Tag: Smokers
Hmong Smoked Beef with Tomatoes and Herbs
Hmong Smoked Beef with Tomatoes and Herbs
As I shop at my local Asian market, I’ve noticed a vacuum sealed package that says Hmong smoked beef. I’ve been walking by it for ages and have had no idea what it’s used for. It’s kind of expensive. Looks like a big pack of beef jerky. After doing much research on Hmong cuisine over the last 2 months, I’ve read about recipes making your own smoked beef using chuck. The beef is traditionally smoked over mesquite, shredded in a food processor, and mixed with tomatoes and herbs. Then the beef mix is stirred into steamed rice. The heat from the rice slightly melts any fat that’s in the beef. This dish is so flavorful, it’s pretty hard to stop eating it.
Equipment
- Electric Smoker
- meat hooks
- food processor
- mortar and pestle
Ingredients
- 4 lbs chuck roast sliced 1/4” thick
- 1 tbsp pink curing salts
- 2 tsp mushroom seasoning
- 8 oz cherry tomatoes
- 4 Thai chilies finely chopped
- 1 cup green onions chopped
- 1 vip cilantro chopped
- 1 tbsp fish sauce
- 1 tsp salt
Wood Chips
- mesquite
Instructions
- Mix together the curing salts and mushroom seasoning.
- Rub the sliced beef with the curing seasoning. Let cure overnight in the refrigerator.
- Take the beef and place it on a meat hooks.
- Preheat your smoker to 250 degrees. Place each meat hook on the top rack of the smoker.
- Smoke for 90 minutes.
- Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Place the smoked beef on a rack on a baking sheet. Bake for 15 minutes, flipping half way through.
- Chop up the beef into smaller pieces.
- Place in a food processor and pulse a few times until shredded. Set aside.
- Place the tomatoes in a baking dish. Roast for 30 minutes.
- Mash the chilies with a mortar and pestle.
- Add in the toasted tomatoes and crush.
- Stir in the green onions and cilantro.
- Stir in the shredded beef. Season with fish sauce and salt.
Smoked Andouille Sausage
Smoked Andouille Sausage
Andouille sauasage is the famous staple of the cajun and creole cuisine of Louisiana. With it’s origins from French charcuterie, andouille sausage consists of coarse ground pork heavily seasoned with salt, pepper, cayenne, thyme, sage, paprika, and a large amount of garlic. The pork is stuffed into casings and slowly smoked with pecan wood. Andouille can be used in numerous cajun dishes such as jambalaya and gumbo.
Equipment
- food processor
- meat grinder
- sausage stuffer
- twine
- Electric Smoker
Ingredients
- 8 lbs pork shoulder
- 40 garlic cloves
- 2 tbsp salt
- 1 tbsp paprika
- 1 tbsp smoked paprika
- 2 tsp black pepper
- 2 tsp cayenne pepper
- 1 tsp thyme
- 1 tsp sage
- 2 tsp pink curing salts
- hog casings
Wood Chips
- pecan wood
Instructions
- Place the garlic cloves in a food processor.
- Process until chopped.
- Mix together all of the seasonings.
- Grind the pork on a medium grind plate, one time through.
- Thoroughly mix the spices and garlic into the pork.
- Stuff the sausage into the casings.
- Twist into 6” links. Let cure overnight in the refrigerator.
- Cut every 4th link apart from each other. Tie in between the middle of the 4 links with twine to the grate of your smoker so they can hang.
- Place the grate on the very top rack of your smoker so the sausages can hang. Turn the temp to 130 degrees. Allow the sausages to dry out for an hour with out adding any wood chips.
- Turn the temp to 250 degrees and add your wood chips. Allow the chips to ignite. Turn your smoker down to 150 degrees. Smoke for 6 hours, changing out the wood chips every 2 hours. After 6 hours, turn up the smoker temp to 180 degrees and smoke for 1 more hour.
Thai Smoked Duck with Gravy
Thai Smoked Duck with Gravy
Instead of a turkey for thanksgiving, I went the duck route. I also wanted to do a Thai inspired dinner. So I made a smoked Thai duck with a rich gravy. The duck was stuffed with lemongrass, garlic, and ginger; the outside rubbed with salt, sugar, and ground ginger. The duck was smoked with hickory wood for 4 hours until the fat rendered out and the skin turned a dark golden brown.
Servings: 4
Equipment
- Electric Smoker
- food processor
Ingredients
- 5-6 lb whole duck
- 3 stalks lemongrass
- 6 garlic cloves
- 3” ginger cut in half
- 2 tsp salt
- 1 tsp ground ginger
- 1 tsp sugar
Gravy
- 1/4 tsp white pepper
- 3 garlic cloves
- 1” ginger peeled
- 5 cilantro sprigs
- 2 tbsp fermented soybean paste
- 1 1/2 tbsp light soy sauce
- 1 1/2 tsp dark soy sauce
- 1/2 tsp five spice powder
- 2 tbsp honey
- 3/4 cup chicken stock
- 1/4 cup coconut milk
Wood Chips
- hickory
Instructions
- Season the inside cavity of the duck with salt. Stuff with lemongrass, ginger, and garlic cloves. Prick the skin all over with a knife. Rub the outside with salt, ground ginger, and sugar. Let dry out in the refrigerator overnight on a rack.
- Let your duck sit at room temperature for 2 hours before smoking. Preheat your smoker to 250 degrees. Throw the duck in the smoker.
- Smoke the duck for 4 hours.
- Let the duck rest for 15-20 minutes before serving.
Gravy
- Place the garlic, ginger, cilantro, white pepper, soybean paste, and 5 spice powder in a food processor.
- Process into a paste.
- Heat up a tsp of cooking oil in a small pot and sauté the paste for 2 minutes.
- Deglaze the pot with the chicken stock. Pour in the soy sauces, honey, and coconut milk. Simmer over medium heat for 5 minutes until thickened.
