Re: [CH] quick cooking tips (wasIntro/new subscriber:)
Chad A Gard (gard@indy.net)
Wed, 30 Jan 2002 10:04:33 -0500
>And because I simply *hate* to have to ask that/this question (to)
>myself - "what do i want to eat?", I typically do this on the
>weekend/Monday:
>
><sniped good advice>
<snipped more good advice>
Don't know why my last message never showed up on the list, odd... But
I'll try again. Basically, I wanted to point out to Alex that if he
doesn't get to store food in the panty, perhaps he should talk to his
signifigant other...
Anywho, since we're talking about cooking tips, I thought I would mention a
new kitchen gadget I recently purchased, that has proven quite helpful in
the easy/quick cooking that's quite tasty realm.
It's a stovetop smoker. Mine is made by Camerons, and it was less than
$35. They're apparantly hard to find, 'cause the manufacturers of them
don't make many, and I was basically lucky and had good timing when I got
mine.
There is another manufacturer, too, 'cause I saw Emeril use one to make
sausage the other night, and it was by a different manufacturer, but
essentially the same thing. But I think you could cobble one together with
more commonplace pieces and some aluminum foil.
It's basically a stainless steel roasting pan with a tight-fitting slide-on
lid. You put sawdust on the bottom of the roasting pan, then it has a
stainless drip tray you put on top of it (so the sawdust goes between the
grooves in the pan). I cover the drip tray with aluminum foil for easier
cleanup. On top of the drip pan goes a little nonstick rack. On top of
the rack goes whatever you want to smoke.
You put the whole thing on top of a burner on the stove (or in a campfire
or on a grill, but in that case you have natural smoke anyway, so why would
you use this thing?), over medium heat, with the lid cracked open an inch
or so. When a slight wisp of smoke comes out the lid opening, you close
it, and go do whatever you want.
You could easily substitute a normal rectangular roasting pan, a shallow
cake pan or cut-up cookie sheet, and a cooling rack, using aluminum foil as
a lid, and get good results, I think.
Obviously, it's a hot smoker, not a cold smoker, so you're not going to be
doing bacon and cured meats in it. But, what's quite nifty is it's very
convenient for smaller cuts of meat. I have a normal "bullet"-shaped
smoker, which is great for things like turkeys and brisket and ribs and the
like, but way too much time and hassle is involved for, say, pork chops or
chicken breasts. Anything under 4 pounds isn't worth it.
But, with the stovetop smoker, I can easlily throw on some of those smaller
cuts, get it going, then leave it for 1-2 hours, and whala, nifty smoked
food. I got it sunday before last, and on that day I got a pork loin
(about 3 pounds) and made pulled pork. Then, I made smoked pork chops.
Then smoked chicken breasts. Twice. Then last night I made pork chops
again.
I'm gonna throw a recipe in here, too. One thing it makes practical is
smoking slices of potato. It seems rather odd, I guess, but so am I. I've
smoked potatoes to go with all of the chops and chicken breasts I've smoked
in it.
Smoked Potato Slices
- quantities depends on how much you wanna eat, how much you can fit in the
smoker, and your chosen level of flavor. Use a high-starch potato, 'cause
they'll be in there for probably 90 minutes or so, until the meat is done.
You want them to hold together.
potatoes
extra-virgin olive oil
ground cayenne pepper(s)
coarse-ground sea salt
black pepper
italian seasoning
wash the potatoes, then slice thick (about 7/8" or so). In a bowl, add all
other ingredients. Stir them together with one of the potato slices.
Coat the potato slices with the oil mixture. Stack in stovetop smoker in a
loose structure, sort of like a pyramid (only cubed shaped) - ie, leave
spaces between the slices, and stack the second layer over the spaces in
the previous layer. The idea is to make smoke circulation as easy as
possible. Drizzle remaining oil mixture over potatoes
Smoke the potatoes until whatever else you're smoking is done. Usually
arround 90 minutes.
All of the seasonings are to taste. To give a starting point, I did 5
medium-sized potatoes last night. I used about 2 Tbsp of OO, 1 1/2 of
those really big cayenne peppers from the Open Fields, 2 grinds of the salt
(I don't like salt much), about 1 1/2 tsp black pepper, and about 1 Tbsp of
italian seasoning. That's all "about", 'cause measuring just makes more to
clean.
Chad Gard, KB9WXQ
INCHASE: http://www.inchase.org Co-founder
SCOA: http://www.stormchasersofamerica.org Member #3
INSWA: http://www.insw.org Unit #21