional moisture to the meat. This is especially welcomed on steaks with less marbling in them.
The Preferred Way To Grill A Steak:
Both Merle Ellis and I agree-it makes no sense to let all of that delicious, flavor producing juice puddle up on top of a steak, only to be tossed into the fire when you turn your steak over.
Here’s our preterred way to cook the perfect steak---sear both sides over high heat, putting that bad boy onto a hot grid for just a minute, then immediately flipping it over. This seals the meat and the juices inside the meat. Then flip over again in four to six minutes—and one more time in four to six minutes-depending if you like your meat rare, medium-rare, medium or well done.
It’s our opinion that cooking a steak well done does a supreme injustice to the beef. You loose all of the flavor, nutrition and moisture in the meat. Might as well become a vegetarian if that’s how you like your steaks.
Further reading:
Some books I highly recommend you add to your cooking library include
The Great American Meat Book, Merle Ellis, (1996, Alfred Knopf)
How To Cook Meat. Chris Schlesinger, (2000, Morrow)
Strictly Steaks, A.D. Livingston, (2000, Burford Books)