artificial enhancement of the smoke ring

[joker smoker]

I've been reading lately of enhancing the smoke ring by using sodium phosphate. This is found in Mortons Tenderquick and I believe in Butcher Injection Marinade. I have also read that it can cause kidney problems in some folk and is commonly used as a laxative.[ could be funny if you have a grievance with any of the competition judges ] Has anybody experimented with any of these products or any phosphates or nitrites? By the way , I do realise that judges in KCBS contests are not supposed to give higher marks for more prominent smoke rings but my gut feeling says that they still do. I would be reluctant to use these products as I prefer a more natural product but I do know that they help to win competitions in America.

[Mike_P_in_Tucson]

I hadn't heard of that. But I will say that I wouldn't feed anything to the judges that I wouldn't eat myself.

[All Weather Griller]

Hi John,

Likewise, I haven't heard of anything although I know a lot of people are using Butchers.

I would have to take the same view as Mike, I would serve the judges anything I wouldn't eat myself. Have you asked any of the guys on the US circuits? It may be worth a mail to KCBS.

Beerz

Adie

[joker smoker]

This link may offer some explanation
www.thepickledpig.com/forums/general-bb ... ction.html

[Steve]

I've read about the use of Morton TQ for smoke ring enhancement before. I've never tried to use tenderizers to enhance the smoke ring as I think I get a satisfactory ring without.

I have played with phosphate-based injections though. I've tried Butcher's pork injection and I've also added a phosphate blend to my own recipe injection. The product I used was a sausage cutter similar to the Amesphos product found in the US.

The Butcher injection produced a good product I can't deny it, but I find my own recipe injection gives as good flavour. Meat injected with phosphates does seem to be more moist than that without, but the difference is not that much. I wouldn't typically bother with phosphates for my own consumption but I'd consider it at competition for that extra little bit of edge.

Phosphates and nitrates are very commonly found in meat products, particularly bacon and sausages, as well as a lot of supermarket meat that is "enhanced" so if you eat bacon, then you eat phosphates and nitrates. I'm not saying I'm particularly in favour of using them but they do make a small improvement to the meat.

Personally I'd say that the use of MSG in your injections will make much more of a difference as it improves the flavour markedly. And before we get the mass hysteria about MSG in response, there has never been any scientific evidence to show MSG is bad, it's bad name comes from the media only. But if you do have a problem with MSG, try boiling up your injection with a strip of Kombu (Japanese Seaweed) in it, this is an extremely healthy ingredient that has a lot of free glutamate in it.

[joker smoker]

Thanks Steve. I think that you have clarified this for me really eloquently. I too am not averse to using MSG or some of these products for competition though the majority of people I speak to say they would prefer not to consume artificial flavourings. I will therefore continue to use only natural flavourings for catering bearing in mind the fact that Brighton is such a "green" city . The seaweed idea though is something I might try as I sometimes use rind of Parmesan in my beef stock to get this elusive umame or savoyry flavour.

[Steve]

The parmesan rind idea is cool. I never thought of that as a source of free glutamate.

I get a bit wound up about people's attitude to MSG. I took a lot of time to research it and really it's just an isolated form of naturally occurring glutamate so it's not really an artificial flavouring per say. What makes me laugh is that people who will not use MSG because it's "artificial" will use table salt which is packed with chemicals.

I think that professionally in Brighton, you'd be well advised to use something like Kombu as you can then sell your product as totally natural. The problem is catering to people who don't really know what they're consuming, just what the media tells them is good and bad. MSG and the glutamate in Kombu are chemically identical but seaweed is good, MSG is bad. These are the same kind of people who would disagree with enhanced pork but would eat Supermarket organic bacon which is errrr... enhnced pork

I personally try to research ingredients, I'm not a fan of artificial ingredients, but I try to take a measured approach. There's plenty of sources will tell you smoked food can lead to stomach cancer, so which is worse for you, the injection of phosphates or the cooking over a wood fire???? If we followed everything we read in the media we'd starve to death.

[joker smoker]

You're dead right Steve. You wouldn't believe the ammount of arguments/discussions I have down here with the green food police.

[Steve]

Al, would you use seaweed as an ingredient in a sauce or ground up in a rub?

[Steve]

As the glutamate is chemically the same thing, then why be bothered about MSG then. The whole MSG / Chinese Reastaurant Syndrome thing is just a load of trash hyped up by the media. No one has ever provided scientific proof or even strong conjecture that it is bad. On the other hand there's been plenty of proof that salt is bad for you.