To: "'North American Fruit Explorers'" <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
Subject: [NAFEX] cooking with fruit tree woodchips
Date: Fri, 3 Dec 2004 09:41:55 -0800
In the Seattle area, fancy restaurants often market their BBQ salmon as
grilled over applewood or some other locally obtained wood. I have been
making batches of smoked salmon for the past few months, and I have been
using chunks of mesquite and hickory that are trucked in from
out-of-state. The Thanksgiving turkey was similarly processed in my
smoker and got great reviews. I don't have any apple tree stumps laying
around, but I do have 1 foot diameter log of hawthorn (a minor fruit
tree) sitting half-burned in a firepit. The hawthorn wood is very dense
and takes forever to completely burn. It seems like this hawthorn would
make a good local replacement for the commercial mesquite and hickory
that I have been using. I think I will try this for my next batch of
salmon. Other than trial-and-error, how does one identify a hardwood
that would result in a good smoked salmon or other smoked food product?
-Mark Lee, Seattle, zone 8a
[NAFEX] cooking with fruit tree woodchips,
Mark Lee, 12/03/2004