I’m standing here by my Big Green Egg, doing: (a) 18 ears of cut corn braised in butter and cream for winter; and (b) a roasted spatchcocked glazed chicken with carrots for tonight.
I like smoke flavor. A lot. But it occurs to me that it wouldn’t take much to overdo the smoke with the corn. I’ve already covered it to minimize further uptake, lest it turn bitter. The chicken, we’ll see…
It causes me to wonder about smoke flavor… How much is enough for you, and how much is over the line?
In my case, I love a lot of smoke in Q, quite a bit in fish and charcuterie, some in most things, and, curiously, next to none in beverages. It’s only the faintest hint of it in a rauschbier or fume blanc that I can abide.
I’ve cooked for many years on wood-fired pits, but the BGE is a new experience for me. A TINY bit of wood, in addition to the lump charcoal, has been a lot.
Apologies, poor sentence. I prefer wood fires vs. coal fires for protein. Correct, together I find is too much. I don’t own an egg. I have a stone block and brick fire pit.
I like a lot of smoke on red meats, less on poultry, and less than that on vegetables. I like mesquite smoke but a lighter hand with mesquite than other woods.
I can only have so much Rauchbier in one sitting, TBH. We’re near a beer distributor that carries a bunch of the Schlenkerla beers, but I haven’t tried them all yet. The Doppelbock seems to call for some heavy artillery, i.e. some smoked pork hock or other rich dish.
The amount of smoke I like depends on what I’m going to use the food for. In a main, light smoke is great but too much overwhelms. In charcuterie, when the food is used in small quantities, a nice medium smoke gives good contrast. As a condiment, let 'er rip. A small, super smoked nugget or schmear keeps the tastebuds interested. Rauchbier is great, as long as there is something to eat with it that isn’t smoked and goes well with the flavour. Lagavulin is nice as long as there’s a glass of water on the side. I favour balance.
