There are so many cooking tips when it comes to preparing perfectly smoked gourmet foods. Some of these tips offer preconceived notions about smoking that are not necessarily true. One such notion about food smoking is soaking wood chunks to create low smoke for slow smoking. Here we will explain a few reasons why this notion is false.
1. They don’t produce smoke but steam
Wet wood cannot produce smoke until it has lost all its moisture. So, when a wet wood or wood chunk is set on fire, the moisture inside it evaporates, creating steam. Steam is not smoke and hence you should not use wet wood chunks in your food smoker.
2. Imparts an acidic flavor
Steam generated inside a food smoker from wet wood is highly acidic in nature. This imparts an intense acidic taste to the food that is being cooked. It takes over the original flavor of the food completely.
3. Large chunks turn to ashes
When large wet wood chunks are used for smoking, they completely burn down to ashes producing a foul smell. This toxic flavor is completely absorbed by the food, especially when it is cooked in a closed grill. This leaves the food smelling and tasting like the ash from the wood.
4. Wet wood lowers the temperature inside the smoker
When moisture penetrates inside the wood, it stays there for long until completely evaporated in the form of steam. The steam from the wet wood lowers the temperature of the smoker prolonging the cooking time. Prolonged cooking of foods like smaller cuts of meat can turn it chewy and over charred.
Best types of wood for perfect food smoking experience
Now that we have broken down one of the many prevailing myths about food smoking, let’s focus on the solution. When wood chunks or wet wood are in no way a favorable option to fire up a food smoker, here are some types of wood that can help in food smoking.
Sawdust
Food smoking requires constant, even temperature and low heat. A fluctuation in both can ruin the texture and flavor of the food. Even dry wood cannot be good wood for a smoker. The reason is that it has variable density and size that fail to produce uniform heat throughout the smoking process. This is where sawdust can be helpful.
Sawdust, when compressed into chips of even density is the perfect wood for any food smoker. They are capable of giving out heat at a consistent temperature till they burn out. However, there is one downside to using compressed sawdust. Since they burn down to ashes, sawdust needs to be replaced quite frequently during smoking.
Bradley Bisquettes
For those who want a perfect hassle-free wood option for food smoking, the answer is Bradley Bisquettes. These are manufactured by Bradley, the renowned provider of advanced food smokers. Bradley Bisquettes are specially designed wood chips compressed with sawdust in uniform size, shape, and density. These Bisquettes can generate uniform heat for the precise time and extinguish automatically before turning to ashes. This saves the food from smelling foul.
Moreover, to further add flavor to the food, Bradley Bisquettes are available in different flavors like oak, apple, hickory, cherry, maple, alder, pecan, whiskey, etc. Bradley Bisquettes works best with Bradley smokers. In fact, they are the secret behind the soaring popularity of Bradley smokers among barbeque lovers.
Features of an advanced food smoker
An advanced food smoker can automate most unnecessary tasks to render a seamless food smoking experience. For instance, Bradley smokers can work self-sufficiently for hours without you having to monitor the food smoker. It comes with a range of superior features that every pro-food smoker must-have.
Digital pre-setting: The P10 Bradley smoker comes with a user-friendly digital console that allows the user to preset cooking time and temperature before smoking.
Auto feeder: With an automatic bisquette feeding system, Bradley smokers can self-feed from the wood chamber. A completely filled wood chamber ensures up to 10 hours of operation with periodic supervision.
User-safety and convenience: Bradley smoker comes with an insulated body and magnetic doors for safer cooking. The removable racks and side panels make cleaning easier after cooking.
These are the best features that food lovers look for in a perfect food smoker. We have tried to keep it simple and easy to understand for people of all ages looking for food smoking solutions and food smokers. Hopefully, these Bradley features will be helpful for people with the least experience in barbeque to try food smoking. For more great Bradley tips and tricks along with how to get the most of your Bradley Smoker, check out the awesome articles on our Bradley Smoker Food Smoking Blog.
