Smoked meats (meat, lard, fish) - a very tasty product that is suitable not only as a snack, but also as a main dish on a festive table. And, of course, the best - hand-made. Although now you can buy everything in the store, but it is much more interesting to do it all the way. So in this article we consider the process of manufacturing consumables, without which it can not do when smoked - wood chips.
Wood selection
From what tree will be taken for the manufacture of chips or chips, taste and smell of smoked meat directly depend. Picking up the wrong source, you can easily spoil a good product.
Spill smoking for yourself: video
Definitely should be abandoned:
- coniferous wood (pine, spruce). They contain a lot of tar, such smoke will give the product bitterness;
- birch. There is tar in it, which does not have the best effect on taste and smell.
It is also not recommended aspen, although if nothing else is at hand, then the meat can be smoked and on it. But for vegetables, fish and cheese, this tree is better not to take.
Did you know? Mankind is aware of the process of smoking since the Paleolithic era, as evidenced by archaeological finds. People of that time owned only one way of cooking - on an open fire. Raw meat, impaled on a spit, sprinkled with broths of herbs and roasted over a fire, not allowing it to burn.
The best choice is fruit trees: apple, pear, cherry, apricot, cherry, peach, ashberry, plum. Thin branches of black currant are good for smoking everything except vegetables. They are even easier to prepare than wood logs, although you will have to thoroughly cut the bushes. 
If you are sorry for your favorite apple tree or there is simply no fruit on hand, also beech, oak, hornbeam, maple, alder, acacia, and grape vines will do.
Consider the most popular details:
- The apple tree gives smokeds a delicate fruity aroma, a golden hue and wonderful softness;
- Alder is ideal for everything - meat, poultry, fish. The color and taste of dishes will delight even sophisticated gourmets;
- oak, due to high heat transfer, smokes even the toughest meat, preserves well (such smoked meat will be stored for a long time, without losing taste and texture);
- beech gives a good, dense smoke, evenly soaks the product, forms a pleasant taste.
Learn how to make a hot-smoked smokehouse with your own hands, how to smoke fish.If the choice is rich and you want to pick up chips for a specific product, please note:
- cattle meat, including pork, can be smoked on almost anything;
- alder, beech, cherry, peach and currant are suitable for cheese;
- vegetables - beech and peach;
- fish - pear, alder, beech, hornbeam, cherry, peach, plum, currant;
- pear, hornbeam and plum will not work for the bird.
Important! Choosing wood, pay attention to the absence of impurities. If you have any chemical coating (for example, paint), as well as mold or rot - look for another bar.
What is better for smoking
For smoking, you can use and chips, and chips, and sawdust, and even small twigs. At the same time, the size still matters - too small sawdust and shavings will burn very quickly and strongly, which can give the meat a burning taste.
The use of chips about 2/2/1 cm as a base is ideal for maintaining uniform smoke generation, and chips and aromatic additives can be added to it as desired. 
How to cook wood chips
You will need the wood itself in the form of bars or logs, as well as some simple fixtures:
- ax (necessarily sharp, small size);
- saw;
- a bucket (or other suitable container) with clean water;
- tarpaulin for gathering sawdust and chump-stand for ease of operation (optional).
The layout is simple:
- Cut logs into circles about a centimeter thick.
- Remove the bark.
- Cut the resulting circles into 2/2 squares.
- Soak in water (approximately 4-5 hours).
- Dry in a warm room.
With proper manual dexterity, you can cut logs with an ax only, but if you are not sure, better follow the instructions above.
Important! The main indicator for wood chips is moisture. That when burning was enough smoke, you need from 50 to 70%, otherwise the wood will burn to no avail.
The use of flavors
If you want to give the dish a special flavor and taste, you can add additional components to the chips, which, while burning, will enrich the smoke. The following additives are often used:
- dried spices: sage, rosemary, bay leaf;
- fresh shoots of raspberry, blackberry, mint;
- exotic supplements: eucalyptus, almond.
Equipment for the production of chips
If you have an intention to harvest smoked meat in large volumes, then it should be understood that you can’t chop a lot with an ax, which means you need special equipment:
- machines for cutting tree trunks (to buy ready-made bars more expensive). There are screw (used for large logs), disc (the simplest) and drum (the most versatile);
- bark removal devices;
- saws for cutting rounds;
- dryers;
- sorting equipment (for the selection of chips in size).
In everyday life, hot smoking is most often used - the temperature of the smoke reaches 120 ° C, the process is quite fast. And there is also cold smoking, the temperature of smoke - up to 25 ° C, can last for several days. Liquid smoke is also widely used, as a rule, obtained by the distillation of a concentrate. 
Did you know? Historians have confirmed that it was the Jews who first began to smoke bird and fish. They believed that smoked game meat relieves sins, and smoked fish was awarded the table only to the privileged stratum of the population.
Of course, if you smoke meat for yourself, from time to time, then all of the above devices are not needed. The main thing is to find good wood and follow the procedure for harvesting and smoking. The finished product will delight you and your loved ones. Have a good cooking!
Feedback from network users
PS: all sausage production is smoked with beech, like a non-fruit tree ... but I don `t know what exactly is on it, we see a lot of them ...
