It’s time to bring a smoky flavor to one of my favorite though limited in availability, vegetables – smoked okra! Known as a super healthy food but one that sometimes confuses people on how to cook and eat it, I’m going to bring you an easy method of tenderizing and infusing okra with a pleasant smoky flavor that doesn’t stimulate the sticky juice known to lurk inside.
Though I’m going to use a stove top smoker for my infusion, you can easily adapt this method to the gas grill, charcoal grill or electric smoker using a vegetable basket or tray. Seek out some vibrant green, firm okra and let’s get started on a new way to cook and flavor this healthy vegetable.
Smoker Set Up for Smoked Okra
#smokedokra
I’m using my Nordic Ware Stove Top Kettle Smoker for this hot smoking method. To start, I place the smoker base on the unlit burner and add about ¼ cup of Minuto® Wood Chips– I’m using a #6 in Sugar Maple – from SmokinLicious®. I place the drip pan on top of the wood chips and then ensure the food insert pan is clean and dry. For vegetables, I usually use a medium heat setting on my stove – I have a gas stove top. This will register between 200-250°F on the kettle smoker’s temperature gauge. Next, I’ll do a simple preparation to the okra and we’ll be ready to turn on the heat to the stove top unit.
Tasting Notes: For the charcoal grill set up, use a two-zone cooking method – charcoal and wood lit on one half of the grill while the vegetable tray or basket containing the okra will go on the unlit side of the grill. Do the same set up on the gas grill. For the electric smoker, be sure to use a lower heat setting – around 180°F.
Smoked Okra- Trim and Smoke
Nothing could be simpler than the preparation for okra. You’ll want to ensure that the outside is clean and dry so a simple water wash is good with a pat dry. I like to remove the stem top to allow penetration of the smoke vapor into the center of the pod.
#okra
Place about one pound of fresh okra with the stem tops trimmed into the smoker’s food tray. Try making an even layer of pods so the smoke vapor can flavor the pods evenly. Cover the kettle smoker with the lid and turn the burner on to a medium setting. I use my stove’s vent on high to keep the aroma down somewhat.
Allow the okra pods to tenderize and smoke for about 20 minutes before checking. You just want them to be tender (not falling apart), to where a knife can still cut them into pieces. Once done, remove the pods to a bowl and use these in recipes calling for okra or you can serve as is with a favorite sauce.
Smoked Cocktails are the best way to bring in the smoky flavors during the cold wintry nights! Or to just add a pre-taste to your upcoming BBQ! Learn the easy steps
An easy way to give your guests or yourself for that matter, a change from the old cocktail is to smoke the entire drink or a component of the cocktail. I’m going to provide you with some examples of how to take any cocktail recipe and advance its flavor to something spectacular. Once you see how simple it is to build a balanced cocktail with smoke infusion as one component, you’ll be ready to upgrade your cocktail recipes to include smoked cocktails as your hidden talent.
SMOKED COCKTAILS- What to Smoke
The easiest method to achieve the smoked cocktail is to smoke the finished drink. However, depending on what cocktail ingredients your using, this may result in a drink that is too strong. Generally, speaking, a sweeter drink can tolerate more smoke vapor.
Here are some options for you to consider when contemplating a smoked cocktail: you can smoke the entire drink, you can smoke one ingredient of the drink, or you can smoke the water to make the ice for the drink. One of my rules is the more ingredients in the cocktail, the more likely you can smoke the entire drink.
For ingredients, any one or a combination of ingredients can be smoked. Simple syrup, cream, citrus, etc. are all good options. Keep in mind that smoke is attracted the most to cold items so if you want an intense smoked cocktail, chill the ingredient first prior to smoking.
Tasting Notes: Keep in mind, when you cold smoke using a handheld food smoker, the intensity of the smoke can be high. Due to the immediate ignition of the micro chips, the smoke production is great. You can control the level of smoke by only trapping a small quantity of smoke for a lighter infusion versus allowing the container to fill completely with smoke vapor.
#handheldsmoker
SMOKED COCKTAILS- Balancing Smoke with Other Flavors
Whether the cocktail contains fruit, hard liquor, or cream, you can make a flavorful and desired cocktail. For a drink like the Jack Frost which contains lots of sweet juice and cream of coconut, smoking the entire drink provides great balance. For a drink like the Harvest Sparkle, smoking the simple syrup works well. Our Cranberry Bourbon cocktail goes hardy whether served hot or cold when we cold smoke the whiskey. And the Winter Wonderland enjoys a smoky layer to the cream of coconut for a luscious take on this four-ingredient cocktail. Never forget, when in a pinch, consider simply smoking the water to make the ice cubes for a no-fail option on the smoked cocktail, that will remain subtle for most any guest who is served.
Do you have a favorite smoked cocktail? Leave us a comment to let us know and subscribe to our channel to get all the tips, techniques, and recipes we bring your way. Always eager to share our expertise on all things wood fired, that’s SmokinLicious®!
Our drawing of the typical offset food smokers, which come in a variety of sizes! Study our “Match Your Cooker” list for wood use.
For those that have followed us for years, you know we are proud that almost from the start of our Company, we were committed to providing a guide for equipment to cooking wood product match. We refer to our guide affectionately as “Match Your Cooker”.
In this article, we are covering our recommendations for smoker equipment; these are cookers that are dedicated for use as a smoker, usually hot smoking at that. As there are always new equipment lines and models released, our plan is to provide regular updates. We also encourage you to send us a message when you don’t see a manufacturer or model listed so we can add this to our listing.
For now, we introduce you to our wood master’s guide to SmokinLicious®cooking woods for specific smokers.
American Barbecue Systems model: “All Star”, “The Pit-Boss”, “The Bar-Be-Cube”
Backwoods Smoker model: “Party”, “G2 Party”, “The Fatboy”, “G2 Fatboy”, “The Pro Junior”, “The Piglet”, “Piglet Plus”, “The Competition Hog”, “The Pro-Competition Hog”, “The Whole Hog”
Dr. Smoke- When it comes to the performance of your food smokers, we have a ton of helpful info that will make your unit work superbly to flavor food. Feel free to tap into our “Match Your Cooker” wood master’s guide on our website.
The Smokinlicious® Test Kitchen had an opportunity to use the Technique® Cast Iron Pan and Smoker which many of you purchased via QVC. Here are some preliminary findings by our Culinary Team:
➝Use caution when selecting cuts of meat with this cast iron pan! We had purchased a 10 lb. pork shoulder and struggled to get the cover tightly on the pan. Right now, it appears that cuts less than 8 lbs. would be ideal for cooking/smoking/roasting/grilling.
➝I’m sure we were not the only purchasers to be disappointed to read in the Technique® brochure that you should “not try to smoke in the oven” with this unit. Rest assured, Dr. Smoke will see if there is a means of actually smoking in a conventional oven by using low temperature and LiquidInfusedWoodChips /Smokin’ Dust®. /WoodChunks with this smoker unit (more on these findings as they become available).
➝ We cooked both a bone-in pork shoulder and bone-in chicken breast. Both cooks revealed great moisture to the meat. We used the recommended medium heat setting on our gas range but found that the cast iron pan radiates a significant amount of heat. Thus, we recommend reducing the heat setting to a low-medium (“3″ if you have a digital setting) on gas units. We also turned the heat off our cast iron pan approximately 20 minutes prior to completing the cooking time in order to benefit from the pan’s ability to generate further heat on its own. Remember, all meat should rest prior to cutting.
➝ There was considerable “rendering” out of the fat drippings into the drip pan. There is significant staining on the stainless steel drip pan so you may want to consider lining the pan with foil or even parchment paper to reduce metal staining.
➝ Smokin’ Dust® Usage: although the dust will render black in this pan, it did give off a tremendous amount of aroma. We used the Smokin’ Dust® dry, about 2 Tablespoons worth, in the center of the smoking pan. This appears to be the correct amount although we did not feel it produced as much flavor to the meat as a conventional smoker.
➝ WoodChips: we used Wild Cherry WoodChips (standard grind) in the smoker pan while cooking a bone-in chicken breast on the gas stovetop. The chips also produced significant aroma in the air but we found that they produce much more flavor to the meat. Keep in mind, our chicken breast was just over 2lbs so it fit easily in the grill pan with the cover tightly on. The fact that more flavor was infused in the chicken could be the result of less air leakage than the pork shoulder and the fact the chicken is much more porous allowing for ease in accepting smoke. We used the WoodChips pre-soaked for 15 minutes in water, then allowed to drip dry before placing in the smoker pan. We used approximately 1 handful and spread them in the smoking pan to allow the drip pan to fit easily in place. Once our chicken was finished, we noted that the wood chips also blackened during the cooking process, much like the Smokin’ Dust®.
At this stage in our testing of the Technique® Cast Iron Pan and Smoker, we feel it is comparable to other stovetop units that we’ve tested. One important difference is the fact that there is no built in thermometer, so you must check the meat with a handheld or wireless thermometer to ensure you remove the food at the proper cooking temperature. Here are some other points worthy of mention:
➝ this is a heavy cast iron pan and all parts of it become very hot ➝ the pan can use some additional seasoning as there is some food sticking occurring with the grill pan ➝ it does take some effort to clean but if you re-season and continue to use the cast iron pan, I would anticipate this to become less of an issue ➝ there is a significant convection occurrence when cooking which produces a very moist product but as mentioned above, you must time the cooking process to ensure no over-cooking
Stay tuned for additional posting regarding this cookware. Our plans are to try the Smokin’ Dust®. mixed with liquid as well as to try our Woodscuit®Flavor-Infused products.
Till then, “Bon-Bar-B-Q!”
Donna G
Dr. Smoke- The Technique® Cast Iron Pan & Smoker passes the Smokinlicious® kitchen test with flying colors when using our sized hardwood smoking chips!
For more related reading on stove top smoking, check out these articles:
Package labeling. It is the key to drawing attention to a product, to reduce interest in other similar products, and to make someone buy a specific product. Let’s be honest. Not everything printed on a label necessarily provides ALL the information. Use certain words and an “implied” thought will occur.
When it comes to packaging wood for smoking and grilling purposes, there are a lot of terms floating out there that certainly can be deceiving. Let’s see if I can provide clarity on what specific terms and wording mean when it comes to purchasing wood for cooking, smoking, and grilling. SMOKING-GRILLING WOOD SELLING TERMS
WOOD SELLING TERMS:
100% Natural
The intended meaning of 100% natural implies that it has not been touched by human hands. As such, with wood, this would refer to the fact that a tree is a plant designed by nature and other than cutting the tree down, it is not modified in any way.
However, we do know that trees, like flowers, can be manipulated when it comes to their genetics. Genetically modified trees are quite common in the growth of orchard woods, especially those seeking to develop dwarf varieties or specific blossom colors or hybrids. Keep in mind, genetically modified trees will have a reduction in the lignin compound which is responsible for the flavor the wood gives when it burns and gives off smoke vapor.
Currently, it is not legal to genetically modify forest trees but there is a lot of allowances when it comes to plantation and orchard/nursery trees, which often have chemicals applied to make up for the weak lignin which makes the wood susceptible to decay and pest infestation.
Kiln-Dried
Wood that is dried in a closed chamber in which the temperature and relative humidity of the circulated air can be controlled is called “kiln drying”. There are three types of Kiln Drying methods: low-temperature drying which is below 130° F, conventional electric dehumidification drying, and conventional steam-heated drying which have temperatures up to 180° F.
For the most part, when a smoking or grilling wood product lists “kiln-dried” on the packaging, it does not state the type of method being employed. Also, many that use this term do so without providing any information on what compliance record keeping is in place to attest that they are doing what they say.
There is one company who states that they adhere to the protocol designed by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) but quote a core temperature and length in minutes of the heating process that is not the standard written by the USDA. Their compliance agreement is provided by the state in which the business is located, which may have a different standard in place than the USDA.
Air-Dried
The process of drying green wood by exposure to prevailing natural atmospheric conditions outdoors or in an unheated shed is known as air drying. There are three dominate Air Drying methods: open yard, shed, and forced-air shed. The first is not held in high regard as the wood is exposed to all the elements making it the longest method of depleting moisture content from the wood. The second has the addition of a roof covering to maintain a precipitation-free environment, while the third option is mostly used by traditional lumber companies as it produces quicker results meaning products can be sold quicker.
Here’s the issue when you see “Air-Dried” on package labeling of grilling and smoking woods: you don’t know what method is used and no one is saying how long the wood was air-dried for. You don’t know how old the wood is, what method of air drying was employed, how long it took to “dry” it, and you likely won’t know what moisture content is left in the wood. Remember, dry out a piece of wood too far, and it is simply firewood designed for heat output only.
Naturally Cured
This is another term that floats out on the packaging that implies it is different from air drying techniques. It is not different.
Naturally curing wood means the wood is stacked in a manner that allows air to flow around the wood pieces usually in an outdoor setting. It may be left exposed, covered with a tarp or have a roof structure overhead. Naturally curing wood for fireplace use is recommend for 365 days but there is no benchmark for the timing used to dry the wood for the use of smoking or grilling. Some suppliers will use moisture levels of 20-30% as their benchmark but 10% is a large variable in moisture when it comes to wood.
Here is the biggest challenge with a natural curing method: dry the wood too quickly and you will find cracks, splitting, honeycombing, and/or warping. Dry too slowly and the wood will stain and suffer decay. Remember, decay attracts pests as that is what they feed on. SMOKING-GRILLING WOOD SELLING TERMS
Selecting
I won’t lie to you – there are a lot of choices out there for wood. How do you go about selecting from the limited information on the packaging?
Some decisions you’ll have to make on your own: do you want to cook with bark or do you find that bark indeed fluctuates the temperature of your equipment too much? Do you want to use a kiln-dried product even if you don’t know what temperature and for how long that product was heated? Would you want to use a product that hasn’t had any heat application applied to it meaning there may be pests, larvae, mold, and spores that haven’t been eliminated by a heat process? Do you want to use a product from a supplier that provides no information on the moisture of the wood? Do you want to go with a “natural”, “air dried” product that may have been exposed to anything that could access the wood: animal feces and urine, insects, chemical contaminants from the ground or another source?
In the end, I think the selection can be easy by simply looking at the wood for purity and cleanliness, looking at the packaging for evidence of air exchange meaning its likely not completely dried out and looking at the packaging information for claims that don’t seem to match the product that is packaged inside.
Most of all, you should be able to gain valuable information from any supplier’s website on the wood they are selling to you. If not, be cautious that they may not know anything about the manufacturing process of the wood and/or what is needed in wood to qualify it as cooking ingredient. We hope that our discussion of smoking & Grilling Wood Selling Terms adds clarity to your selection process.
Bratwurst in the Orion Smoker Cooker nicely cooked plump and juicy!
WELCOME TO OUR BRAT PARTY-BRATWURST IN THE ORION
SMOKER/COOKER
I believe that wood fired foods can be enjoyed 365 days of the year regardless of the temperature/conditions outside. To ease the challenges of wood cooking outdoors when the conditions may not be optimal, I look to my equipment options and make a selection that ensures the cooking is quick and as easy as possible.
I want to have bratwurst party! Unfortunately, I’ve chosen a -2° day to do just that. No problem! I simply rely on my Orion Cooker to provide a fast, high heat method of cooking with my SmokinLicious® Minuto® Wood Chips.
Bratwurst in the Orion Smoker Cooker- There’s Nothing To It!
Preparing your bratwurst for the Orion Cooker couldn’t get any simpler than making a few cross cuts in the skins to ensure they don’t burst while cooking.
The reason bratwurst is so popular for entertaining and for summer days is just how quick it is to prepare. When you smoke a casing containing product, you want to ensure that the juices don’t cause a pressure build up and result in your brats exploding all over the smoker. I make 3 shallow knife cuts in each brat to ensure they can plump up without exploding out of their casing. These German brats are made with a combination of pork and veal and have an all-natural casing meaning the casing is made from the intestine of an animal. I specifically purchased brats that were on an uninterrupted casing line so I could hang my brats on the Orion Cooker rib hooks to ensure smoke vapor envelopes each link completely, just like commercial smokehouses do.
Before smoking my German bratwurst, I’ve prepared the Orion Cooker by adding SmokinLicious® Minuto® Wood Chips in Wild Cherry to inside of the cooker. The wood chips are placed in the space between the cooker’s wall and the drip pan. I’ve lite a chimney starter full of briquettes which when grayed over will be poured into the fuel pan. 12 briquettes are also lit in the smaller fuel pan at that top of the unit. I’ve loaded my strings of bratwurst to the rib hooks of the unit. Next, place the lid on and let these cook and smoke for 45 minutes untouched.
Done Before You Know It-BRATWURST IN THE ORION SMOKER COOKER
Here’s why I love cooking with the Orion Cooker. On a -2° winter day, I can still use the convection heat from the Orion Cooker to finish the German bratwurst in just 45 minutes. In fact, I don’t use a full fuel tray of briquettes for this smoke. Just one chimney starter full of coals plus about 15 unlit briquettes placed on top of the lit coals. Great smoke flavor is added using Minuto® Wood Chips in wild cherry from SmokinLicious®. I’ve hung over 24 brat links on the three rib hooks of this unit so I can feed plenty of hungry people.
Fix It Your Way
Now comes the best part! Fixing your bratwurst the way you love it. Put out a variety of toppings to stimulate creativity at the brat table. I’ve included raw chopped onion, sweet pickle relish, sauerkraut, hot Hungarian pepper rings, BBQ sauce, beer brat mustard, kimchi, horseradish sauce, just to name a few choices. Whether you slice your brat down the middle or leave it whole, anything goes. German bratwurst done over SmokinLicious® wild cherry wood chips and hung on the hooks of the Orion Cooker, for that old school, smokehouse flavor. Bratwurst in the Orion Smoker Cooker!
Smoked foods can lend an inspired touch to the menu of almost any restaurant, regardless of the type of cuisine it serves. Today, it’s easier than ever to smoke food quickly and efficiently whether in a restaurant setting or at home. The first step is to choose a hot or cold smoker. Both types of smoking devices come with their own benefits, and each is ideally suited for different types of food. Both hot and cold smoking can be used to infuse foods with different flavors; and both can be used to preserve otherwise perishable foods. The infographic below can help you decide whether hot smoking, cold smoking, or a combination of the two is right for you
Originally posted this on January 11, 2017 on their web site. The Alto-Shaam® Social Marketing Team made a request to have us post this to our Blog. We felt the content was a great value to our readers/followers! Please note that the wood chips outlined in this article are limited to only those that Alto-Shaam® has available. SmokinLicious® produces 8 species of smoker wood chips compatible to the Alto-Shaam® equipment. (Note: we do not produce Mesquite or Apple).
Case Notes: A restaurant is preparing to open in a new location and made the decision to invest in an Italian made pizza oven that has an option for wood-fired cooking. This equipment would take 6 months to manufacture and deliver to the USA, which gave the owners time to complete renovations on their new building in preparation for the free-standing oven’s installation. During that time, menu development and plating options were reviewed and decided upon.
The one planning need that was left to the last minute – locating the supplier for the cooking hardwood and determining appropriate sizing for the new equipment! WHY???
It always surprises me that restaurateurs are willing to spend $50,000 and up for commercial equipment that does a specific function or technique, yet they don’t spend the time before that purchase ensuring they can obtain the quality accessory needs to get every benefit from that investment.
Here’s the best part: often these equipment lines tote that they can do all sorts of functions including wood-fired cooking techniques. The truth – they aren’t really promoting that function of their equipment line! They simply want to sell you the equipment and have you use standard fuel options like electric and gas. How did I come to this conclusion? By the content of the user’s manual.
Many do not reference:
size of wood product needed for the equipment
how to light the product
how much of the product to use
where to locate a supplier of the cooking wood
pictorials of the steps to do the technique
provide a troubleshooting guide.
Do you really want to spend $50,000, $60,000, $100,000 and be left to fend for yourself with that investment?
Take the appropriate steps when considering additions to or replacements in your equipment line. Research not only the equipment but what is needed to do the smoke infusion technique with that equipment. Yes, wood chips are readily available even though there is a high level of variation between products. But other products are not so easy to find like wood pieces larger than wood chips but smaller than split firewood logs.
In addition, wood-fired techniques can also require additional “tools” to be available in the kitchen that may not have been standard inventory before.
Such things as:
fire retardant gloves
fire grade tools like long-handled tongs and a wood poker
a MAP canister/torch for lighting the fire
an infrared thermometer for reading temperatures within the cooking chamber
an ash receptacle.
Prioritize the needs of a wood-fired equipment addition by first reviewing the best option in equipment for your business’ need and second, assessing all the requirements of the wood to be successful in bringing this technique to your kitchen!
Dr. Smoke- only manufacturers Culinary Quality wood- Nothing else!!
In Harvest Recipe for September: Smoked Fingerling Potatoes
As a new feature to our blog and recipe section, we will be highlighting a seasonal product in a smoking or natural wood-fired grilled recipe, to help you take advantage of the wonderful seasonal offerings we have for fruits and vegetables. For the most part, we will be following the harvest schedule in the Northeast but may occasionally make reference to a different region’s harvest schedule. This feature will help introduce you to all the flavorful charms and tasty benefits of smoking freshly harvested foods!
For September, we our highlighting potatoes! One of my favorite variety of potatoes is Fingerlings. Feel free to modify the recipe below for smoked fingerling potatoes to your preferred ingredients.
Smoked Fingerling Potatoes with Pancetta and Dill
Ingredients:
2 lbs. fingerling potatoes*, scrubbed and cut into ½-inch lengths
1/4 cup olive oil
½ lb. thick sliced pancetta*, cut into 1/3-inch cubes, cooked
salt and fresh ground pepper
1 onion, thinly sliced
1/4 cup finely chopped dill or 2-1/2 Tablespoons of prepared dill
* may substitute any variety of potato and regular bacon for the pancetta
Tear a large piece of foil to make a pouch or use a disposable cake foil pan. If using a disposable pan, also cut a foil sheet that covers the pan.
Place the pre-cut fingerling potatoes, cooked pancetta, sliced onion, and dill in the foil pan or pouch. Add salt and fresh pepper to preference. Toss all ingredients together then drizzle the 1/4 cup of olive oil over the ingredients. Mix thoroughly.
Place foil pan or pouch on pre-lite charcoal grill, with woods placed directly under the mixture. Allow to cook/smoke until potatoes become tender (about 2-1/2 hours at 200 degrees). Serve your smoked fingerling potatoes warm.
The Smokinlicious®Test Kitchen conducted an additional test using the Technique® Cast Iron Skillet and Smoker which many of you purchased from QVC as the Special of the Day. This time, we used our flavor-infused wood product called the Woodscuit® on the stovetop.
What We Cooked: Boneless Pork Tenderloin
How We Cooked: on the stovetop using medium-low heat on the gas range
What Wood We Used: Bourbon Flavored Woodscuit® – 3 pieces
Length of Cook Time: 2-1/2 hours
Findings: Again, as our previous test cooks have demonstrated, the Technique® Cast Iron Skillet and Smoker provides for a very moist product. This time, we lined our drip pan in foil to decrease the amount of elbow-grease needed to clean up. Since our Woodscuit® product has a moisture content of ~45 percent, these wood pieces did not display the charred look like the woods used in the previous test cooks (both the WoodChips and Smokin’ Dust® were black by the end of the cooking time). However, once the tenderloin was finished, our panel of tasters did not find any significant smoke flavor to the end product. For those pieces that had been more to the center of the cast iron skillet, the tasters noted slightly more smoke flavor but overall, there was no distinguishable smoke flavor infused in the food.
Currently, our Test Kitchen has found that the WoodChips used on the stovetop, provide for the greatest flavor infusion of the wood used. As always, we will continue to test this cast iron skillet with a plan to see if adding water to the smoke pan with the wood product, helps to keep the flavor infusion going.
Stay tuned!
Fingerling Potatoes are Next
Dr. Smoke- Cast iron skillet cooking and smoking is easy, affordable & offers great flavor results! When using the Technique® Cast Iron Skillet, coupled our quality cooking wood, you can’t go wrong!
For more reading on the Technique® Cast Iron Skillet & Smoker and how you can do stove top smoking from your own kitchen, check out these articles:
Join Dr Smoke and the Culinary crew as we visit teams that competed in the Jack Daniels competition! Dr Smoke discusses Barbecue, smoking wood chunks and chips, how teams qualified for the competion! Overall just a great time during the competition.
Smokinlicious® is pleased to announce the release of its new retail market packaging! This paper packaging is equiped with a vent panel to allow for proper air circulation! Our wood chip bags are available immediately and will soon be followed by the “single” and “double” filet chunks. Please look for these products in selected retail markets.
Smokinlicious® is pleased to announce the release of its new retail market packaging! This paper packaging is equiped with a vent panel to allow for proper air circulation! Our 
