Honestly, smoking with cherry wood pellets is a grand idea
There’s something about cherry that encourages forthrightness — remember the folk story* of the young George Washington owning that chopped-down cherry tree? You can believe pretty much every good thing you hear about cherry trees, their fruit and their wood.
Cherry trees mature quickly and produce their first crop of fruit within three to four years of planting in the orchard. Their sensitivity to damage from rain and hail, plus the costs of irrigation, spraying and labor, make cherries a relatively expensive fruit crop, but their popularity justifies the investment. The two main cultivated species are the ones we eat fresh and others we cook: sweet cherries (P. Avium) and sour cherries (P. Cerasus). Both originated in Europe and Western Asia and grow in temperate regions of the US.
Sweet cherry crops grow mainly in Washington, California, Oregon, Wisconsin, and Michigan. The list of sour cherry-producing states leads with Michigan, followed by Utah, New York and Washington. The Cherry Capital of the World, Traverse City, Michigan, hosts the National Cherry Festival every summer and vies with nearby Charlevoix in trading off the title for the world’s largest cherry pie. (One recent report mentions the Guinness Book of World’s Records marker in Traverse City for a pie weighing 28,350 lbs and measuring 17′ 6″. Both cities exhibit giant pie pan roadside attractions, which might inspire some summer travel ideas.)
Cherry is edible and beyond… Because of its rich color and fine grain, cherry wood finds use in interiors and furniture — flooring, cabinetry, tables, desks and chairs.
Cherry blossoms inspire admiration around the world, figuring in haiku poems and art from Japan. In Washington, DC, the nonprofit National Cherry Blossom Festival “commemorates the 1912 gift of 3,000 cherry trees from Mayor Yukio Ozaki of Tokyo to the city… and celebrates the enduring friendship between the people of the United States and Japan.” Today’s Festival spans four weeks and welcomes more than 1.5 million people. (It’s a favorite spring tourism adventure and you’re invited!)
Smoking with cherry wood pellets
Cherry wood adds a sweet and medium-smoky flavor suited to proteins ranging from beef and pork through duck, chicken and fuller-flavored seafood. The smoke also brings an appetizingly rich brown color to the surface of the foods for which it’s used.
To bring cherry taste to your wood pellet grilling, grab a bag of Griller’s Gold Fruitwood, Cherry or Competition Blend at your local retailer or on Amazon.
And for a perfect dessert after your cherry-smoked entrée, bake a pie using this homemade cherry pie filling. It requires just five ingredients, including fresh cherries. Baker Veena Azmanov also suggests cherry pitting tools in this piece, in case you want some new gear to enhance your culinary game.
*Somewhat ironically, the George Washington cherry tree ‘I-cannot-tell-a-lie…’ story isn’t true. According to mountvernon.org, the tale was added only in the fifth edition of the early biography, The Life of Washington. The author, Mason Locke Weems, was an itinerant minister who wanted to credit Washington’s public greatness to his private virtues, including honesty. So he fabricated this account to make Washington a role model for youth.
Smoked fish has been a popular food item for ages. It’s assumed that smoking food — whether fish or meat — came about soon after humans started cooking with fire. (Fire. Smoke. Logical connection.) And once the method became popular, so did the taste.
The number-one reason our ancestors started smoking fish was to preserve it
Hot-smoking cooks the flesh, coagulates the protein, inactivates food spoilage enzymes, and eliminates food pathogens. Smoked fish is also bathed in or injected with a salt mixture, and salt is another preservative. Together, all this means hot-smoked fish can be stored for limited times without refrigeration.
Following on the benefit of unspoiled and nutritious protein,
there’s that matter of taste. And there’s a lot of it. And it’s mighty fine.
Certain cultures historically get credit for introducing the world to the joys of smoking fish
Seafaring peoples with access to fish — such as the Scandinavians, the Dutch, the Scottish — have smoked fish at the center of their cuisines. Americans in the Pacific Northwest and Canadians carry on the traditions. No one in Europe is that far from the sea — and smoking works very well for freshwater fish, too. Because of dietary restrictions that are part of their faith, European Jews also prepare and enjoy plenty of smoked fish, and that tradition lives on in Jewish delis throughout the US. According to Wikipedia, the most common types of smoked fish in the US are salmon, mackerel, whitefish, and trout. Along the Mississippi River, hot-smoked locally caught sturgeon is also available.
Hot-smoking
fish for yourself
Smoking fish on your wood pellet grill doesn’t require a recipe.
It’s all about method.
1. Select your fish
Salmon and trout are ideal for smoking because fattier fish absorbs more smoke flavor. Skin-on fillets and whole fish are the best choice because they hold their shape during the process.
2. Brine with something as simple as salt and water
Use 1 tablespoon of plain (not iodized) salt per cup of water. Variations on brine can include seasonings. Add peppercorns or brown sugar. You can substitute some of the water with white wine, but note that the acid in wine can break down the flesh and too much wine in the brine will lend to an undesirably mushy texture in your fish. (For smoking and grilling other proteins, read more about when to marinate vs brine.)
3. Choose the right wood
Wood with the restrained flavor profile to complement fish’s lighter textures and tastes. At Griller’s Gold, we recommend Fruitwood Blend or Cherry wood pellets for smoking fish.
4. Get smoking
Hot smoking only takes a few hours, using temperatures of up to 250 degrees F. Some experts recommend a low smoking temp (below 150 degrees F) for the first one to two hours, then turn up the heat to 200 to finish. Be sure that the internal temp on the fish reaches 165 degrees. And you’ve smoked fish.
So now that you’ve stimulated your appetite, you need an actual recipe using smoked fish, don’t you?
Yes, we understand. Try something simple that highlights the pure flavors of your lovingly crafted smoked fish: a spread. Combine with cream cheese, garlic, salt and pepper. Slather on crackers. Prepare to be wowed.
It’s that romantic dinner time of year again. At Griller’s Gold, we love the idea of special meals cooked in the intimacy of your own cozy home—on your own grill. Grilled pizzas and homemade hot-smoked salmon are two menu items that make the most of the irresistible smoky flavors of wood pellet cooking. And don’t miss the wine recommendations for smoked foods.
Grilled pizzas
Make a pizza perfect for two. Or do individual pizzas, one
for each of your unique tastes. It’s pretty simple, leaving you and your mate
time to focus on each other. Make things really easy with a purchased pizza
dough; whole wheat dough makes for a filling and hearty crust.
Customize your pizza with toppings that that suit your fancy. Maybe you’ll opt for luxury toppings for this holiday. Combine vegetables, fruit, herbs, fancy cheeses, prosciutto, smoked chicken or big juicy shrimp—the possibilities are limitless. You’ll typically want to cook veggies and meats in a grill basket before assembling and grilling the pizza itself. Here’s one delicious grilled pizza recipe that combines color and flavor.
Hot-smoked salmon
Go upscale and indulgent with smoked salmon on the grill. It’s a main dish that requires some advance planning, including time for wet brining (which is used for hot-smoked salmon as opposed to a dry salt rub on cold-smoked salmon); letting the salmon dry off in the fridge to develop a pellicle, the sticky outer layer that holds smoke flavor (think bacon); and cooking at low temps for several hours. But the taste is well worth the time and effort and preparing a dish this delicious really shows your love.
The perfect pairing:
wine with smoked food
When picking a wine for savory smoked foods, remember the menu principles from this popular Griller’s Gold post on complementary and contrasting flavors.
Complementary pairings match like with like, in this case, a smoky oak-aged wine that will go great with the menu items we described above.
Chardonnay is often aged in oak, and those big, weighty flavors are prized for special occasions and priced accordingly. (That’s because oak aging adds to the winemaker’s cost—from buying the actual oak barrels to holding the wine in the cellars and off the market for several years after harvest.) If you want to impress your local wineseller, ask for a Chardonnay with ‘heavy toast.’ Wineries use flames to ‘toast’ their barrel wood (striving for light, medium, or heavy toast). Heavier toasting contributes caramelly and smoky notes to the flavor of the wine that’s aged in these vessels. Think of heavy toast on a wine barrel like a dark roast for coffee: richer, weightier, and a bit smoky.
For a contrasting flavor in your romantic dinner wine, opt for something refreshing and fruity. The ever-popular Sauvignon Blanc grape is bound to win your heart. And whatever your menu plan this Valentine’s Day, cook what you love for the people you love.
This is the first of two articles featuring Tom, a champion competitive griller sponsored in part by Griller’s Gold.
Even in the days before he imagined competing, Tom McIntosh, leader of the T-Mac Smokin’ team—sponsored by Griller’s Gold—has used wood pellets for his grilling. “I had a backyard pellet grill that I purchased in 2007. I was very familiar with cooking with pellets,” Tom said.
Tom’s competitive career began serving up food at the church
picnic. “I used to have the picnic’s beer tent. We decided we had to do
something about the food. We started with steak sandwiches, then chicken and
ribs, then went the whole nine yards to pork shoulder and brisket.” The lucky
congregation that got to enjoy all this fine food and drink is St. Pius X in
Appleton, Wisconsin. Tom and his family no longer live in that community. He
jokingly says “We had a hard time getting people to take over the picnic so we
had to move!”
“In 2010, somebody said I should try one of these competitions. I hadn’t even seen any BBQ TV shows.” Tom entered a non-sanctioned competition in Green Bay that worked by KCBS rules. He won Reserve Grand Champion. “I’ve been competing seriously since 2012.”
“The T-Mac Smokin’ team has competed in about every state in the Midwest—Kansas, Minnesota, Michigan, Iowa, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Missouri, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma. And up to Ontario, Canada, and down to Puerto Rico, twice—we won it the first time,” Tom said.
One of the best memories Tom has is from early competitive days, in 2013. “Our whole family went to the 2013 American Royal Invitational in Kansas City, Missouri,” Tom said. “Two hundred competitors from the larger Open event were invited. We won Reserve Grand Champion and got a perfect score for first place on brisket–kind of an amazing accomplishment.”
The successes keep coming. 2018 wins include:
2018 Deaths Door BBQ Competition, Washington Island, WI
Day 1 Grand Champion; Day 2 GrandChampion
2018 American Royal Open
4th Place Overall, 2nd Place Perfect Score Chicken
Reserve Grand Champion Side Dish—1st Place Perfect Score Dessert, 4th PlaceVegetable, 5th Place Beans
2018 Turtle Colorfest BBQ Bash, Turtle Lake, WI
Grand Champion, 1st Place Brisket
Nowadays, the team consists of just Tom and his wife, Becky. They like to win, but they love spending time together one weekend after another. And they enjoy being a part of the lively BBQ competition community. “Meeting the people we’ve met has been an awesome journey.“
Follow Tom and the T-Mac Smoking BBQ Team on their Facebook page for exciting news and updates!
Tom McIntosh leads the highly successful T-Mac Smokin’ Professional Competitive BBQ Team, sponsored in part by Griller’s Gold Premium BBQ Pellets. This is the second of two articles about Tom and his BBQ career.
Tom grills at home, all the time. But it’s a different, much more relaxed and basic approach than competition grilling. He doesn’t experiment with competition recipes when he’s in his own backyard. Tom said, “I personally struggle with doing the whole practice-cook thing. The time and attention at competitionis hard to parallel at home. I might try some different sauces, but I don’t go to the same depth with experimenting. I’m too distracted thinking about doing something around the yard. Once I get to competition, I enjoy being focused, away from distraction.”
Of course, Tom bears in mind what he knows from competition when he’s grilling at home.
Tom thinks about the weather as he adapts flavors for different regions. For competitions up north, Tom says he “goes a little more sweet and spicy with flavors; for events in dry hot Southern regions, a little saltier.”
Tom knows what judges expect, and it’s what he strives to deliver every time he steps up to the grill. “Nail tenderness and texture, with flavors that aren’t too far out there, not overpowering, too spicy or sweet.”
This past Thanksgiving, the turkey was cooked on the drum, using the method Tom employs with chicken during competition.
Why a champion chooses Griller’s Gold
“I like the fact that this pellet is made in northern Wisconsin, a local product from a local team. I’ve got a hunting cabin right outside Ladysmith (where Griller’s Gold is produced),” Tom said.
Tom has used Griller’s Gold this past year, and liked his results.“The flavor is good. I’ve always felt Griller’s Gold is a clean pellet,” Tom said. He typically uses Hickory and Competition Blend—Hickory for ribs, Competition Blend for chicken and sides. “I’ve seen non-premium pellets that leave a lot of ash in the burn pot; they’re not so clean.” Tom believes many pellets use softer wood with ‘wood flavor enhancer.’ He knows Griller’s Gold uses only 100% natural wood with no chemical additives.
At home, at the church picnic, and on the competition circuit, the same motivation ultimately drives Tom and Becky. ”We cook because we love to see people enjoy the food we make. We focus on good food that people will enjoy.” Tom’s advice: “Cook with love. Stay true to that.”
Follow Tom and the T-Mac Smoking BBQ Team on their Facebook page for exciting news and updates!
The best BBQ gifts take many forms—high-tech or homemade, sophisticated or simple. What they have in common is the ability to make a really delicious difference for the griller in your life. This holiday season, share the joy of BBQ with attitude.
Neatness counts: grill griddles, baskets and mats
Image: Williams Sonoma
The proficient griller knows all about the problem of food falling between the grates. You can buy several nifty, extremely helpful items to deal with this in style. One choice that’s a sure thing to get the job done right: stainless steel or non-stick grill baskets, griddles, and fry pans. They’re perforated to let smoke go up and drippings go down. But those holes are small enough to keep the food where it belongs—on the cooking surface. Many of the best quality grill griddles come from top cookware brands. Check out the selection from cookware and kitchen experts Williams Sonoma.
Or you can keep it clean with a simple but high-tech solution. Reusable, lifetime-guaranteed, and heat-resistant to 500 degrees, PTFE-fiberglass coated Grillaholics grill mats are a cost-effective way to cook without food sticking or slipping off the grill surface. The highly-rated mats can be cut to size and they’re dishwasher-safe.
Spice it up: a gift box of BBQ rubs and blends
Image: The Spice House
A custom barbecue spice gift set makes an impression for any occasion. Get the freshest spices and special blends from the culinary pros at The Spice House. Order from this 60+-year-old family-owned business that’s been featured on Food Network and in numerous publications; they collaborate with serious chefs and ship nationally.
Note these BBQ-friendly flavors and consider them for your custom set.
Caribbean jerk is a favorite form of outdoor cooking, and the Jamaican Jerk Seasoning blend features the flavor fundamentals, allspice and chile pepper.
The Brisket of Love BBQ rub is made to deliver sweet, tangy, slightly peppery slow-cooked smoked brisket.
Bavarian Seasoning doesn’t say ‘Barbecue’ in its name but The Spice House puts it in the category and recommends its rich, traditional sage-and-mustard flavors for slow-roasted meats and poultry.
Get sauced: BBQ brews for the home chef
Southern Living magazine’s BBQ sauce recipe feature offers up an All-American range of test kitchen-proven traditional recipes for the home cook. The editors say they’re good enough for gifts, and we absolutely believe them. Check out recipes from Alabama, South Carolina, Kansas City, Texas and more. Make a big batch, find some attractive jars or bottles, print up personalized labels–and be sure to keep some for yourself.
Get more gift-giving inspiration in our Bluetooth BBQ thermometer article. And don’t forget the season’s easiest gift idea: a pellet grilling starter set with a smoker tube and a bag of Griller’s Gold Premium BBQ Pellets.
