On Food and Cooking

and fish, by exposing the foods to the smoky
vapors emitted by burning wood. Makers of
wine and spirits store them in wood barrels
whose interiors have been charred; the
volatiles are trapped in and just below the
barrels’ inner surface, and are slowly
extracted by the liquid (p. 721).
The flavor that wood smoke imparts to
food is determined by several factors. Above
all there’s the wood. Oak, hickory, and the
fruit-tree woods (cherry, apple, pear) produce
characteristic and pleasing flavors thanks to
their moderate, balanced quantities of the
wood components. A second important factor
is the combustion temperature, which is partly
determined by the wood and its moisture
content. Maximum flavor production takes
place at relatively low, smoldering
temperatures, between 570 and 750ºF/300–
400ºC; at higher temperatures, the flavor
molecules are themselves broken down into
simpler harsh or flavorless molecules. High-