Holy smoke! A love affair begins...
I call it the Battle Droid. Roughly four feet tall, cylindrical, all black, and sitting on a tripod of steel legs, it looks like an ominous effect from a science-fiction movie. A pulsing red light would make it perfect.
But I am willing to be content with it as is, a canister designed for the sole purpose of smoking food. I mentioned the BD a while back; it was an amazing wedding present from our friends Tom and Carol, made even more amazing by the amount of stuff inside: smoking accessories, napkins, plates, Belgian beer, and some impressive glasses to hold it. It's a little difficult to use in an apartment, however, so I didn't inaugurate it until last weekend. I decided to hold a wine tasting as research for an article I'm working on, and figured it was the best time to stuff everyone full of yummy carcinogens. The red wine cancels it out, you see.
We held the maiden feast at our friend Tim and Mitch's house, which has a yard, an important consideration when one is generating large billows of aromatic smoke. I decided to do two chickens and a few sausages, violating at least two of the rules on the BBQ FAQ: just do one thing at a time until you get the feel for it, and don't invite people over til you're comfortable.
But all was well despite my flagrant disregard for the rules. Tom came over earlier than everyone else to help out: he's been smoking stuff for a while, though not with an electric smoker, so he was curious to see how it worked. Quite nicely, as it turns out. The chickens were extremely juicy, even without brining (a large pan of water sits in the smoker and generates a fair amount of ambient moisture), though the smokiness I expected was pretty mild. Not so the sausages, which smelled like some sort of amazing campfire cookout.
I made a few other things to go along with the meat, though I was pretty disorganized about it all so the food came out okay but not spectacularly. A roasted vegetable medley and a rice-lentil salad (Tom added small diced carrots which added a nice color and taste, and the rice was perfumed with cinnamon and anise) for the vegetarians. A variety of cheeses, and a fruit salad with the now-famous lime-ginger gastrique dressing, again brought to eye-crossing levels of kick.
As for the wines, you all will have to wait until the article hits the streets.
But of course now I'm thinking of all sorts of things to smoke. Art Culinaire has a recipe for cedar-smoked pork chops in the latest issue. I'm hoping to figure out what I need to do to get smoked sausage (the kind that keeps for a good long while). Tom tempted me with thoughts of home-made bacon, which he says is vastly superior to anything one can buy. And Thanksgiving is coming up; it's a safe bet one of my turkeys will be smoked. Sadly, the BD lives at Tim and Mitch's house until we get a place of our own, or at least a balcony. Not that they're too upset by this; they're more than happy to have us come down and smoke some food they can enjoy.
- The Post About Posts
I have a serious back-log of posts...I'll get them up as soon as I can! First: I'd found a recipe for smoked salmon, and since that smoker I bought Matt a few years ago has gotten very little use, I gently 'suggested' he try it out. One...
- Imbb6: Imagine...mmmm...barbecued Brisket
Photo by Tim Holmes A while back, my friend Tom told me to keep an eye out for the next issue of Saveur; it had a technique for doing beef brisket in an electric smoker, which Tom knows we have because he was one of the people (along with Carol) who...
-
Spring is in the air, and even a not-so-young-anymore boy's thoughts turn to love. I sit at my desk, and the sunny day causes thoughts of a certain comely shape to flit through my mind. I count the moments until we will see each other again. My...
- An Obsession With My Wife
This post isn't about food. Or wine. It is about my wife and the launch of her website for her business, Melissa Nicole Design. Check it out; she's very talented and has done some really neat stuff. Coming soon: Holy Smoke! The Inauguration...
- Tom's Summer Party
A moment's pause to update my blog. I still have tons of stuff backlogged to tell you all, from eating at Guy Savoy in Paris (better than the French Laundry; not something I say lightly) to a variety of cooking classes. But work has been busy,...