On Tuesday, September 15, 2009 at 07:46:01 (-0700) MICHAEL YATES writes: > >My wife Karen and I have written an article about our battle with restaurants >in Boulder, CO that use wood-burning > >equipment. We'd love it if you forwarded this to as many people as possible. >It is on today's Counterpunch: > > http://www.counterpunch.org/yates09152009.html
A very good article, sorry you are having such a hassle with the restaurants, and your jackass landlord. I have one criticism: in the last paragraph you state "We doubt that many patrons could tell the wood-smoked food from any other." I've been cooking for about 30 years and, living in Austin, TX, have come to enjoy the results of smoking prime rib outdoors, among other smoke-fired delectables. There is no doubt that wood-smoked foods taste significantly different than foods cooked without smoke. Even burgers grilled over wood (mesquite, especially) for a few minutes taste much different than those cooked without wood. That being said, I wonder if there are technologies that could cut down on smoke to the point of insignificance. There are two main things that wood provides in the cooking process: heat and smoke. I know of some gas-fired smokers that use wood just for the smoke, and doubtless produce far, far less of it. The idea is you use a few handful of wood chips to provide flavoring, instead of a cord of wood for heat and smoke. Would that combined with filters do the trick? Do you have any evidence about the total amount of smoke emitted from home grills? I smoke/grill relatively frequently here in the summer as a way to not heat up our kitchen in the 105 degree weather (maybe twice a week). I'd be curious to know what sort of effect this has overall and if there is anything that can be done to mitigate it. I'd agree in sum, though: if you can't find a way to control the smoke it's probably something we should do away with, as much as I'd miss it. Bill _______________________________________________ pen-l mailing list [email protected] https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l
