You've done all the prep work building your smoker, you've brined for days and woke up with the rooster to get your pork butt smoking. There's 12 hours to kill and you see all that smoke pouring through the cracks filling the neighborhood with smoke (and envy). You ponder what else can I do with that setup?
Well I've done some thinking (and cooking) in that direction. If you have a nice big space put a hunk of cheese (mozzarella, provolone or parmesian are my favorites) in a heat proof bowl and smoke for an hour or four. When it comes out place in the fridge to cool off. The smoke would have permeated every bit of that cheese and it is heaven. Adding to pasta or just snacking you've taken bargain bin cheese to gourmet status.
Well that's 4 out of the 12 hours so take any cased sausage and stab each with a fork in a few places (for fat drainage) and throw on the smoker in any convenient place. Give the sausages 2-4 hours and test one for doneness. When cooked through they are ready to eat although you may want to wait a bit longer for more smoke and a bit less moisture in the sausage. The end result can be eaten straight, sliced thin as an appetizer or pizza topping or lastly used in a spaghetti sauce.
What you can smoke is limited only by your imagination so experiment whenever you can.
Lastly smoke is a preservative. If you keep your smoked items away from heat, moisture & air (sealed plastic bag in the fridge) they will surprise you on how long they will last. Smoking is an early and primitive form of preservation and helps make the food inhospitable for micro-organisms by dehydration of the materials and because most little bugs just don't like the smoke.
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