Making Liquid Smoke

[Chris Amirault]

I've had a Bradley for over four years and love it. Today I smoked apples, ribs, garlic, salt...

and water.

I had this silly idea that, if I stuck a pan of water into the smoker, I might get something remotely interesting. I didn't. It was sour, smoke-free, and straight up weird. Those of you familiar with silly exploits involving bongs: like that.

I'm not able to distill smoke quite yet, so I'm wondering if there are any other methods for making something akin to liquid smoke using a Bradley. Other liquids? Oil?

[Kerry Beal]

The thing I noticed with my Bradley was that 'liquid smoke' seemed to end up dripping from the vent on the top - and I became convinced that if you could find a way to collect this - you'd have liquid smoke.

Other thoughts were to smoke maltodextrin.

[weinoo]

Why, when you have a smoker, do you want to make your own liquid smoke?

[Chris Amirault]

There are times when I'd like to be able to add a smoky element to items that I don't want to or can't smoke effectively: certain sous vide applications, some vegetables, etc.

[weinoo]

Maybe it's just me, but liquid smoke has always tasted a bit artificial when I've used it; I can understand where others might enjoy it when used sparingly.

[OliverB]

I'd just buy a bottle, keeps for ever and hardly seems worth the work, unless you want some exotic wood smoke flavor, which I doubt you'd be able to differentiate.

And no matter what's in my past, I sure am glad that I have no clue what bong water tastes like, yikes! :-D

[mkayahara]

There are times when I'd like to be able to add a smoky element to items that I don't want to or can't smoke effectively: certain sous vide applications, some vegetables, etc.

I appreciate the impulse to try your hand at making anything that can be produced commercially, so the suggestion of commercial liquid smoke probably isn't that satisfying. Whenever I want that smoky flavour without actually going to the hassle of smoking something directly, I turn to other smoked products I keep on hand: pimenton, smoked salt, etc. So maybe smoke your own version of those?

The real question is this: How do you make the smoke powder found at suppliers like Terra Spice?

[Mark Muller]

I have seen Alton Brown do this:

http://www.goodeatsfanpage.com/Season9/jerky/jerky_trans.htm (scroll down to scene 13)

I haven't tried it, so I can't comment on this method's effectiveness or the quality of the results.

Edited September 7, 2010 by Mark Muller (log)

[Nasi_Campur]

That sounds like a scary experiment...

bong water is gross.

[Chris Amirault]

Matt, I do have smoked salt, pepper, coconut powder, sesame seeds, and a bunch of other things on hand. They all come, of course, with their own flavors, which drove me to think about this possibility. Like Mitch, commercial LS has always seemed a bit too harsh, and the thought of apple smoke is appealing to me.

That simple distillation seems promising. Has anyone tried it?

[MaxH]

liquid smoke has always tasted a bit artificial when I've used it

Yes, and in fact much of it was actually artificial: "Wood vinegar and creosote oil" being the cliché 20th-century formula. (Firms making it more directly from wood smoke have pointed that out.)

Arguably, since those two components are wood by-products too, their mixture could be labeled (from the usual euphemistic viewpoint) "all-natural" or made from wood alone. But they were likely industrial by-products from some non-gastronomic wood-processing steps. Even truer commercial smoke extract is, I assume, made in bulk with cost-conscious industrial methods, therefore different from one made from the wood of your choice under conditions you control.

[Matt Furtsy]

I've seen smoked onions used in recipes. Makes me think of perhaps smoking something that can be used to make a broth that can be reduced to a liquid smoke strength/consistency?

[s0rce]

You need an oven/furnace that you can blow inert gas through (like a tube furnace).

You put some wood of your choice in the tube. Heat the tube and pump nitrogen through the tube and bubble the nitrogen through water after it goes through the tube. The water will collect the smokey goodness. There is your liquid smoke.

I'm not sure how hot you need to go or how the temperature affects the nature of the product.

You could probably rig up a tube furnace with some clay/ceramic pipe and some heating elements along with a nitrogen cylinder if you are handy.

Good luck!

[Chris Amirault]

Has anyone done this at home? I admit terror at the prospect of building this contraption just to make liquid smoke, but I'm intrigued.

[Doodad]

I wonder what would happen if you used one of those smokepipe contraptions and fed the smoke into a ballon or bag? If you threw it in the freezer would the hot vapor condense to give a flavored liquid?