Whiskey/wine/whatever barrel chunks

[David Funk]

I've noticed a few posts about this lately. "Liquor barrel" chunks seem hard to come by and a little pricey. I was in Barbeques Galore the other day and took a whiff from some Tabasco flavored wood. Smelled great!! (I love hot).

That brought up a question. Everyone always seems to use just plain water in the water pan. The Weber manual says that you can can put whatever you like in the pan to help flavor the meat (wine, spices, etc.). So how come nobody ever seems to do that? Couldn't you emulate wine/whiskey wood chunks by simply pouring some wine/whiskey into the water pan? Or is there maybe something about *burning* the flavoring that works better?

 

[Guest]

David,

In my experience, you'd be a lot happier if you drank the wine. /infopop/emoticons/icon_wink.gif Seriously, I've tried wine in the water pan and could taste no difference whatsoever in the finished product. I think you'll have a lot more success imparting flavor into the meat by marinating or injecting.

Steve

 

[Konrad Haskins]

I think there is value in the using barrel wood for smoke flavor approach.

I have serious doubts about any flavor coming from the liquid in the water pan. Not least because what you are doing is making a reduction which leaves the flavor in the pan and evaporates the water. That is Italian/French cooking 101.

I have tried it both ways and seen many teams do it both ways. Some weeks the apple juice teams win and sometimes they don't. My best results to date in competition were using plain water in my NB and a pizza stone in my Klose.

 

[Ken Nelson]

It's always fun to experiment but I agree with Steve on this one. Any benefit of using any liquids other than water is pyschological. Plus, once most other liquids have evaporated off, the residue left behind can make cleanup more difficult.