Home smoking and sodium (?)

Cafe Society
1

I had to flip a coin regarding asking this here, or in GQ, and Cafe Society lost.

I’ve tried looking this up via Google-fu, and found nothing that answered my question. Here goes: If you discount the sodium already in the meat and seasonings, how much does the smoking process itself add to the items smoked?

I’ve recently been directed to a low sodium diet, and I’ve figured out I can live with lower amounts than I’ve been having, but partly out of habit and the rest necessity, I start my day with a piece of low fat sausage, which is apparently one of my biggest sodium culprits. I’ve made sausage in the past, and figure I’ll do it again, but I’d love to smoke it because I’d miss that flavor the most.

Anyone know the answer?

2

So are you asking how much sodium is in the smoke from burning wood? My guess ‘wood’ be none.

3

Wood smoke contains a negligable amount of sodium. You’d have to use 35 kg of wood to even have a chance of adding one gram of sodium to what you were smoking, and that assumes that all of the sodium in the smoke somehow wound up in your food, which is a questionable assumption at best. Source EPA report here.

4

Bingo, you got it. None ‘wood’ also be my guess, but I’m looking for confirmation.

I’ve also toyed with the idea of liquid smoke, but the brand I have has a non-trivial amount.

5

You can use Alton Brown’s method for homemade liquid smoke.