Woodsmoke Provisions

Woodsmoke Provisions is an Atlanta seafood smokehouse started in 1995 by a couple of entrepreneurs in intown Atlanta.  The business has since changed ownership twice and been moved and enlarged and now resides at 1240 Menlo Drive in northwest Atlanta in the original Inland Seafood building.  Inland Seafood is the premier seafood wholesaler in Georgia and has a business interest in Woodsmoke.  Rich Luff is the individual I was directed to at Woodsmoke when I made my initial inquiries about the business and most of what follows is information from him.

Woodsmoke prides itself on being an entirely All-American company in every aspect of its operation.  The fish it uses are caught by American fishermen and harvested sustainably in the Alaskan Arctic for salmon and here in Georgia for trout.  Moreover, in-house processes are all done by hand using American workers from the meticulous cutting and cleaning of the fish through the curing and smoking (hickory for salmon, pecan shells for trout) to the final packaging and storage before shipping.

There are two methods for smoking fish.  Woodsmoke "hot smokes" its many types of salmon but  "cold smokes" their trout at temperatures well below the 75 degrees fahrenheit it considers the standard and this is where it gets interesting.  According to my research cold smoking in humid parts of the country is difficult at best.  It is a long process with several hours of curing in citrus juices, brine, and brown sugar followed by four times as much time in the smoker.  During the entire process when not in the smoker the fish must stay at temperatures of 38 degrees or lower or frozen at zero degrees fahrenheit during down times.  The only time the fish may reach room temperature is for a short time prior to wrapping.

We have been selling Woodsmoke Provisions smoked salmon and trout quite successfully for the past year or so and never until now thinking about the difficulty involved in the smoking process.  We have, however, thought about Inland Seafood's incredible endeavor of delivering all of its fresh seafood offerings around Georgia every time we see one of their trucks on the roads.  Think about that the next time you're noshing on your fresh tuna sushi!

Not yet available but coming soon to this store: Woodsmoke Provisions Wild Arctic (hot smoked) Salmon.  Stay tuned.

This Friday from 5 to 7pm Tommy Basham of Continental Beverage joins us with a presentation of reds and whites including Villa Rubini Pinot Grigio from Friuli, Italy and Opolo Vineyards Summit Creek Zinfandel from Paso Robles, California.  Next week on Friday the 13th, Henry Leung of Hemispheres Global Wines presents his usual dazzling array of "fine-winery" which is undetermined at this time, but as reliable as Henry is, you ought to be here for that one too.