Why wood for smoking?
Wood has been used for building, cooking and preserving since the night of time, whether it be a barrel for wine, whisky or beer, fuel for cooking, furniture or structures, it has always been there.
Smoking your food is as old as fire itself – transforming your favourite meats, fish or vegetables – flavouring, tenderizing and preserving them in the process. Smoking food adds flavour, improves the appearance of meat through the Maillard reaction - which occurs when heat on a dry surface breaks down sugars and amino acids and when combined with curing it naturally flavours and preserves the meat.
Should I soak my wood?
You need to be consistent, we product a consistent quality so you can either soak the woodchips for 20 minutes to get a longer, slower smoke. Or use them as they are.
Let it rest
when smoking larger cuts of meat, let it rest after smoking it. The rest time will help reabsorb the moisture back into the meat and allow the meat to come down a few degrees before cutting into it. A good rule of them is resting for an hour before cutting into it.
Wood Types
Superfine
Superfine Chips are used in speciality hot or cold smokers, which is a relatively fast smoke. This works very well in Maize smokers.
FIne
Fine Chips are very common for the traditional kiwi fish smoker.
Large Chips
Large Chips are ideal for BBQ smokers where they take longer to light and will provide a longer smoking time, smoker boxes are often used.
BBQ Chips
BBQ Chips are ideal for your charcoal barbeque where you would like to infuse a great wood flavour for a relatively short time.
Chunks
Chunks are small pieces of wood that are ideal for larger smokers, pit or charcoal barbeques where a longer, slower smoke is desirable.
Splits
Splits (also known as Wood Logs) are long, thin wood pieces that burn evenly and yield consistent smoke. Tey are 280-300mm long and cut to fit into pizza ovens, smoker grills, vertical smokers, and offset smokers.
FLAVOURS
All wood is not created equal when it comes to smoking foods. Using the right woodchips pairing is a key part of the smoking food. The best grill masters know how to match their wood to their food.
There is a vast array of wood smoking products designed for use in food smokers and Brosnahans offer 13 different wood smoke flavours. All pure fruitwood or hardwoods, these chips are sourced from sustainable managed resources, are untreated 100% natural and produced specifically for food smoking purposes. Wood size can vary and some smokers are restricted to certain wood forms, so worth checking what is recommended. But for most a regular woodchip in a 1cm size is ideal for hot smoking, whilst our range of dusts is great for cold smoking or stainless tray style smokers. For longer or hotter cooking sessions, wood chunks are a great alternative.
Think of wood in terms of mild to strong in flavour. At the light end you’ve got your fruitwoods – apple, cherry, peach and pear – light and sweet. In the middle you have manuka, pohutukawa, tawa and rewarewa. These flavours are great for your meats. At the other end of the spectrum are the strongest woods in the spectrum including hickory and mesquite. Use these like you’d use hot chili peppers – sparingly.
Having the right fit produces great smoke, burn efficiency and perfect flavouring for your food.
