Grape Vine For Smoking

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bknox

Head Chef
Joined
Jul 5, 2005
Messages
2,121
Location
Cicero, IL, but my heart is in Virginia where my f
My brother in Virginia sent me a big bag of Grape vine trimming from a Vineyard near his house and said they sell them for smoking.

This was the first thing I used when I recieved my new grill and thought it was really nice. Now that I have been wondering through this forum I have about a million things I want to try but thought I would tell everyone about this.

Since recieving the grape vine, the vineyard that was selling them no longer has a link on their site but I live fairly close to Michigan (lots of vineyards) and am going to gather some to use later.
 
Tried grape vines on several occasions. Good stuff. Fairly subtle. Nothing overpowering. Think it work best in a tightly regulated type enviroment WSM..BDS..Stumps etc. Wished I had a long vacation.

bigwheel
 
bknox said:
I just noticed my title changed from Baby Back to Pork Butt! Don't tell my wife or I will forever be PORK BUTT!! ;-)
ok Pork Butt!! We got wild grapes all over Texas.. Make good wine too...
 
I used some grape trimmings this summer. Smelled good but a pain in the keister to deal with.....being a wad of twigs.
 
Grape cuttings are pretty common for smoking in California. You can also throw them in the charcoal when you grill.

Back to smoking, the flavor is distinctive although not particularly strong. In terms of strength it's in the mild fruitwood pecan class. In terms of "distinctness," it's very much it's own thing in the same way nectarine or the citrus woods are -- but nothing like mesquite or walnut.

On its own, it's particularly good with poultry and lamb. I also like it with whole fish. Grape mixes well with oak, and the combination will give you a very California or Mediterranean kind of flavor that's good for any food you'd associate with those cuisines. Grape is very good mixed with any of the citrus woods. Consider throwing in sprigs of rosemary and whole heads of garlic along with grape trimmings for smoking.

Grape mixes well with charcoal for direct heat grilling. This way, it's as good with beef as with lamb and poultry. It's a staple in Spanish, "South of France," Greek, and "Napa" style restaurants. I think some high end, Eastern-Med restaurants may use it too, e.g., Syrian, Turkish, and Lebanese.

Keep the rosemary and garlic trick in mind for grilling -- with or without vines.

Rich

ON EDIT: I swear to God I hadn't read Jim's post when I wrote and posted mine. It appears that either great minds think alike, or stupid ones run in the same small circles. We report, you decide.
 
I use em plenty
We have about 10 tons of Grape Stumps down at the yard
Light flavor great with Tri Tip But we have used em for everything
 

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