Wood aromas in grilled dishes: what to choose and how to smoke?

Visiting foreign countries is an indelible impression that we bring back from the most fun trips. Images, colors, sounds, smells, tastes remain in the memory. We invite you to revive the memories of trips to Mediterranean countries with Spanish SMOKEY OLIVE WOOD of wood dust, chips and blocks and other products for seasoning food. 

For your choice - as many as 6 trees, which are most often used to smoke dishes not only in Spain, but also in Portugal, Italy and other southern European countries: from the most popular - olive tree, from soft and light lemon tree or orange tree, aromatic almond tree to the expressive walnut or the saint Holm oak. 

 

And how to smoke, read below. Although it seems to many that this is an extremely complicated process, it is actually incredibly simple. It will only take a minute, but believe me - your dishes will be much tastier and more attractive! 

There are several ways of smoking: cold and hot. Depending on the chosen method, not only the size (thickness) of the wood used differs, but also the final result, the smoking time.

The hot way - the option most often chosen by grillers to season their dishes. Although it sounds complicated, in the grilling world, it's a grilling process that involves placing pieces of wood of various sizes over coals (or another heat source, such as gas burners). When heated, they dry, smolder, and finally burn, releasing smoke. It is with them that the meat is flavored and colored.

To season your dishes with the wood of your choice, proceed as usual. The only difference is that before you put the food in the oven, put the chips/blocks/blocks on the hottest part. In a charcoal grill, these are embers; in gas or coal, we recommend using special smoke generators. And that's it! All you have to do is enjoy the pleasant smell and see how your dish acquires a yellowish color and a much wider, richer taste.

by the way in pellet grills no chips are needed: grill fuel - heated wood pellets not only cook, but also season the dish. 

In order for the smoke to spread as long as possible, pieces of wood or shavings are usually soaked in water (the usual time is 30 minutes, but it can be longer: after all, you are soaking the wood). Of course, you can choose and expand the range of flavors with other liquids: try beer, wine, brandy, cognac or other drinks. Each of them will give an additional, unique taste and smell to the presentation. 

 

Choosing the size of the pieces of wood depends on how long you want to smoke: remember that the smaller the chips, the faster they start burning, the more intense the smoke, and the faster they finish smoking. It seems, who needs those? However, there are dishes that cook for a very short time, so if you choose large chips or blocks, you simply won't be able to give a quickly cooked dish enough smoke flavor. Examples include shrimp, steaks, vegetables, etc. dishes.

It is also important to mention that each tree has a different intensity. Some of them give a rich, bright taste, while others - light, mild. Like spices, trees should be paired with dishes. Wood smoke with a rich flavor is suitable for smoking dense, bright meats, while using it for smoking seafood, vegetables, and chicken, be careful: your dishes may be bitter, spicy, and have a slightly sour aftertaste. A simple example of this would be rosemary and oregano. The first is suitable for seasoning beef, lamb, game, while oregano is suitable for much milder dishes. You'll probably barely feel the small amount of it in the beef stew. Meanwhile, it will be bright enough in the pizza.

We recommend owners of gas grills to have a look on the YouTube channel. You will find a lot of information and videos about smoking in this type of grill. We recommend watching, for example, the following videos: here, here, and here. 

You can also read more information about smoking here. Smoke ring - an indicator that the food is really seasoned with smoke. 

 

The cold way it is usually smoked at a low temperature (up to 20-25 degrees). For this purpose, grills usually use extremely fine chips, which are collected in a spiral shape smoke generator. One generator the edge is tanned, the upper and lower shutters of the grill are opened minimally, and smoked dishes are placed inside the grill. Generator can smoke from 6-8 to 16 or even 24 hours, depending on: 

Cold smoking is recommended to be done in the cooler season - so that the smoked product has time to preserve itself from the smoke without spoiling. Depending on the purpose, the size of the pieces, the load on the grill, it can be smoked not once, but several times, taking a break of a day or several days. 

 

Remember that both cold and hot smoked dishes do not reveal their full flavor best immediately. It is best to start tasting them the next day, when the taste has settled and distributed throughout the product. 

In our store www.griliai.lt you will find a wide selection of dust for cold smoking, generators, as well as chips for hot smoking, larger and smaller blocks, smoking boxes. We invite you to visit the physical store in Kaunas, Žemaičių pl. 37- we will help you choose and advise you how to smoke and get the perfect result.