Meat+Poultry - June 2018 - 58

INGREDIENT ISSUES

ingredient. Suppliers often blend
smoke ingredients to create
customized flavors.
"Natural smoke is a refined
smoke condensate created from
a 100 percent natural process
using only wood, heat, water
and filtration," says Patrick
McKinney, chef and regional
sales manager, LifeSpice,
Chicago. "It's a friendlier way
to add smoke as compared to
traditional wood burning. We
create seasonings from all types
of [wood] smoke flavors."
Seasonings and flavors allow
for consistent profiles in meat
and poultry. This is something
not usually possible when using
a commercial smoker.
"We custom blend to create
unique, craveable seasonings,"
McKinney says. "Two recent
examples are oak barrel hot
honey and applewood brown
sugar glaze."

AUTHENTIC WOOD FLAVOR

All varieties of meat
can be enhanced with a
smoky barbecue flavor
including pork shoulder
and angus beef.

MEAT+ POULTRY | 06.18 | www.meatpoultry.com

Kingsford; Kraft Heinz Co.

58

Different woods allow for the
layering of flavors.
"We use different wood
species to create different
varieties of smoke," says Joe
Schissler, sales director with
Red Arrow. "Since hickory is
the most common form of wood
used in the US for smoking, it
has become the standard that all
other smokes are judged."
A mesquite wood provides
an ashier flavor profile, whereas
applewood has a sweeter note.
Other common woods include
cedar, cherry, oak and pecan.
"The beautiful thing about the array
of complex smoke and grill flavor ingredients
now available is that you can capture elements
in such a wide range of cooking," Weber
says. "From slow smoking a brisket for 12
hours to flame searing a ribeye in minutes,
grill and smoke flavors can be customized
to match the technique. You can also add
these authentic cooking method flavors into

products such as meatloaf, sausage, burgers
or even bacon to truly create a unique and
premium eating experience."   
In keeping with the clean and simple
formulating trend, Red Arrow recently
introduced a line of naturally smoked
ingredients. These ingredients are
manufactured by allowing the whole smoke
fraction to come in contact with common
ingredients, such as sugar, garlic or onion.
These ingredients then deliver the smoky flavor
and do not require a "smoke flavoring" added
label declaration.
"This product line was developed to fill a
need in the marketplace for products requiring
minimal labeling," Johnson says. "Because we
use quality hardwood sawdust to traditionally
smoke these ingredients, only the ingredient
needs to be labeled."
The smoked carrier is simply identified
in the ingredient legend. Applewood smoked
sugar and hardwood smoked garlic powder are
two examples.
"Our new line of naturally smoked
ingredients delivers high impact and
customizable smoke flavor," says Mark Crass,
vice president and general manager at Red
Arrow. "This line removes almost 100 percent
of all carcinogens from smoke, reduces air
emission and carbon dioxide by more than 82
percent, and is an all-natural process, meaning
they are not artificial or chemically derived."
Kurt Christensen, director of research
and development, LifeSpice, says, "The use of
liquid smoke in meats has allowed for large
increases in throughput compared to the
processes where smoke is added via the smoke
house. Aside from better throughput, using
smoke flavors has the advantage of delivering a
more consistent flavor. It's also safer, because
the temperature is better controlled when
making smoke on a large scale than when the
processor makes it themselves."
"A big application for liquid smoke is hot
dogs," Christensen explains. "The dogs are
stuffed and hung on 'trees,' where they are
drenched in liquid smoke. The liquid smoke
adds flavor, color and also sets the protein,
so that the hot dogs develop a skin. Natural
smoke does the same thing, but it takes much
longer in the smokehouse."
Smoke flavors come in many forms. This
offers variety, but comes with the challenge of
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