Smoke Gun - Smoking Gun Uses | The Nibble Webzine Of Food Adventures - The Nibble Webzine Of Food Adventures Smoke Gun - Smoking Gun Uses | The Nibble Webzine Of Food Adventures
 
 
 
 
THE NIBBLE BLOG: Products, Recipes & Trends In Specialty Foods


Also visit our main website, TheNibble.com.





GIFT: Smoking Gun – Smoke Gun – Smoke Infuser For Food & Drinks

The term “smoking gun” is a reference to an object or fact that serves as conclusive evidence of a crime or similar act.

But there’s no crime in purchasing a smoking gun—a.k.a. smoke gun—for cold-smoke cooking.

Creative cooks will love this kitchen gadget. We purchased one after paying $20 a pop for smoking cocktails at one of our favorite restaurants.

When we realized how easy it was to recreate a smoked cocktail at home, we purchased a smoke gun: this Homia Smoking Gun Wood Smoke Infuser Kit on Amazon, which included all the accessories and wood chips so we could immediately get to work.

You can buy a smoke gun for as little as $20, but you also need wood chips.

We’ll share a smoked cocktail recipe below, but first, all the things you can do with a smoke gun.

The smoke not only excites the nose, but it adds a delightful depth of flavor.
 
 
WHAT TO DO WITH A SMOKE GUN (A.K.A. SMOKE INFUSER OR SMOKING GUN)

While a smoke gun is a great addition to the kitchen, first note that a smoke gun doesn’t smoke food in the manner of a backyard smoker, over many hours of cooking.

It is cold-smoking, not hot-smoking: It gives a 30-second infusion of smoke flavor to cooked food or a drink, or to ingredients you’ll use to make a recipe.

Like a kitchen torch (and of a similar size), a smoke gun is a small tool that delivers big flavor. You add wood chips or other flavor agent (there’s a list below), and the gun converts the chips, cinnamon, herbs, etc. to smoke.

The gun blows the smoke into your food or drink, infusing it with smoke flavor.

Far from being exotic, it is easy to use with your everyday foods. You can:

  • Smoke cocktails or straight spirits. How about a smoky Bloody Mary or Margarita?
  • Smoke and freeze water into ice cubes for extra smoke.
  • Smoke coarse sea salt and dried spices.
  • Smoke butter and condiments: mayonnaise, oil, pesto, vinaigrettes.
  • Smoke ingredients to make smoked ice cream, pasta and more.
  •  
    And of course, you can add smoke to cooked meats and fish. See the video on this page, showing all the different things you can smoke.
     

    FLAVORS TO INFUSE

    Depending on what you’re infusing:

  • Cinnamon sticks: Provides a lighter smoke flavor with subtle sweetness.
  • Citrus peels: Use as a garnish to deliver some smoky flavor.
  • Herbs and spices: Experiment with your favorites, including tea leaves and saffron.
  • Oak chips: These accentuate the charred wood notes from barrel aging.
  • Pecan chips: These provide a nutty flavor.
  • Other wood chips: Experiment with whatever you like: apple, hickory, maple, mesquite, orange, etc.
  • Rosemary sprigs: herbaceous flavor.
  • Vanilla beans: light, sweet smoke.

  •  
    COCKTAIL RECIPE: SMOKING ROSEMARY FIZZ

    When the smoking cocktail is brought to the table (photo #1) and the waiter (or you) removes the dome that’s keeping the smoke inside (photo #2), the whole table gets to enjoy the aroma.

    To make it at home, you need a glass dome (or wide-mouth vase, to hold in the smoke), a smoke gun, a smoking agent (e.g. wood chips), and ideally, a jumbo ice cube (it works better than regular cubes).

    Instead of a dome, you can use the hose of the smoke gun to blow smoke directly into the cocktail. This is also how you infuse smoke onto cooked food.

    Ingredients Per Cocktail

  • 2 ounces Makers Mark bourbon (or substitute)
  • 2 ounces grapefruit juice
  • 1 ounce rosemary simple syrup (recipe below)
  • 2 dashes orange bitters
  • Ice
  • Garnish: rosemary sprig
  •  

    Smoking Cocktail
    [1] Smoke infusing the cocktail under the dome (photo © Wall Street Grill).

    Smoking Cocktail
    [2] The big reveal at the table (photo © Wall Street Grill).

    Infusing Food With Smoke
    [3] Infusing chicken breasts with smoke, using a $20 Chefhut infuser (photo © Chefhut).

    Infusing Ribs With Smoke
    [4] Spraying smoke atop ribs with the hose of the Breville smoke gun (photo © Breville).

    Smoked Cocktail
    [5] A smoked Manhattan cocktail at Ocean Prime (photo © Ocean Prime).

     
    For The Rosemary Simple Syrup

    You can also use this syrup in iced tea, hot tea or lemonade, on fruit salad, as pound cake glaze and sorbet topping, and of course, to flavor sophisticated snow-cones.

  • 1 cup water
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 4 fresh rosemary sprigs
  •  
    Simple Syrup Preparation

    1. MAKE the simple syrup. Combine the water and sugar in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium-high, whisking occasionally until the sugar dissolves. Then simmer for a few more minutes until liquid is completely clear. Remove the saucepan from the heat.

    2. ADD the rosemary and let it infuse in the simple syrup for 30 to 60 minutes, until the mixture is thick and syrupy.

    3. REMOVE the rosemary from the pan and pour the syrup into a glass jar. Refrigerate, tightly capped. It will keep for at two weeks (twice as long for unflavored simple syrup).
     
    Cocktail Preparation

    1. SHAKE all the ingredients with ice and strain into a rocks glass with a jumbo ice cube. Garnish with rosemary.

    2. SMOKE with hickory wood with a smoke gun under a glass dome.

    3. BRING to the table still covered. Remove the dome in front of the guest (or yourself) so everyone can enjoy the aroma.
     
     
    VIDEOS

    Here are videos specific to cocktails.

  • Dome: Smoking with a dome.
  • Decanter: You can use a decanter instead of a dome, but it doesn’t allow for a rising-smoke presentation (see this video).
  •  

      

    Please follow and like us:
    Pin Share




    Comments are closed.

    The Nibble Webzine Of Food Adventures
    RSS
    Follow by Email


    © Copyright 2005-2024 Lifestyle Direct, Inc. All rights reserved. All images are copyrighted to their respective owners.