Traditionally, I’m not a big fan of Salmon. Too much of a fishy taste for me. However, last week a coworker of mine prepared a smoked Salmon that was out of this world, so I went on a quest to recreate the recipe.
Had a nice chat with my local fishmarket guy and learned that ‘farm raised’ Salmon will have a less intense flavor than Salmon caught in the wild, so that’s the direction I went. Purchased a 6oz skin on fillet and squeezed 1/4 lemon over the fish to coat the entire piece. Rubbed it with garlic salt, black pepper, cayenne pepper and brown sugar.
Ran the smoker at 180F for an hour, before turning up to 250F to finish. Pulled Salmon at 140F internal. Skin pulled right off and I had the beautiful fillet you see here.
Made just like the smoked Cheeze-Its, start with plain ‘ol ordinary potato chips. A kettle cooked one will perform a best. Spray with cooking spray and toss with your favorite BBQ rub. Smoke for 60 minutes and enjoy. Smoked flavor will be stronger on day 2.
The smoke flavor on this snack is crazy rich! Make your Chex Mix according to the package directions, or add your own flair. I used 3 Cups each of Rice, Corn and Wheat Chex, 2 Cups of pretzels, 2 Cups of cashews and 2 Cups of pita chips. Tossed in a stick of melted butter with 2T Worcestershire Sauce, laid out on a screen on the grill, and sprinkled with equal amounts of garlic powder, onion powder, salt and pepper.
For an added kick, you can mix in 1/4C of Franks or another hot sauce of your choosing with the butter before tossing the mix.
Smoke on your grill for 45-60 minutes. I’m thinking the butter helps soak up the smoke, because this mix is crazy smoky and delicious!
Saw a version of this on Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives, so had to give it a shot at home. Start with a 1/3# hamburger, season as you like. Smoke for about 30 minutes. While smoking, heat up a frying pan on medium-high heat. Fry the burger on one side. After flipping, sprinkle 1/3# of shredded cheddar over burger, allowing to generously flow over the sides. Cover skillet and let cook about 1 minute. Burger will be done and cheese will be nicely toasted. My cheesy daughters thought this was the best burger ever!
Bought some banana peppers for chili and had a few left over, so I added some hot Italian sausage and had a feast!
All you need are 4 banana peppers, 1/2 pound of hot Italian sausage, about 1 cup of marinara and some shredded parmesan.
Cut the top of the pepper off and hollow out the inside. Dived the sausage into quarters and stuff each quarter into a pepper. Place on a baking sheet and smoke at the lowest setting on your grill (about 165F) for about 2 hours. Heat the marinara to low simmer.
Move to direct heat on a BBQ grill and finish for about 8 minutes, flipping after 4 minutes. Move the sausage to a serving tray, cover in marinara, and sprinkle on cheese. Serve hot.
Stuffed banana peppers with a few Ribeyes on the side!
A great side dish for….anything! Hash brown potatoes tossed in a wonderful cheesy goodness makes this a hit every day. To make, you will need:
1 can condensed cheddar cheese soup
2C sour cream
1t salt
1/4t pepper
4C shredded cheddar cheese
1/3C sliced green onions
30oz frozen shredded hash brown potatoes
2C crushed corn flakes
1/4C butter, melted
Setup smoker for maximum smoke at lowest temp possible, around 165F.
Spray a 13X9 pan with nonstick spray. Whisk together sour cream, soup, salt and pepper in a large bowl. Stir in 3C cheese, green onions and hash brown potatoes until well mixed. Spoon evenly into the prepared baking dish.
Smoke for 1 hour, stirring after 30 minutes. After 1 hour, turn heat up to 350F. Mix crushed cereal and melted butter together in a medium bowl. Sprinkle evenly over the casserole, along with remaining 1 C of cheese.
Bake uncovered until hot and bubbly, 50-60 minutes. Remove from smoker and let rest for 5 minutes before serving. Garnish with additional green onions if desired.
This is my most favorite dessert in the entire world. It is the signature dish at Commander’s Palace in New Orleans. The recipe comes direct from their kitchen, with a bit of improvisation for the smoker. You will note there are 3 distinct steps to making this. Both the bread pudding and the bourbon sauce can be made ahead of time, as they need to cool to room temp after cooking. These two steps, from prep to cook, will take about an hour. The meringue and the building and baking of the soufflé should be done right before you want to serve (that step will take about 30 minutes).
Start with making the bread pudding. You will need:
3/4C Sugar
1t Cinnamon
Pinch of Nutmeg
3 Eggs
1C Heavy Cream
1t vanilla
5C New Orleans Style French Bread cut into 1″ pieces
This amounts to an approximate 18″ loaf. New Orleans style French bread is very light and tender. If your bread is too dense, it will soak up the custard and the recipe will not work.
1/3C raisins
Make sure the bread soaks up all the custard before placing in pan
Preheat your smoker to 350F. Butter an 8″ square baking pan. Combine sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg in a large bowl. Beat in the eggs until smooth, then work in the heavy cream. Add the vanilla, then the bread cubes. Allow the bread to soak up the custard, while stirring/folding every so often. Takes about 10 minutes.
Place the raisins in the greased pan. Top with the bread/egg mixture. Bake for 25-30 minutes, until the pudding has a golden brown color and is firm to the touch. A toothpick inserted in the pudding comes out clean when it is done. Cool to room temp.
When a toothpick comes out clean, the bread pudding is done
Next, make the Bourbon Sauce:
1C Heavy Cream
1/2T Corn Starch
1T Water
3T Sugar
1/4C Bourbon
Any bourbon, rye or whisky will work for the sauce, but don’t go cheap. This is the highlight of the dessert.
Place the cream in a small saucepan over medium heat and bring to a boil. Whisk corn starch and water together, and add to cream while whisking. Bring back to a boil and whisk/simmer for a few seconds, taking care not to burn the mixture on the bottom. Remove from heat and stir in the sugar and bourbon. Taste to make sure the sauce has a bit of a thick consistency, a sufficiently sweet taste, and a good bourbon flavor. Cool to room temp.
Now, make the meringue:
9 Egg Whites
3/4C Sugar
1/4t Cream of Tarter
Keep the smoker at 350F. Butter 4 nine ounce ramekins. In a mixer, whip egg whites and cream of tartar until foamy. Add the sugar gradually and continue whipping until shiny and thick. Test with a clean spoon. If the whites stand up stiff, like shaving cream, when you pull out the spoon, the meringue is ready. Do not overwhip, or the whites will break down and the soufflé will not work.
In a large bowl, break half the bread pudding into pieces using your hands. Gently fold in one-quarter of the meringue. Add a portion of this base to each of the ramekins.
Place the remaining bread pudding in the bowl, break into pieces, and carefully fold in the rest of the meringue. Top off the soufflés with this lighter mixture. Smooth and shape tops with spoon into a dome over the ramekin rim. Place in the smoker for about 20 minutes, or until golden brown. Using a spoon, poke a hole in the top of each soufflé and pour the bourbon sauce inside the soufflé. Serve immediately and enjoy the sweetest treat to ever come off your grill!
Mix 12oz of pineapple juice (2 small cans) with 1 can of water and 1/2 can of white vinegar. Let the bark form for the first 3 hours, then spray on ribs every hour thereafter. Makes enough for 4-6 racks of ribs.
Taking a southern staple to the smoker, with this rich, thick sausage gravy and homemade biscuits. Serve along side with scrambled eggs for a breakfast feast!
This recipe will make about 2 dozen biscuits and enough gravy to smoother them all (call it breakfast for 12). Let’s start with the gravy. Take 1 pound of regular breakfast sausage, the stuff in a tube, and 1 pound of hot breakfast sausage. Spread out, either on a hard surface or a cookie sheet, about 1/2″ thick. Place on a wire rack and smoke for 30-60 minutes.
When you get the desired amount of smokiness into the sausage, brown it in an large frying pan or cast iron pan. Once browned, remove sausage from the pan, but leave about 2T of the drippings. Melt 6T butter and whisk in 1/2C of flour. Cook until light brown, about 3-5 minutes. Whisk in 6C whole milk and cook over medium heat until bubbling. Return the sausage to the pan. Add salt & pepper to taste. Reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes, until thick.
While the milk is coming up to temp, make your biscuits. First, set your smoker for 450F, all indirect heat. Mix together 4C flour, 6T backing powder and 1T salt. Cut in 1C of cold butter, chopped in small pieces, until the mixture looks like rough bread crumbs. Mix in 1 1/2C of whole milk and stir until you have a soft dough. Kneed for 5 minutes and spread out into a flat layer about 1/2″ thick. Use a pint jar and cut dough into biscuits, then place on a cookie sheet. Reroll dough until it is all cut into biscuits. Should make 20-24 biscuits.
When you turn the gravy down to a simmer, place the biscuits in the smoker for 10-14 minutes, or until golden brown. Make sure you don’t burn the bottoms. Serve everything hot and enjoy!
