Thu 25 Jul 2019
Our wood fired stuffed tomato filled with tuna salad and melted cheese is ‘over the top’ in taste!
Wed 24 Jul 2019
Smoking Snow Peas steps featured in this blog.
Let's try smoking Snow Peas! Click To Tweet
One of the most versatile vegetables is now in season and can be used in both hot and cold side dishes and main courses. In this series, we will be roasting our peas using a hot smoking method to bring the great wood-fired flavour.
I’ll be using my Stok Drum Charcoal Grill for this series. As the Stok has its own charcoal basket, I won’t need to prepare any additional lump hardwood charcoal. I am using a direct method of cooking. I place my charcoal in the unit’s charcoal basket leaving my grate insert off for now. Once the coals turn gray, I will lift the charcoal basket and allow the coals to advance into the cooking drum. I then grate insert off as I will use my vegetable pan to go right over the top of the insert area.
Adding Grande Sapore cherry wood chips
While the coals have been firing, I start preparation on the peas. As I am using sugar snap peas for this recipe there is very little preparation that has to be done. I first will remove all the string membrane that is attached to one side of the snap pea. If any stems are left on, I will remove those as well. I then wash the peas in a colander and then allow them to drip dry, shaking my colander occasionally to rid any excess water. If needed, I will pat dry the peas to ensure they are ready for the fire. Then I sprinkle on some Almond oil, sea salt, and fresh pepper to the peas. Now, we’re ready to wood fire!
My coals are hot, the wood chips are smoking, and the peas are ready to be kissed by fire! I place the vegetable pan on the center of the grill and leave my grill cover off. When cooking with wood, know that some temperature fluctuation can occur due to the natural variation in combustion so don’t leave the Peas unattended. Once you see the peas start to char, give them a toss with a spoon to ensure an even char cook.
Placing the peas on the Stok grill pan
Usually, you will see char begin about 4-5 minutes into the cooking cycle. Once that occurs, you will be looking at another couple of minutes before the peas will be ready to come off the grill. Be sure you monitor that you don’t go too far with the smoking process. If the peas begin to shrivel and wrinkle, you went too far. You can remove them and place in an ice bath or run under cold water to stop any additional cooking from taking place.
It’s so hard to explain the aroma that comes from the grill when you wood fire vegetables. Keep in mind, that even when the vegetables are chilled, they will retain their char flavor. Here are some tips to finishing these beautiful smoked sugar snow peas: add some crumbled feta cheese and serve, or a splash of lemon juice and dill, or even a dollop of ricotta cheese that’s been whipped with a bit of cream. You can also check into our next blog on peas where we feature these scrumptious beauties in a Snap Pea and Cucumber Salad, just perfect on a hot summer’s day!
First Turn on the Grill
… that when it comes to the forgotten method of direct ember cooking with wood, there are many great food varieties besides your typical meats, poultry and seafoods that offer awesome flavor. This blog demonstrates how snow peas are one of many tasty garden variety veggies that will tickle your pallet with a great smoky wood-fired taste. There are many more foods for you to enjoy with this technique! Go ahead, experiment with your favorite vegetables or fruits and treat yourself to a “world of flavor” possibilities!
Bon-Bar-B-Q!
Dr. Smoke- You’re in store for a real flavor treat by smoking snow peas!
For more reading on Smoking Snow Peas, try these recipes
Sat 20 Jul 2019
Showing the different stages of color and flavor for smoking clams over the grill. Add a little chunk of wood! The taste is amazing
Clams are at peak season and the perfect time to add some wood flavoring to this hot season favorite. We’ll show you how on a charcoal grill then use our golden, crispy clam meat in a super light and flavorful dish we call ‘Wood Fired Clams in Orzo with Dijon Caper Sauce’. The best part, you can use fresh clams that you remove the meat from or simply buy clam meat from the store’s seafood department or in cans in most grocery stores. A simple, delicious and oh, so flavorful dish that will be a hit with everyone who tries it.
Wed 17 Jul 2019
Fresca Cocktail with Strawberries is very easy. Merely cut your strawberries and place them on your grill to enhance their flavor then process into a flavorful drink.
If you enjoy fruity drinks or smoothies, then the Smoked Strawberry Aqua Fresca is perfect! Using seasonal fresh strawberries will bring this to the ultimate flavor height but any store purchased variety will work as well. This is the perfect cocktail for a summer event or as a non-alcoholic refresher on an exceptionally warm summer day. Get ready as we tell you how to do the smoking technique then construct this fabulous drink.
Thu 11 Jul 2019
Our Finished Strawberry Rhubarb Fool with a Smokey Twist!
Strawberry Rhubarb Fool–Fresh rhubarb means great recipes most of which consist of dessert! This one is no exception. Not only am I going to use smoked rhubarb but I’m including smoked strawberry as well.
Mon 1 Jul 2019
Our Smoked Bone Broth starts with Great Beef bones trimmed on the gas grill
Smoked beef bones by using cooking wood chunks over the grill heat shields or gas grill diffusers are easy! The smoke flavor and slow simmer root vegetables are building flavor profiles for this unique smoked bone broth recipe. Simmering food with aromatic vegetables sometimes lacks taste that smoking wood chunks add. Read how easy it is!
Thu 27 Jun 2019
Our Finished Smoked Beef Riblets with Soy Hoisin marinade!
One of my favorite cuts of beef to smoke and grill is the beef flank riblet. This is a cut of beef short rib known as flanken. In the flanken style of short rib, this thin cut, which is about 1/2-inch thick, goes across the bones so that each slice contains a few pieces of bone rather than between the bones as is done in traditional short ribs.
This is a popular way to cut the short ribs if you’re going for a Korean barbecue which we are kind of doing with our marinade that has Asian influences. I recommend doing about 4 pounds of flanken style short rib though today I’m doing 8 lbs. which means I’m doubling the recipe. The best part is these ribs don’t take very long to smoke on the grill.
Thu 20 Jun 2019
Thu 13 Jun 2019
Our Fresh peas get all smokey for a terrific pea mash
With the arrival of Spring on the East Coast, we have an opportunity to get some fresh vegetables and one of my favorites to locate are peas. Today, I’m going to remove fresh peas from their pods and wood-fire them using wood chunks on the gas grill. Then I’ll produce a tasty pea mash that I plan to serve on toasted bread for a healthy snack or appetizer. The time consuming part of this recipe is the removal of the peas but this task will be worth it.
Time to get to the store and locate about 2-1/2 pounds of fresh peas and fire up the grill for our flavorful take on pea mash.
Wed 5 Jun 2019
All the supplies you need to add a smokey flavor to this wonderful fruit- strawberries for Smoked Strawberries
Smoked Strawberries with a Hand Held Smoker Click To Tweet
