That would have been my vote as well. Note, I too lack experience as a smoker, but my father does smoke, and I find applewood to be good with milder flavored foods. But it’s very much YMMV. Honestly, outside of really distinct, pungent smokes (good hickory and mesquite) I find I only catch hints of the secondary smells and flavors, I mostly just get the smokieness.
Not that I’m complaining! I love smoked foods, use a nice smoked finishing salt on a lot of dishes, and smoked cheeses are a heavenly food. But just don’t pick up on what might be subtle differences, or they may well be lost depending on the quality and storage of the wood.
Was leaning towards orange; called the licker sto’ to see if they might still have any Leunie’s orange shandies left. (apparently no longer being made) but they DO have some of their Peach in stock; okay, I’ll use the peach wood. Go to the store & i can’t find it so i ask one of the stock guys who tells me they haven’t had any in quite a while & that the inventory system is all screwed up. For S&G, i ask up front & they don’t have any is stock. Either they magically sold out of a summer beer in late November or the clerk screwed up in whatever she read off to me.
I ended up using the orange wood chips; okay, good, but didn’t notice any appreciable difference from my usual cherry. Maybe if I made two batches & ate them side-by-side?
The creole gumbo was a success - with spicy sausage (chorizo, so not “authentic”). shrimp, crabmeat and scallops.
A modest achievement - brussels sprouts hash. Tasty enough, should’ve been cooked less for greater crispiness. If there’s a next time, I’ll add bacon bits.
I mean, creole is inherently a fusion cuisine to begin with. The name itself even refers to a cultural fusion. Seems to me that if using some other culture’s sausage makes it tasty, that’s “authentic creole”.
We are just finishing up our Thanksgiving. I had the last of the squash today. Puzzleguy finished the mashed potatoes last night. There are only two slices of pie left. The rest of the turkey will probably by turned into curry.
There’s still some of the leftover stuffing that was cooked outside the turkey. Some green beans. Maybe one serving of gravy. Two slices of pumpkin bread. Two poached pears.
Time to look towards the next holiday… I’m probably not hosting a big news year’s eve party. But I’ll ask my husband to ask his doctors about that.
I’m 2/3 done with one of my favorite post-Thanksgiving food moments - stockmaking! I got 4 turkey carcass (2 large, and breast portion only) and have rendered the breast-only and one of the big ones down to a lovely gelatinous stock in my 8qt slow cooker. I’ll probably do the last one later this week (I’m keeping the remnants frozen) and be good until early spring with the 250mL Souper Cubes (even if they’re blocks, NOT cubes) I’ve frozen and stored.
They’re very minimally seasoned, so I can add them to nearly any soup or sauce, or even give them to the cats as a treat.
But I’ve had a lot as various soups over the long weekend, so it’ll be a while before I want more. But boy, my New Years matzoh ball soup is going to be extra unctuous!